Artisan Bread

Soooo easy!
No kneading.
Four ingedients.
Five minutes a day.

Sailing

[Editor's note: "Growing Paynes" is not only our blog but also our journal so thanks for putting up with the detail of blog posts like this one.]

On our final day, we got up and played tennis. It's a good thing we are equally matched in our skills of tennis or one of us would have been really frustrated. The sun was warm and we got hot and sweaty which felt GREAT! We only had to retrieve one ball. The Guardian of the Yucutan was watching it for us.
Did we mention that we saw iguanas everywhere?! It makes us laugh how excited we were the first time we ran into one. I thought it was a pet and part of the tourist attraction. By the end of our stay and after seeing hundreds of them, well they are just part of the landscape. It reminded us of our trip to Yellowstone-- the first time you see a buffalo you nearly wreck your car trying to stop and look, and by the time you leave it is just another cow blocking the road.


After our tennis game I had an appointment to use the resort's sailboat. They only give you an hour per day and I had to have some instruction first (thankfully I smiled and nodded and the guy left the boat after about 10 minutes. So, Joy and I went out on a sailboat that looked a lot like the one below. The water in the Carribean near the coast was perfect for sailing - a light sea breeze and just a bit of swell. After I got the hang of it, we sailed out a mile or so over some reefs that were bright turquoise blue. We stayed out until my instructor motored out in another boat and made us come back in... It was breathtaking just like everything else we did and saw. It was hard to come home. We felt so cold for days. The kids as we mentioned did very well. They were excited to see what gifts we had brought them. We got home at midnight so we picked up our sleeping babies and loaded them in the car. Wesley woke up when we got home and put the kids in bed. He was so happy to see his Dad. He would not let him go! A kiss and a big squeeze and then we tried to put him in his crib. He could NOT be peeled off. So we brought him to bed with his. I thought he would snuggle up in the middle be he refused to let got of Jason so he slept on him all night.

My friend was telling me her conversation with Luke that last day:

Doreen: Luke, what am I going to do when you are gone and I don't have anyone to copy everything I say?
Luke: Everything I say?

Xel-Ha, Tulum, Playa del Carmen

Wednesday morning we woke up and drove a few hours south to Xel-Ha (a Mayan word pronounced "shell-ha". It basically means brackish water). I have seen brackish water in Florida. I would never have dreamed it could look like this!

Here is a satellite shot of it:

Xel-Ha is formed via a few cenotes (sink-holes w/ water in the bottom) and a river inlet to the ocean. Here is a web pic of a cenote:

We began the day by crossing over a floating bridge and swimming into the "Mayan Cave." This photo of the 4 of us was taken through a hole in the top of the cave that we later walked around on foot while headed to the beginning of the river.

The snorkeling was AMAZING! This is a web pic from Xel-ha and it is accurate- the water was crystal clear and there were tons of fish of every kind. It was salty enough for the tropical fish yet with the fresh water it was almost sweet. Remember the color of Molly's shirt at Chichen Itza? There were fish that exact same color! We did not see any turtles but did see and chase a stingray for a while. The crabs, both large and tiny, were fun too. They had some manatees in the park that were penned in a little bay off to one side. They were so beautiful. We dove down and got to pet them (and Jen J.- I was totally singing "Barbara Manatee"!) We were the only ones in sight and were the very last last people out of the park. Here's someone's web pic of the cliff jumping wall- super fun. Jason, Vic and I crawled back up to the top via the holes in the wall and jumped again.
As well as swimming and snorkeling and the free (as in you pay for it with your ticket, so maybe not so free) buffet with absolutely delicious food, we went kayaking across a cenote which was hilarious! It was one of those "you had to be there" moments. Sorry we have no photos. We also walked down to the ocean meeting a lot of hermit crabs a long the way (I thought those creatures only came from pet stores). We went on a bike ride through the jungle. The funniest part was not that we were riding bikes in our swimming suits, round belly Molly included; it was when got the bikes, Jason grabbed his, looked down at the pedals and said "Oh you are kidding me." They were not the soft spongy pedals for our bare feet but the spiky kind with grip that grab onto your tennis shoes. And my poor sensitive Payne feet husband... it made me laugh the whole ride! We saw some tapirs (although there is some discussion as to whether they were actually wild pigs) and white-nosed coati, an endangered species of the Yucatan Penninsula, eating in the jungle right off the trail and so many beautiful birds. It was a gorgeous ride.

We loved Xel-Ha and as we mentioned before we were the last ones out of the water and the last to leave by a long shot (nice to have a rental car). We drove another 15 minutes south to check out the ruins at Tulum. We were hoping to some how sneak a peak since it had already closed. Tulum is a gorgeous costal city, a Mayan city, that could easily be seen by night and day for travelers at sea. Here is a web shot.

As it turned out, for less than a year now, the ruins are open at night with colored lights on them. Here are a few wide-angle lens, long exposure shots:

This is how still Jason and I could hold for 30 seconds. Not very still.
Another temple in the Tulum complex...At one point I looked up and saw Molly sitting on the steps of the ruins. It really struck me. There was something so profound about seeing her sitting there on steps hundreds of years old, with her baby belly- new life within and with she and Vic's loss and thinking about the people that once lived there and walked and perhaps sat on those very steps. It was really... wow. No I did not break into singing the Lion King's "Circle of Life" but you get the idea. Here is Molly standing in front of the "birthing center" of the complex. Our guide claimed there is a picture inside the ruin of a preganant woman...

Very far away from Cancun at that point, we stopped over in Playa del Carmen on the drive north for a late dinner. Here is a web shot of a night scene there. It was a really cool place that Euros prefer. We certainly did not see too many Americans around. We ate at a little restaurant. Vic and Jason had milanesa, a grilled beef sandwich popular in Argentina. Yum.
We returned home exhausted that night!

Chichen Itza

It was a 2 1/2 hour drive on toll roads through the jungle to get to Chichen Itza. It looked much like Florida only we rarely saw cars on the road with us. It was so nice to have our own rental car which allowed us to come and go as we pleased. We ended up being the last people to leave the ruins. We had our own little inside joke going as we kept referring to Tuesday as our "Ruined Day". Ha, get it ruin-ed?! Ha ha ha. Oh we crack ourselves up.





What a cute brother and sister shot!
Something tells me the Mayan people were perhaps shorter. Or at least their feet were.


The stone ring you see had a matching one on the opposite side of the field. They played a game similar to basket ball where you had to shoot the ball through the hoop. Oh and no hands. Amazing.


Molly was amazing! Being GREAT with child she still kept going. It made me tired watching her.

Jason ran in to an OXXO like this on our way out of Cancun to hit the long road to Chichen Itza. He got wheat bread that looked very American-like. After all the amazing yummy bread we had been eating when we saw the loaf bread we just about threw Jason out of the car. That or the bread.
On our way home from the ruins we stopped at a grocery store to get some more food. It was so nice to have a kitchen for breakfast and late night snacks.
We also stopped for gas. But the gas station was taking cash only and we were going to use a credit card. So we left, Jason driving. And that is when we got pulled over. The officer tried to explain that we had exited through an entrance. What?! He tried to tell us again and it wasn't that we didn't understand him it was just that it was the stupidest excuse. They want a bribe. I explained to him that we were just leaving that gas station because they wanted cash and we were going to pay with a credit card and showed him that we were on "E". He went to talk to his supervisor in the vehicle and then came back and let us go assuring we would make it to the next gas station. He was really nice but dissappointed.
This is our beach and dock. We swam every day even if it was late at night after being out and about all day. The hotel pool had a swim-up bar and a little bridge crossing over that I thought Allie would have loved. Everything, the grounds, the pool, the rooms, were really beautiful and cared for. Just wish they would have combed the beach. But believe, I am not complaining.

Isla Mujeres

From my current perspective it is hard to imagine how close we were to not going to Cancun. We were hesitant about leaving our kids- is that the right thing to do with them being so little? We decided to divide them up- Allie and Luke to one house and Wesley to another. We knew the families, their kids, their homes and routines and most importantly our kids knew them. In fact Allie and Luke were quite excited for the "slumber party". Allie did a good job taking care of Luke and being a caring big sister. Wesley did very well too. He slept well and ate well and both families got the kids together often so they could see each other and play. There were no tears when we left and no clingyness when we got home (except for Wesley the first night but I will tell you about that later). It seems as a family, we hardly missed a beat.

So we left the cool weather of Albuquerque winter and arrived here:
Yes that is a shot from our actual resort. We stayed in a villa (2 story complete with kitchen and living area, 2 bedrooms and 2 baths) with Vic and Molly, our extremely gracious hosts. As soon as we stepped off the plane, the fun began!

Our first full day, Monday, we took a ferry out to Isla Mujeres. Here are the happy vacationers waiting for the ferry (and the only time the rest of the trip that my hair was actually brushed).

Zooming across the turquoise water made me slightly nauseous. But it was a short trip. At the top of the photo you can see Cancun and the coast and then of course the island itself.
We rented a golf cart where the 4 of us could be together and drove around the entire island.
We were amazed to watch this guy paint completely free handed. The sign was 20 feet long and it was some municipal building with the last two words being Isla Mujeres.

We stopped for lunch at the south end of the island right before we went snorkeling. The warm sun, the crystal clear turquoise water, the tropical fish.... aaahhhhh so perfect! Besides the fish we saw an old canon, a ship anchor, and an old abandoned rope course the we climbed on. We climbed up on top of the platform and then jumped back into the ocean. It was so fun!

Can you guess which flippers were Jason's?
We watched the sunset at the north end of the island. So romantic!
One person we talked a lot about and thought of often... she is the reason we were there. It goes without saying that we would have given it all up to have her back.

We're back!

We're back from Cancun. We spent most of our time playing rather than lugging a big camera around, but did take a few with it. We'll wait for Vic and Molly to come back and send us some pics before we post. But... here are a few fun pics from today (Friday). Joy gave me an "Iron Gym" pull-up bar for Christmas (hint?)...

I prefer aerobic exercise and get bored with the big muscle stuff so I don't use it like I should. Allie and Luke on the other hand like to hang from it. Wesley begged Joy a bunch- "eh, uh, eh!" and got in on the action tonight too. Two thumbs really can be handy sometimes.
Allie went to preschool today where they exchanged valentine notes and had a surprise guest- Giggles the Clown.

Grandpa's Photos

I stumbled across a memory card with some of my Dad's photos from Christmas @ Maria and Kent's home: