Cancun

VIVA MEXICO!

We had a great time in Mexico. We were there for one week and we were able to see so many new things. We went to the market a few times, visited Mayan ruins, took a boat to Isla de le mujeres (a small island), visited downtown, and of course spent a few hours on the beach!

These are a few pictures from downtown.

We ate a nice dinner on the beach one evening. The weather was nice and there was a cultural show too.

Neil's favorite days were the days we visited the Mayan Ruins. First we went to Tulum. It is right on the beach.

The Mayan Pole flyers at Tulum.

The next day we visited Chechen Itza, another mayan ruin site. This time Neil was our tour guide. He studied up a little :)

If this picture look amazing, thats because we accidentally asked a professional to take our picture :)

My husband with the heart of gold absolutely fell for the children. This is his new friend Sandra.

There were over 1000 of these columns. At one point each one was carved with a picture of a specific warrior. Before a battle, all the warriors would walk through them.

This is a preserved column. Pretty awesome!

These are a few of Neil touching pieces of history.... he was excited....can you tell?

These are a few more of the Big buildings.

Check out that detail!!!

This was the main attraction. Look how small the people are.

That is our trip in a few snapshots. Of course there are many many more but we just wanted to share a little bit of our experience with you.

Can't wait to go north soon!!

The First Year

We celebrated our first year of marriage! It came sooooo fast! I have had so much fun being married and I can't wait for the rest. We encountered a lot of change in one year but being married was the biggest and best change of the year. I could go on and on about the things I learned about Neil and about myself but for now I will keep it short and picturesque. I will dedicate a more in depth blog to marriage later this week.

For now this is how we spent our Anniversary.

Mom kept the top layer of our cake and yes....we ate it. Well, more like I tasted it and Neil ate half. It was still tasty.

I dont know if I have mentioned how hard it is to take pictures of Neil, with Neil, or near Neil. As I was trying to get a picture of the cake, I realized that he made a moustache... and put it on the topper....weird!
...and then on himself.


He finally came around!
We ate it a little bit early because we spend our Anniversary in CANCUN!!

Going Green

In our house, we (forceably by neil) do our best to save energy. Less energy = less money, right? Well, I sometimes I feel like I would rather pay an extra dollar for convenience. But, when you get an electricity bill like this, I am very thankful for the forced savings.

Thats $33.76 for the month of May! Neil can calculate pretty accurately what we spend on electricity daily! Here or some of the cost saving things we have done this year:

1. No Christmas lights outside or inside :(

2. No AC except in the months of June, July, and Aug

3. Sleep with the windows open and fans on.

4. Installed Draft Gaurds on most doors and windows.

5. Changed out all lightbulbs for energy efficient bulbs.

6. Put timers on the modems and wireless network.

7. Put a timer on the closet light (that I always forget to turn off)

8. Installed a flow reduction shower head.

9. Built a porch!

and

10. Replaced our dryer with a clothesline.

This is Neil's latest contraption. It sits attatched to our back patio and naturally, it works well. We did about 10 loads of laundry on it. Neil put the clothes on the line, probably because he knows that if he doesn't I would just throw them in the dryer :/ He calculated the savings for 10 loads..... $0.40.

Just not worth the inconvience to me but since Neil is home for the summer, I think I can expect many more contraptions...including solar panels. I'll keep you updated.

Thanks for the savings, Neil :) One of us has got to do it.

Schools Out for Summer!

Friday ended the school year. Neil make it through his first year of teaching! We were talking about his first year and these are a few highlights/lowlights,

1. He did not think it was necessary to wear a coat or tie to his interview.

2. We had to have a Wal-Mart run to buy ties, shirts, pants and colored socks!

2. He taught in the LIBRARY for the beginning of the year.

3. He never had enough desks.

4. When we moved our boxes into the new house, he packed all is shoes and clothes. When he got up the next morning, he realized that he had nothing, so ..... HE CALLED IN SICK (the first and last time for the year).

5. 93% of his students passed the Social Studies section of the Standardized test

I am so proud of his hard work this year and I am so glad for him to have the summer off!

Hunting?

This is one of my favorite pictures, ever! guess what he is doing.

give up?

waiting for our SNAKE to show up again!

The other night, I went outside to garden with Rexx leading the way. He did not want to get off the back porch so I nudged him along. And then I saw it!!! A SNAKE! not like an "its, kinda cute" snake. It had its head up and it was about four feet long! I yelled for Neil and the snake headed straight for me! I jumped on the truck and watched as it QUICKLY scurried off. This is what it looks like....not so cute.

I (via Neil) was determined to get rid of it. I looked out the window awhile later and i saw it again, in front of our porch so i send Neil out there with a shovel. Of course the snake went back into its hole but I asked Neil to stay out and wait for it (as i watched from inside). It never showed since then.

We researched it and found out a few things. Neil tried to convince me that since it isn't poisonous, we should befriend him....not gonna happen. While it is nice to know that it is not poisonous, I still makes me check before every step. I knew snakes were bound to happen but I never expected huge snakes! Our neighbor had mentioned to us that they get copperhead snakes (very poisionous) so I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to it.