Mexico Day 7: Sand Artistry

Thursday was our last day in Cozumel. We debated going and doing something elsewhere on the island, or back on the mainland--there's all kind of things to see an do around there--but in the end, we decided just to stay put and enjoy or lovely villa and our lovely beach for our last day.

So, we played in the ocean some more...





























...and we decided to have a sand sculpture contest.

Kevin and I made a giant castle, Matthew made a face with a big nose, and Michael/Margret AND Brian/Heidi both made sculptures of Chichen Itza. Michael and Margret also made a surprisingly good sculpture of "El Rey", aka Matthew. It was loads of fun.

That evening we played some more games and did some build-each-other-up type family activities. It was a great trip, and too short! I hope we get to be all together again sometime soon (even if it's not in an exotic location!)

Mexico Day 6: Chillin'

Unfortunately, I managed to get myself sick on Tuesday night. My throat had hurt some during the day, but I thought it was just from swallowing sea water. By Tuesday night, though, I felt awful, and went to bed early. I slept for like 13 hours, and felt MUCH better in the morning, luckily.

Also luckily, we didn't really have anything planned for Monday, so we just chilled out at the villa and played on the beach. It was really too hot to be outside if you weren't actually in the water, but if you were swimming it was bearable. The water was SO warm--like a bathtub, really.

Once it started to cool off as the sun started to set, we decided to take a walk down the beach to the nearby hotels, were there was a pier and lots of fish that collected nearby. We did some snorkeling (I saw two or three rays--or maybe the same one in three places, I'm not sure. There were also lots of neat yellow and black fish), and played in the water. Kevin and I helped Anna build a sand castle, which was fun. Anna and Ellie were so cute about the ocean--they loved, loved, LOVED it! But both of them were also a little scared of getting too deep.

We walked back to the villa with a beautiful sunset in the background. It was a good day--not much actually happened, but I guess that's what a vacation is supposed to be like!

Mexico Day 5: A sailing adventure

Tuesday's big excitement was a sunset sailing trip we had planned to do as a family. This event was a gift from my parents, who paid for the whole group of us to go out on a sailboat for a few hours.

The same company also does longer afternoon sails where they take you on spinnaker rides and snorkeling and stuff, but we opted for the quieter, shorter sunset sail.

We had a great time, eating yummy snacks and drinking non-alcoholic pina coladas, and just enjoying the beautiful ocean and the quietness of sailing. (No loud motor disrupting the peacefulness.)

We each took turns standing at the front of the boat, or lying face down looking over at the sea beneath the boat. (Matthew even took a picture of this view.) We saw some other people parasailing, and they even let my brother-in-law Brian steer for a while! (He knows how to sail quite well, so they weren't putting our life in danger or anything.)

I'll just let the pictures do the rest of the talking. By the way, the one of me scowling was taken by Matthew, right after he hit me in the face. He said a true photographer has to go to great lengths to capture authentic emotions. Ah, younger brothers...