Cancun - Day 6

Chichen Itza. Brace yourselves for lots of pictures of Chichen Itza.  It was just amazing and we couldn't put our cameras down.

From our hotel the drive was around 2 1/2 hours.  The kids were tired of driving everyday, but the sites made up for it.

Ada.

Kate.

Ada & Kate.  Every once in a while these girls like each other.

The girls.

The mom and dad.

Ada and Kate from another angle.

Funny faces.

Watch out for that snake.

Eventually we had to pull out the animal heads.  The pig head was a new one for this trip.

There was a big crowd of sellers right behind us.  They got a kick out of the animal heads.  Often times the reactions from the people around us are better than actually wearing the heads.

Lyla wanted to be the first to wear the pig head so she was sad. You can see the souvenir sellers in this picture.  They were all over.

That's the Lyla I was looking for.

We bought some jaguar whistles.  None of us have quite learned how to do them as well as the guys selling them.

Hundreds of columns at the Temple of a Thousand Warriors.

Running around near one of the temples.

Every time that we saw El Castillo we had to stop and take a picture.

The Great Ball Court.

Popsicles.

The observatory.

La Iglesia.

Most of us were pretty happy here.

One last photo.

We returned to the Hotel Zone in Cancun where we had reservations at an Italian restaurant.

Tomorrow: One last day at the pools and on the beach.

Cancun - Day 5

We still had the rental car, so we had to make the most of it.

First stop was breakfast.  Lyla started her day with the breakfast of champions.

Today's drive was a two hour drive that took us south along the Riviera Maya, past Xcaret! to Tulum. We had packed PB&J sandwiches and ate them in the car before we went to see the ruins.

Alison and Lyla.

Tulum.

Let's play spot the iguana.

More iguanas and the main temple in the background.

Lyla was a little grumpy at times.  Her legs get tired...

We hired an LDS guide, who went by Lehi.  It was interesting to hear about some of the assumptions that are made from the ruins that correspond with things from the Book of Mormon.  Tulum was mainly occupied between the 13th and 15th centuries, so it is a city that came along long after the Book of Mormon was buried in a hill.

My girls.

Spot the iguana.

Family photo.

Tulum sits on some 40 foot cliffs with a couple of accessible beaches.  It was a location that was easy to defend from threats on the water.

On the beach at Tulum.

I love their faces as the waves come in.

Family photo!

Swimming in the Caribbean Sea.

Lyla.

We didn't get down to the beach until about a quarter to four, and they started to clear the beach at 4:30, so we didn't have a ton of time to swim or play in the sand, but we made the most of it.

One last photo op.

Finishing our exploration of Tulum.

After that we made the long drive back to the resort.

Tomorrow, we keep the car for one last day to visit Chichen Itza.