Merry Christmas

Moon Palace

Cancun, Mexico

December 16-24, 2010

This is our third time staying here. It's a rather large yet safe place. One gets a lot of bang for the buck at this all inclusive.

The beach.

The golf course.

A Nativity in the middle of the jungle.

The Christmas tree in the Nizuc side lobby.

The moon rising on December 21. Unfortunately, I missed the lunar eclipse.



Early our last morning, this woodpecker greeted us "good morning".








There were many weddings during our stay. The brides arrived in this beautiful carriage.
.


One morning we tried our athletic abilities at playing tennis. After we fed the crocodile two of the five balls we were given, we started to get the hang of it and enjoyed some good volleys!





An evening stroll.

Beach volleyball...

and soccer were great fun. We were adopted by team Mexico. Lukas is now Ponchito and Levi is Javier.






These guys love the heat.







The gulls would arrive when ever there were french fries or a pizza.


Daniel~ my Mexican son! I became "Ma-mee" for the week.



Fun times!

The Geico Gecko.

Every morning I would go for a walk and these little coatis became my friends. They are a type of jungle raccoon--and quite animated. A group of golfers had their camera stolen off the cart by these banditos.

A hibiscus blossom.

Establishing some pecking order.

A member of the Mexican Airforce.

My family informed me that they didn't want to do anything educational. So I signed up for the tour to the Mayan ruins at Coba. Yes!! I climbed up to the top. (We have seen Chichen Itza and Tulum.) The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 and the catch phrase now is to "celebrate life".

The view of the jungle once I made it to the top...

and the view to descend. The rope IS helpful!

Coba is considered the "bus station" between the sacbae(path) of Chichen Itza and Tulum. There are two ball courts where the competitors would practice before their "big" game in the large court at Chichen Itza.

The jungle's flora and fauna fascinate me and make me appreciate how we all learn to live within the climates we were born. This is a termite nest.

The nine days went by quickly.
We met people from Venezuela, India, Canada, Holland, the UK, and Laramie, Wyoming!

Now it's back to reality.

Junior High Wrestling

Levi had an awesome season with 19 wins and one loss. He won four tournaments! Mike once again is the assistant coach for both the Jr. and Sr. High at Burns. Levi will continue wrestling with a club in Cheyenne while Lukas has started high school practices. His first competition will be on December 4 in Yoder, Wyoming.

The following are some of favorite photos from Levi's Jr. High season.

Right Of Passage

All summer long the boys have been eyeing the many bucks who have been foraging in our fields and pastures. Opening morning Lukas filled his tag with this big bodied fellow. It was an exciting event as well as a great excuse to miss a half day of school!

Levi filled his tag closer to the end of the season.

We are truly blessed to enjoy God's creation with the abundance of wildlife in our area.

SEWAC Champions~A photo journal of Levi's 8th Grade Football Season

SEWAC consists of the following teams: Burns, Lingle, Lusk, Pine Bluffs and Southeast.

After losing a non-conference opener against Wheatland, the Jr. High Broncs put it all together to end the season undefeated against their conference opponents. It was fun to watch the team develop throughout the season. Levi made ten touchdowns due to a sweet little play where the line created a hole for him to slip through and bust wide open to the end zone. Everyone executed their jobs well so he could gain the yards. This is a great bunch of kids and I'm looking forward to watching them compete in the years to come.

~Mike and Levi~

~The following are my favorites of the season~

~Fall~

Each day Lucy delivers at least one mouse and two moles for her youngsters--she has seven of them! Some days she changes things up a bit with a bird.

We haven't had any measurable moisture since the Fourth of July. Today, September 28th, it was 90 degrees. We're drying up again...the extremes of Wyoming.