The Harris Place

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Playa Del Carmen

Monday we headed to Playa Del Carmen, a nice little city full of 'Mayan meets Mexico' tourist attractions and a nice beach! But first we wanted to check out a bit more of the resort.

We took the scenic jungle route today and it didn't disappoint!

There are lots of things throughout the resort that we didn't get to the day before so there was still plenty to explore today.

We came across this huge gecko adorned in bright orange accent colors ... It later turned into an Iguana :)

He looks great on our phone video, but the quality didn't transfer :(

Anyhow, if you've ever wanted to see an Iguana yawn, there you go :)

The Flamingo Sanctuary

This place is so beautiful!! I may have mentioned this already but remember we came from Wyoming so you can hardly blame me :)

Peering through the palm laden canopy is a surprisingly light green swamp. Such a variety of colors to go from the turquoise and sea-green Caribbean to the blue pools, to the light and dark hues of the vibrant green swamp and lake area

Ah, another Iguana... we only saw one the entire trip last time we were in Mexico, little did we know we would see 50 times that this trip :)

Apparently our phone's camera is awesome in direct, bright sunlight and really struggles with any and all shadows... then again, it could just be my monitor :) Alas, here you go, Jake in bright red and blue next to a bright green lake! You may just have to take my word on that! :)

Iguanas are everywhere in the swampy trees

The green iguanas camouflage right in (its dead center of the picture if you don't see it yet :)

I think there were at least 3 or 4 in this video - good luck seeing the green ones though :)

Let's see where else this little path takes us

Just like a walk through Wyoming :)

(If Wyoming were a 70 degree green tropical jungle rather than a 30 degree brown desert)

Ah ha, crocodiles!

Escape alert! Right outside the croc swamp was a huge iguana that looked like he belonged on the other side of the fence :)

And again, we're walking, we're walking ...

You think this is a lot of walking pictures? I had to delete like 10 of them - it was so green though, we couldn't stop taking them, we want to show our kids what trees look like! :) jk!

After our Jungle safari we ventured back to the main pool for a quick dip

Off to Playa Del Carmen

We liked seeing the non-tourist parts of the city, talking to the natives, checking out local stores, etc.

Driving through Playa Del Carmen gave us a glimpse of what life is like away from the tourist spots

And being able to speak Spanish really came in handy many, many times!

Stopped for lunch off the beaten path

Came all the way to Mexico to try out a French Bistro :)

It wasn't that far from touristville, but just far enough to see what the neighborhoods are really like and get a better feel for what the people are like. Great Panini by the way!

After lunch we walked down to the beach

And Jake fulfilled his dream of swimming in the Caribbean Sea :) Yes, we actually did get in and swim, but c'mon, how were we going to take a picture of that with our cell phone :)

This beach is really, really long with tons of massage tables, restaurants, hotels, etc.

It was beautiful too! Just in case you weren't sure :)

Famous statue in Playa - so we had to check it out

And we watched 30 seconds of a "show" the locals put on that represents Mayan music playing at altitude (I didn't really get it, but its one of the 'cultural moments' we experienced ;)

Walk up the street from the beach and you hit all the tourist shops and restaurants you'd expect to find (Quinta Avenida)

We bought a couple things for the kids, etc.

Bright colors were abundant

These colorful skulls are apparently very popular with store owners because they were everywhere!

Ice cream face off

Mexico meets Mayan - the result was lots of colorful animals

Lots of stores had these colorful little creatures. We thought they looked fun!

Then we headed back, another fun day in the sun!

The resort has a nightly turn down service. They would leave us candy, make animals out of towels, take the throw pillows off our bed, etc. Two Hershey kisses were left on our swan lovers, in case you were wondering what those were :)

Xcaret - Morning

Tuesday we packed up our backpack with bottled water, sunscreen, and some water shoes and drove to Xcaret - a theme park built around ancient Mayan ruins a little south of Playa del Carmen. It is one of the most renowned tourist attractions in the Riviera Maya and has a lot to see and do. We had purchased tickets months ago and were excited to go enjoy all that it had to offer!

The Underground River

We had heard so much about swimming in the caves, underground rivers, etc. that we figured we 'd try that first. It was a tad longer than we expected and with no current it was a lot of swimming!! But it was something different and fun, and the scenery was beautiful!

At times the river would go underground - it was very dark. We were surprised they didn't put lights in there but I guess it was more 'authentic' that way. In much of the park (kind of their over-riding theme) they tried to leave things 'as-is' as part of their attempt to give you a feel for how the Mayans used it anciently.

There were quite a few caves we went through, and sometimes we were surrounded by tall rock walls. The river wound through the park, narrowing and widening at points, deeper at some points, etc. It was a cool experience!

The Ruins

Upon further examination, this bench was already taken!

Cool to see the ruins, glad we came

Indoor Aquariums

Cuttin' through the jungle paths

It was smart of the Mayans to paint the path blue through the jungle so they didn't get lost! :)

Neon aquariums are awesome...until you try to take a picture :)

Apparently they captured a scuba diver when they captured their exotic fish, and got to keep him! :)

Fishy face!

Showing the size of giant turtles

They let you "try on" a turtle shell :)

Outdoor Aquariums/Animal Ponds/Exhibits

As we were walking through the various rock paths we noticed tons of fossils

Swimming with the sharks

We didn't pay to swim with the dolphins, but apparently it was an option :)

Stingrays - I'm not sure if you are suppose to pet them, but they're easily accessible... So, unlike the Dolphins, I guess you could swim with them for free!

Outdoor turtle area

Such clear green water for the turtles to swim in

Even away from the exhibits, everywhere you go is full of life/nature/scenery

Just a beautiful place to walk around

The edge of one of the main snorkeling areas

Basically, this is what we came for! So picturesque!

Such beautiful, colorful water

Caribbean buffet with a beautiful view :)

Some Dalyn Cute Moments

Dalyn says and does the cutest and funniest things sometimes so I thought I would make a running list to remember some of those moments...

~We had eaten at a buffet and Dal loved it. He said "If I'm ever really hungry again just take me to that place where you pay for the first food and then get the rest of the food after that for free." That's a good way to look at a buffet :) (10/2012)

~Dal was doing something and being impatient and I said "Dal, you just need to be patient." He said "Mom, being patient is such a waste of my time." I understand how he feels :) (10/2012)

~Jake was having a bad day and was in a lot of pain. Dal said "I'm going to say a prayer for you daddy." Then he said "Dear Heavenly Father, this is important, my daddy doesn't feel good. Can you please help him feel a little better. Please. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen" It was the sweetest, most sincere prayer I have ever heard and it touched my heart. (6/2012)

~Dal's kindergarten teacher's birthday is coming up and I asked him if he wanted to make her a birthday card. He got really excited about it and these are some of the things that he was thinking about writing..."Happy Birthday Mrs. Bryan! You are now older than the old number you were before your birthday. Birthdays are a special celebration. Birthdays are special because you are older and bigger." (9/2011)

~ On our way to church today Dal told us that he asked his friend Sadie from school what church she goes to. She told him that she goes to the Kid Church. Dal told her ..."I go to the church of the Son of God" :) (4/2011)

~Dal has decided that when he grows up he is going to have 4 kids- 3 boys and 1 girl. Their names are going to be: Junior, McQueen, & Robin (as in Batman & Robin) for the boys and Sally for the girl :) (4/2011)

~On our way to church today Dal was talking about his friend Cash and said "Cash says he doesn't like church so he doesn't go. But I want to invite him to come to church with me and help him understand how important it is to go to church. Then I will tell him that he came from heaven and that I came from heaven too." Dal is just the cutest little missionary! (2/2011)

~Dal is so creative and imaginative. He has bigger sized lego blocks and he makes those into any toy or character imaginable and then sets up his room as whatever world or place that fits with the theme of his creations. It's so fun to watch and play with him in his toy world. (9/2010)

~Dal came home from preschool and told us he had a new girlfriend. So we started asking him questions and found out that they hadn't really played together or even talked for that matter he just said "She just looked so beautiful." So I guess because of that he decided that she was his girlfriend :) (9/2010)

~The other night when I was putting Dal to bed he said "Mommy. The Holy Ghost is so cool. I'm going to listen to the Holy Ghost and I am not going to listen to Satan!" I thought that sounded like a great plan. :) (3/2010)

~So Dal came home from preschool and told us that "Conner made a bad choice and squirted my girlfriend." We asked him about his girlfriend and he told us that a girl at preschool told him she wanted to be his girlfriend. We asked him what he said and he told us he said "Ok, but not really." Then we were asking him more and he said "Um, never mind. I don't want to talk about it anymore." On no, barely four years old and it already begins! :) (1-25-10)

~When I take Dal to preschool they always practice writing their names when they get there. Today he wrote his name really fast and crazy like and his teacher said "Well maybe you will be a doctor when you grow up", and Dal said "No, I'm going to be a prophet." That's what he has decided he wants to be when we grows up :) (12-16-09)

~I heard Dal saying his bedtime prayers and part way through he said "Heavenly Father, I love transformers. I know they are expensive so please help us to have more money so that we can buy transformers because they are really fun." (11-20-09)

~The wisdom of a three year old: Dal and I were hitting some of the community trick or treating events and when we got to the last one I told him that after this we were going home. He said "Good. I'm tired. All of this walking around getting candy makes a little kid like me tired." (10-31-09)

~We were reading the scriptures and trying to teach Dal about the second coming, when Jesus would come again. Dal's response: "When he gets here, I'll show him my Batman toy."

~Dal was building a tower with legos and I asked him to do get his shoes on so we could go somewhere. He said "Mom, you're sweet, but here's the thing, I am building a tower of power."

~Dal has a little friend that lives close and comes over to our house often. They play together almost every day. About two days had passed and they hadn't seen each other and then Zach came over and Dal opened the door and excitedly said "You came, you came!! Zach, I was so worried about you!"

~Dal has been on a super hero kick lately, so sometimes when he's at the playground and other kids ask him what his name is he says "My name is Super Duper Super Hero!" It's pretty funny. The other night I also heard him praying that he could be a super hero like Larry Boy. (6/09)

~We were reading out of Dal's picture scriptures and we read about Elizabeth and Zacharias who prayed to be able to have a baby and then she got pregnant with John. Dal asked "Did you pray to have baby sister?" I told him we did and then he said "So I can pray to have lots of baby brothers and lots of baby sisters!" I thought it was funny but thought that it was only a passing thought for him, not that he would really take it to heart:) Then a couple nights later when he was saying his bedtime prayers he said "Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that I can have lots of baby brothers and lots of baby sisters!..." It was pretty cute...but then I thought, uh-oh...hmmm, let's define the meaning of "lots":)

~Out of the blue Dal asked me "Mommy, do you have a puppy in your tummy?" I told him that I didn't and explained that I only carry babies like baby sister in my tummy and that mommy dogs carry baby puppies in their tummmies. I asked him why he asked and he said he asked because he wanted a dog and was wondering if I was going to have one. (He has enjoyed having his baby sister so much and knew that that's where she came from, so I guess he assumed that if he wanted a baby puppy that I would have to have it too. :) (5-13-09)

~In an effort to help Dalyn say his prayers at night I told him that when he prays and thanks Heavenly Father for things he has or got to do that day then it makes Heavenly Father happy. So last night after he said his prayer he jumped up and with both arms in the arm he shouted with glee "Now Heavenly Father is so happy! Heavenly Father is so happy!" I'm sure he was :) 4/12/09

~Dal was in the bath tub and he got out and I asked him what he was doing. He said "I just have to see if I'm so cute." He then pushed the stool up to the mirror so he could see himself, took one look and said "Yep, I'm so cute." Then he got off the stool and got back into the bath tub and continued playing with his toys in the tub. I got a good laugh out of that one. (2-19-09)

~When Dalyn found out that I was taking Braelyn to the Dr for her first check-up Dalyn yelled in a panic-stricken voice "No don't take her back! I want to keep her!" It was pretty cute. I reassured him that we would not be taking her back and that we would get to keep her forever. He was quite relieved. He loves his baby sister.

~Once when Dalyn was holding Braelyn she started rooting around and found his hand and stuck her tongue out. Dal laughed and said "She's trying to lick me!" He then thought that they were playing a game where she was trying to lick him. He just kept laughing and laughing.

~When Dalyn first saw Braelyn he just stared at her and said "She is so small. Her hands are so small. She doesn't have any teeth" He was pretty observant.

~We went to the school playground on Saturday to play and Dal found a jump rope that had been left on the ground and he was trying to swing it and he wanted me to jump. I told him that I couldn't jump very good with baby sister in my tummy. So then he wanted me to climb the little rock wall with him to get to the slide and he said "It's okay mommy, baby sister will hold on tight." It was so funny and so well thought out, and yes I did climb the little wall with him. (11-1-08)

~Dal was busy playing cars with his daddy and they were each in character having the cars talk to each other and I had to tell Jake something so I was talking to him. Dalyn repeatedly kept telling me "Mommy, don't talk to daddy anymore!" (I was distracting Jake and Dalyn wanted his full attention while they were playing.) After telling me to stop and I didn't Dalyn then came and took my hands and said "Mommy you go to sit in time out" and he led me over to the chair and had me sit down. I thought it was really funny so I sat there for a minute to humor him.

~I stubbed my toe on the door and said "Ouch" and Dalyn looked at me really concerned and said "Mommy?" So then I told him that I hurt my toe. He said "Okay. I'll come kiss it better." Then he came over to me and got down and kissed my toe. (It was so cute!) After that he said "Are you okay mommy?" And of course I told him that I was now. Even though my toe still hurt there is something about getting a kiss better that just makes it all okay. Amid his craziness he is such a thoughtful kid.

~When someone is at our house and he doesn't want them to leave he'll go and block the door and say something like "It's too hot out there" "You can't go out there" "The door is locked and you don't have key" "You don't have your shoes"...or something of the sort. He's good at coming up with good reasons for people not to go. He just loves to be around people.

~Along those same lines, Dalyn used to get really creative to keep other kids from taking toys away from him that he was playing with. When a kid would come up to him and try to get his toy he would say "It's hot!" in an effort to get the other kid not to touch it and to back away. It was pretty funny.

~Dalyn and I were playing and then he stopped and got this cute look on his face, rubbed my head and said "Sweetheart, I love you." It was just too cute.

~The other day for some reason Dalyn was sure it was his birthday. He sang himself the birthday song, he found something at the dollar store and told me it was his birthday present, etc. Then when we went to check the mail we got a little blue box with a fake ribbon on it and Dalyn excitedly yelled "My birthday present!" When we got in the house he couldn't wait to open it...It was some free sample tampons from Walmart! He was so excited and yelled "A blue one!" "A green one!" and they became swords, laser shooters, rocket ships and anything else he could think of. He had so much fun with his "birthday presents". It was pretty hilarious.

~Dalyn is always looking out for others. Any time I give him a popsicle or something and he sees his daddy (or whoever else is around) he'll say "Where's daddy's popsicle?" He wants to make sure others get in on the good stuff.

~Speaking of popsicles, sometimes Dalyn gets a little creative in how he can get more than one...I gave him a blue popsicle (his favorite) and he said "Daddy wants a blue one too" so I gave him another blue one to give to daddy and then he walks in the room where his daddy is, looks at his two blue popsicles and then comes back in the kitchen and says "Daddy wants orange popsicle".

~We were sitting in church on Sunday and Dalyn unintentionally burped and then looked around him and said "What's that noise?" It was pretty funny!

Some Braelyn Cute Moments

~Braelyn likes to think that she speaks Spanish. She has learned some Spanish words and is excited to practice them. Sometimes she will come up to us or other people and say something and they have no idea what she is saying. Then she informs them that she is speaking Spanish :) (10/2012)

~Braelyn gives the sweetest hugs and kisses. I love it when she says "I love you mommy (or daddy)! You're my best friend!" (5/2012)

~We were at Wal-mart the other day and Braelyn saw a baby sittting in a shopping and she was so excited to go talk to the baby and turned to me and "Mom! I want one of these at my house!" (3/2012)

~Braelyn absolutely adores babies. Anytime we see a baby she wants to go see it and talk to it. She always says "Awww, a baby!" and "Baby's so cute!" in a cute little voice. She is so sweet with the babies too. She will be such a good mommy some day :) (9/2011)

~Braely Rae is starting to talk a lot and she says some funny things. Sometimes when she does something or asks someone to help her with something she'll look and say "Oh, perfect!" She also loves to play ball and is good at saying "play ball". The other day I was leaving for school and I gave her a hug and kiss and then she said "nuzzle!" and she rubbed her little nose on mine. She also likes me to do her hair and then when we are done doing her hair she'll run to Jake to show him and she says "Daddy, pretty hair!" (4/2011)

~During sacrament meeting Braelyn kept turning to me and holding her finger to her mouth saying "Shhh" and then she's say "Remember Jesus." It was really cute :) (4/2011)

~B-Rae can be so cute and thoughtful. The other day I sneezed and she looked at me, reached up with her little hand to touch my face and then said "Bless you mommy." (2/2011)

~Braelyn loves baby dolls. She has a baby beans doll (which used to be my doll when I was her age) and she carries it around and gives her lots of kisses and tries to give her drinks of water too. (9/2010)

~ Sometimes we think B is a WWF girl in the making. When anyone is laying on the floor (especially her daddy) she loves to go up to him and do a double jump move and then a body slam. She can even pin Dal to the floor with her amazing wrestling moves and we have to go rescue him :) (9/2010)

~Today at church B-rae kept putting her hand up to her ear like she was talking on the phone and she would say "Hello, Hello" and then "Bye-bye, bye-bye" (9/2010)

~Braely loves babies. Every time we see a baby she gets really excited and says "Hi baby! Hi baby! Hi baby!" It's so cute. (9/2010)

~B loves to go outside. If it were up to her she would be outside all day long, either on a walk in the stroller, walking around exploring or going down the slides at the playground by our house. It doesn't matter how cold it is (and Logan is always cold! Well half the year at least) she always wants to go outside. She frequently brings us her shoes and our shoes to take her outside! :) (4/2010)

~B-Rae gives the best hugs. She loves to give hugs. She loves hugging Dal. And she also loves other little kids and sometimes she will try to give a hug to some random little kid she sees in the grocery store. It's pretty cute. She also wanted to give her baby cousin Landon lots of hugs last time she saw him. :) (3/2010)

~Braely Bug tries to say some words really cute...words like orange, shoes, outside, banana, etc. and one that she says really well is "All done". It's funny because whenever we eat dinner she eats her food in her high chair for a little while and then she says "All done" and wants out. Then right when I get her done she runs over to Jake and wants to sit on his lap and have him give her bites of some of his food. She is always sure he's holding out on her and has something better on his plate :)

~B and I have a book that we read together and part of it says "I'll tuck in your blanket and give you a kiss" and its so cute because she knows it says that somewhere in the book so whenever we start reading that book she turns up toward me and sticks out her little lips to give me a kiss--it's the cutest thing!

~B loves her big brother. She loves to chase him around the house, knock down his block creations and then try to help rebuild them, hide under the blanket with him and have us find them and much more. Dal is so cute with her too. He finds fun ways to play with her and he just loves her so much!

~B-Rae loves to eat. Let's face it. She's like her mother and she loves food. One of her favs is cottage cheese. She likes to feed it to herself. It is fun to watch her grab little handfuls and stuff them in her mouth. Cute Cute!

~After a nap or in the morning B loves to grab hold of the side of her crib and rock it back and forth as hard as she can. That girl is amazingly strong and I think she just might break her crib one of these days. (12-3-09)

~Some of Braelyn's Favorite Things: Hold our fingers while she walks around, watch Dalyn jump and dance (it makes her laugh and laugh), crawl up the stairs, eat anything that she can pick up on her tray and feed herself, look at herself in the mirror, be outside, sit in the grass, go on stroller rides, do the sway dance to music...etc.

~B is quite the little crawler. She loves to explore and loves to try to manuever over whatever barricade we put to the stair case. She loves to go up those stairs.

~B Rae is quite the little raspberry spitter. She must love that noise and feeling because she spits and spits and then smiles and smiles. (6-2-09)

~Braely Rae has gotten down the rolling from her back to her tummy but can't figure out how to get back on her back...so when I put her down for a nap a couple minutes later I often hear her crying because she has rolled onto her tummy and feels "stuck" so then I come to the rescue. (5-30-09)

~Braely and a baby about her age were sitting next to each other and they were both squealing, socializing, flapping their arms and laughing. It was so cute and funny! We've already a social butterfly on our hands :) (5-14-09)

~We were at church and I was walking down the hall holding Braelyn. Jake came up behind us and started talking to Braelyn telling her about his day and she just started laughing and laughing as though he had told her something really funny. It was too cute. Baby laughter is one of the best things ever! 4/12/09

~Every morning when I hear Braelyn wake up and I go to get her out of her crib I say "Good morning Princess" and she gets the biggest smile on her face and starts kicking with excitement. She's probably thinking how much she missed me after sleeping the whole night through :)

The Harris Place

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Playa Del Carmen

Xcaret - Morning

The Underground River

The Ruins

Indoor Aquariums

Outdoor Aquariums/Animal Ponds/Exhibits

Madelily 10 months

Kids 2014

Kids 2014

Family 2014

Madelyn's Blessing Day

Family Pic 2012

Blogger Family & Friends

My Talented Sisters-in-Law!

Blog Archive

Dal

Braelyn

Our Two Cutie Pies!

The Fam

Us in 2006

Sweet Siblings

Dal

Braely Rae

Bed Head

Sweet Kisses from Big Brother

Dalyn Jacob

Braelyn Rachel

Braelyn in her Blessing Dress

Some Dalyn Cute Moments

Some Braelyn Cute Moments