Cozumel Vacation - Day 4 Mayan Ruins

The 4th day of our Cozumel  vacation was a very long and interesting day. We had to leave our resort at 6:10 to catch the 7 a.m. ferry to Playa del Carmen. When we were in Playa del Carmen on our 2nd day of vacation, we booked a 12 hour bus tour to visit Chichen Itza. The tour included a visit to a Mayan crafts village, a stop at Cenote Suytun, a traditional lunch at a Mayan restaurant, a guided tour of Chichen Itza, and a stop at the colonial city of Valladolid. Boogs said this is the day of our trip he enjoyed the most. He was fascinated by the Mayan ruins and the information he learned about Mayan culture.

Luckily for us, the day started out with sunshine instead of rain. We rode on the top, outside area of the ferry for our crossover to Playa del Carmen. A guide picked us up in a van at the ferry dock. He drove us to a shopping mall where we checked in with several tour groups. They were very organized and separated people onto buses according to which resort/area they were staying. This made it faster for drop-offs at the end of the day.

Boogs was happy with his window seat on the bus. Our guides, David & Selena, were wonderful. David talked about Mayan history and current culture. David was a stellar tour guide - funny, informative, organized, and passionate about Mayan culture.

Our first stop was at a Mayan crafts village. There were several huts where people were selling food, selling souvenirs, and giving blessings. My husband bought an obsidian good luck Mayan statue. Of course Boogs had to spend time in the hammocks.

After walking through the craft village, we headed to Suytun Cenote. We were told that in Mayan times, the cenote was a sacred place. You had to walk down a couple of steep sets of stairs to get to the water. Boogs was a little nervous about getting in the water because of the blind black fish. He thought they might bite him. We did not realize you have to rent life jackets in order to swim. My husband and Boogs swam for a little bit before they were asked to get out of the water. The water was cool and calm. I wish I could have taken a picture that did justice to the beauty of this cave. It was gorgeous.

Our next stop on the tour was lunch at a restaurant that they said served "authentic" Mayan food - lime soup, pork in tortillas, chicken, rice, refried black beans, and dessert. The food was good and we were hungry by that point of our day. Two couples danced while we ate. It is difficult to see in this picture, but they were balancing glasses on their heads while they danced.

The bus tour does try to steer you toward some specific souvenir purchases. They took pictures of everyone on the bus at our first stop. Then later, they offered to sell you these bottles of Mayan alcohol with your own picture on them. I thought it was a clever sales pitch, but we did not buy it. Boogs took a nap on the bus.

Our next stop was the Chichen Itza ruins. David guided the tour for English speakers while Selena guided a tour for Spanish speakers.  David skillfully told us the history of the main temple. He drew diagrams in the dirt with the point of his umbrella to explain the mathematics, symbols, rituals, societal structure, religious beliefs, and many more things about Mayan history. Boogs was amazed and decided he wants to do his 4th grade independent research project on the Mayans of Chichen Itza.

The tour with David lasted a little over an hour. Then, we had about an hour and a half to explore other parts of the ruins on our own. We could have spent all day just at the ruins. 

If you go to Chichen Itza, I highly recommend spending some of your time there with a guide. We would have missed out on so much if we had only gone exploring on our own.

Our last stop on the tour before returning to Playa del Carmen was in the colonial city of Valladolid. David explained that many of the stones used in the oldest buildings in the city were taken from Mayan ruins. This was a short stop on the tour to give people a chance to stretch their legs, see the city square, and shop.

 

We made it back to Playa del Carmen in time to catch the 10 p.m. ferry to Cozumel. It was a long exhausting day, but well worth it.

Cozumel Vacation - Day 3 Resort Day

On day three of our vacation, we decided to stay at our resort for the day. El Cozumeleno is an all inclusive resort. We really enjoyed spending a lazy day there. Boogs and I are early risers. We were walking on the beach before 6:30 in the morning. It was a cloudy day but it was still a lot of fun to hang out on the beach and go to the end of the pier.

 

My favorite place to spend time was in the hammocks. Boogs and I claimed these hammocks after we had breakfast and stayed there for an hour or so until my husband woke up and found us. Of course we had to have a second breakfast with Daddy.

 

Boogs and Daddy played a very intense game of chess on the giant chess board. 

 

We took a little break to go up to our room to put on our swim suits. Since we had a few minutes, I asked Boogs to get out his summer workbook and complete the day's review pages. He was not thrilled with my request. Look what a great view he had while working on his pages.

 

We hung out at the pool for quite a while. 

 

A guy came up and told us about a saltwater crocodile on the beach. Of course we had to go investigate. On the way to the crocodile, we explored the tide pools. We found sea urchins, hermit crabs, snails, crabs, and lots of little fish in the tide pools. You can see the crocodile in the bottom right picture. He was only about three feet long. We did not get very close to him.

 

We went snorkeling again in the afternoon. I was amazed at how well Boogs could dive underwater and then easily clear his snorkel when he surfaced. We are already talking about and planning next year's trip. You can get SCUBA certified to 40 feet at age 10. Boogs is looking forward to his birthday next April so he can go SCUBA diving instead of just snorkeling. 

 

We enjoyed our calm day at the resort.

 

The view from our balcony at night was just as pretty as the view during the day.

Cozumel Vacation - Days 1 & 2

My husband, Boogs, and I just came back from our second ever family vacation. When my husband takes time off from work, we usually go visit his family in Canada. This summer, we took vacation time to go on a trip for just the three of us. We went to Cozumel, Mexico. Boogs is 9-years-old and had never been to the beach to see the ocean. That is pretty sad considering we don't live that far from the Gulf of Mexico. We left home on Friday and drove to Houston to spend the night so we could fly directly to Cozumel on Saturday morning. Boogs is a wonderful traveler. It is very easy to take him places. He spent most of the plane ride quietly reading his book.

We arrived in Cozumel in the early afternoon during a heavy downpour. We had to wait three hours before our room was available. Luckily, we were able to hang out under a covered bar area and stay dry.

Boogs saw no point in staying dry. He wanted to explore the beach. He built a sand castle in the pouring rain. He was quickly soaked to the skin and did not mind at all.

After we got into our room, we put on swimsuits and then went swimming and snorkeling in the rain. We had the entire pool area to ourselves. We had a fun afternoon in the rain.

Our second day in Cozumel started out rainy. We hopped on a ferry to take us to Playa del Carmen on the mainland. The ferry ride over was a little rough. We spent the day wandering around Playa del Carmen, shopping, visiting another resort, and eating. Here is a picture of an appetizer we ordered at Los Rancheros. The food came out on a platter on top of a hot clay pig. The food was delicious. 

The harbor was closed throughout most of the afternoon because of the weather. We were worried about being able to get back to Cozumel. We ended up standing in line with several hundred people trying to get on a ferry. The ferry ride back was extremely rough and crowded. There were crew members constantly walking through the seating area handing out and picking barf bags. The ride back felt like a roller coaster. Some people were yelling while the boat pitched up and down. It was quite a ride. We were very happy to get back to our resort and go to bed early.

Goodbye 3rd Grade

Another school year has come to an end. We have a yearly tradition of taking a photo on the porch on the first and last day of each school year. You can see Boogs' growth measured against the front door. Sometimes I ask Boogs to wear the same clothes on the first and last day of school. So far, he thinks it is a fun tradition. Here are Boogs' elementary school years so far:

Kindergarten

First Grade

 

Second Grade

Third Grade

He decided to hold the sign upside down and not smile for this morning's picture. Silly boy!

After our half day of school today, we met some friends at a nearby restaurant with an outdoor playscape. It was the perfect way to start our summer. The temperature was only 90 degrees so it was not too hot to eat and play outside.

Getting dizzy on the spinny thing. I tried it and it made me sick to my stomach.

Yum! Sweet potato fries.

This little monkey kept climbing on the outside of the tube slide and on top of the play structure. I told him I really did not want to start our summer with a trip to the ER.

 

A little Amy's Ice Cream to top off the afternoon.

Our summer calendar is already starting to fill up. I am trying to make sure we have a good balance of activities, playdates, outings, and down time.

Third Grade Lunches

I have not posted very many Story Themed Lunches this year. Boogs primarily reads chapter books now. I need the illustrations in the pictures books to help me turn stories into food. Boogs and I have turned over 500 books into lunches since he started elementary school. You can see most of them HERE on my Pinterest lunch board. Today, I thought I would go ahead and post Boogs' last third grade lunches.

The Time Warp Trio - Knights of the Kitchen Table by Jon Scieszka

Boogs is really enjoying the Time Warp Trio series. He was hooked by the first two sentences in the first book of the series: Halt, vile knaves. Prepare to die. A magical book has transported Fred, Sam and Joe back in time. They have to brave a giant and a dragon in order to return home. Boogs is excited about reading more of the books in this series.

In the ELB lunchbox: ham & cheese sandwich, cheese drawing of the trio and a shield, salad, pita chip magical book, dried apricot dragon flames, and berries.

Lentil by Robert McCloskey

When Boogs was a preschooler, I taught the 2-yr-olds at his school. During the summer, the preschool was closed so I had a weekly preschool group in my house every Monday. I used the Five in a Row curriculum by Jane Claire Lambert to help me choose books to read with my preschoolers. Lentil was one of the books that we "rowed". You can see the 2010 post about Lentil HERE. Lentil is a cute book about a town preparing for a visit by a VIP. One of the town's citizens tries to spoil the celebration by sucking on lemons to make the band members unable to play their instruments. Lentil, a young boy, saves the day by welcoming the VIP with a song on his harmonica. Of course, Boogs and I had to get out and play our harmonicas while we read this book yesterday. I was surprised that Boogs remembered using the lemon juicer to make lemonade when we read this story almost five years ago.

In the Laptop Lunchbox (they now call themselves Bentology): pb&j harmonica sandwich with musical picks, Babybel Lentil, dried fig and apricots, Pringles, salad, and berries.

Big Nate In A Class By Himself by Lincoln Peirce

Boogs loves reading Big Nate books. When we were at the book store buying a graduation gift for my niece, Boogs asked if he could use his own money to buy a new Big Nate book. He loves to read these books in the car. He is constantly laughing while he reads and then sharing the pages he really likes with me. Life is not always easy for Big Nate but he finds a humorous way to deal with life's obstacles.

In the ELB: Big Nate turkey & cheese sandwich with fruit leather face, okra chips, dried apricot, peanut butter stuffed pretzels, carrots with hummus, and berries.

Last lunch of 3rd Grade

Tomorrow is the last day of 3rd grade for Boogs but it is only a half day so I had to make his last 3rd grade lunch today. I pulled out the CuteZcute sandwich cutter and asked Boogs which one of the sandwich faces he wanted - pig, cat, panda, or frog. He chose the panda bear. I think this cutter set is adorable.

In the ELB lunchbox: pb&j panda sandwich, pb stuffed pretzels to represent bamboo, ham & cheese on panda picks, fruit cup, and a salad with carrot stars and radish hearts.

We are ready for our summer to begin. Only ONE more day!

3rd Grade Field Day (Sort of)

We have had so much rain that Field Day was almost cancelled. The sun came out for a bit but the field was too muddy to use.  Boogs' school made it work by setting up Field Day stations in hallways, the cafeteria, the gym, on the driveway behind the school, and under the awnings around the school. Boogs had a fun day, but he really did miss all of the water stations there usually are on Field Day.

Blindfolded Water Tag - the one station with water. The person with the spray bottle was blindfolded and the partner guided them around to find targets (other people) to spray.

 Partner Bean Bag Toss & Catch

Plunger Relay - this was a fun one to watch. Each partner had a plunger to hold one side of a ball. They had to race across the room and around a cone to win. It was hard work keeping the right balance on the plungers to contain the ball.

Baton Relay Race

Ice Cream Cone Relay Race

Plank Walk - this one took coordination and communication to get moving.

Boogs and his partner were laughing a lot as they tried to make it work.

Hula Hoop Ball Relay - this was a fun alternative to a three-legged race. The partners had to remain inside a hula hoop and keep a ball between their knees while hopping/running down the line.

 

Tricycyle race

 Partner Scooter Relay - I remember loving those scooters when I was in elementary school. Fun!

Boogs had a great time. At the end of Field Day there was about 30 minutes left before the school day was over. Boogs decided he wanted to stay and finish out the day instead of leaving early with me. He only has a few more days left at this school. Next year, he will be transferring to the school where I teach. He has told me (in a very dramatic voice) that he wants to "soak up every minute of my school that I can because I will never see it again in my life". I am hoping the transition to a new school in the Fall will be smooth. He is making me doubt it.