CENOTE HOPPING

Our first port was Cozumel, though we didn't set foot on the island. We grabbed a tender over to the mainland to join a Cenote Hopping tour along the Riviera Maya. Our tour took us to the Mayan Villiage at Cenotes Tankah, where we swam in three different cenotes and ziplined over a fourth (which was the largest by far - it was like a lake). The zipline was an unplanned "bonus", and while I was scared leading up to each of the three zips, it was really fun (and obviously, beautiful). Robyn treated me to this excursion for my birthday and it was quite the amazing gift - thank you!

The view of the beach (and gorgeous clear blue water) at Playa del Carmen

Cenote #1, where we cliff jumped and swam (and I'd wished I'd brought my snorkel):

 Cenote #2, where the bats flew overhead and the little fish nibbled our feet:

 Cenote #3, where we ziplined into the water (nobody jumped off the high cliff):

And then we hiked through the forest to the village where we had a traditional lunch, followed by strong Mayan coffee:

After lunch, we went over to the zipline/canoe adventure!

(They gave us these awesome manzanita "hooks" to help turn ourselves back to forward-facing and to slow down near the end of the line - wish I had these at all zipline tours - I hate going backwards!)

 After the canoe, we had some time to just hang in the shade...

 And by the time we got back to the boat, we took a quick dip in the pool, then dressed up for dinner, followed by a really entertaining comedy show!

DAY AT SEA

Plenty of time in the sun and a couple extra drinks!

CRUISING INTO THE SUNSET

Luckily, after the late night sugar shenanigans, we were able to start our vacation by sleeping in (by our standards, anyway) before we needed to get ready for Sandra's daughter's wedding and board the cruise ship. The wedding group had early boarding privileges, which was really nice (we were on the boat before the terminal ever got crowded). We dropped our luggage in the mother-and-father-of-the-bride's room and went to explore the ship.

 Sandra and Robyn watching the father-daughter dance:

 Did you know that it takes almost 8 hours to go from the NOLA cruise terminal to the end of the Mississippi River channel in a cruise ship? Neither did I. We wanted to see some of the tiniest towns down there in southernmost Louisiana, but it was dark by the time we got there. I took some other photos on the way down of the various ships and swamp and sunset, but just imagine darkness with a surprising number of oil platforms lit up at midnight for the "end of the line" photos.

 I did not ride the waterslide on board every day (but I did 4 out of 5 evenings!)

BEIGNETS WITH MY BEST BUD

After picking the kids up from school and taking them for our traditional Friday ice cream treat (if good behavior and good test scores are accomplished that week), we met Jay at the coffee shop, exchanged the kids and our goodbyes, and I headed down to NOLA to meet Robyn for a night on the town before our Yucatan Cruise departed the next day. After an interesting (and good!) dinner with her cousin at Cochon (and a little gambling at Harrah's to earn free overnight parking), we made a midnight trek over to Cafe DuMonde for cafe au laits (well, hot chocolate for Robyn, because like Christina, she doesn't drink coffee) and our own orders of beignets (we had no intention of sharing!)

 It was a really fun night! The only problem was the unexpected reminder that we're not as young as we used to be... coffee and sugary donuts at midnight do not sit well on 40-ish-year-old tummies! It's OK though, they were worth it (and the tummy trouble didn't last long thanks to the mini medicine cabinets that 40-ish-year-olds travel with!)

CORPS DAY 2017 SHENANIGANS

We started Corps Day off with the annual Corps Day 5K Essayons Challenge (basically a hilly trail 5K with 6 stations of body weight exercises dispersed throughout, plus a tire flip near the end). Neither of us moved very fast (and therefore neither of us won any medals), but Jay had done Bootcamp at 5:00am this morning and I was saving some for my 4:30pm Bootcamp...

No worries though, we had fun. Or "fun", since Jay commented that we may need to discuss our  definition of fun... After quick showers and a trip to Kroger, we were back at the party ready to cheer on the EL Ragball team, sample some baked goods and chili in their respective competitions, and enjoy a day outside with our coworkers (and a couple of beers).

 Squats all day, because they don't rap about small butts! ;-)

LITTLE WHITTLER

The Bear Scouts started their whittling badge tonight and James has been looking forward to this moment since last year! First they reviewed what they had learned at their first couple of meetings this year about knife safety, then said the oath before getting started:

 First night of whittling? Much to James and the other Bears' disappointment - no real knives (just plastic butter knives). Safety first though, and they needed to learn some basic techniques. On soap. (Yup, no wood either - James understood the necessity of practicing before earning his badge and getting his very own real knife in reward, thankfully.)

 Practicing "stop cuts" and other techniques. He eventually made a kitty cat head (with mama's help).

SCHOOL PICTURE DAY 2017

The kids were happy not to have to wear uniforms for school pictures this year. Well, honestly, James probably didn't care one way or the other. He shrugged his shoulders in agreement at the first shirt I suggested. Cora, on the other hand, was almost ecstatic to get to wear a fancy dress! Of cousre, I had to talk her down from the Wonder Woman dress, promising her that the WW wouldn't show in the photo anyway since it's just a head-and-shoulders shot and that the baby blue looked so pretty with her hair... She agreed, as long as I agreed to let her wear her hair down (NO BOW and NO CLIP MAMA!) As I was blow-drying her hair after her shower, she looked in the mirror and told me she looked like a teenager. And then I blinked back tears because I can see it coming too... Seven going on seventeen, for sure..

CUB SCOUT CRAFTS

The boys worked double-time on crafts tonight, first planting seeds to create their very own herb garden, then painting plates for the shoot-out carnival game they're Den is creating for next weekend's campout.

(That's a chicken worth 10 points, a bull worth 100, and a lion worth 205)

GIRL SCOUT STORIES

I had my first leadership opportunity at our Girl Scout meeting today. We read a couple of stories to work on our Girl Scout Way badge and start our Journeys book, then created a mural of the Flower Friends we'd read about. The girls were so sweet and well behaved for me (and actually involved in the lessons) - I'm really excited for this year!

ANGOLA PRISON RODEO

Ever heard of a prison rodeo? Well, this one is of national fame. Maybe it's the only one? I don't know, but it was a pretty fun experience! We started the day nice and early for the 2.5 hour drive to the Louisiana State Penitentiary (AKA Angola and "The Alcatraz of the South"), since the HobbyCraft area opened at 9:00am. Other than the inmate rodeo itself (the prisoners compete in all events except for the barrel racing, for which a touring group of cowgirls competes), the big draw to the Angola Rodeo is the huge flea market type sales beforehand, where all crafts are made and sold by the prisoners themselves (some barter from behind guarded fences, some roam freely within their assigned "camp"). The crafts range from your typical flea market randomness and cheap jewelry to extremely well made outdoor furniture and beautiful paintings. We did not bring a trailer (maybe next year we'll return with one, or own a truck...) and thus did not leave with the gorgeous $400 rocking chair and table set we were eyeing (sorry, pictures not allowed, but we promise it was well worth the price), but the kids each picked out puzzle boxes and we splurged on a really cool Christmas decoration (a Santa carved from a Bald Cypress knee). We ate fair food, and the kids rode a mini ferris wheel and carousel, before we made our way into the stadium for the show.

Cotton candy was promised as a special treat and dance recital reward (we skipped the post production flowers in favor of candy at the kids request).

During the barrel racing event I explained to the kids that the girls were competing to see who could finish the course the fastest, so they started timing them. Jay's face is a reaction to the news that one of the bulls had gotten loose and was running amok in the fairgrounds (watching all the people come racing in and the inmates all running for higher ground made us quite happy to be up at the top of the stadium...)

Other than barrel racing, there were rodeo clowns (James' favorite part), bull riding (so much injury...), bareback riding, a wild horse chase (the first inmate team to capture a horse and get one of them up for a ride wins), a chariot race (not your typical chariot, but inmates pulled behind horses on sleds, where they attempted to stay seated and not spill their pitcher of Kool Aid...), calf wrestling (Cora was not pleased with this event - she thought the inmates were being really mean to those baby cows), convict poker (where the inmates sat around a poker table while a bull was released into the ring - the last inmate sitting wins), and the big finale, Guts & Glory (where a poker chip is attached to the forehead of a huge Brahma bull and the inmates ALL compete to try and grab the chip, worth $500 to the winner). We would totally go back to this rodeo with family if they visit in October or mid-April - we can't say we've ever seen anything else like it!

When the show ended, we let the kids ride the carousel again, then hit the road north, arriving in Natchez just in time for dinner at our favorite restaurant there (The Camp) and some sunset pictures in front of the bridge (where they've planted a plethora of wildflowers).

We had a busy and exciting weekend, and while we know we'll be tired this coming week, it was totally worth it. Once soccer ends, we'll need to sneak away for a night or two, just the four of us. Maybe a camping trip (since we'll miss the Cub Scout campout this month). It's really nice to step away from our routine and just have fun together!