Moision Madness

Because we missed our planned excursion to the mainland earlier in the trip due to the vomitorium situation, we decided to leave the island a couple of days early to spend the weekend on the mainland before flying home Monday. (Of course, those plans also got changed when we moved our flight to Sunday due to the impending tropical storm Isaac set to hit Florida. But more on that later.)

Saturday morning came around and we headed out. On the way to the dock, Finn found this teeny, tiny crab.

We had gotten a drenching of rain earlier in the morning, but by 9:30 when we left, the water was like glass and the skies were beautiful.

We said goodbye to Jamma and climbed aboard our Coastal Express taxi for our last boat ride.

Once at the airport in San Pedro, we took advantage of their super fast wifi and enjoyed the air conditioning while waiting for the plane. The boys found a stingray hidden in the sand in their aquarium.

Finally, we boarded our 11:00 flight to Municipal Airport in Belize City. We got to sit right up front on the little plane.

I took a few pictures out the windows. The stillness of the day made for a spectacular view.

Goodbye, island! We’ll miss you!

Friday was our last day on the island before heading to the mainland on Saturday. The kids seemed to be on the mend, but Bruce was still suffering so we had a mellow day. We were heading down for bedtime when Finn discovered a tiny gecko on the floor. There quite a few of these in the house — we’ve all had a good startle when opening a cupboard to grab the salt only to see one of these guys scurry away — but this was the smallest one we’d ever come across.

Of course, Bruce tried to catch it.

And he did! Then he gave it to Finn.

Finn then took it over to the screen porch to release it.

On another note, Sergio made these adorable monkeys out of coconuts for the boys. Aren’t they cute?!?

We’ve had one luxury on this trip that hasn’t happened before: the boys have been sleeping in. Well, relatively speaking at least. During the other two trips, the boys woke up each morning some time between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. as the sunlight streamed into our bedrooms. This year, they’ve slept each morning until between 7:00 and 8:00, probably later once or twice. The only downside is that we’ve missed the beautiful sunrise and the morning walks on the dock to search for sea creatures.

This morning, our next to last on the island, I couldn’t sleep so I decided to get up around 5:00 to take in the sunrise (and take some photos, of course). It was beautiful. The sky was just beginning to show some color when I walked out.

Pretty soon the sun started to make its way up over the horizon.

While I was out there, I saw a ray in the water. He hung around for quite a while.

I saw the Coastal Express water taxi out on its first run of the day.

And then took this final shot of our dock after walking back to the beach.

After almost four weeks I am ready to be home and get on with the business of getting the kids back to school. But I continue to be stunned by the beauty of this place and will miss it.

The other night Bruce, Finn, and I were sitting upstairs when I noticed a frog on the window — not something you see everyday. I took a picture from the inside of the house.

Bruce then urged me to go outside to take the photo, but for some reason the little guy kind of creeped me out and I didn’t want to go outside. Bruce then reluctantly grabbed the camera and went outside. He got this shot.

The lens keeps fogging up because it’s particularly humid lately.

My trepidation turned out to be legitimate — right after Bruce took the picture, the frog jumped from the window onto his pants! He tried to take a picture of that but between his own surprise and the camera’s zoom settings nothing came out right. Needless to say, Finn totally loved this whole process.

Poor Bruce. Let’s hope it’s no worse than the 24-hour version the boys had.

Thank goodness Mata Grande carries Gatorade and Fanta’s Ginger Ale.

Well, it took us three trips and nine weeks but finally someone got sick in Belize. And boy is it a doozy! It started in the middle of the night last night with Ezra throwing up … unfortunately he was sleeping with Jamma so she got the joy of the aftermath. He made it through the rest of the night OK and woke up hungry. He seemed all right, ate a couple of Rachel’s fryjacks, and agreed to go on our previously-scheduled snorkeling trip. But clearly he wasn’t feeling so hot.

At the first stop (Tranquility Bay), he stayed in the boat with his book (Comet in Moominland) while Bruce, Finn, and I, along with our guide, Roberto, snorkeled. Here’s Roberto.

Finn’s not a huge fan of the snorkel, instead he prefers to use his regular swim goggles and flippers. Roberto towed him around in a ring while he kicked — it was a great setup. The current was strong so we didn’t stay out too long, which is good because I didn’t like leaving Ezra in the boat one bit.

When we got back to the boat and headed to the next stop (Mexico Rocks) he perked up a bit but still wasn’t his usual self.

This time he wanted to go in the water and luckily the waters were much calmer. Bruce went with Ezra and I stayed with Finn and Roberto and we saw tons of fish, lots of colorful sea life, and a nurse shark lurking in the coral formations. Finn was thrilled to see the shark.

The setting was really quite lovely.

At the third stop, neither boy wanted to go in so I stayed in the boat with them. Ezra got sick again (luckily over the side of the boat) and then perked up quite a bit … momentarily at least.

Finn still seemed OK; he was just tired from lots of snorkeling at the previous two stops.

Once we were back at the house, things got steadily worse. At least for Finn … and the cleanup crew. Poor baby can’t seem to hold anything down right now, although luckily his spirits are fine. He fell asleep on the patio upstairs.

And took a long nap once I’d moved him into a more comfortable position.

Ezra slept, too, which is nearly unheard of these days.

Finn’s gotten pretty good at aiming for the giant pot.

We’re currently trying to get some fluid into them and hoping the worst is over.

Bruce and Ezra rented bikes yesterday and spent a good amount of the day cycling around the island. Finn had a prime spot to relax and enjoy the scenery.

Ezra really liked the bike. I think it’s time for him to get a bigger bike at home.

Some recent developments at the pool:

Finn has learned how to do a handstand.

(Sorry about the foggy lens — it’s the humidity.)

A little hermit crab wandered up to the pool area, much to the delight of two little boys.

After much oohing, aahing, and giggling, Ezra took him back down to the beach.

We had a couple of very good meals on Sunday. The first was courtesy of Bruce: his annual cinnamon french toast and sausage.

For dinner we walked up to Mambo.

Finn made sure I salted and peppered the olive oil before he ate his bread.

I love the way they use shells to hold the salt and pepper on the table.

Janice and I had lobster.

Desserts were flowing as well. The boys had coconut ice cream, Janice had key lime pie, and Bruce and I had chocolate souffle with macadamia nut ice cream. Wow.

Bruce’s first full day in Belize was activity-filled, mainly because Finn followed him around ALL day. “Papa, let’s go kayaking!” “Papa, watch me jump in the pool!” “Papa, let’s play checkers!” They even made lists this morning to make sure they got to do everything they’d been waiting to do with Papa for all the time we’ve been here without him.

It was a nice day for kayaking.

Finn didn’t want to go out any farther than the end of the dock, but they went up and down the shore a lot of times.

Ezra got into the act as well.

Here’s one of their trips into shore.

They also had a great time with the remote control boats that Bruce brought. Finn took his in the pool, much to the delight of one of the other guests. Here he’s trying to make waves for the boat as Finn drives.

They tried them in the ocean, but it didn’t quite work. Not sure if the batteries were worn out or what.

We also got to see our little snake friend again because “Little” Sergio caught him.

Ezra couldn’t wait to hold it but decided to give it back quickly when he heard that it had bitten Sergio. Good thing it’s a) not poisonous and b) just a baby!

Today was the much-anticipated day that Papa arrived in Belize! The boys have been counting down the days for a week. We tracked his flights and when the flight from Dallas to Belize City was delayed over an hour, we decided we’d change plans from waiting for him at the house to meeting him in town and having dinner there. The boys were thrilled: “We get to take a boat!!”

But first, we had a lot of time to kill — we weren’t leaving the house until 3:30. We walked up to Mata Grande Grocery to buy Bruce a few of the local beers and Orange Fantas for us.

Ezra and Finn spent some time drawing and doing journal entries. Here’s one of Ezra’s.

The closeup: it’s a shark drinking an Orange Fanta. See the theme?

At some point, Janice and I shooed the boys out of the house so we could clean up. After a while, I went to see what they were up to and found Ezra here.

Finn was down below, directing Ezra to the coconuts he wanted him to loosen.

Needless to say, I’m not entirely comfortable with this.

Finally, 3:30 came and we piled onto the Coastal Express water taxi … only to have the boat run out of gas a few docks down. The captain dropped an anchor …

… and called the office to get someone to bring us gas. And we waited. Some passengers cursed, but most were good-natured about it. One made a phone call and told whoever was on the other end of the line that we were in shark-infested waters, to the roar of laughter from all of us in earshot. The boys were most interested in the little compartment where the anchor was stored.

After a quick trip to The Green House to pay our bill for the food they delivered yesterday and pick up some more Fanta, we got to the airport with a few minutes to spare before Bruce’s plane landed. The boys were very excited and made sure he got a taste of the Grape Fanta they chose.

Then they talked his ear off the whole way to the restaurant.

And at the restaurant.

They took a break from talking to work on the new puzzle we got at Graniel’s.

And marvel at this teeny tiny bug on the table.

After a quick scoop of ice cream at Manelly’s, we headed home. On the dock, Ezra (who’d run ahead) came running back to tell me to get out my camera because he thought he saw a snake. He was right!

That boy has an eye for spotting nature.

Welcome to Belize, Papa!

The night before last we had a spectacular thunder and lightning show and an outstanding rainstorm (all of which kindly waited to start until we’d walked home from Rojo). Finn slept through it all, but Ezra got to see it. The next day (yesterday) we had a few sprinkles and a beautiful sky that I just couldn’t stop photographing.

We got more rain last night. It’s the perfect tropical weather — breezy and partly cloudy during the day so we can be outside and rainfall at night to keep the cistern full.

One of our favorite places to eat here in Belize is Rojo Lounge, but unfortunately it had closed for the slow season before we got here. They make an incredible lobster/bacon pizza and lots of other delicious stuff and the setting — right on the beach — is hard to beat. Obviously, we were very sad that we wouldn’t be able to go there this trip. Until … a few days ago they announced via Facebook that they would be open after all! Apparently they have guests in their villas so they have to have staff and food, so we get to enjoy the beach bar area and the wonderful food. We made the pilgrimage (up the beach) last night.

Before we left, I took a couple of photos of me and the boys.

And one of the lovely sky.

I enlisted Jamma to take one of me and the boys.

Then we were off.

Before long, we were there and enjoying their beach bar area with the little pool (as the boys call it).

We ordered the lobster pizza, some spicy Asian noodles with shrimp and chicken, and a cheesy chaya dip (Belizean version of spinach dip) with tortilla chips. We also had a local dinner guest.

The boys weren’t much interested in dinner — Ezra had a piece of the pizza and some chips, Finn just had chips. They really just wanted to get on with the real purpose of their visit: looking for hermit crabs. Although it wasn’t their migration time so there weren’t gazillions of them like last year, we did see a few.

On the walk home we dodged a bunch of regular crabs.

The Crab Hunters were in heaven.

By the way, you may notice Ezra isn’t wearing shoes. Before we left he asked if he had to put on shoes. His argument against shoe-wearing was, “Sergio never wears shoes.” And he’s right, Sergio and Rachel, the caretakers here, never wear shoes. And thus, Ezra won the argument.

A few photos …

First, one night last week I came to bed to find Ezra curled up with Lamby and took this shot. I think it’s so sweet that he still loves that lamb so much.

This one is Finn while he was kicking back talking to Papa on the phone. The lighting was bad, so I Instagrammed it which helped a little, but not much.

A couple of days ago the boys were hollering for a snack (never-ending), so Jamma helped them make ants on a log.