But tell me how you really feel?

When Layla gets frustrated in anyway, she immediately attacks with her mouth.  Her mouth leads her whole body in a brisk search for something to bite.  It's hilarious.  Well, only when it doesn't land on somebody and bite them.  Except sometimes I still laugh when it lands on her own arm or shoe or something.

The other day Cadence and I had this conversation (some of you saw this on facebook already):

Cadence: Mom, can I take this rock (found in parking lot which we were walking through) home?

Mom: Sure.

Cadence: You're the best, Mom!

Mom: Oh, thanks!

Cadence: and the prettiest! (nuzzles her cheek up to my hand as we walk)

Mom: Thank you!

Cadence: And that really means something, because most days I don't even like you!

Mom:  (ahem!) thanks?

And tonight, as we left a friend's house, and she was not happy about leaving, she said this to me:

"Mom, I almost just told you that you are THE MEANEST MOM OF ALL."

Me: "Oh..." Not sure how to respond to that, actually...

Cadence: "And then I was also about to say to you that I HATE YOU, but I didn't."

I was laughing to myself because I have a conversation like this with Spencer all the time:

Me: *innocently comments on something harmless to my husband*

Spencer: *opens his mouth to speak and then doesn't*

Me: *looks inquisitively at him*

Spencer: "Oh, man.  I was about to say something that would make you so mad!  But I didn't.   Good job, me.  Okay, wanna know?  Oh, you do too!" *Says it anyway, gets punched in the arm*

Yesterday I took Campbell and Cadence with me to visit a friend from church.  As we talked, I noticed a strange calm and my spider senses were tingling like crazy.  I stood up and ran around the whole house looking for Campbell.  I ran outside and couldn't find her.  I told Cadence to open every door in the house and yell campbell's name as loud as she could.  Then the three adults ran around the neighborhood looking.  I was panicking.  Bad guys, cars, ditches, pools, mean dogs, my mind was racing.  Saeng found her 4 houses down in the back yard on a little swingset back there!  Ah!  My heart was about to explode.

she was so angry when I took her away from the swingset that she screamed the whole way and as I buckled her into her carseat she scratched my arm up pretty bad. and lectured her over and over again about why that was not acceptable.  After a couple go-rounds of the what-fer, she said in an emotionally heavy, quieted (so unusual) tone, "But Mom, don't you love me?"  and I got right in her face and told her that I loved her and that was why I was so worried about her.  Her reply was in a much more assertive tone: "But I DON"T LIKE YOU."  Oh, thank you for clearing that up.

Recently at dinner Cadence pointed to herself and then to me and said "We're the moms."  Uh, huh.  WE are, huh?  This makes a lot of sense out of our major power clashes then.  Then she said, "Campbell and Daddy are the Dads."  Oh, why is Cam a Dad and not a Mom?  "Because she's a BOY."  I asked Campbell if she was a boy or a girl.   Campbell answered quite confidently "BOY!"   Okay, well, at least for once they are getting along!

AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.     I feel like I'm surrounded by drama, emotion, shouts of accusations (It's YOUR fault that I'm yelling at you because you were talking mean to me!!!!  YOU DON"T LIKE ME because I chose this outfit!!!  etc.)   Any tips on simmering down the drama around here? 

At least they are getting plenty of practice expressing their feelings.  It's never too early for that :) 

_____________________________

Per Melanie's comment:  I don't just think of when Dad would puff his chest up and smile maliciously at the accusation of being a mean parent, I actually FEEL that way!! For better or for worse, Dad's words come through me like they are mine, "I LOOOOOVE being mean!"  

and per Caitlin: I basically do tell Cadence that if I were always nice she would grow up to be a lame adult.  but I haven't been that specific.  Maybe I should! :)

Mother Nurture

I've had some thoughts on mothering lately.  As some of you know, I'm a mother.  You may also know that I am not always cheerful, my house is almost never clean, the laundry is certainly never finished, I feed my kids frozen pizza once a week, and my excuse for all this is not that I'm really talented at crafting or quilting or anything for that matter.  I just never get it all done.  Even my blog is not what I want it to be  (and it's my escape).

That's okay, right? My kids are what matters most.  But then, even in that regard, I feel like I'm a failure sometimes (muchtimes).  So, kids who's mothers are tooooo good grow up to be weaklings, right? :)

Okay, now that I got that off my chest, thoughts:

Last week some friends and I were at the park with our kids for our weekly playgroup.  A group of 4th graders (about 3 or 4 classes worth) came to the park for a picnic and some recess while they were having a field trip.  This, of course, resulted in a hundred 10-year-olds running like wild animals around the playground where all our preschoolers are used to being in charge.  The fun thing was that a couple of the girls in our ward were there.  These girls are babysitters in training, and take it seriously.  They LOVE babies and single out the little ones at every church function (including church).   These girls are so sweet and nurturing--and I noticed that day--a little more mature than their cohorts. 

As Sydney and Kirsten took over the care and watch of my kids and ran around introducing them to their friends, I got the chance to sit back and observe a little.  And for the next hour or so, this is what I saw:

Remember the little Woolly Willy (was that it?) thing? little magnet shavings and a magnet stylus.  As you drag the stylus around, you see the shavings clump around it, follow it around, until it gets too crowded, then some drop off, others join.  Okay-- 4th grade girls + babies.  No exaggeration.

I noticed that many of the boys noticed the little ones just enough to leap a little higher or dodge them most of the time.  That was the extent.  One boy from our ward, Obadiah (who reminds me of a little Spencer), saw me and smiled as he ran like the wind around the swingset and off to some other place.  I thought it was sweet :)

And when it was time for the grade-schoolers to leave, the girls said their good-byes.  And then again.  And then ran back again for final hugs and chit chat with the little ones.  Their little seedling nurturers were so fulfilled, you could just see it.
___________________________________

Okay, more thoughts.  I told Spencer that for Mother's Day weekend, I wanted to finally plant my garden.  It was a gorgeous weekend.  It was the weekend of the fathers/sons campout.  It was a rare weekend where no prior engagements were made.  PERFECT for gardening, I thought.  PERFECT for CAMPING, Spencer thought.  But he put those plans aside immediately when he realized how excited I was to garden (an understanding for which feelings he lacks entirely).  Instead, he played with the kids and ran errands with them all day while I did my entire garden!

(There it is, little baby garden.  I hope it turns into a grown up one.  I was given the advice to cover it with weed cloth since it gets 40 million weeds every time you turn around.  Do you think it's going to work?)
It was the moment after I had dumped 2 bags of compost/fertilizer and some peat moss over it and was half-way through turning all the soil and mixing it together that I had a grand feeling.  I was HOT. Parched.  My arms were starting to ache.  I was getting sunburnt.  I was worried about getting it all done in time.  And my heart was soaring.  I was feeling on top of the world. 

And my thoughts turned to my parents.  Have you seen their yard?  It is Eden, friends.  I ought to have wedding pictures back there, but somebody invited the rain.  Lame.

Anyway, their yard.  And guess who totally resodded that yard?  Laid the sprinkling system?  Put in rock walls? Laid the rock stairway? Framed the barn (okay, it's a shed)? Painted it?  Me! 

Well, actually, them.  But we all helped.  And we all spent years in their "school of hard workers".  Accomplishment.  Sweat, dirt, trial and error, improvement, WORK.   We worked together in the yard and garden most weekends, I think. I remember finding out about a joke that my friends had behind my back about my parents having kids as slaves because we had to work more than anybody else.

 And now that I'm a parent, I imagine that most of those times, the "help" we were providing wasn't as valuable as I thought it was, when you consider ill-followed instructions, whining, arguing, sibling fighting, and probably a lot of Disney songs sung out of tune.  Maybe my parents thought to themselves, as I'm already finding myself doing, thinking they would rather let us off the hook and do it on their own.  But they didn't.  Ever :)

And now I love and value work.  And I really enjoyed that moment to myself when all those memories came back to me, and I was filled with gratitude for all those fulfilling times when I could have been off sitting around with my friends trying to come up with something "to do".  Gosh, I hope as a mom I have the strength to do that for my kids.

_________________________________

I mentioned that Spencer gave me all the gardening time I desired.  Here are some other ways he and the girls made Mother's Day Special:

-I woke up to sweet smells from the kitchen.  What was it?  Oreo-jelly bean-m&m waffles (whole wheat, of course!)  topped with marshmellow cream, peanut butter, caramel sauce, and whipped cream.  Oh, hello, Heaven.

-At church, the primary sang two songs, including one of my all time favorites (and a given for Mother's Day) "Mother I Love You" (you may  have heard my more saucy version? No? Oh, that's too bad.  I used to try to butter my mom up so she would let me stay out late or go to that concert, stuff like that.)  Anyway, she told me the week before that she was going to sing so loud that I would cry.  Happy tears, of course.  What she actually did was similar to her dance recital where she was stiff as a board.  She just stared right at Luke, the boy next to her, the entire time.  As in, you could see her profile only, and her nose was practically resting on Luke's cheek.  Luke tried to stay focused but felt a little awkward.  Points for your efforts, Luke.

Layla was theeee most excited member of the congregation for this musical number and showed it enthusiastically, by clapping continuously for about a minute straight while hootin' and hollerin' (screaming "whoooooo! yeah!!")  It was hilarious, and I didn't even try to quiet her down.  It was MY day, after all.

-At church, Spencer sang "Love At Home" a cappella with seven other men in the ward, all of whom have wonderful voices, including one of the guys from "Inside Out" (BYU A cappella).  It was absolutely beautiful and I was so proud of him for doing that for me.  He doesn't always get recognized as having the best singing voice, but his mom and I always love to hear him belting it out.  Layla hollered "daddy!" a lot, but apparently the novelty had worn as she didn't scream and cheer like before.

-At church the kids were perfect angels!  Campbell only tried to escape about 40 times.  Layla bit each sister.  There were goldfish everywhere.  Brother Williams, sitting closest to us on the bench, got kicked repeatedly.  Oh, and Layla chucked her shoe, which bounced off of Brother Smith's forehead and somehow landed three rows back in a teenage boy's hands!  The kids were so crazy, Spencer and I didn't even notice.  Reports trickled in after the meeting ended.

-After church, Spencer made dinner, completely on his own.  Well, with lots of help from Cadence.  They cooked it out in the fire pit. He made a rub from scratch and made some seriously good pork loin with "hobo Joes" (tinfoil veggies).  It was surprisingly smashingly good!

-We just got a new laptop which has a camera in it, so we videoskyped with our moms for the first time.  The kids got all weird and "skyper" (clever little word my mom invented to describe their behavior).  They were like, roaring like lions and getting all up in the laptop's grill, shreiking with excitement.   You know, the usual.  Campbell was like an alarm--every 60 seconds she would say "Happy Mother's Day!".

 Zavian was visiting my parents and so he told us all about the cars he likes--something about the red Corvette, Herbie, and a Mustang.  We got to see Aunt Mikee before she runs off to Alaska for the summer.  We "met" my foster sister Amber for the first time (looking so cute and pregnant!), and we mostly just shared our chaos. 

On the Clive line, we got to see John's adorable smile and tell him "Happy Mother's Day" a bunch of times, see Mamaw sporting the necklace Cadence made to her, and ask Gramps if he is still "at the airport (Campbell is still sure he's there waiting for us).  We screamed and roared a little less, which was nice.  Mamaw is so good at asking the right questions to the girls and getting them talking.  We loved getting to video chat!

-By the time we were done skyping, it was way past bedtime.  Layla had already gone down, and the big girls were just beside themselves with emotions they couldn't understand.  The both hung all over me and cried through the entire prayer.  They both needed me to carry them up to bed.  So I did.  It was my day, and I wanted to.  So there.  They were not happy with the arrangement, somehow.

Cadence has work ethic in her blood.  She looooves to work.  And she loooves to boss people around.  At least she's not a lazy tyrant.

What words can I use to caption this picture?  LOVE it.

Andrea recently facebooked about letting your children dress themselves and how wonderful it is.  Yep. 

-I don't think Spencer got a single thing done on his own to-do list this weekend.  He literally spent his entire weekend doing whatever I wanted to do, or serving me in some way.  I feel special.

How The Other Half Lived

(Warning: this post contains heavy utilization of italics.  heavy.)

Hey Gramps, last week Spencer went on a quick business trip and mentioned to the kids that they'd see him the next night when we get him at the airport.  The rest of the day Campbell begged to go to the airport so we could play with Daddy and Gramps.  Apparently, she thinks that we took you there and there you stayed.  But the point is, she misses you.

The kids had so much fun when Gramps was here.  They loved it!  And Gramps gained a whole new perspective into what it's like to be me.  And it wore him out, which is a little bit validating. 

When we returned from our fun in the sun, he told me several times that my life is too stressful because death is waiting at every turn for these kids: the front door is too easily opened by Campbell, and before you know it, both little ones are running in opposite directions down the street; the kitchen! (enough said); the ladder on the swing set is Layla's personal favorite spot to play preschool roullette, and the stairs, bathrooms, bookshelves...the toddlers are always in peril. 

Yep, he's right.  That's my life with two little ones who are both in that stage, always going in opposite directions (and it will be yours, Elisabeth, pretty soon!).  So he took Spencer to the hardware store and they found gates and other things to make my life easier.  He really wanted to make my day-to-day a little easier!

We loved receiving his email updates each day in Cozumel.  They were hilarious.  You want to see them?  Of course you do.  They capture the week pretty well:

MONDAY REPORT:

I had a ball with your beautiful kids yesterday.




Lowlight of the day was stopping for happy meals at McDonalds after dropping you guys at the airport. Unquestionably more food on the ground than in the kids stomachs. When it was time to go, I went to get Layla out of her high chair and as I was doing it I heard a commotion at the door – looked up and saw that Cadence had tackled Campbell to the ground (literally) because Campbell was trying to go out to the car before Layla and I got there. I have decided not to let the kids out of their room for the rest of the week.


Highlight of the afternoon was your playdough ice cream factory. Cadence essentialy informed everyone that there were not 10 commandments that God handed Moses – it was actually 11 with the first and most important being “Thou shalt not mix colors of play dough!” She had much cause to rent her clothes and gnash her teeth at the sinfulness of her two sisters.


Early-evening blockbuster highlight was MOVIE NIGHT featuring, as Campbell called it, “Rapunzel” (Tangled). Even Layla was deeply involved. So involved that she managed to either turn off the TV or stop the DVD at least 5 times during the movie as she would find one remote or another.

We decided that it would be an excellent night to camp out .. we chose to “camp on the tramp!” I shouldn’t have told the girls about having heard an owl all night during my Friday camp out with my scouts in the Mojave desert – Campbell asked me about owls, and witches and ghosts at least 6 times before we fell asleep. Highlights: Cadence playing Miley Cyrus as bed time music; seeing a satellite fly across the sky and I was able to teach Cadence how to tell satellites from shooting stars. Campbell woke up in the middle of the night crying for mom & dad (“OK, they’ll be here Friday”) but after reassuring her a ton of times she fell back asleep. When we woke up in the AM, there was frost on Spencer’s sleeping bag. Overall Cadence says she loved it and Campbell is now less enthusiastic about the experience. By the way, we handled Layla by putting my bedroom window open and having the intercom on loud by the window so we could hear it outside. Layla had a great night.


Now on to day 2!


Have a ball at the toy store in Missouri!  (Where Cadence said we were going on our trip).


CLIFF CLIVE


TUESDAY REPORT:


Tuesday was terrific.




Cadence and I decided that an outstanding way to invest our week would be to invent the greatest type of pancakes in the history of the world. After brainstorming a while we realized we had insufficient ingredients in our house to achieve such a lofty objective. Only solution: a trip to Walmart. Contrary to the warnings I had received in advance of attempting such a feat with three little girls, I found it very simple – just throw Campbell and Layla into the cart as if they were groceries. Only downside was accepting that several of our purchases would have bite marks on them as the kids attempted to gnaw through the wrappers.


So, yesterday we launched our invention quest with two recipes entirely from Cadence’s mind:


� Neon Gummy Glow Worm pancakes with whipped cream, cherry syrup and colored sprinkles on top.

� Same as above, but with Jelly Beans inside the pancakes.




Today the quest continued for breakfast which featured:


� Trail mix pancakes (almonds removed) with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and M&Ms on top (Cadence all the way)


� Hot dog & cheese (Queso Fresco) pancakes with maple syrup on top (my invention)


So far, here are the rankings:


       Cadence                       Campbell & Layla                  Gramps
#1   Neon glow worms         It’s all good                          Hot Dog Cheese


#2  Jelly Bean                       “                                          Neon Gummy Glow Worms (fantastic but a pain to cook as they melt like crazy. Using our new 4-color sugar sprinkle applicator you get a georgeous 4-color toping … another Cadence invention … see attached photo)


#3  Hot Dog Cheese            “                                           Jelly Bean (Pretty bad)


#4   Trail Mix                       “ though the M&M sprinkles were probably Layla’s highlight of the entire experience to-date   Trail Mix (Pretty bad – buts that’s the way it goes!)
                               


Low Lights of the day:


As with most male-female interactions, patterns in our interactions begin to emerge and that deja-vu experience begins cropping up frequently in interactions. This happens many times in my conversations with Campbell. Example: (she wanted to bring her pacifier on the drive to Cadence’s school, I asked her to put it back in her bed, she refused, I removed it from her mouth and threw it on her bed at which point she began whining severely)


Gramps: “I don’t want to hear it”
Campbell: “WELL I JUST WANT TO HEAR IT!!!!!”


Fresh new insight: Might it be that males and females are wired fundamentally differently? …that it may be that full understanding of each other is impossible, at least prior to the resurrection?

Last night before bath time Cadence came running up to me and pointed to a 1/2 centimeter long scratch on her toe:


Cadence: “I hurt my toe!”
Gramps: “Great”
Cadence: “No, I said I have a scratch on my toe!”
Gramps: “Great”
Cadence: “Why is it great that I have a scratch on my toe?!?”
Gramps: “Because this gives you the chance to become tougher!”
Cadence: “But it might hurt when I put my toe in the bath!”
Gramps: “You are thinking about this way too much, just focus on something else”
Cadence: realizes there is no point to continuing the conversation and gets ready to bathe.



WEDNESDAY REPORT:
You guys may be having an adventuresome time but AR is pretty happenin’ today! There was an earthquake this morning (4.5 on the richter scale – I felt nothing) and right now there is a tornado watch for Cook county!




Your three angels are doing great. Layla’s behavior towards me has really changed in that she is constantly coming up to me and hugging my knee – this didn’t happen during the first day or so. She and Cadence have slept thru every night whereas Campbell woke up both Monday night and last night. I was asleep in the guest room when at 2:30 I was awakened to a shouted “Where are you Gramps?”. I went into her room and she asked for a drink. After her drink she asked to change her PJ’s. I was thinking, wow, after 55 years of eternal progress, I have ended up as a room service boy on the night shift for a 2 year old!


Last night we had a movie night with Pizza – watched the Wizard of Oz. As I was putting the movie on I commented that this was one of the greatest movies ever made.


Cadence: “Yeah, but it’s not as good as “Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses”


Gramps: “Yeah, it’s not as good -- its way better!”


Cadence: “Just because it’s better for you doesn’t make it better for me.”


Gramps (thinking): “wow, so bright, so articulate, so beautiful, so quick … and so very wrong … much like Barak Obama”


The assault on my favorite kids movie of all time continued this AM. I asked Campbell what her favorite part of the Wizard of Oz” was, and she enthusiastically responded: “Rapunzel!!!”


This morning on our pancake safari, Cadence created blue pancakes (food coloring) with blue Peeps (Cadence cut them up) with blue frosting and whipped cream on top. She considered this creation one notch below her favorite (jelly bean pancakes). I would put them in third place behind neon glow worms and behind cheese/hot dog. See attached photos.

The play date at the Christiansens was a hit. Cadence decided she would rather play with the two girls across the street than go to see Gnomeo & Juliett yesterday so we canceled that babysitting appointment (one less favor owed).


Love you guys!



We love you, Gramps!!!  How many dads would do that for their kids?  Spend 5 full days and nights alone with 3 very energetic little kids?  We are so grateful for your willingness to do this for us, and that you did it so well and with so much love.  The kids miss you, and we wish we could have had more time to spend with you, too.  You are a wonderful, major factor in our family culture and we thank you for the diligence and dedication you put into raising your own family so that the characterisitics you value could be a part of our lives and (we're hoping) our children's lives.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

-Mard.

April Monsoons bring May....

uh, repairs?

It's been raining.  Like, more than my little Utah-girl self has ever seen.  I feel a little scared, like I should be getting ready to get the heck outta Dodge.   Rain.  Lighting for days.  Thunder that shakes the house, more than once in a year.  That doesn't happen in Utah. 

You know what else doesn't happen?  Hanging out in the walk-in fridge of Braum's (ice cream/burger joint) as a tornado shelter.  Literally, the fridge.  Thankfully, Spencer had gathered jackets and a picnic blanket we keep in the car, and we hunkered down in that cold, cold refrigerator for about 30 minutes while the tornado jumped around Bville! 

Afterward, the manager told us we could have any ice cream items we wanted for free, since we were so cooperative.  Uh, FREE?!?  Yes, please.  We enjoyed ourselves.

Our backyard turned into a river and I thanked my lucky stars I live near the top of a hill.  Our little tree in the back tipped on it's side as it's roots lost some ground.  Our trampoline floated away.  Oh, not really, but I swear I was waiting for it!The rain gutter was like a bathtub's faucet on full-blast.  Some serious PSI here, people.  (What, you didn't spend your teenage years working at a sprinkler store?  Water pressure.)

So, is the whole world having crazy weather?  Seems like it.  Maybe the Mayans are right. 2012 could really be the end of us all, if the weather is any sign of all h-e-double hockey sticks breaking loose.  Or is it that I grew up in a desert?

What's the weather like in your neck of the woods?

Bettermoon!

Remember when you were engaged and all you wanted to was to get married so you could finally just be alone, together, and do whatever you wanted to do?  Leave the worries and cares of wedding plans and family mergers (in-law adjustments) behind you, and finally spend some quality time with your favorite person in the world?

What did I think I needed to get away from back then?  When did we not get quality alone time together?  When did we need to actually plan to get a break so that we could enrich our relationship?

I'm telling you, a honeymoon 7 years and 3 kids later is WAAAAAAY BETTTTTERRRRR!!!!

Last week we did the best thing ever and we left the kids behind for FIVE DAYS with Spencer's dad.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Spencer's dad, usually referred to around here as "Gramps".

Since I'm not pregnant and all our kids are old enough to leave (barely), which hasn't happened, ever, and a fantastic neighbor of ours was willing to help us arrange travel itineraries, we planned a trip to Cozumel, Mexico!  Heaven!  Cozumel is just off the Yucatan Peninsula, about a 20 minute boat ride from Playa Del Carmen, which is about a 60 minute bus ride from Cancun, which is about the worst place on the planet, I think.  (It's like an international Vegas).  But south of Cancun is one of the best places in the world. 

After spending a week in worry mode, a week in hyperventilation mode, and a week in super-prep (and super-prayer) mode, I was ready to leave the kids behind with Gramps.  I knew the kids would have a lot of fun with Gramps, I just was worried that any of the million things that could go wrong every day, would-- while I was out of the country.   

So I made a ton of food and put it in tupperware, made lists for everything, and told them I loved them a million and two times each.   And when the time came, I was ready to say goodbye with nary a tear!

And then it was just me, my best friend in the whole world, and not even a cell phone to come between us!

 I held all the luggage because my poor husband had the responsibility of holding the camera.  Then I ended up with the camera because he was in the mood for a phone-game.  Ah, the things we do for love.

 First night: Playa Del Carmen.  Our hotel was cheap, but you'd never know it.  Oh, except I'm sure it wouldn't pass "code" if anybody were checking, and you had to pay extra for shampoo, it didn't even have a clock, and our "wake-up call" (which was supposedly a knock) never came.   But the towels were swans, so you know it was a classy establishment.

Spencer's such a sucker for romance.

Of course our first sight-seeing was to the Walmart of Playa.  We needed sunblock.  And flavors of yogurt you can't get in the states.  Plus, you know, Walmart. We're related.

Above: This is the scene just inside the parking lot under Walmart.  A local handicraft booth with festive music and decor.  Spencer also took a few photos of the impressive "health and wellness" department inside, (did you know that is his department for Walmart US?), but those might not be all that interesting...

Below: 7 am in Playa, not much foot traffic yet. We are headed out to meet our Adventure Tour group for a day of being awesome!

 First part of the tour: "mountain biking" (those bikes didn't even have gears, so it was more like "biking") to the zip lines.  Interesting: Spencer took this back-handed while riding in front of me.  Talk about high adventure!

 Getting ready for the ziplines.  I thought I was going to die.  Spencer secured his place as the "favorite" among the tour group by making a spectacle of himself each time.  You know, yelling, acting like he was running upside down, etc.  The usual crazy Clive stuff :)

 After the ziplines, we rappeled into a cenote (underwater cave lake).  I wasn't feeling so sure about this:

 But I did it.

 It was fun!

Below: After a CUH-RAZY ride in some 50-year-old all-terrain army truck type thing, where-in we all thought we were going to get crushed, we snorkeled in this beautiful cenote to have a geology lesson from our tour guide, Rodrigo (who was a Mexican Jack Black, only wearing more clothes).

Below:  Then we snorkeled in this, which was truly scary.  Underwater river.  I have a bruise all up my shoulder to prove how dark and small it was down there.  I think I hyperventilated a bit.  Just a little.  But then when we got to an opening and I found Rodrigo's flashlight I relaxed.  And then he showed us the hundreds of bats living just above our heads.  Thanks, Rodrigo.
Spencer was cool as a cucumber, as always. Or I assume so.  It was a little dark.

 After this, we went to a cenote that had a natural pathway into it, where a Mayan priest performed a Mayan prayer for us.  We ate lunch in a little place where a Mayan family makes food for the tours that come through.  The food was so good!  We hiked through the Mayan Jungle to a place where they gave us all Tequila shots (Spencer and I found some punch) and tried to sell us pictures of ourselves :) 

We finished the tour and jumped on a ferry to take us over to Cozumel.  Our hotel there was a great place that met our needs fantastically (other than sort of hard beds and some early morning construction).  It wasn't too fancy but the staff acted like we were paying top dollar, setting us up with anything we needed.  I like that.  So if you need a recommendation, please ask.  I'd love to discuss it!

That night we didn't feel like going out, so we went down to the game room in the hotel and played some pool.  You might be surprised that Spencer won, and he didn't even have to try too hard.  The picture below shows how steep the competition was getting.  Some serious stuff.  I'm all about good form.

The next day we slowly sauntered out of bed and eventually made it down to the hotel's restaurant for breakfast.  This was our diving day.  I was really nervous.  It does not feel natural to breath underwater.  I've done it several times before, but many of my dives have included crying and panicking.

It was a beautiful day and I'm happy to report that we had a great 100 ft dive!  This was really great for both Spencer and I.  The colors are so beatiful, the purple sea fans, the green and red sea sponges and all these corals and fishes...oh, it is another world.  And it was fun to let the current take us, hand in hand, through the silent water world, taking in all that we saw.

Our second dive of the day didn't go so well.  The second my head went under the water my sinuses would feel like they were going to explode, so I couldn't go down. 

 So I snorkeled above the divers and stayed where my head would remain intact.  I enjoyed swimming through the plumes of bubbles from the divers, and Spencer would bring things to the surface to let me see them (sea sponge, conch shell, etc)  and then take them back down.  Isn't he the cutest!?!

 I'm not trying to be cute here, I'm trying to squeeze myself into my wetsuit.  Have you ever tried that?  It's hard.  It's hard not to yell swear-words at the top of your lungs. 

That evening we rented a moped for the remainder of our trip and started to explore.  This little place is called "Corona Beach", which was a beatiful place to sit and enjoy some nachos (yum!).  We came back to this beach the next night to snorkel, and saw two HUGE lobsters fighting.  Senor Curious dove down and actually caught one!  Not kidding!  I about peed myself when I saw him coming to the surface with it, and tried to get out of his way.  We swam to shore and decided to take it to the hotel restuarant and ask if they would prepare it for us.  I honestly thought they would be really happy for us for catching our own lobster!  Javier, as we called him, was as long as Spencer's fore-arm (fist included) and two or three times the width of it. 

We got to the moped only to wonder aloud, "where are the keys?!?"  We looked everywhere.  Our best guess was either in the seat compartment or the bottom of the sea.  We put Javier in the basket and covered it with clothes so he couldn't get out.  His creepy eyes followed me everywhere, just to creep me out.  The sun dipped further into the sky.

A woman rollerbladed by and asked if we needed help.  We explained that we couldn't find the key and needed to contact our rental agent, Efrain.  She agreed to help and then asked about the lobster. 

"Oh, you know, that is disgusting, guys, really!  You know, this is protected waters, you know?  This is really illegal what you are doing, did you know?" She said in a spanish accent.  We had no idea.  In hindsight, maybe we should have thought about that, but we didn't know we were in the national park of Chankanab, so we thought it was okay, since it wasn't a shell or coral or anything.  Well, we put Javier back and so she helped us.  Sadly, the camera was locked in the seat compartment of the moped, so no pics of our almost hand-caught dinner.  Spencer deserved lobster that night but it was 30.00!  When we could have had it for free!  It was hard to pay up, under such circumstances.  Goodbye Javier, you were mostly just gross to me.  But to Spencer, you were everything!

Anyway, Corona Beach:

 Downtown Cozumel, the Plaza or square.  We loved this little area.  Especially in the evening when it was cool, and mostly empty.  So beatiful.

We are tragically (awesomely) frugal.  Here is our super awesome cheapo breakfast.  Mangoes, croissants, and private-label Nutella, with this really yummy drink called "Ades" which is nectar and soy milk.

 Thursday, our last full day, we packed a day bag, grabbed our snorkel gear, and let the moped cotroll our destinies.  We had not even a watch to tell us what to do!  We made our way around the entire island, stopping wherever we pleased and moving on whenever we pleased.

 What a hunk, huh? 

 While we're ridin':

 We spent an hour or so at this beach club relaxing in the shade while somebody brings drinks and food and you can jump in the water any time you like.  I told Spencer that my only requirement for planning the trip was that I could sit at a beach somewhere and somebody would put a pina colada (virgin, of course) in my hand.  This satisfied that requirement.  And felt so good!

 Punta Sur (South Point):  We would have had to pay to get into this beach.  Hah, we're no suckers.  Only free beaches for us, my friend.  But this was the turning point in the road around the island, we were leaving Carribean waters behind and entering Atlantic territory.

 Beautiful.

So, this is what we are supposed to look like after a day at the beach, right?

Okay, good, I think I've pretty much got the look down.  Yep.  Glowing.

We love our towel personalities.

Last day!  Enjoying the Plaza again.

 In attempting to get a good shot of my toenails (see below), we found ourselves enjoy the bench a little upside-down-like.  But it was fun.  And reminded me of being younger and more agile.

Isn't a good toenail polish a little bit like having a small reside of laughing gas leftover near your nostrils?  By that I mean, everytime I look down at these orangey-goldish toenails, I feel happy somehow.  And the color with the back ground makes me want to do some interior decorating.

If only we could have found a way to fit these sombreros in the overhead compartment.  Oh, and if they were free.  Cause we don't like to buy things.

 Sneaking some not-nutella before our cab to the airport comes: 

 Goodbye, island of our freedom!

I've got to tell you, back in the days when our first honeymoon was the big thing, I couldn't imagine loving this guy any more.  I don't even know how to describe now the ways I love him.  And we're just 7 years into this thing!  I can't wait to see the ways he makes my heart grow in the years to come.  I love you, babe.  More than ever.