Belize Vacation - Part 1

WOW - what a trip! Belize is a place that has been on my radar for quite some time - a few people I know have been there, and every single one has absolutely raved about it. And since I'm always seeking out those off-the-beaten path tropical destinations to explore, it made sense to put Belize on the list. And boy, I'm sure glad I did! 

Upon landing, we were immediately picked up at the airport and escorted through a large part of downtown Belize to the water taxi. The island where we stayed, Caye Caulker, is about a 40 minute boat ride from mainland Belize. Depending on the amount of people going back and forth, the ferry is sometimes half-full and other times, packed to the max. 

Once we got to the island, we were picked up and taken via golf cart (no cars on this island - it's either foot, bike, or cart) to our slice of heaven on the beach. Honestly, the ride on the golf cart wasn't necessary as our place was within short walking distance from the water taxi dock. (Lesson learned and we didn't ever hop back onto a cart the rest of the time on the island.) 

When we were researching the best places to eat on the island, the one that stuck out the most to me was an Italian restaurant. The owners are a couple who moved here from Verona, Italy, a few years ago. Each night, they make two dishes: one with meat sauce and one vegetarian. We opted to get one of each and share the meal. It was delicious and 100% Italian. 

(Belikin Beer - locally brewed in Belize)

One of the tours we opted to do while on the island was a full-day snorkeling trip. Matt had never snorkeled before, so this was a very new experience for him. We practiced the evening before in the pool, to sort of get him acclimated to the idea of breathing in the water, and after a brief moment of mild panic when he hit that ocean water, he really had a great time. It was a really fun day and our guides were awesome. Our boat had six other people, and it ended up being a really fun group!

After the snorkeling tour was over, we had a couple hours of daylight left so we quickly got cleaned up and ventured out to find a premier sunset-watching location. We ended up back in the deep residential section, and asked a person if we could walk through the back of their property to access an old dock. Turned out to be a great spot to watch the sunset!

There are a huge amount of shells all over the island - both in the water and on shore. It is strictly prohibited to take shells out of Belize, so we just left them all alone......even though I sure found some great ones I wanted to bring home. 

Since the sun sets so early down there, there is still lots of party time left in the evening. Our place has these awesome swinging chairs (and tables!), so we parked it in the chairs and enjoyed the ocean breeze with some island drinks.

Happy Birthday Kendall!

In the blink of an eye, my baby turned 7. She has been waiting and counting down for this birthday for so long. The sass is strong with this child. Her interest in sports is starting to show (shhhhh......yessssss!). Her math and reading skills have exploded this school year. I couldn't be more proud of this little lady.

Happy Birthday, baby girl!!

Work

Someone has been putting in the hours to solidify a legit swing. I think we are almost there. Lookin' good!

 

Kendall rides a bike!

Kendall has been pretty insistent for a couple years now that she doesn't want to ride her bike without training wheels. She's a stubborn little creature, for sure! She finally decided yesterday, as we were loading up the car for baseball practice, that she wanted to ride. Right then. Without the training wheels. We actually took the training wheels off a year and a half ago and the bike has mostly sat in the garage. But I saw the look of determination in her eyes yesterday, so I told everyone to just sit tight for a few minutes, to see if this was the real deal. And it sure was! She rode up and down the street for about 30 minutes. Finally!!

Spring Break Fun

We had all three kids for the first half of spring break, so I made sure we had plenty o' fun packed and ready to go.  The very first thing we did was put up a big fort, naturally. This is always a hit with the kids as they love dragging as much stuff as they can fit inside and making their own designated sleeping areas. And I can't even count how many bowls of popcorn they went through for movie night.

 

 

We also had casino night, a/k/a work on your math night without you knowing you're working on your math. ;) Sneaky mom move. Hi-five!  Now that the kids are fully versed on the game of 21, it's a nightly request.

 

 

Kendall finished out her last lesson of this session. She really progressed this session, and always with a big smile on her face.

 

 

Spring in Idaho is wildly unpredictable, so one day we woke up to snow, and the next we were at the park playing.

 

 

I finally had a solid block of time to finish out another year's full scrapbook album. Whew! On to the next.

 

And while I was doing that, the kids did some Easter crafting of their own.

 

 

Over break, it was also my mom's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!) I put together three different meats for street tacos (because who doesn't love street tacos??) and we had a great dinner/celebration for my mom.

 

 

 

 

We also discovered that night that a pair of ducks is using one of our front flower beds as a nesting spot for their unborn child. The cat and dog are mostly uninterested in the ducks and egg, so I'm fairly confident we will be able to monitor and watch this baby chick come into the world.

 

The second half of spring break was spent without kiddos, so we did a lot of "retail therapy", finalizing everything we need for our upcoming trip.

 

 

And then my Easter goobers returned home. :)