belize - day 2

 Up by 6:30 to have breakfast and hit the road by 7am to go into Guatamala to see the ruins of Tikal.  We switched vans at the boarder and were sprayed by holy water to get rid of all of the evil spirits (that reside in Belize?).  We stopped at one of the three large lakes we passed on the way.  They have different types of rocks for different types of cloth at the washing stations.  I thought that was interesting.

 We were able to see a triantula and some spider monkeys on our hike up to the ruins.  Ana was thrilled, that is all she really wanted to see on this trip.  The guide even showed her how to call a monkey.  She practiced the rest of the day and had it down pretty well by the time we left.

 The first ruin we came to was part of their calendar.  There was one to the N, S, E and W of this one and depending on where the shadow landed they knew what time of year it was.  Grant was showing off sprinting up and down this one.  He was videoing himself.

 This bark smelled good.  This is the tree that they use to make insense out of that they burn in churches.  Then we rounded the corner and saw the 4th tallest temple in the park.  You can't climb it because people have fallen off and someone died a few years ago.  It's temple 2 in the Grand Plaza.  This was the king/royalty's court.

 Here we are ontop of temple 1, the Grand Jaguar, in the Grand Plaza, looking at temple 2.

 In the background here is temple 3, which just happens to be the 3rd tallest in the park.  They think their is still one taller than all the rest but it is still buried, so no one really knows.  Grant on top of temple one.

 The leaves of this tree smelled like black pepper.  And there was a type of cilantro growing on the steps of these ruins.  Doesn't look at all like the cilantro we grow at home, but smelled and tasted the same.

 This is the oldest building in the area, it's called Mundo Perdido or Lost world.  It has a different type of archetecture than the other pyramids.  It was built level by level, so you can see 5 different phases of the building type.  There were also no rooms or tombs inside of it.  Below Victor is looking into one of the 230 storage areas that have been uncovered underground.  Roots and food would have been stored here and there were rocks fitted to the different enterences so rodents couldn't get in.

 Here we are on top of temple 4, it is the tallest of the temples.  It's also called the two headed snake temple.  It was built around 740 AD and is 64.6 m tall.  Below is the view of the other temples, the mound to the right is what they think is another and possibly the tallest temple.  To the left of that is temple 3, then 1 and then 2.

 We weren't back to our huts long and Ethan was fishing and hooked a small sardine in the eye and Ana was swimming and playing with the dogs.  Another good dinner and off to bed.

Belize - day 1

 We got on a red eye at 12:45 am Wednesday morning (march 26th) and flew to Atlana.  Hung out in the airport for a few hours and got on a flight to Belize which landed around 11am Wednesday morning.  We got in our 15 passenger van - yes, that's how we are traveling this trip.  Luggage room and two kids per row, perfect fit for our family.  Lots of space.

We headed off towards Guatamala on the farm country type roads.  The rental place told us where to turn by land marks, there really aren't any signs.  That said, there aren't really many roads either.  Four main highways, maybe a couple other paved roads in town and then it's all dirt roads.  We did turn left at the cell tower and made it to the Western Hwy to the town of San Ignacia.  We stopped there for lunch and a little shopping.  Lunch brought back memories of nicaragua for Morgan in that it took about an hour to make lunch, they cook fresh from when you order so for a group of eight, it was a bit of a wait.  The girls checked out different shops during this time.  I bought a cd of Garifuni music for the drive and Morgan bought some worry dolls.  The boys visited with a drunk who kept coming by and sitting down when the girls went shopping.  Hopefully that will make everyone think twice about ever dinking.?.?  Lunch was good and then we got directions to the Parrot Nest Lodge a few miles out of town.  After turning down a couple wrong dirt roads we finally made it!  The kids were unpacked and in their swim suits and down to the Mopan River before we could blink.  We took some tubes and walked back into town to a bridge and set a float in the river.  Those pics are on my phone.  I took my phone in a zip lock so I could take pictures, but it had some small holes and water ended up in my phone...  it spent the next couple days drying out.

Dinner at the lodge was delicious, the kids went to get ready for bed - it was like 9 pm, but pitch dark.  By the time Troy and I got to the cabins (girls cabin and boys cabin) the kids were in bed and asleep.

Ethan cast & Aly bridal shower - March

The first week of March Ethan broke his arm.  He was playing football at recess, he went to pick up the ball and two kids crashed into him and he snapped both bones just an inch away from his wrist.  He's been in good spirits and hasn't really complained at all.  He was in a splint for a week and then he got his cast on.  As you can see it's half blue and half green.  After his first day of school with it, it was covered in signatures.  Good thing it's a water proof cast so he can still go to Belize with us for spring break.

Saturday, March 22nd, the girls and I had a bridal shower for Aly.  It was so fun and so many people came.  Thanks to help from my friends Suzie and Stacie with food and decorations and ideas it turned out beautiful!  Congrats to Aly, the first cousin to get married!  June 14th is the day out in NYC and Connecticut.