tulum ruins, mexico

last week my 5 siblings, our 4 spouses, 8 grandkids and my dad's wife and her 3 kids made the trek down to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico for what i can only classify as the trip of a lifetime. i can't remember the last time every last of one my siblings and all our spouses and all our kids were together - it's been years. it was so much fun, and so hard to leave. i couldn't help but tear up sending my oldest brother and his family back to Franklin, Tennessee and my oldest sister and her husband back to Brooklyn, New York and not spending every meal and every activity all together with my local siblings. i'm trying to sort through my 150+ blog-worthy photos (not counting phone pics, ay caramba) and there's just no way around it... this is going to take awhile. so, here's the first of a few Mexico posts!

TULUM!
 one of the last built and inhabited dwellings of the Mayans dating back to the 13th century. totally incredible.

and hotter than hell.

 my dad arranged for an LDS (Mormon) tour guide so we got to hear all about the religious connections to the Book of Mormon - which is an additional book of records that we study written by the people of the Americas around Jesus Christ's time.

here he is being totally schooled by my (8 year old) nephew Adam. Adam is hands down the smartest kid his age i've ever known. his mom says he could write a book about an iguana's eye that he saw two years ago. i believe her. in this picture he was telling the guide about how the Greeks preserved dead bodies in comparison the the Mayans. 

 to that Hayes says whaaa??!

sisters looking like sisters.

Hayes discovered Tulum alright.

and all he could talk about afterwards was the train ride up there - typical.

the boys really enjoyed themselves.

after we made it through the ruins, we were rewarded with the most incredible beach.

(post to come.)

but it was an hour plus drive to and from and we rented 3 cars to get us all down there.

for some reason i packed swim diapers but only one fresh regular diaper.

Cal got the fresh diaper and i just relinquished control and accepted the fact that Hayes would probably pee in the rental car on the way home.

i put a towel under him and didn't make big deal about it, but just said, "if you need to pee tell me okay? don't pee in the car, we'll get out of the car to pee."

the whole ride home he didn't pee. i was shocked, but then as we pulled into our resort, i let him out of the car and within seconds he squatted on the cement and peed.

we all died laughing and congratulated him for such a feat.

he held it the whole way.

just the sweetest thing.