Tulum Adventures - pt 2

Tuesday was a big day! We decided to knock out the full-day adventure right off the bat (strategy was to rent the bikes for the end of the week).  This tour was a small-group tour (there were 10 of us total) lead by the tour guide and a driver. The tour included Chichen Itza, Valladolid, and the Xux Ha cenote. It was an incredible day full of adventure. The tour guide provided a wealth of information the entire time, had very knowledgeable responses to every single question asked, and really made the experience top-notch!

First up was Chichen Itza (chicken pizza, for the newbies). Kendall was interested in the first eight minutes and then completely hated the rest. Not exactly the most exciting thing for her. I have been to Chichen Itza many years ago, but it still it just mind-blowing to me how the site was built.

After Chichen Itza, our tour continued to a small colonial village called Valladolid. Here, we had lunch at a great restaurant (included with our tour) and then had a chance to walk around the village for about 45 minutes.  We visited a local chocolate shop and then explored the main, central square. The mustard yellow paint seemed to be a common theme throughout what we saw of the village.

After Valladolid, we ventured to the cenote. Immediately upon arriving, Kendall made quick friends with a kitten. This thing followed us everywhere! There are over 6,000 cenotes on the Yucatan Peninsula. The one we visited was below ground, and we had to take several steep staircases just to get down to the water. But man....what a view once we got down there! There was also a platform where people could jump/dive off, into the water. It was such an amazing experience!

After swimming for about an hour, our tour took us back to Tulum and dropped us off at our place. Kendall immediately wanted to swim (again) and we were all too tuckered out to walk anywhere for dinner. We found a great food delivery place - think Doordash or Uber Eats - called Tomato! We found an amazing burrito place, Burrito Amor, and completely devoured the food and had a fun game night.

Tulum Adventures - pt 1

 The adventures started at 3am (oy) to get to the airport for a super early flight. We connected through Denver, which is a really neat airport, and then on to Cancun.

 

Once we landed in Cancun, it was quite the adventure trying to link up with Dana. We came in at different terminals, and Dana was immediately swindled for some cash trying to get over to our terminal. It was a hot mess, but we eventually found each other AND our private shuttle, and made our way to Tulum.  It was about an hour and a half drive, and our driver gave us a lot of great info about the area, how it's growing, what is being built (including an airport IN Tulum, to be opened in a couple of years), and some tips for getting around. We also included a one-hour stop at a grocery store to stock up on some essentials for the house.  We even found Idahoan potatoes!

Once we got to the place, we realized it was a little late to be wandering around to find a place to eat. On the street where our place was, there were a lot of apartment complexes, condos, and a few hotels. Thankfully, one of the hotels half a block from our place had two restaurants, so that's where we landed for our first meal in Tulum. We all played it safe with enchiladas, which were delicious. We even had a dinner time visitor!

It was a relatively early night for us as we were all pretty tired from the long day of travel. We had to be up early the next morning for our full-day tour inland on the Yucatan Peninsula.

Time for some new ones!

It has been far too long since we did some family pictures.  Addie's sister is starting out on her photography adventure, so we figured we would give her a shot and gift my parents updated pics at the same time.  I think they turned out great!!

October's Literary Adventures

October was a pretty decent month for reading.  Ruth Ware's latest was a little underwhelming...though her typical atmospheric drama.  What Lovers Do was a really good read.  I was excited to get into another Rachel Caine book - and even more excited to hear that another author was going to continue the series since Caine passed away.  

Fall Softball - The End

 Fall softball came to a close yesterday. What a season! This was a sassy team through and through (are we shocked?), and we had a complete mix of "seasoned vets", middle of the road, and newbies to the game. They all embraced one another and I am proud of the tight-knit bond they continue to develop. THIS is what sports is about. Sure, we win some and we lose some, but these friendships forged in dirt are what (we hope!!) these ladies carry for life. These ladies went 8-1-1 on the season. Could not be more proud of them.

We have worked hard to keep a core group of these girls together since last fall when we first saw the "vibe". Since then, they have gone a combined 38-5-1 (two division champs, one league championship, and one regional championship). I hope they know how awesome that is, and how special they are. Proud of these ladies!

The group I coach with, our group of amazing parent-helpers (life savers, therapists, drink refillers, music DJs, miracle workers, etc) should not go without a massive shout-out. So honored to have developed the same friendships we encourage our players to form. 

September's Literary Adventures

 

Well, following a nine-book (!!!) month in August, September was much slower. I was only able to get through four books. I finally found myself totally caught up on the David Wolf series. This is quickly turning into a favorite of mine. Usually around the time I say that, the series starts a slow decline. Fingers crossed that this one continues going strong.  I attempted the latest in the Mike Bowditch series, which was a complete let down. I did not finish this one at about 1/3 of the way through. Very disappointing plot...though I did read the last two chapters to see how everything wrapped up. The Falcon is the third book in the series by Isabella Maldonado, and boy can this lady write a book! Can't wait for the next one.