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?