Saturday, August 25, 2007

What We Did on Our Summer Vacation

Well, the time has come, after over two months of neglecting the blog, to let everyone know what we've been doing!

It all began in late June when we stuffed Guildy into a suitcase.....
....and headed north to Mexico enroute to the much-anticipated Browning family reunion. To get there, we took a boat to southern Belize, then rode buses through Belize and up the Yucutan Penninsula. The highlight of the journey was the Mayan ruins at Tulum and Coba in Mexico. I think we probably took 100 pictures of the two sites, but we'll spare you all the details and just post a few highlights.

Tulum
Ancient Tulum was a walled city situated on the coast. Modern Tulum is set back from the coast a little and looks pretty much like all the other towns in the area.


One of the temples in Tulum. On the inside walls, you an still see original paintings, and you can see the intricate carvings on the front walls.



A corner watch tower in the wall surrounding Tulum.


Coba
Coba was a much larger site than Tulum, covering 70 square km. It had more extensive buildings and obviously had been a more important center of activity at its height. It was big enough that rented bikes were necessary to see it all. Guildy rode side saddle like the little Honduran that she is.

The crossroads. Two major Mayan roads converged at this pyramid. I'm not sure why they needed such an elaborate building to mark it, but I imagine the view from the top was pretty good.


The Big Pyramid. This is the largest structure on the Yucutan Penninsula, 123 feet tall. Josh climbed to the top. Guildy and I watched from the bottom.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visits to the ruins. It would be a shame to live here for so long and never see any of those sites.

Browning Family Reunion

We met 54 members of the Browning clan in Cancun in June for a great week of fun. While the sun and tropical weather wasn't anything too exotic for us, the company was great and everybody had a blast!

The Browning girls, plus Owen!
Brianne, Owen, Cooper, Guildy, Lisa, and Sydney

Caitlin and Guildy



Kasey, Anthony, and Guildy

The adorable Fourth Generation Brownings color coded in their white t-shirts.

Julia, Jessica, Katherine, Guildy, Isabel, and Amanda

Lingle Family Reunion

We happened to be in Circle the weekend of the Lingle family reunion, so we got to visit some relatives we already knew and meet a few we didn't know even existed.

Great Aunt Mary and Uncle Phil

Cousins Leta and Lacey

Class Reunion

The CHS classes of '96-'98 had a reunion the first weekend in July. I had lots of fun finding out what everyone had been up to the past ten years and seeing all their little kids.

The weekend also doubled as a bridal shower for Jenny...

....And a baby shower for me!


It's so much fun having such cool friends!

Guildy's Great Grandma's

Guildy is lucky enough to have three great grandmas, and we got to see all of them in June and July.

Great Grandma Milli and Cousin Julia in Mexico.


Great Grandma Mavis, Grandma Susie, Guildy, and Mom






Great Grandma Pearl and Guildy

Fun in Oregon

The first weekend in August, Mom and Dad picked up Guildy and I in Bozeman and we made the trek to Lakeview, OR to visit Lee and Becca. We had such a great time, although it was a pretty short visit.
Lee and Dad played lots of music.

Guildy thinks Aunt Becca is the best!

We enjoyed several rousing rounds of croquet.....


And got some family pictures.



Fun in Montana

Guildy and I spent about the first 3 weeks of August in Montana staying with our friends Tim and Carolyn and their year old daughter Adelyn. We did some camping one of the weekends. It was Guildy's first camping trip, and she thoroughly enjoyed playing outside, sleeping in the tent, wearing her warm pajamas, and eating outside.





While Tim fished, Carolyn and I hiked up a ways and enjoyed the scenery.


Carolyn and the kiddos after a not-so-restful night in the tent...but don't they all look perky!

Levi and Jena and Mason, our old neighbors from South 16th, now live across the street from Tim and Carolyn, so we got together for a bbq one evening. As I was snapping pictures, I got this great series of action poses of Mason. He's two and an absolute sweety!

Going for the nose pick.....

And score!

We love Montana and all our great friends and family there! Can't wait for our next visit!