Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Mexico



We celebrated Easter a week early, but we got a few picture from the celebrations of individual families on the actual day:

Easter in Texas

Dojin
Weekend getaway (Galveston)
Ori and Effie


We are usually pretty good about not planning other events Conference Weekend, but when we made plans to go to Cancun, we didn’t think about that fact that Easter Weekend was Conference weekend.  Luckily, we were able to tune in for both Sunday sessions, though sometimes the Internet connection was a little spotty.  We also received KSL news updates on our phone so we knew of the announcement about combining the High Priests and Elder’s quorums into one quorum.  It is amazing how quickly the talks are on-line, so we have been reading through a few talks each day.  One quote from conference stood out to me.  It was one of the 1st talks in the Saturday morning session.
“To mothers, especially young mothers, who often feel overwhelmed and under-water while striving to raise ‘a sin-resistant generation,’ never underestimate your central role in God’s plan.  In stressful moments—perhaps when you are chasing little ones and a charred smell from the kitchen informs you that your lovingly prepared dinner is now a burnt offering—know that God sanctifies your most difficult days.  ‘Fear thou not; for I am with thee,’ He peacefully reassures.  We honor you as you fulfil the hope of Sister Joy D. ones, who stated, ‘Our children deserve to understand their divine identity.’”
This stood out to me because of my daughters and daughters-in-law dealing with a lot of sick kids this winter.  The most recent being poor little Ori who was diagnosed with hand, foot, and mouth disease.  Caitlyn had this once when she was about 12 and we know it is painful. 



We had a wonderful time on our trip.  The resort we went to had fabulous food (fortunately and unfortunately).  It was an adult only resort.  Our travel agent had told us it was a quiet resort, not a big partying one, and that turned out to be true.  It was a little weird for Caitlyn because there weren’t many families.  I think we saw only one or two other young people without a partner.  She didn’t mind too much, though, as there was plenty to do. 
We spent most of our time at the resort.  We were right on the beach and the hotel had equipment for us to play with. Small sail boats, paddle boards, and kayaks.  It was difficult to paddle board on the ocean, but we made a good attempt.  We also spent a lot of time reading, resting pool-side, and eating. 

On one of our vacation days we went on a snorkeling excursion.  Every time we have snorkeled in Mexico, we have been required to wear life-jackets and stay right with the guide.  This was a little frustrating as we were in a large group (and we're used to snorkeling without life jackets).  One of the men didn’t swim well and had to hang on the guide’s safety tube.  He and his kids made it difficult to stay with the guide and we didn’t see much.  The guide also chummed (fed) the fish, so that they would swim up and around us.  While it was fun to see so many fish, it seemed artificial.  We were somewhat disappointed in the experience since we’ve had many better snorkeling trips, but after the 2nd dive, the guide put up a spinnaker on the Catamaran.  There was a swing attached.  Everyone got a turn to swing.  They pulled us 30 feet or so into the air.  As we were lowered we were told to jump off.  This time we weren’t allowed to use life jackets.  They said we had to be able to swim around the boat on our own.  That is better with me.  I have always loved to swim.  Dad was a tiny bit queasy from the snorkeling as the waves were rolling, so he didn’t swing, but Caitlyn and I did. 
We took one other excursion, a trip to Xelha.  We have been there several times now and we love it.  The snorkeling there is great.  They require a life jacket, but you can take it off because nobody would ever notice 😊.  I found a huge lion fish, which I have never seen before in the ocean; a stingray, and many other colorful fish of various sizes.  They also have a ropes course with a zip line.  We zipped down several times. 
Now to the food.  We thought the food at Occidental was pretty good, but this hotel far surpassed it.  They had a lot of papaya, so I was in Heaven.  We figured out towards the end of the trip that we could ask for things (like cut-up jicama and mango) that weren’t on the buffet.  Alberto was the waiter that let us know this (he brought me jicama when I told him I was disappointed that they didn’t have any).  The last day he had the cook cut jicama, mango, cucumber, celery and pineapple for us to take on the plane. 
I think I need to stop telling everyone “Happy Birthday” in this letter because I sometimes forget someone.  This month while saying Happy Birthday to Hyeji (She’ll be baptized soon because she turned 8 on the 8th), I totally skipped over Finn’s birthday.  He was 3 on the 7th.  So Happy birthday Finn.  Of course, we didn’t forget his birthday when it mattered. Ruby will be 3 this month as well.  Happy birthday Ruby (I have time yet because her birthday isn’t until later this month). 
I will probably be helping with the Green boys a lot this coming week because Adrienne is scheduled to have her baby on Tuesday.  I’ll have Grandpa Roy take Finn to pick out his present.  The girls have all received a homemade gift this year.

Happy Birthday Finn

I have a lot of pictures from the trip, but I'll publish some of  them separately so I can get this letter out.  I wrote it on Sunday, and now that it's Tuesday we have more news for the next letter (namely Adrienne's baby that is currently on its way),



non-alcoholic pina colandas





We all tried the slide (it was long and had a drop-off
at the end that was scary--and we took the "slow slide")
On the sailboat





The waiter brought me my favorites, papaya, jicama, and cucumbers.


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