Viva la Mexico!

So, back in June our little family joined my very large family for a reunion in Cancun, Mexico.  

I feel a little sheepish even blogging about this… like my five loyal readers are thinking, 

"Who does this girl think she is?  Traipsing all over Europe isn't enough for her?  Now she shows up in Mexico?!"  

Let me explain.  My mom has been planning this reunion for our family for quite some time.  It's not our typical style to go on outlandish vacations.  But you see, back in the day, my dad built a beautiful cabin.  My parents saved for YEARS to build it.  All growing up I remember them talking and dreaming and planning it.  My dad finally started construction on it when I was in high school… he and my brothers did the bulk of the labor…and it finally came to fruition when I returned home from my mission.  It was a beautiful and peaceful place to be and we made a ton of great family memories up there. 

Fast-forward seven years later to my dad's untimely death.  The cabin was too much for my mom to upkeep and maintain on her own.  So, with a heavy heart she sold it.  I was crushed, but I knew it wasn't practical to keep it.   The silver lining was that she promised to use the proceeds from the cabin to finance family gatherings every now and then.  That is how my dad would have wanted the money to be used… to gather the family.  So, that's how we ended up in Mexico.  

The flight really wasn't all that bad… it was direct from Frankfurt to Cancun.  Now that is awesome.  

So the reunion consisted of seventeen adults and nineteen grandchildren!  You may wonder how we managed to feed ourselves for a whole week!  Costco, my friends.  There is a Costco in Cancun!  Each family took a turn cooking.

We ran into a few glitches…. like the promised "beach front" property had NO beach.  And we had a major tropical storm with torrential downpour for two days… to the point where some of the rooms flooded… and the wind never stopped!!  BUT it was so great to spend time with my siblings and the kids, of course, couldn't get enough of their cousins.  

One of the calmer days

We did a couple excursions… one day an LDS tour guide named Helaman (no joke) took us to some ancient Mayan ruins in Coba and Tulum

This is the Blackburn Bus!! Check out that bad boy!

We got to ride bikes in Coba, which made it handy to get from site to site. 

Do the on-lookers look impressed or what?

We stopped at a cenote, or water hole. 

Check out how ripped my brother is… he has like a ten pack!

Because my mom is da bomb, she arranged for us to give some clothing, toys, and school supplies to some less fortunate Mayan villagers… she's always looking for ways to think outside of ourselves

And then finally onto Tulum… so beautiful!

We hiked to a beach one afternoon… wish we would have had more beach time, but the weather wasn't very cooperative!!

Playing Four Square

Our last day we went to a resort called Xel-ha.  We did snorkeling… I saw a giant sea turtle!… and zip lining.  I was so proud of Em for going on the zip line!

She had a blast as we did it over and over and over again!

I got to hand it to this amazing lady here, my mom.  She has so much drive and persistence… I don't know if I would have the tenacity to plan a family trip like this one, but she did and we are so appreciative!

Before you go, I do have to add this awesome tidbit… this trip was especially meaningful for Ben and me because we met in Mexico ten years ago to the month!  I can't believe it's been ten years!!  So, here is a pic of Ben when I first met him at Chichenitza.  What a stud, eh?

And here he is ten years later in Tulum… still pretty studly I must say. 

Barfuss Park!

 Have you ever heard of a Barfuss park?  Ben's delinquent jr. high friend was a Barfuss, and that's the only context in which I've heard the name.  But it turns out barfuss means "bare foot" in German and in parts of Europe, especially Germany and Austria, there are designated parks where you hike around barefoot!  The park we went to yesterday had areas of cold water, sand, pebbles, pinecones, mud, and even glass (eek!) that you walk through giving your feet a sensory overload.  I believe the idea is that going barefoot is good for your overall health and well being… basically being a hippy is awesome.  

In our two and a half years here, yesterday was our first trip to such a park because although I've been curious about the whole thing, I've never dared take Caroline on account of her sensory processing issues… as a young child she has hated going barefoot in grass, sand, or getting herself dirty in any form or fashion.  Now that she's a little bit older and not quite so anal about such things I felt like we could do this.  

But first, before leaving the house, Caroline came up to me and said, "Look Mom!  I got dressed by myself!"  This girl is one-of-a-kind, that's for sure!

She is clutching a random atlas, her choice of accompaniment to the park. The gloves are a nice touch.. she said her hands were cold (naturally, it being the first day of August.)

So, on to the park.  You ditch your shoes in the lockers, and are on your way!

It was about at this point in the two mile loop that Caroline sighed as we walked along, "It's a really long walk to the barefoot park."  Glad we clarified before we finished the dang thing!

The mud was the only part Caroline REFUSED to go through.  No way was she touching that!

And luckily they have a washing station at the end.  

So, do you think a park like this would be a hit in the states?  Contemplating a business venture. 

Copenhagen

I can't believe it's been month since I've posted… there's so much to write about, I don't know really where to start.  Ben and I had an awesome opportunity to go on a Baltic cruise. (Can I just say it was HEAVEN?? not so much for the destinations, which were great and all, but just to be with Ben and spend quality time together.)  Ben's parents came out and watched the kids for us (more on that later).  The cruise departed from Copenhagen and included stops in Warnemunde (Germany), Tallin (Estonia), St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Stockholm.  

We had an amazing time, but I wanted to share something cool from Copenhagen.  Ben's mom told us about a memorial in Copenhagen that was created by an LDS sculptor named Dennis Smith that honors the many Danish Mormon converts who emigrated from Denmark to the US at the end of the 19th century.  Ben has Danish ancestors, and I have a great-grandfather who is Danish!  Hans Jensen emigrated when he was five years old with his parents, Niels and Anne.  Besides my grandfather being born in Canada, he is the closest foreign born ancestor I have.  

So, the memorial consisted of three parts… a sculpture of a young woman named Kristina (loosely based on Dennis Smith's great-grandmother) who is looking out over the harbor, the relentless Baltic wind blowing her hair (notice the horizontal pony tail), then there is a plaque that describes the memorial and the LDS immigrants, and then there are several cobblestones with LDS immigrants names engraved on them, with the town they were from and the date they immigrated to the US.  I guess there were like 40,000 Danish converts in fifty years of missionary work there.  

So, we found the memorial on the way home and it was way cool.  It is at the location where the LDS immigrants sailed from in Copenhagen.  It was cool to think that this was the location the Jensens left from.  Familysearch.org shows that the Jensens sailed from Copenhagen in 1882 to Liverpool London, from where they sailed to New York. I have to think this was the location.  I looked and looked for Hans Jensen's name… or his parents Anne Jensen and Niels Jensen, but didn't find them.  I guess you can contact Smith to see about getting your ancestor's name added to the memorial.  That would be really cool.  We did see a ton of Andersens, Nielsens, Jensens, Larsens, Madsens, and Christensens… basically all the Mormon names.

Me looking for Hans Jensen's name.  

Here is a Hans Jensen, but it can't be our Hans Jensen since he wasn't even born until 1877.

We did find Ben's ancestor though, Ole Nielsen.  Here is a pic of him in front of the cobblestone.

So, it was cool to be in Denmark and feel of our ancestors' spirits there.  We did a fun bike tour and learned some interesting tidbits about Copenhagen and Denmark.

*Denmark only has five million people… it's made up of 70 islands, 40 of which are inhabited.  Or something like that.  Don't quote me on these numbers, ok?
*The climate is miserable.  We were there on a beautiful day, 75 degrees… our guide said that is very unusual.  Usually there's a lot of wind and clouds and it's colder.
*Denmark is very vanilla… not much diversity.  Our guide referred to his fellow countrymen as "country bumpkins."  I thought this was particularly amusing since Oprah once did a special on Denmark as the happiest place on earth to live….touting their progressiveness, etc.
*Denmark has shrunk more in size than any other European country.  I guess they were once quite the force to be reckoned with.
*The Danes helped quite a few Jews escape to neutral Sweden during the Nazi occupation.
*We can thank the Danes for Legos
*And Neils Bohr, a Dane for figuring out the anatomy of the atom
*And Hans Christian Andersen for The Little Mermaid, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Snow Queen (Frozen), and a myriad of other fairytales, plays, poems, and novels
* The Martin Luther reformation had a huge impact on Denmark… most Danes are Lutheran.
*The port in Copenhagen is so clean you can swim naked in it.
*One in four wind turbines are made in Denmark
*Most people get around on bicycles… most places in town are more quickly accessible by bike than car
*It's a very liberal city… the first country to give same-sex unions the same rights as marriage (just short of calling it marriage), one of the first on woman's suffrage, and freedom of religion (hence all the Danish Mormon converts).
*There is a 30 km bridge that connects Denmark to Sweden
*The Danes love Obama… he has been there twice and loves to go there since he receives such a warm welcome.  Our guide says he goes to Denmark to boost his self-esteem after being dogged in the U.S.
*If you retire from the same company after working for 40 years, you get invited by the queen to the palace for a cup of tea.
*The Danes are nuts about their royal family, who are just figure heads and have no power whatsoever
*Kids don't start school until they're seven years old

And Wow!  I'm amazed I remembered so much from that tour!  Worth the $50 I suppose.

The Little Mermaid:

The Royal Palace