Flamingos & Salt Ponds of Xtampu, Mexico

According to our guide, in ancient times the Mayans built sea salt ponds (similar to the crawfish ponds I've seen in Louisiana). During hurricane season, the waves would wash the sea water in the ponds where the Mayans would harvest the sea salt at the water evaporated. Most interesting was the red color of the water. There are tiny shrimp washed in the ponds along with the sea water. The flamingo would eat the shrimp which gives the bird its read color. As the water evaporates and the shrimp die, the sea salt form crystals which are pink. Mark slipped off his socks and shoes to dig up the sea salt as a souvenier. (We asked first!) Mark said the salt was very hard and thick and formed sort of a crust. The crust had to be crushed with a large wooden stick as the ones shown along the pond's borders.




While on our way to the Mayan Ruins, we took a tour to see flamingos. The were a few hundred yards away on the banks opposite where we were. You can see rows of the pink birds along the shoreline.

Mayan Ruins at Xtampu, Mexico

We visited the Mayan Ruins at Xtampu, Mexico. I took pictures of young papaya growing in trees. The flowers were the only ones I saw growing in the area. Our guide said it was winter in Mexico.The temperature was 85-90 degrees. I didn't realize there were ants in the flowers until we saw the pictures back home.

Cozumel, Mexico

Cozumel was breathtaking! This is truly the deepest, "bluest" water I have ever seen! Most pictures were taken from the ship. The mariachi band sang loves songs to Mark and I while we ate. There's a picture taken by Mark of a sea turtle swimming by.

Progreso (Merida) Mexico

One of our ports we stopped at on our cruise was at Progreso (Merida) Mexico. The water at this port was beautiful! It is clear, blue water. I hope the pictures do it justice.

This was an interesting show. At the docks, this group of dancers were performing as the mariachi band is playing in the background. The dancers are on a 12" X 12" block of wood while balancing a bottle on their head. It was incredible! No one fell of the blocks and no bottles were broken.

Iguanas were everywhere like squirrels are here in East Texas. We caught this picture of 3 iguanas sunning on a wall.

Texas Weather

The weather has been so crazy lately. Hot, cold, hot, cold... The weekend Eddie and Aicila spent the night with us, it dipped below freezing. The water froze as it ran out of the fountain in the gold fish pond. This same day I took pictures of berries growing in the side yard.

Here are pictures of Aicila and Eddie at 7:00 a.m. Guess who's NOT a morning person!

Front Porch Project

We are remodeling the front porch size and design by increasing it to 10' X 20' and replacing the hip roof with a gable roof. The concrete slab will eventually be covered with slate tile. We cannot wait to sit on our front porch in our rocking chairs! We had to remove the cobblestone walk way, but continued the path toward John & Cynthia's house. (Can't have the grandbabies getting their feet muddy when coming to see Nanny & Papa!)

Wedding Anniversary Cruise

Mark and I went on a Western Carribean cruise to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary. We left out of Galveston on the Carnival Ecstasy. We stopped in Progreso and Cozumel. Of course there was delicious and exotics foods. You will NEVER go hungry on a cruise! There's an all day grill and a 24-hour pizzaria! We took this picture of our table mates an our waiters, Ramona and Sudita. We loved the midnight gala and the wonderful displays of food and ice sculptures. The ice sculpture of the ship was carved in less than 10 minutes. The ice scultpure of the dragon is made from 6 blocks of ice. By far, my favorite was the Chocolate Madness Feast!

Man Cave

Well, we are 90% finished with the MAN CAVE. We have only the pine plank ceiling and crown moulding and this project will be complete! tried to create a 360-degree view so you could see it. Everthing in this room has sentimental value to Mark. From his childhood treasures from his grandparents to the special events and travels with his parents through his Scouting and high school years to his college years and all his Texas A&M memorabilia to his favorite hobby: his airplane. This room is all about Mark. Even the wall color is Texas A&M maroon!

Happy 2008

This year we spent New Year's Eve with Bobby & Melenda. We played cards games and just hung out. Joe Dee came to Texas and stayed till after the new year. Everyone showed up at the Cole's house for dinner and fireworks. We had a great time.

Melenda bought Bobby a pair of overalls and I embroidered "Farmer Bobby" on them. As you can see, he loved them!

For the first time in as far back as we can remember, we didn't pop fireworks at Bobbie & Brian Adams' house. Their children were hanging out with others and I think they were glad they didn't have a 30 teenagers in their house as they have in year's past.