Well, this season of baseball has come and gone, and I think Carter made quite a bit of improvement - though it took a village. :) He seems to be at that age right now where he doesn't know if he wants to continue with this sport, so hopefully he can put in some good thought over the summer and decide what he wants to do. Here are some random shots I managed to get here and there when Sir Carter wasn't paying attention. Hey, mom's gotta do what mom's gotta do!
Here are a couple videos I managed to get between keeping book and being instructed by the golden child to NOT do videos. ;) Ain't life grand?
4th grade is the best in Idaho - or at least that's how I remember it!! The curriculum sure has changed though, which is really a bummer because the kids are missing out on so much fun. I remember Idaho History topics and class presentations, forming our "wagons" for the Oregon Trail journey in our class, etc. They seem to touch on a few of those topics, but it isn't nearly as fun as it used to be. Fortunately, they still hold the 4th Grade Rendezvous, which was the best part of 4th grade in Meridian! I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to volunteer for this field trip, and we had a really fun day!
The last portion of our trip ended differently than we anticipated. Our original plan was to head back to mainland for another full day tour - this time for cave tubing/ziplining/Belize Zoo. But we ultimately decided that after a totally lazy day doing nothing but laying out on the dock under the cabana, and swinging in those chairs, that we wanted another day of just roaming the island, tip to tip. So we cancelled the mainland tour and stuck with our little island. I'm so glad we did that - we had a blast connecting all the little beach walking paths, seeing parts of the island I'm betting most tourists don't even get to.........off the beaten path. One of my favorite things to do on vacation - explore what locals see every day. What isn't all primped up for tourists, etc.
But first, we had a totally lazy day. At the end of the dock pictured below is a covered cabana. There are lounge chairs out there, the breeze is fantastic, and there's a little ladder to get in/out of the water. And the bar? Yes, it delivers drinks/food out there. We easily spent 3/4 of the day out there.
What would an island vacation be without a drink like this?!!
Our last full day on the island was spend walking, exploring, and ultimately figuring out that one side of the island (west) has zero breeze whatsoever, and quickly working our way back over to the east side for that glorious ocean breeze.
One of the cemeteries.
Residential road - all dirt roads. Nothing is paved.
Such a fun color scheme for this place!
The other cemetery. This one seemed more......formal?
So there are two signs welcoming you to the island. One over by the water taxi, and then this one, which is clear on the south tip, near the airstrip. There are two ways to get to Caye Caulker from mainland Belize - water taxi and a tiny island hopper plane. The water taxi is a lot cheaper and offers a better view/experience, in my opinion.
The colors on the island are so vibrant - what a fun fence!
One of the schools. There are two primary schools - one public and one private (includes A/C and internet). There is also a high school, though we didn't find that. We talked with some boys who were riding their bikes to go swimming - asking them why they were out of school on that Friday. Apparently the day before was their "cultural" day, and they extended the long weekend. They also told us all about their schools, how many there were, where they were located, etc. Everyone on the island is very friendly, welcoming, and always willing to share a story/experience with you.
We ended up back at The Split. They were setting up for the full moon party that evening, so we decided to head back to our place, cool off in the pool, and find a great spot to watch the sunset before heading to that full moon party.
Our little resort. We had a third floor room, which offered a great view of the ocean. I would stay here again in a heartbeat. (Island Magic Beach Resort)
There was a great restaurant that offered a fantastic sunset view with dinner.....only when we got there, the restaurant wasn't open and no sign left explaining why they were closed. But hey, they were right on with that sunset view. We stayed for that, though a storm coming in blocked most of the sunset, and then we ventured out to find a different place to eat.
We ended up at this place and had a killer dinner with a great view of the full moon.
With full bellies, we ventured back to The Split to check out this party. I have to say, with as much as they amped this thing up, the party itself was fairly.......quiet? And maybe we got there too early, I don't know. They DJ was definitely playing some fantastic music, and there were people coming and going the entire time. But maybe the locals knew something we didn't about that storm brewing out over the open ocean.
We decided to leave the party at the perfect time because when we walked into the door at our place, the skies opened up and completely down-poured, with crazy wind. We sat on our balcony and watched the water dump, thinking how the timing was perfect because it's probably a 20 minute walk from The Split to our place, and I would have hated to be walking back in that weather.
The skies were still pretty moody the next morning. We were able to watch another sunrise before packing everything up and heading back to the water taxi to hit mainland for our flight.
I will definitely be back to Caye Caulker. It was such a fun, little island with a great vibe. I think we packed perfectly for this trip - there wasn't anything we didn't use. The only thing we hit the store for was bug spray for Matt. Otherwise, a few swimsuits, cover-ups, shorts, tank tops, and comfy flip flops are all you need. Definitely a slice of paradise, highly recommended by several people I know, and I will 100% vouch for it now.
