Juan Familia en Mexico

Daniel and I can no longer fully relate to James Taylor's "Mexico" with the deep feeling we used to. We have really been, but we would sure like to go (again). The whole John family flew into Cancun for what I will boldly name the first ever John Family Reunion.

The House
We stayed in a gorgeous house in Playa del Carmen. It was about a mile from downtown "Playa" and lived up to all its hype. It had plenty of room, great AC, comfortable beds, and lots of things to do.
The front
The pool after a day of playing "don't hit the beach ball down into the cenote with the turtles". Daniel kept picking up the turtles and saying he was going to put them on me. Oh, so scary.
The semi-circle shaped window is the room we slept in. It had great vaulted ceilings, a walk-in closet, and a huge bathroom.
The view from the roof deck. The beach is between the trees, just below the clouds.
The living room with the kitchen in the background.
The walk to the beach from the back of the house. There were some houses right on the beach, but we didn't mind the 100 yard walk.

TULUM
Tulum was about an hour away from the house. The setting was amazing with the ruins overlooking the beach. Even the Mayans knew prime real estate when they saw it.
Breathtaking
Look closely to see all the detail carved into the building
The beach below the ruins
The waves were great.
So great that everyone just had to wave their arms.
Juan Familia- 2008- Anthony & Carrie, Hillary, Matt, Alicia, Meredith & Steven, Dad & Mom, us

XEL-HA
This is an eco water park. We snorkeled, floated on tubes, cliff jumped, swam, ate (a lot!), and generally had a good time. We had an encounter with what I am convinced was a huge mean fish who wanted to eat me. He was swimming at the surface of the water right by us and he did not move when we got close. This was probably our favorite day but we don't have any pictures yet because we only used the underwater disposable camera. If there are any good ones you can be sure we'll share.

CHICHEN ITZA
These ruins were about 3 hours away from the house so we left early one morning to beat the heat and the tourists.
Seriously, how did they do it? Four square miles of amazing stone structures.Just to give you an idea how big they are. And no, we didn't climb up the stairs. Tourists are not allowed on the ruins anymore.
The group walking to the next site.
One of my favorite pictures from the day. Click on it to enlarge
Oh wait, no maybe this one is my favorite.
Nope, this might be the best. Thanks for the trip Mom!
The wall of skulls.
Matthew really enjoyed the day. Probably thinking about Arrested Development here.
The observatory where they studied the stars.

DOWNTOWN PLAYA DEL CARMEN
We had a great dinner right on the beach. The setting, the food, and the company were awesome.


OUR BEACH
There was a beach resort we thought we would go to, but this small beach right by the house was perfect for our needs. The white sand was the softest ever. I love swimming in Caribbean water! Though it was a bit salty so we were sticky when we got out. We would walk back home and jump in the pool the rinse off.

We dragged chairs, boogie boards, noodles, and a floating chair from the house and had a great time.

THE VAN
We rented this awesome 12 passenger van. Perhaps the most exciting news of the trip is that my dad did not get pulled over!

As you can see, it was probably the best trip we can ever hope to go on. Believe it or not, I DO have more pictures if you want to see them.
Much thanks to the John parents for for making it all possible.

To see more pictures look at Meredith's blog

Texas Trip

I am finally getting to our trip to Texas. We did get back about a month ago, but it was a great trip and it deserves a post. WARNING: ANOTHER LONG POST

THE DRIVE

We drove 21 hours straight from Utah to Texas with Carolyn Nielson the First and Whitney.

Ok so Daniel did some driving, I just rode (Yup, that is me sleeping on my own lap. My legs were numb for hours after that.) Daniel took a ton of random pictures along the way, like the one below, but I must have slept through the inside jokes that go along with them. He can make a post with the 25 pictures he took of things by the side of the road.

One thing that definitely needs to be addressed? The smells by the New Mexico-Texas border. I don't think I breathed through my nose for at least an hour.

THE GUADALUPE
We stayed at a great house down on the Guadalupe River for a few days. The house had everything:

a rope swing into the river,
great hair,
great scenery, a floating dock to lay out on, (the Carolyn Nielsons had their stuff kayaked to them)
amazing food,
the after math of one of our delicious dinners was all I got a picture of

kayaks,
this is Daniel kayaking away from the floating dock after bringing us cool refreshing beverages

fishing,

paddle boats,
a field for puppering,

if you don't know what puppering is, I can't help you

a water slide into the river,
and more!
Other things not pictured include a community pool, comfortable beds, and a great/dangerous rock for doing group cannonballs off of. We were never bored.

BARTON SPRINGS
Since we hadn't had enough swimming, we went to Barton Springs, a watering hole in Austin that was formed when Barton Creek was dammed. The water is cold and, well, nature-y. I couldn't help but voice my disdain as clumps of a moss-like substance touched me.


RAY WYLIE HUBBARD CONCERT/TEXAS HISTORY MUSEUM

Daniel found out about a free Ray Wylie Hubbard concert in downtown Austin by the Texas History Museum. We toured the museum for a little while and then relaxed on the grass while Mr. Hubbard presented his vocal stylings. The concert brought out the most diverse of crowds like only a free concert can do. (Well except for maybe a free concert in Utah)
It was a surprisingly small crowd.
It only took about 10 minutes to get this picture right.
Click on this to make it larger and see our expressions.
But we really can take nice pictures. It's a Carolyn Nielson sandwich!

MIGHTY FINE
We tried out this new hamburger place. It was quite the event. Mighty Fine did not disappoint. The fries were my favorite.

On top of great food, they had a hand washing machine. I did it twice. Look at my triceps.

DRIVING RANGE
The Nielson men headed over the driving range while the women attended Mama Mia!


Other trip highlights include seeing The Dark Knight at midnight in the front row, eating at great restaurants, having diet coke with fresh lime at Chuy's (it's the best-especially when served by a waiter named Miami), watching two seasons of Arrested Development, getting free muffins from Mimi's Cafe, and attempting to play tennis multiple times. Thanks for making it all possible Nielson parents!
We had a great time! When are you going to buy a house on the Guadalupe Tom and Carolyn?