HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHAEL!

Happy Big 25 Rachael!

Did someone say something about you playing cards in your pajamas?

Duck Hunting

We have a pair of ducks who visit our pond every spring around mating time. This winter was a cold one so our pond was frozen over for quite a while and the water was real low. I didn't expect to see them back. The other day I noticed Simon creeping towards the pond and at first I had no idea what he saw. Once I realized it was the ducks, I grabbed the camera and crept over too (well it was more like a hunched-over waddle). Simon probably would have sat and watched all day. Brother, on the other hand, came moseying over wondering what all the fuss was about-not so stealth!

(Sorry-I tried to splice these 3 short videos together but it wasn't working right)

Simon on the hunt

Simon checking out the ducks

Brother joins the party...

...and crashes it!

XCARET

We spent our last full day in Cancun at an eco theme park called Xcaret. Xcaret is located in Playa del Carmen, about 45 minutes from Cancun. We were there the entire day and had the best time. On the bus ride over they were telling us that you can't see everything in just one day and that we'd want to go back -it was true. This place was amazing. It was a mix between a zoo, an archeological site, and a water park. The whole area was very clean and beautiful, and was like a jungle on the edge of the ocean. We spent the first part of the day wandering around (quickly) trying to see all that we could.

There were iquanas hanging out everywhere. We were standing right next to these guys and hadn't even noticed them!

They had some pretty cool caves to walk through too.

I thought the giant sea turtles were pretty neat!

These were some of the old Mayan ruins. Below to the right is a Mayan graveyard.

One of the highlights of the day (besides eating at their yummy international buffet after having starved all morning) was floating the "underground river."

This was a nice leisurely float (on a hot day!) around the park through some caves and stuff. Unfortunately, the pictures we took with the water camera didn't turn out.

After our float they had this nice beachy area littered with hammocks. We could have spent the rest of the day there but we had more to see.

Unfortunately again was that we had forgotten to charge up our camera battery and it died on us half way through the day. We were so sad! We would have taken so many more pictures. That evening they had a 2 hour "Spectacular Night Show" we went to. This was one of the best I've seen! They had around 300 performers with elaborate costumes and props in this huge old theater. The show went through Pre-Hispanic and Hispanic history and ended with the portrayal of the different customs, cultural dances, and music from each state in Mexico. It made for a long day, but it was well worth it!

Happy Birthday Bud!

Happy Birthday Greg!

You are my most favorite brother I ever had!

(sorry about the picture quality....these are pictures of pictures)

This one (below on the right) is hair bleach!

Love you!!

(I heard someone was looking for pictures of your fro...)

Congratulations Warrant Officer Kirkendall!

On Tuesday, April 1st, KR graduated from Warrant Officer Candidate School (WOCS) in Ft. Rucker, Alabama. This completes the first step of many on his way to becoming a pilot. Here are some pictures of the graduation ceremony and such.

The night before at the reception

Graduation

Swearing in (above left)

KR getting "pinned"

This is what KR will be "driving"

AquaWorld

On our second full day in Cancun, we went to this very touristy place called Aquaworld. You could choose from a variety of water activities there. First we went on a "Skyride." This was similar to the parasailing we did in PV, except that we both could go at the same time and it felt a little more safe. It was a quick ride but a nice view of the whole hotel strip and bay.

Next we went on a "Sub See Adventure." This was my favorite of the day. A boat took us out to some coral reefs where we boarded a yellow submarine and rode around looking underwater.

We saw lots of fish, coral, several sea turtles, and best of all was a big stingray that passed by twice.

(sea turtle in upper right-hand corner)

(Video of Stingray)

The last activity of the day was to go on a "Jungle Tour." I could have done without this one. We doubled up on waverunners and went out to another coral reef for snorkeling. We found it pretty funny (or annoying? pathetic?) that they called it a "jungle" tour. It was nothing more than riding through some channels in the mangroves on the way to the reef - basically just the bushes you can see behind us in this picture from earlier that day.

We only saw a few fish while we were snorkeling, but we did see an alligator poking out of the water on our way back. Unfortunately, it started to thunderstorm during this part of the day and I was a little cold and grumpy about it. And did I mention I don't really like sea water? I hate it even more when it splashes in your eyes and mouth. We got soaked in a torrential downpour while catching the bus afterwards, but at least it washed the salt off!

(Where we parked our waverunners & snorkeled)