Happy Cook'n

We did one of Kathy's favorite activities today...SHOPPING! She and my Mom love going to the flea market. Our kids love it too. They got some hand-made custom bracelets with their names on them. They loved that.

My Dad and I tried to act like we were having fun to support our wives...but I'm pretty sure that we would have preferred to do anything else. We're just glad we didn't get any fleas! The only perk was that we knew we were going out to eat dinner afterwards so it was really only a matter of time.

We were pretty hungry but we decided to pass on the Tacos & Pizza Lovers option. I thought that was an interesting combination...but not one that I would have necessarily put together.

The Mextreme restaurant that we went to came highly recommended.

Andan had a hard time eating with the mask that he got from the flea market...but he managed.

I couldn't remember all the things that we ate so I took a photo of the menu. The variety intrigued me! I had a hard time choosing so I went with the thing that looked most unusual and foreign. Brennah had already decided to go with the Lime Soup which was very interesting so I went with the Molcajete Mixed! Arrachera, chicken and shrimps (yes, shrimps!). Served with prickly pear (nopal), sausage, grilled onions. Panela cheese and red or green sauce.

The fruit drinks balanced served right off the waiters head were LOTS of FUN!

Balancing on one foot too made it even more interesting.

Compared to the hot and dry climate in Utah, the sweltering, humid heat of Cancun is quite a contrast. After shopping in the oppressive heat of the flea market, the cool smoothies were unbelievably refreshing! The little boys really liked the blue "Spider Man" drink in the middle and the rest of us took turns sipping the others. They were great!

Even the food was served off the waiter's heads. The kids loved it. I was just glad he didn't drop it. I was too hungry for a mess-up at this point! You see, the camera-man (not me!) had trouble figuring out how to work the camera and the poor waiter had to balance there for quite a while!

Brennah's Lime Soup was spectacular! It had a strong limey kind of flavor that made it pretty sour but not in a bad way. It was actually really good!

My Molcajete Mixed was served in a really cool cast iron-type pot thingee that added a real nice touch. And, the variety was great! The battered and fried green onions (center middle) were super! The chunked cheese was very unusual but good. The prickly pear (nopal) was sourish. It must be an acquired taste. I ate a lot of it but it's going to take more than one meal to acquire a taste for prickly pear. I did notice that it cleansed my palate. Everything I ate immediately after the prickly pear tasted SO good! Have I given you a clue?

OK...something is falling on the roof as I'm typing this and it's wigging us out a bit. We moved out of the Hilton and went to a Bungalow in Akumal. We are in a very remote location and we will be here for the next 3 days. The rooms do not have TV's and the fam is going through withdrawals. It's great! Whoa! There it goes again! A storm just blew in. It must be coconuts or something but it's loud and a little freaky. Kathy's ready to pack up and go back to the Hilton!

During our meal, the staff got out and did a little dance. The music was blaring and somewhat intoxicating.

So...when we finished our meal...we joined them! It was great fun! The kids absolutely LOVED it! I over-ate so it felt good to get up and shake some of that food down! :) Kathy shot some video of this which I'm sure you would really enjoy watching...especially if you need a good laugh but I don't think we want to go there.

On the way home, a huge, albino snake fell out of the tree and attacked the kids. ;) It started singing and swirling it's eyes in a hypnotic fasssssshion. It was all very thrilling!

When we got back, the boys and I went out to the beach to watch the storm clouds blow in. It was magnificent! There's something remarkable about watching a fast moving storm blow in off the ocean. Kathy told us to make sure we didn't get rained on because she only had a few dry outfits left. Well, we didn't get rained on...but I'm not saying that the boys didn't get wet. They tried to avoid the waves and they were successful...most of the time. :)