Belize!

Just a few days after we got back from Chicago, we started packing to go to Belize! Sue came to stay with the boys and we went on an adventure. When we left, Kansas looked grey and it was cold.

We flew to Dallas and found the sun and Sara and Josh!

Then we flew to Belize! The sun, obviously, wasn't shining but at least it wasn't raining.

Soon Andy and Lia arrived and then to our surprise we took another plane ride. We were planning on taking the water taxi, but we were informed that, "the boat is broke." So it was arranged for us to fly from Belize City to San Pedro.

The three of us were in the back of the plane on a bench seat...

and that's the rest of the people (Ben, Andy and Josh are up there somewhere).

I don't like small propeller planes, but it turned out to be a nice flight.

Ah, back on the ground, just as the sun was setting.

We collected our bags, waited for a taxi and then in the dark were taken to our house. Turns out, our house was 4 1/2 miles outside of San Pedro, down concrete streets that turned into pot hole filled sand roads that eventually turned into this:

a path just wide enough for a minivan to fit in that took us right to our house. In the dark it seemed like a wild adventure. In the daylight it didn't seem quite so adventurous.  Tired and hangry we began to search for food. Unfortunately, since it had a been a "cool" and rainy day in Belize most of the restaurants along the beach near our house were closed. But we found one so we sat down eager to eat. Then we saw the outrageous prices and felt even more cranky. All in all, we ate, we paid and we never went back to that restaurant. No wonder we were just about the only people there.
The next morning, while it was cloudy it was still lots of fun to go and explore our vacation spot in the daylight. This was the view from our deck.

And this was the view by the water.

Once again, we were hungry, and since Ben and I were the first ones up we took responsibility for gathering supplies for breakfast. Through the trees behind our house was this colorful little grocery store.

They had a little bit of all the things you could need. From liquor to jam to frozen pizzas and medicine.

We bought fresh tortillas, ground sausage, eggs, cheese and salsa plus coffee. It turns out that our little grocery store was an extremely expensive place to buy food, but we certainly enjoyed our breakfast burritos and coffee that day.

Plans were made for Sara, Josh and Andy to rent a golf cart and drive to town for the rest of the food supplies we would need for the week. We were all relieved when they returned with bags full of food all costing far less than our breakfast supplies had. There was a bridge on the north edge of San Pedro and apparently, once you cross the bridge you've entered into the tourist area and all the prices are sky high. Going into town ensured that we wouldn't go broke on vacation.
While the shoppers were gone, Ben and I walked up and down the beach:

This stuff washed up on shore each day. Every morning people were out raking the beach to clear it away....just say no to plastic bottles people. Just. Say. No.

Then Lia and I spent a while reading on the deck. See that cute baby bump? :-)

It was wonderfully relaxing and almost challenging to chill out and do nothing.

Actually, we did do a few things that day. Ben and I took a kayak out and paddled around for a while. We failed to get the seat straps tightened enough so we ended up with sore backs, but it was still fun. The water was very calm and made for easy steering and paddling.
A little more beach exploring:

And here we are on our second full day in Belize. The sun shone bright all day! This is the front of our house. Bedrooms on the bottom, kitchen, dining and living room on the second.

Every morning, Ben and I would be the first ones awake so we'd go out and walk on the beach, find a hammock to chill out in, just look at the water.

We went kayaking again, but this time, Sara helped us get our kayak set up properly. She hopped in the other kayak and we had a great time. We paddled all the way out to the reef and then back again.

Later that day we got picked up at our dock to go snorkeling. I got nervous just thinking about it, but did my best to keep an open mind and go with the flow. It was a nice boat ride, lots of beautiful water and warm sunshine.

This was our guide, Alex. Ruben, barely visible in this photo, helped Alex keep an eye on us in the water.

Snorkel gear sure brings out my inner beauty. Ha!

Ben doesn't look as ridiculous as I do, how is that possible?

Anyways, Alex gave us instructions, then we jumped into the water, and saw tons of fish. I spent a lot of mental energy on not freaking out and making sure I was breathing through my mouth. Both of those things were challenging. It was lovely. We saw all sorts of fish and I followed Alex around like he was Jesus. Just before we were back to the boat, an eel tried to chase me and Alex saved me by kicking the eel away with his flippers.

Then we hopped back onto the boat, and went to a different area where we were going to swim with sting rays and nurse sharks. Gulp. Turns out, all the water I'd drank on the boat ride had filled my bladder. Without a too full bladder I doubt I would have gotten in the water with the sharks and sting rays.

Ruben cut up fish to feed the sharks. He would feed them on one side of the boat and we were on the other side.

There were a lot of sharks.

Apparently, nurse sharks are not aggressive and as Alex demonstrated for us, they use suction to pull their prey toward them and actually have small teeth....blah, blah, blah. The suction power looked plenty strong to me...I was terrified. Eventually, my bladder won out and I got back in the water. I was much closer to sharks and sting rays than I wanted to be or ever need to be again. But I did it.

Ben touched one of the sharks - he said it felt like sandpaper.
There were plenty of seagulls that wanted some of the fish the sharks were being served....

and then, once we were done putting our lives on the line, Ruben cut up a pineapple for us to enjoy.

It was ahhhhhmazing.

And back to our dock we went!

When we got back to the house we were ready for more food. We knew a place down the beach was having happy hour, and we had heard good things about it so we headed there. I ordered a drink called the Shark & Stormy. I felt like I deserved a delicious cocktail after surviving all those fish, eels, sharks and sting rays.

The restaurant had an infinity pool, I was intrigued:

On the way back to the house I caught a couple shots of the sunset.

Here's a look at the inside of our house. It was a lovely house. Lovely design, fresh cut flowers, air conditioning, WiFi, etc. Dining/Living room:

Kitchen:

Stairway down to the bedrooms:

View from one of the living room windows:

And, our group of houses had a pool too!

It was lovely, and a great option for cooling off if the ocean was too silty or full of sea weed.

For the first full day I thought all the flowers in the house were fake - nope, all real!

On our last full day in Belize Josh, Sara, Ben and I rented bikes and rode into San Pedro. It was a warm and windy day, too windy for kayaking, but just right for biking.

Off we went down the sandy road...

and here's Sara on the sand road by the beach in San Pedro.

Eventually, we parked our bikes and explored on foot.

Lots of artisans and vendors were set up along the beach selling jewelry, wood bowls and bags.

This woman was selling beautifully embroidered pieces of all shapes and sizes.

Lunch was rum punch, chicken quesadillas and French fries.  The best part of the rum punch was that all the punch part was fresh squeezed juices. It was very refreshing!

I took this picture from my seat in the restaurant where Ben and I ate lunch.

We had been told not to miss the chocolate chip cookies sold at the Belize Chocolate Company, so I made sure we stopped in for some. Plus, we took one back to Lia who had been craving something sweet for a couple of days. The cookies were amazing, not to mention all the other chocolate treats they were selling.

One of the many, many docks in San Pedro.

We had to stop at the grocery store for bug spray and beverages.

Then we loaded up our baskets for the 4 1/2 mile ride back to our house.

I was a wind-blown ssssswwwwweaty mess when I got back to the house. I made a beeline for the ocean, but quickly saw that the wind had caused the water to churn up lots of silt. So, to the pool we went! It felt so, so good! Then, I took a towel and my book and read and napped on the beach.

Farkle kept us busy in the evenings, along with visiting and laughing and telling stories.

As we packed up on Friday morning, I snapped a couple pictures of our bedroom and bathroom.

And here's the crew:

It's blurry, since our taxi was moving, but I still like this photo.

In San Pedro, we dropped our luggage off at the water taxi and then went to find lunch.

It was a hot, not windy, day. We were a sweaty bunch, but were very happy with the restaurant we ended up in for lunch.

Cold drinks and yummy food.

The water taxi took us through beautiful water all the way to Belize City, where we got a taxi to take us to the airport.

Eventually, we boarded our plane,

and said farewell to San Pedro island.

Our plane was a lovely, brand new 737, each person had a screen to watch and we enjoyed watching "You've Got Mail." I'd forgotten how cute and quaint that movie is. We were delayed in Dallas, but eventually fell into our own bed at 2 in the morning.

Sue took off early on Saturday morning to try and avoid the worst of a winter storm heading for Illinois later that day. We were relieved to hear she made it home safe and sound!  The boys had a wonderful time with Sue here!
Ben got right back into officiating basketball the next day and Noah tagged along. Levi and I bundled up and explored by the creek in the pasture. :-) It was good to be back doing "normal" stuff again.

We got back from Belize on Friday. On Monday I left for four days in Pennsylvania for a work trip. It was literally the last thing I wanted to do. More airplanes, more waiting in line in airports, following the signs and instructions, having no control over anything except my coloring.

It was like zero degrees in Chicago so we spent over an hour in our airplane, waiting to be de-iced. No fun, but very important.

It was cold outside, so I tried to make my drawings feel warm.

I had a nice time in Pennsylvania. I got to catch up with colleagues I hadn't seen for a while and then before I knew it, Thursday rolled around and I came back home! I'm so thankful not to be going anywhere anytime soon.