Tu y yo por Tulum!

I love Tulum. I wonder why?

The beach is spectacular.

Typical street in Tulum. Complete with dogs walking on the rooftops.

________________________________________________

This was truly a vacation of vacations. 64 hours of traveling, 6 airplanes, 18 hours of layovers, two of us with the runs, one puker, 5 siblings (one new one and one not there), one Abuelo, and 10 days in paradise = priceless. It was totally worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat... just give me a few days to recoup from jet lag.

We were given the opportunity to travel to Cancun to be able to attend my new baby sister's Baby Blessing. So we packed up and went and made a family vacation out of it. Since we all like bullets, here's a recap. Less words, more pics, right?

• Baby Blessing - My brother was able to give my sister a blessing and give her a name to be recognized in our church. This alone made it worth every cent.
  
• Mayan Ritualistic blessing - My sister is half Mayan, but has Mexican and American citizenship. My sister and I are "protectors" (like God mothers per se) to Stefanie, so we got to be apart of it.
  
• After midnight talks and laughs with my dad and siblings - My oldest bro was definitely missed. He's actually the funnest one to make fun of. :) Okay, it's a toss up. Ty you are pretty fun to pick on too.
  
• Playing games and laughing until the wee hours of the morning. And losing. - Me? Lose? Dang in-laws.
  
• Chichen-itsa- Otherwise known as "Chicken Pizza" by my two girls.
• Cozamel - I got to share the tradition of braiding hair with my girls. We took a boat ride to the Island, walked around the place, bought Mexican dresses and trinkets, and got our hair braided.
  
• X-Caret - My dad offered to babysit all three kiddos so that B and I could spend ALL DAY in paradise without kids. B snorkeled for the first time, we explored cinotes (underground rivers), we ate lunch at the beach restaurant, saw amazing shows, and had dinner and another show that night. 14 hours without kids. Fun times. I strongly recommend it.
  
• Beach house - I remember when my dad built the beach house. I totally took it for granted back then. We had our own private beach, beautiful view, all the necessities, and amazing weather.
  
• Tulum Ruins - These were just so fun and the ruins were closer together than Chichen-itsa. Plus they were right on the beach, so of course they were beautiful.
  
• Subway - We ate at Subway 6 times when we were there... Thanks padre! And the sad/good news is that he is in the process of selling his two Subway Franchises, so no more yummy FREE sandwiches when we come again.
• Jicama, Mangos, Coconut, fresh squeezed Orange Juice, Carne Asada, real salsa, and Tortillas - I could easlily live off only these things. I even converted two of my family members to craving jicama like I do. Though B thought it was apropriate that Dylan called it "ca-ca." And I brought home seeds for peppers and cilantro. I wish they had tomatillo seeds...
  
• WalMart - A second best to Target, but I still loaded up to bring stuff back here. Come to find out I could have brought back 2 more bags!!
• The Best Part - no internet, phone, or TV for 10 days. Now THAT is a vacation.

Day One & Two

The Flight. All in all, the kids were great. I was super organized and they had a little present/activity to unwrap on each of the three airplanes. The trip back was . . . not so much. We arrived just fine, my dad picked us up and we went straight to church and met up with my siblings. They have a very big, nice building there. The A/C felt good. Played with siblings all day.

The best part was that there was a family sitting right in front of us that the girls played with the whole time. Instant entertainment.

Dylan: World Traveler

I also saw my baby sister for the first time. . . . . . . . . .

I like to call her Monica. (And it's not Mah-nica. It's Mo-nica, the very Spanish way of saying it.)
And others call her Stefi for short. I already miss her.

Who can resist a happy baby bath picture?

Look at those big brown eyes. She is HUGE to Mayan standards.

My baby sister and her other two sisters, Monce and Adriana. Long story. But look how cute they all are. Can you tell which one is half white? Yup. That cute little baby in the middle!

Day Three

Our kids woke up at 4 am and could not go back to sleep, so they watched a movie so that they wouldn't wake anyone else up. Kung Fu Panda and leftover cereal from the airplane ride saves the morning and I get a few more hours sleep. There is an 8 hour time difference for us.

B set them up. They were so NOT going back to bed.

We were able to see my Dad's land and view the countryside with my siblings much later in the morning. Like at 8:30. Very beautiful! We went to the beach, swam in his pool, we had a little Mexican Fiesta, and we were able to spend more time with my new baby sister! She's gorgeous.

The whole crew with Uncle Mike. (My dad's business partner.) We were the only ones who brought kids and Meechelle was the only other one who brought her spouse. Brett is the really tall one.

My kids LOVE uncle Ty.

My girls LOVE the beach.

Dylan kept showing us all the birds that he sees.


Dylan on the first day was a little tired, so he dragged his binky and bubba all around Abuelo's (my dad's) house.

The baby blessing. It was great to share this moment with family. My brother gave a great blessing which I understood only half of the time since it was all in Spanish and I don't know a lot of the church vernacular in Spanish.

If I knew how to do that fuzzy outside border on pictures, I would put one here. She is so precious she deserves a border.

Me and my baby sister.

This is one Mexican-Mayan-American baby happy to be blessed today. Her name is:
Stefany Monica Stewart Koyoc

5 of the 6 siblings. Her oldest brother was the only one that couldn't make it. What a family!

The Mayan blessing. It was a privilege to be apart of the blessing that her mother gave to her daughter. It was a little different since I have never even heard of it before, but it was great all the same.

Meech and I in our Mayan garb. These dresses really keep you cool. Great for people with no curves.

Day Four

All my siblings left to go back to their homes in the States. They came a little earlier than we did, but it was still short and sweet. They brought me some goodies from the States, so they are #1 in my book.

We kicked it at the Beach all day long. Waves, hammocks, and sunshine. All. Day. Long. Betti and her girls (including my sister) came and joined us and I got acquainted with Stefanie Monica one on one. I got to know Betti better too. What a great mom and lady. It's crazy that she is two years younger than me. She only speaks Spanish, so it was good practice for me.

It did get a little awkward when her daughter came over and wanted to hold Stefanie and Betti told her that it was her "older sister's turn." That totally blew Monce away. Betti just laughed and told her that the baby was Haley, Maleia, and Dylan's aunt and the poor thing got even more confused. I just nodded and smiled. It is weird. It kind of reminds me of the "I'm My Own Grandpa" song.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

That's the beach house in the background. This is under the palapas that Abuelo built in between the beach and the house.

You are getting into this lounging stuff Bubba D!

What a handsome sight. You whitie!

Day Five

We went out to the beach in the morning, planted coconut trees with Abuelo, took family pictures, visited Stefanie for a while at their house, then we took off for Cozamel. We spent all day there and the kids had a blast. Then we went home and invited Betti and the girls back over for Dinner. American pasta with red sauce. The Mayan girls were not impressed. Where's the beans and rice? :)

The Chapman Family

Planting coconut trees on Abuelo's beach. The tree to the left is 6 yrs old, so we will see you three trees in a few years and they should be good sized already.

Finding the perfect places for the coconut trees.

On Abuelo's beach at his beach house. Dylan loves his "Bello."

In Cozamel just after getting our hair done.

45 minutes later we have three happy girls. No doing hair for the whole rest of the trip! Hooray! They still don't want to take out the braids. I had to redo a few today on Haley before going off to school, but she is quite attached to them.

In Playa de Carmen on the way to the boat to take us to Cozamel.

A cool fountain that the kids played in and got all wet.

Perfectly timed. A little fuzzy. All 3 were moving.
There was a playground at Playa de Carmen and after getting back from Cozamel they ran around and played with all the other kiddos for a while.

Day Six

Dad and Betti said that they would watch all the kids for the whole day while B and I went to X-Caret by ourselves. Good thing Betti's niece was going to come and help out too. I was VERY hesitant, but it was truly amazing just being there with B. We had quite the exotic adventure! This was definitely my type of romantic get away.

This is the HUGE X-Caret show where they played the ancient Mayan ball game with a 4 kilo rubber ball with only your hips! They even scored three times by getting the ball through these tiny holes on the wall. (You can see one behind the band on the left.) Then they played Fire Hockey where the ball was on fire. It was like Mayan Sports night!! Bummer no one got sacrificed after the games like in olden times. Then there was all the dancing. They sure know how to groove in Mexico.

We paid to eat dinner while watching the show. Some of the food was a little too fancy for us, but it was a great experience. The people to the left to us was from Sonora (where my mom lives) and the people to the right of us were from Argentina. The mango smoothie was the bomb.

Los caballos Mexicanos.
This was a fun show and was one of the shows that I think my kids would have really enjoyed.

The Authentic Mexican dances through the ages was so great and had all the favorites and all the ones I remember when I was younger. I even danced in one when I was in 3rd grade in Mexico. Those were the days... my girls would have loved this. Next time I will bring my kiddos with us.

And this is a TALL Mayan. The Mayan warrior dances were the best! They made the hats big to make them look taller.

Seriously creepy. Seriously cool. They lit the circle on the ground and put out the fires with their feet and the huge jaguar head on the big guys head was HUGE! Yes, that is a skeleton man and they yelled and drummed a lot.

Here's a baby sea turtle peeking his head out... This is one of my favorite pictures I took.

The giant sea turtles came to greet us.

X-Caret cove from our seats where we ate lunch. This is one of the places we snorkeled and saw amazing fish and even a few barracudas. Thankfully they were not hungry.

B. Open your eyes! This is the second pic I took of this same post and in both pics his eyes are closed. Get this boy some sunglasses! The splash behind him is a blowhole that shoots water into the air about 20 feet.

Day Seven

We hung out with Betti and my sister in the morning, swam in the pool, then took off for Chichen-itsa in the afternoon. We got there, set up camp at this deserted Hotel that was truly OUTSTANDING for $30 a night and went to the light show. (The lighting was really bad, so no pics of that.) The girls were a little scared with all the loud scary music and the scary scenery, but they held in there until the end.

Just another day in paradise. A hammock and a sucker. What more can a boy want?

Brandon's favorite spot.

In Abuelo's pool in his backyard.

My Mayan princesses in their new dresses in Abuelo's backyard.

Day Eight

We got an early start on the ruins and two hours later we were done. Bing bang boom! Then we went back to the Hotel to swim and went to a really great restaurant for lunch. That poor town by Chichen-itsa is deserted because of all the tour companies monopolizing the hotels closer to the ruins. 3 min. closer. We went home and had Betti and the Girls over again to play.

What the? This is the cinote where they sacrificed all the prettiest young women draped in gold so it helped them sink to the bottom so that they can have some good rainfall. What were they thinking? They should have thrown the ugliest. That was their downfall. They sacrificed all their BEST and SMARTEST people.

Dylan's favorite Mayan pastime. Throwing old rocks. He didn't want to see them so much. He'd rather throw them.

The butterfly hanging thing that Haley and Maleia wanted. Of course it's not so great to let the guy know how much you want it when negotiating a price. We'll have to work on it girls.

In front of the ancient Mayan Observatory. They used to have a telescope and everything. And the English said that they invented it... geesh! It's like the Hungarians think they invented the wheel. :)

Resting from all that walking. Good thing we went early in the morning before all the crowds and before it got too hot.

Haley loved those jaguars. We ended up buying a carved jaguar head, a mask, a sun/moon decoration, a black onyx knife, and one of those butterfly hanging things.

The snake heads at the end of all the steps everywhere were just way too inviting.

Abuelo and the crew. 365 steps in all. They don't let us climb it anymore, but I remember climbing it twice in my lifetime. Those big wusses! So a few people fell. Big deal.

Our Chapman family at one of the 7 Modern Wonders of the World.

We stayed at a hotel in Chichen-itsa the night before we actually toured the ruins and saw the night show this night. We call it the kitty hotel because the owner has about 20 cats roaming the place.
This is how we roll in Mexico. The breakfast of champions.
Fruity Loopies. No bowls. No spoons. No milk.
Straight up!

Day Nine

Betti and her girls (including my sister) left to go visit Betti's mom in Merida. :( It was sad knowing that I wouldn't see them for a long, long time.

We went to the Tulum Ruins and just enjoyed doing all that stuff there. The Beach was wonderful, the pool was the perfect temperature, and we ate Subway for the 5th time.

The entrance to the Tulum Ruins with a Mayan gardener out front.

Padre's signs before they get demolished. He already sold Senor Frosty's and hopefully the two Subways will be sold soon.

Yo y mi esposo en frente de las ruinas grandes y muy bellas.
B esta muy guapo, si?

Mi padre y yo en frente de las ruinas rotos.

Hola hijos??! Mira aqui ahorita!

Oy! Son los thres monos.

La Familia de Chapman esta cerca de la playa Tulum. B necesita los anteojos de sol. El sol es muy fuerte aqui en Tulum. Gracias a Dios por un fuerte viento tambien.

Mira a la iguana larga! Haley no le gusta pero Maleia piensas esta es interesante. El nombre es "Charlie" dice mi padre.

El tren! El tren! Este es la favorita cosa de Dylan aqui in Tulum. "Choo! Choo!" dice Dylan todo el tiempo en el tren.

Las Mayas Locas!! These were the crazy Mayan men who sang and danced on little platforms on top of this huge pole while the platform moved around in a circle, then they connected themselves to ropes and twirled upside down around and around until reaching the ground. They are either really crazy or really drunk. Maybe both.

We ate at Subway 6 times while we were there! No complaints here. This is the one at the ruins, but we ate at the one in the city of Tulum more often.

Day Ten

We cleaned, packed, swam, and ate at Subway for the last time. Then off to Cancun to see the sights. We shopped at WalMart, and then ate at another amazing Mexican restaurant and slept in a hotel that night.

Cheesy Mexican sombrero pic in a delicious Mexican restaurant.

And just because you can't see his sweet face in the group picture, here's one of the big boy. He wasn't so sure about this giant hat. Sombreros son muy machos, Dylan!
(I know my Spanish is terrible. Humor me.)

Day Eleven

Because of our 8am departure, we were up really early. I threw up on the first flight (motion sickness) and we had a couple others with other tummy issues. It was great that I have good travelers and they were still good despite the circumstances. Three airplanes later, we were home. Our amazing friend picked us up in our own van and transported us home. Holly is amazing. Muchas Gracias!

It feels good to be home and being able to eat a home-cooked meal and get our bellies back to normal. Our bodies are still out of whack (I only had ONE hour of sleep last night) but it is so worth it. Jet lag is another story. Ug!!

Haley still does not want to take her braids out. Maleia woke up and asked if we can go to the beach. I said, "There are no beaches in Hungary." And she replied, "That's not appropriate!" Ditto beach babe. Ditto.

Did I say "less words, more pictures?" My bad.