Pinewood Derby

Alex turned eight this year, so in order for us all to enjoy cub scouts, I was asked to be the den mother. This week was our first Pinewood Derby. It is projects like this that I am very grateful to be able to hand the kit over to Wyatt and walk away. I think I should have him take part in more of out activities. Alex was very excited and Wyatt nearly called the whole thing off since Alex would not quit pestering him. It took them a lot less time than I would have thought, and Wyatt had Alex help a lot more than I would have guessed. Alex took third. It was really fun to watch how excited he got when his car would win each heat. It was awesome. I had a lot more fun than I ever thought I would. Of course, it helped that I didn't have to do any of the work. Well done boys! Now we just need to put together the car kit we got for Damion so that he could be one of the boys.

This year instead of a school program, the second grade held a dance festival in which all of the classes learned a dance from a different country. Alex learned an Irish Jig and had a great time out there strutting his stuff. The highlight of the whole festival was the Funky Chicken they all did as a grand finale. He looks great in his vest, doesn't he?! The boy needs a haircut!

CANCUN!

Just looking at the pictures make me feel Zen. Last year was our ten year anniversary, but Rhee was to little to leave for long, so this year we were lucky enough to leave the kids and go to Cancun for a week. We have never been on a big vacation like this and of course it was twice as much fun without my kids.

We dropped the monsters off a my parents and did not think of them again for a week. If you have never been to Cancun, I highly recommend it. In truth, I recommend any vacation where the majority of your time is spent sitting on the beach. (Especially if you have food and drinks brought right to you!)

We signed up for two day trips, one to Chichen Itza and the other to Isla Mujeres. Chichen Itza is the site of the Mayan pyramid and there are a bunch of fun ruins to go look at. It was neat to go see, but wow was it hot! I was impressed at how small the holes were on the ball court. It did feel a little out of a scene from El Dorado. We also went to a Cenote, which is an underground well. The day we were to go the the island, it was really windy and choppy, so we decided to spend the day playing in the water and walking along the beach. The water is soo amazingly blue! I still can't get over how beautiful it was.

We got a great deal to stay at the Omni, but it was only for five days, so I thought I would just find a great deal at expedia for the last two nights we were there. I fear that this is were Wyatt probably should have stepped in and interfered in our travel plans. Turns out cheap is not always the best way to go when you are in a third world country.

The Omni was awesome. It, like most of the hotels in the hotel zone, can not really be considered Mexico. Everyone spoke English and we did not even have to worry about the fact that Wyatt is the most fluent of the two of us and he has learned all his Spanish from illegal immigrants at work. It looked a lot like the the flamingo palace, but it is hard to complain about any hotel where there are several restaurants to choose from and heck! Who needs a restaurant when the food is brought to you!

After our spoiled vacation, we moved to the Imperial Las Perlas . It is a three star hotel and is the closest of all the hotels in the hotel zone to downtown CanCun. I think that three stars in Mexico is not quite the same as three stars in the U.S. The hotel was clean, but instead of restaurants and pools to choose from, we were limited to a restaurant and a pool. When I booked it, I though, shoot, you still have all you can eat and drink and you still have a clean beach front place to stay. How big of a deal can it be? You will find that all the pictures are from the Omni. Wyatt was worried about security more than anything else. I didn't have much trouble, but I don't think he slept really well there, and I know that he tried to bobby-trap the door at night. All in all, it was definitely worth it to spend a couple of more days on the beach without our kids, but I would like to throw out the idea that when staying in a foreign country, it is well worth the money to spend the night in the tourist area. Non tourist Mexico is a great place to visit and experience the culture, but maybe not the best choice to spend the night.