Noah's Attempt at Pole Vaulting

 

 

 

So, this is probably much better than my attempt would be.

 

http://youtu.be/PQDzMNhJiAg If it doesn't work to watch it here, click on this link.

Car trouble

 So, we were getting Josh's yearbook pictures taken and when we were leaving, the car wouldn't start.

 Great husband came to the rescue with the jumper cables.

 He followed me to Autozone where they took our battery to test it.

An hour later they called and told us our battery was bad...YEAH FOR US!  It had 3 weeks left on the warranty and we get a new one for FREE!

Playa del Carmen- Anniversary 2013

We finally made it on our anniversary trip!  It was Brad's year to plan it and he took us to Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

We stayed at the Gran Porto Real.

This is what some of the interior hallways were like.

Our room.

Brad out on our balcony.

We felt like we were on a cruise since we found towel animals daily and had a turn down service with chocolates on our pillow.

This was the rooftop where we spent some time lounging in the hammocks.

We enjoyed this rooftop hot tub with the views.  We thought it a little strange that it was only open until 6:00pm.

Akumal- Mayan for "place of the turtle".  A very beautiful beach where turtles come to lay their eggs.  The water was crystal clear.  Brad went snorkeling and saw several turtles.  While we were walking along the beach in the shallow water, Brad felt something brush against his foot.  When we investigated we found a 5 inch sting ray...kinda cool.

We walked about a mile to 8:00am church on Sunday.  The meeting was so full that everyone couldn't fit in the chapel.  It was fun to sing the hymns in Spanish again and hear testimonies.

View of the beach from the street.

Don't know what that guy is doing in our picture, but we always try and take one of us like this on the beach.  Our hotel is the farthest one in the background.

A photo of our awesome hotel

Ball court at Coba.

Coba

Climbing the steps at Coba.  Coba has the tallest Mayan temple in the Yukatan.

This is after we climbed the temple at Coba.  All you can see is jungle.

Coba- very hot day!

It was so hot at Coba that we decided to get a ride back to our van instead of walk.

The steps to the top of the temple in Coba.

It is not the easiest thing to climb down from the top.

The Mayan village we visited and had lunch.

It had just finished raining.  Brad had the whole cenote to himself for swimming.

The canoes that we had to come back in after you did a zipline to the far side of the lake.

Brad in his zipline gear.  The stick in his hand is the brake.

The best picture I could get of Brad on the short zipline across the cenote.

Just as we got off the zipline it began pouring.  We had to wait in a little hut for over 30 minutes to see if the rain would let up.

Brad searching for his token souvenir magnet.

Tulum

Tulum

Tulum

Tulum

Tulum from down the beach

Two sunburned people in love.

A sand sculpture of the Mayan months.

Mission Possible- preview

Our oldest 3 kids participated in a stake youth activity this morning.

Here are some of those in the band.

Here are our performers.

Janice Kapp Perry showed up to hear some of her music performed.

Our family after the recording.  We will have to show you the finished product in a few months.  It is AWESOME!

Wally World- Oh the joy of road trips!

The LONGEST Road trip ever!!!!!! 

We drove for 2 straight days- sleeping in Kearney Nebraska- until we made it to Chicago.

Little did we know what we had gotten ourselves into.  We had no idea that every state that we traveled to was in some sort of record heat wave.  We are talking around 103 degrees, but when you add the humidity index (or whatever they call it) they were saying on the news that it felt like at least 109 degrees!

Oh, and can I just say that I am so grateful that I live somewhere that does not make me pay extra to drive on the road, take my money every few miles, and then make me drive in road construction on the roads I just paid to drive on. (Stupid Toll Roads!)

So, here is a sprinkling of photos taken on our long, hot vacation.

 We visited or experienced about 85 percent of the things listed above.

 A famous clock that people meet each other under.

 The "Sky Deck" in the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower).  This is a piece of glass that you stand on and see all the way -103 floors- to the sidewalk below you.

 Willis Tower

 

Willis Tower

Famous Chicago Theatre- Wish I could have gone to see Barry Manilow there.

 Our future astronaut.

 Museum of Science and Industry

 Turnstile to board the "L" (subway)

 The BEST place for Chicago pizza- Gino's East  (We tried several pizza places just to be sure.)

 Elijah enjoying his deep dish pizza

 Brad with the skyline of Chicago.  He wore a different Chicago (The Band) shirt each day we were there.

 Lucky to get any pictures at all during this vacation since the heat was not a friend to the camera.

 Jellyfish at the Aquarium

 Buckingham Fountain and enjoying the spray in the record heat.  This was on the 4th of July...so we had to be sure to sing "Saturday in the Park" since they apparently were referring to this park.

 Art Institute

 The Bean- actually quite interesting!

 Garrett's Popcorn- we tried the Chicago blend.  It was surprisingly good...Cheddar and Carmel Corn.

 Navy Pier

 Wrigley Field

 The skyline from the beach. (How dare that young woman try and pose for our picture- ha ha.)

 North Avenue Beach

 Trying a Chicago Dog

 Chicago Temple

 Jelly Belly Factory Tour

 Stopped at several cheese shops in Wisconsin.  Josh sporting a cheese head.

 Welcome to Minnesota

 Minneapolis Temple

 Minnehaha Waterfall in the middle of Minneapolis

 Mall of America- we spent many hours there.  It is HUGE.  They even have a theme park in the center of it.

 Off to North Dakota

 Bismarck North Dakota Temple

 Billings Montana Temple

The last time we saw the Rexburg Temple it was still under construction, so we stopped by to see it again.

Ten days, 4 new temples and almost 4000 miles.