Back from the tropics...

And while I'm glad to be home, I'm not glad that it's still January in Montana. Brrr....Anyway, here are some of my trip highlights.
This is the view from our room. Oooh la la. They did everything at this hotel for you, it's actually kind of awkward to be waited on so much. Cancun Palace was the place and I do highly recommend it. They even bring you drinks (I mostly drank water, mostly :) while you lay around the pool. And there's a swim up bar. We had beautiful 80 degree weather the whole time.
Here's my mom in front of the ruins at Chichen Itza. It was a really long day--12 hours, with 7 of that on a bus. Blech to busrides. Our guide at the ruins was very good with lots of cool information. If you clap near the pyramid, it makes a bird call noise--very cool.
This is me getting a smooch from Kimba, one of the adults dolphins we got to swim with (2 adults and one one-year-old) We got pushed across the pool by the dolphins by putting their noses in the balls of our feet. The baby they had, really really wanted to play with me, so much so that he got in trouble and they made me get out until he calmed down. Dolphins are much stronger and faster than I ever realized, but this was definitely the best part of my trip. I have video of me getting foot pushed, so I'm going to try to put it on Youtube. I'll let you know how that turns out.
That is me feeding fish while we snorkeled (at Snorkeling Adventure--also highly recommended)--one of the buggers bit me. We were all supposed to snorkel in a big group between two guides, but presumably because I was young, blonde, wearing a bikini, and spoke some Spanish, I got to go all over the place with a private guide as two of the guides bickered over who got to show me around. We went three different places and Juan Carlos got to show me around two, my other guide, just one.
That's Juan Carlos, one of my guides. I'm a terrible swimmer normally, but put a pair of flippers on me and I'm a demon in the water. I have really long legs so I really pack some leverage. Being a strong flipper swimmer was key as the currents in some places were too rough for some people. One woman got hung up on some coral because she couldn't swim hard enough. I like to pretend that's why I got a private tour, but I'm pretty sure good flipper skills was not the main factor. ;)
My other private guide never introduced himself, but we did track down this sting ray together, which was the highlight of my snorkeling. All in all it was really fun. I wish there was more snorkeling in Montana, or, you know, any.
So that's my vacation in a nutshell. Sprinkle in some loafing by the pool, a trip on a pirate ship (yeah, kind of a cocktail and show number) which I didn't get any good pictures of, and it was very relaxing.
But now I'm home again home again, jiggity jig, and as always, back to quilting! My dad and I are working on a plan to convert my large, executive style desk that I sew on (it's a $2000 dollar desk, but I got it for $30, it's very hard to part with because it's not only awesome, but such a bargain!) into a sewing table. We're going to add on so that my sewing machine bed will be flush with the top of the desk instead of sitting on top of it. Wish me luck in that little endeavor :)
Happy Quilting!