Words of wisdom from Clark Griswald

A quote from Christmas Vacation...

Ellen: Clark, Audrey's frozen from the waist down.

Clark: It's all part of the experience, honey.

I kept thinking of that quote as we meandered our way through Mexico last week with my parents and sister's family.  Whether it was a jeep ride through the jungle, snorkeling in cenotes, or finding deadly scorpions, it was all part of the experience...
The five boys on their way to the beach.

Jackson and the boys getting ready to snorkel at Xel-Ha.

We rode some rusty old beach cruiser bikes into town each day. Obviously our child's safety wasn't a concern as he rode basket style on the trips.

Mayan ruins at Tulum. 

And a secret beach just below the ruins.

And then there were the reptiles and sea life that we came upon on a daily basis.  Iguanas. 

A weird animal, we affectionately call the Varmint.

Jellyfish on the beach. Which I found out are poisonous dead or alive. 

Flipper. 

Deadly scorpions.  Yes, deadly.  How do I know this? We found this scorpion dead in the laundry room of the house we stayed in.  We showed it to a local who, in broken English, confirmed that the small scorpions are deadly.  The poison goes right to your heart and well, there's not much more to tell...after that, I slept with one eye open. 

A friendly turtle (is there ever a mean one?) that we found and fed some mango to. 

We hit jackpot on some sweet seashells which we hauled home. You don't leave beauties like this behind.

Many hours were spent relaxing in the hammocks. 

It was determined that we need more hammock dozing spots like this in Utah.

What mother lets their son jump off a 15 foot cliff? 

Or ride through the jungle in this bad boy?

Luckily, our children survived us putting them in harms way, so we were on to the next adventure with them where we swam in caves with bats (and I'm sure other creatures that I don't want to know about).

We held on tight to zip lines.

Then did some more snorkeling.

And more playing in the sand.

 

Ryder said the sand was scratchy in his swim suit, so we converted him to the European way of life and he went commando.  I can't say I disagree with his new found public nakedness, although I'm still shaking out sand from my unmentionables and that was with my swimsuit on.

Me, my mom and sister, who looked like a native by the time we left.  Why didn't I get blessed with those dark skinned genes?

The house we rented is for sale and yes, we're considering making an offer. (In my Mexican dreams). 

Buenas noches, Mexico.

Till' next time...