Xcaret 15-year adventure!

The Monday morning after Brennan's baptism weekend, we headed to the airport for our much-anticipated 15th anniversary trip. My mom and dad stayed with the kids 7 days so we could get away. After all the stress of Ryan quitting his job and getting the house ready to sell, it was amazing to get away together as just the two of us.

Happy 15 years to us!

We flew into Cancun, but we stayed just south of Playa del Carmen in the Xcaret Resort. It's called an "all-fun inclusive" which means our food, activities, transfers and excursions were all part of the package. It was an amazing adventure! Ryan and I did all kinds of things we'd never done before, and we had a great time being kid-less. Thank you to Grandpa & Grandma for that!

MONDAY
We were pretty exhausted by the time we arrived (up at 4am, 1 hour to the Denver airport, 4-1/2 hour flight, 1-hour airport transfer followed by the 1-hour resort tour). We headed to the beach and to check out the pool. I hadn't eaten all day, so we ended up at the pool-side fresh fish buffet for an early dinner. After reading in the hammocks in a private cave, we headed back to our room for room-service (our first 1st of the weekend) dessert.

TUESDAY

Our first pick of parks was Xplor. We checked out bikes from the hotel and headed over in the morning after a bite to eat at the buffet. We went for a drive in a jeep. We also went zip-lining (first time). We did some hammock-splash zip-lines (first time). We took a double kayak with hand-paddles through an underground cave (first time). We also swam in an underground river, which was freezing cold (first time).

After lunch and some balcony hammock time, we got cleaned up and took a boat ride to the lead park for their evening ethnic show. We got there early though, so we had time to ride the scenic tower and look around the whole area from above. It was gorgeous. I totally loved the evening performance too! The first half was Mayan sport demonstrations and then a reenactment of the Spanish arriving. The second half was a dance or music demonstration from each of the Mexican states. It was awesome. We took lots of videos for the kids.

WEDNESDAY
Today we went on our first excursion. Along with about 20 other people from our hotel, we explored 4 different cenotes, underground caves. Each cenote was a different type, but since all were in the Mayan language, here's my summary in English.

The first was a cavern cenote, and we did an assisted rappel into it. We swam and I did my first cliff jump, though this one seemed more like a diving board.

After pasteries, we headed to our second which was an ancient cenote where we could choose between a strap zip-line or bar zipline. Ryan also did the optional cliff jump.

Next, we went kayaking through a semi-open cenote and then snorkeling in a cavern cenote and had a wonderful lunch in the jungle of soup and sandwiches.

Our last stop was an open cenote, where there was a water slide and bar zipline. We also floated down the river in an inner tube and did another cliff jump together, much higher and much more cliff-like.

This was our favorite day for sure.

In the evening, we had reservations to the Japanese restaurant, where I had raw fish and sushi for the first time. It was all amazing!

THURSDAY

This was our longest excursion. We took a bus to Chichen Itza, which was about 3 hours away. We ate breakfast on board the bus. Though I wouldn't have wanted to miss seeing one of the Seven Wonders of the World, this was one long, hard day. We didn't really like our tour guide, and it was hot and tiring. I didn't realize Chicken Pizza (as our guide playfully called it) was such a large compound. After a long tour and a short free-time, we headed to lunch in a historical town called Valledolid. There's a semi-open cenote right in the middle of town we got to walk around too. It was beautiful.

When we got back to the hotel (12 hours after we left!), we decided we couldn't miss the chance to do zip-lining after dark, so we changed and headed back to Xplor Fuego. We were tired, but it was awesome! Like most evenings, we finished up with nutella crepes and ice cream at the hotel buffet.

FRIDAY
We needed to hit the last two parks near the hotel, so we grabbed bikes to head to Xcaret, the leading historical park. The highlights of our time there were helping make chocolate and taking a boat tour. We also saw a bunch of animals (zoo and aquarium like) and explored a Mayan village.

After a buffet lunch, we biked over to neighboring Xenses. This was my least favorite park. It was divided into two sections, and every activity has to be completed to reach the next. The first half was a topsy-turvy town, water-slide, bird-fly zip-line, salt-water bath and then mud-bath.

The second half was optical illusions with giant/midget, a pitch-black experience in 5 different biomes, garden of Eden water-fall and cave experience. I hated the mud and darkness activities so much, they tainted the whole day for me, sadly. Ryan thought it was all pretty cool though.

Friday evening we had reservations to the hotel's Caribbean show. It was nothing compared to the Xcaret show, but it was a dinner theater, so that was fun.

SATURDAY
We started early again with a one-hour bus trip to Tulum. Our guide was no better than our Chichen Itza guide, and we didn't get nearly enough free time. Our experience was much the same as our other Mayan tour, unfortunately. Tulum is located right on the Caribbean Sea, so at least it wasn't so hot.

After our tour, the bus dropped us off a Xel-Ha, another park. At Xel-Ha, we had lunch and then spent the afternoon adventuring - huge water slide, snorkeling, tubing, cliff-jumping, jungle biking, walking a floating bridge, and cenote exploring.

After getting cleaned up, we went to our reservations at the Las Cuevas restaurant, which was a Brazilian steakhouse down in the caves. The food was great, but we had a rowdy bunch at the table next to us that kinda ruined our time.

SUNDAY
Time to come home. After a little breakfast, we got checked out of our room and started our trek home - one hour to the airport, 3 hours of waiting around, 4-1/2 hours in flight, customs, shuttle to long-term parking and then 1-hour drive home.

It was cold and snowy all while we were gone, and it was a rude awakening to come back to. I truly missed the kids this trip, and I wouldn't have wanted to be gone any longer. Unfortunately, it's now time for real life - Mom & Dad left about noon today, the house officially goes live tonight, and Ryan leaves for good in the morning. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. That's my motto right now.

B's baptism

Brennan was baptized in the midst of our moving chaos. Grandpa & Grandma Morello flew in from St George, Nana & Papa Williams flew in from Boise, and Kim & Rich and their girls drove in from Springville.

The weekend of festivities began with Collin & Brennan participating in the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby Friday evening. Due to all the busy-ness of getting the house ready for the market, we didn't have time to make new cars this year. So in Brennan's first year getting to participate, he used one of Collin's old cars. Sad, I know. Collin used another of his other old cars. Neither did great, but they had a lot of fun, and we were able to cross it off our to-do list. Pathetic.

Saturday morning was the baptism. Our stake does Stake Baptisms, so unfortunately, we didn't know any of the people doing the music or speaking assignments. Brennan broke out in a horrible rash - from nervousness or an allergic reaction is unknown - but it stopped as soon as he was out of the white jumpsuit. Ryan performed the ordinance, and Grandpa & Papa were the witnesses. Ryan also confirmed Brennan and gave him a beautiful Father's Blessing of peace and strength for the upcoming changes in his life.

It was a very nice service. Afterwards, we returned to our house for lunch. A family friend from Ohio (Katie Luce) came up from the south-side of Denver and came to the house too. Brennan requested Chick-fil-a catering, so we got nuggets and sandwiches from there. We also had salad, fruit and a giant Costco chocolate cake.  The cousins all played together, and it was even warm enough to go to the park and fly Ryan's drone.

Due to the weather forecast, Kim left Sunday morning for their drive home. The rest of us held a beautiful little family meeting about the Holy Ghost, and Ryan & I both received Father's Blessings from our dads. It was a very sweet morning. Then the grandparents all came to church with us, and then we had steak, baked potatoes and steamed broccoli afterwards.

In the afternoon, Nana & Papa had to head straight to the airport for their flight, Grandma & Grandpa started gearing up for their week with the kids, and Ryan & I started packing for our 15th anniversary trip to Mexico.

Brennan wrote a really sweet testimony about his feelings during his baptism and confirmation in the journal Grandma got him. He also got a fleece blanket from Nana to represent the comfort of the Holy Ghost. He really had a wonderful weekend. I love our wonderful family!

It's moving time again!

Ryan accepted a new job in San Antonio, TX on Monday morning. He'll be working for Southwest Research Institute, and he starts on February 18th. The kids and I will stay in CO until the house sells, hopefully before school gets out. We hope to put it on the market by February 13th. 

He is more excited than can be put into words, and I have had moments of excitement, but right now I'm just overwhelmed. So much to think about and to get done. 

                                    

His work will be on the west side of town, but as we've talked with people, it sounds like our family will be happiest on the north side instead, so he'll have a 30-40 minute commute each way. We'll live close to the temple though, so that'll be nice.

He'll also be traveling about one week each month, so that'll be a major adjustment for me and the kids. Living on the north side, we'll be closest to the airport. 

San Antonio is the 7th largest city in the US, so everyone seems to know someone who has or does live there. We are looking forward to all the newness, despite the anxieties. The traffic sounds like it'll take some adjustment for us too. 

                                          

Ryan has spent many business trips at Southwest and in San Antonio, but I've actually never been to TX, except layovers in DFW. He knows his new boss quite well, and our friends who have worked for the company say he's an amazing mentor for new managers. The offer really was too good to pass up. 

Caterpillar has a lot of employees in the San Antonio area, and we have several friends who live nearby that we knew in Peoria. It'll be fun to know a few people even before we can get settled in. 

We will miss Colorado, the mountains, the hiking and the waterfalls. We'll miss our friends and the "easy" drive to Utah to visit family and friends there. While living in this same house, we've been in three very different wards in three very different stakes, and as such, we are leaving behind many, many dear friends. We have loved our time in Colorado, and I dream of returning and living here again in the future. 

But, for now, here's to new adventures! 

Happy 8th, B!

Happy 8th birthday, Brennan! 

The day before his birthday, on Saturday, Brennan picked a friend, Bryce, to go to Build-a-Bear with him and out to lunch at Sonic.

If this sounds familiar, it's because he did the exact same activity last year with a different friend. ;-)

He loves his new blue Yoshi, and he enjoyed his corn dog and peanut butter cup shake too.

Bryce got him a remote-controlled helicopter as a gift, so we came back to our house after lunch to fly it. I went a little off-script with that one!

His actual birthday was on Sunday. After Church, we skipped our ward linger longer and came home to his special dinner - steak, baked potatoes and corn.

Then he opened his gift from us, a new art kit. He was unimpressed. In the evening, we sang and had cheesecake.

* * *

Brennan is struggling the most with our move. He seems to be in denial. In fact, I think he's only told Bryce, and that was when we were all together in the car for the birthday activity. He has always had a hard time making friends - so does Collin - but he's struggling more than I even expected. We have been praying for him, and I am seeing him have good days among his bad days.

Luckily, it seems he still keeps most of his aggression at home. He excels at school. Though he struggles with friends, his teachers love him, and he works hard. It is all so easy for him, and he loves to go each day. He even volunteers twice a week before school to prepare and then lead games and activities for the other kids to play when they arrive before the first bell.

He is our best babysitter, way more attentive and fun than Collin, but he does sometimes lose his temper and injure other children, and it's so hard to predict. He can be the best helper and the meanest enemy.

He has gotten really into swimming and easily passed his swim lesson level this past fall. I have another session of swimming scheduled for spring, but I'm hoping our house will be sold and we'll be with Ryan in Texas by then. But I figure there's always another pool with swim lessons, right? Especially in TX.

I made him play soccer last fall, but we made a deal he wouldn't have to play again if he didn't want to, and he doesn't want to. He begged to play basketball this winter, but he hated his coach after the first practice and wouldn't go back, so I had to pull him. I'm thinking that maybe when we get settled in TX that I'll try to find him some art classes again. He used to love doing that.

His baptism is set for Saturday, February 2nd. Not sure when I'll get around to blogging about it, but my parents and Ryan's are both coming. His cousins - my sister's family - is going to try to come from Utah too, if the weather is good. I'm looking forward to some family time before Ryan leaves for the new job, and I figure out how to live in a house with four kids while it's on the market.

I want him to be happy so bad. I know I need to model being happy, so I am working on that too.
I love him more than words can say, and I want everything and the world for him!

Happy 8th, B!