Swimming at Oma's

We headed over to Oma's to swim for a bit.  I love that she gets in the pool with them.....especially today because it was SO cold.  Why do kids not seem to care how cold the water is?!

Sports

Keeley has started taking rhythmic gymnastics and the class is long (2 hours) and late (ends at 8) so I take her alone and leave the other kids with Daddy.  This has been nice because we have a lot of time to talk in the car.  She has recently decided that she doesn't want to continue taking the class.  Short lived interest apparently!  I've always told the kids they could stop activities whenever they wanted but we had to finish our obligation.  On the way home from class today I was telling her how long we still had in our commitment to the class.  She said okay and then asked, "Mom, did you do sports when you were my age?"  I told her that I did, that I had played softball and then when I was a little older I played volleyball.  I told her that Uncle Kendall played soccer.  She asked a little about the different sports and I asked if she wanted to try a sport.  She responded with, "Well, I...uh...well, it's just that I'm so.....delicate."  Cracked me up!  Apparently she has labeled herself too delicate for those types of sports!

Belize - last day

Last day!!  We were so sad!  This was so much better than I expected.  I had really wanted beach and I'm so happy we went inland.  I'm not sure what was my favorite part but I was crazy excited about the unexpected surprise of Milky.  Our resort had said that we had an attendant but I didn't really know what that meant.  We found out upon arrival that there was one person responsible for only us the entire time we were there.  We had a radio and called him and told him where we were going to be and he arrived to take care of us - no waiters or other hotel staff was allowed to take care of us.  He brought us what we needed to the room and made suggestions.  I was seriously, seriously spoiled by this and I loved it!

We started the morning off at the restaurant

This is Kelly's pancake.  More cake than I'm used to!!

We had some time so we told Milky we were going to take a hike.  He went over all the guidelines and directions. We thought we might head down to the waterfall but weren't sure we'd make it that far before we wanted to head back.

We had fun but ended up getting lost toward the end and I got SOOOO sunburned.  We returned back to the villa hot and gross and jumped in the plunge pool for a bit (still VERY cold!) and then got ready to go eat our last lunch.   We documented a few more details of our stay before we headed up....

Me in the hammock.  I fully admit to hogging this a lot.  I'd camp here with my book and just relax

Wine in a little can with a straw.  I thought this was so funny.

This little slate mini-bar menu.  I didn't realize slate carving was such a big deal until we went to that street market.

We packed up and called Milky telling him our luggage was waiting and that we were headed up to the restaurant.

Our last meal!  I had a a few drinks knowing I'd be riding in that tiny plane again!!

 

The restaurant's "pet" lizard

 After we ate, we checked out (with me telling the staff I really, really wasn't ready to head home) and then headed down with Milky to wait for our transportation.  I literally squealed when the horse carriage pulled up!!!!  I was expecting the golf cart again but this was so much more fun!!

Saying goodbye to Milky

And....we're off!

I cannot wait to go back.  We really did have the time of our lives!!

Belize - Day 3

On day 3 we stayed in Belize and went on a half-ish day tour pacakge.  We "slept in" but still were up around 6 because of the sun.  Because we'd gone to bed so early the night before I still got 11 hours of sleep.  I was a happy traveler!  We went to breakfast and then were picked up to drive to Xunantunich.  These were my favorite of the three ruin sites we visited.  They were very different than the Tikal ruins we'd seen the day before.  It was discovered that uncovering ruins and exposing them to the elements wasn't perhaps the best plan so move of these ruins were only partially uncovered.

Our tour guide wanted to take our picture a lot.  He kept suggesting "post card picture"  which made me happy and made Kelly roll his eyes.

After the tour, we did a little shopping at a street market, ate lunch in town, and then headed to Cahal Pech.  This one was very different and very small. 

When we got back to the resort, the US was playing in the World Cup and Milky had told us the staff was putting the tv in the pool house and they were having happy hour for the resort.  I think they moved the tv so the staff could watch more than anything else!  It was fun.  We stopped by for a bit and then got cleaned up for dinner.

We stayed up a little later this evening reading but still not that late!  It just got so dark it felt weird to be awake

Missing teeth

I received a message from Mom saying Kayden lost a tooth and the tooth fairy shouldn't visit until we got back home.  One of the hardest things about traveling is missing things like that.

Belize - Day 2

When I went to bed the night before (at 6!) I was so afraid that I wouldn't feel well enough to travel on our excursion.  We were planning to head to Tikal, Guatemala and would have to be up early so we could depart at 6:30.  I told Kelly when I woke up at 8 and he was eating dinner that I would stay home if I didn't feel well but that he should go either way. 

 Fortunately, I woke up (at 5:30) feeling great!  It was super bright in our room.  We hadn't thought to close the doors to the screened area the night before because we didn't think about how bright it would be in the morning.  It was a the perfect wake up.  We got up and showered and Milky brought us some breakfast.  Our resort was a good hour away from San Ignacio so the tour guide picked us up and we had a very bumpy ride out to pick up one other guest and head to Guatemala.  I really enjoyed driving through town and seeing all the people going about their mornings. We picked up our other passenger in San Ignacio so we were able to drive through the town.  It was market day.  I have never seen so many pineapples in my entire life!  Once we picked him up we headed to Guatemala.  Our tour guide helped us through the customs process (so many men with guns) and explained that a lot of companies hire private security details.  Guatemala was very different than Belize.  Very different feeling and we learned it wasn't quite as safe or stable.

We stopped here for coffee and a potty break.

The Ceiba tree at the entrance to the Tikal grounds.  It was believed to connect the underworld to the heavens.

Kelly really thought this backpack was funny

After we explored for several hours, we went to the a little area where vendors were located and they had this model of Tikal.  It was very neat to see it all and how it was all laid out.

We ate lunch and then started on our drive back.

Stopped at customs again.  I got busted taking a picture of the guards.  Just so crazy that there are so many people with huge guns just standing around.

When we got back to the hotel, we took a dip in the hot tub again and then headed to dinner.  Back in our hotel room, we discovered this tiny frog...

And a very injured Kelly toe :(

We had another early morning so we went to sleep.  It is easy to go to bed early when it gets dark so early and any light attracts bugs!