Belize 2016

After spending a week at Mimi & Paka's house, I tearfully left the kids and started making my way back home. But first, I stopped in Nashville to have lunch with my former boss, Kathy. It was great to catch up with her and I got to eat at my favorite restaurant in TN. Definite score. 

From Nashville, I traveled on to Charleston to spend a few days because Emily, Ben, Bluet & Ilona were there! I have no pictures. Fail. But I caught them on the back end of their trip so check back to see them. I really enjoyed the visit and although it made me sad not to have my kids there too, it was nice to be able to focus on the girls in a way that I just can't when my kids are around. Ha! 

Finally, I headed back to St. Louis and my homebody heart was so happy to be back in my house! But it wasn't for long because a day later Scott & I headed out for our trip to Belize! 

I have to pause and remember that we almost didn't get out of St. Louis. We were scheduled to leave at 5:55 AM in the morning and at 9:00 PM the night before, my phone buzzed. I had already taken some benadryl so that I would be able to go to sleep quick and I was well on my way to being very asleep. The only reason I looked at my phone is because I thought it might be Nate. 

Well.

It wasn't Nate. It was Delta Airlines telling me that our flight had been rescheduled. It took me about 2.2 seconds to put together that we would miss our connection in Atlanta to Belize City and our domestic connection once we got there. And there is only one flight to Belize City from Atlanta a day. So this meant that we were potentially going to be losing a day of our vacation. 

I immediately turned on the light and got on the phone with Delta. It took me almost an hour to talk to somebody. A very long story short (and after contemplating getting in the car to drive to another airport!!!!), they were able to book us on a United flight through Houston with similar arrival times. I think the dude was just tired of talking to my already-took-a-sleeping-pill self. 

We were so happy to get to Belize City the next day! We met up with our fabulous travel partners and dear friends and we were off on a very little plane that would take us to our final destination, San Pedro, Ambergris Caye. 

From the plane...where I was thinking, take me to that water. Stat.

On the way to the house, in a golf cart. With all of our luggage!

I found the house on VRBO and it was managed by a small, local resort. It was right on the beach and was perfect for us! 

From the beach...

From the porch...

I wore my hat almost the whole time we were there. My mama was so proud.

The first full day we were there was a lazy day. We had put in our time the day before! My favorite place...reading...by the pool...with Audra in the chair to the left of me. Her friendship is such a gift to me - we can sure solve the world's problems! It is so nice to be able to do motherhood and life with good friends that love you no matter what.  

The next day we got up super early (what?? I thought we were on vacation!) to be picked up on our beach to go see the Mayan ruins of Lamanai. We went up 2 different rivers and an hour long bus ride through the country's interior to get there! 

But it was worth it. The ruins were amazing. They didn't uncover them until the 1970s which is just crazy to me.

I managed to climb to the first landing. And I wasn't super happy about it, but I did it. I don't know when my fear of heights got so bad, but heavens to Betsy, it makes my stomach turn. 

The boys made it all the way to the top. I was already safely back down on the ground. 

I was like, come down already. But they took 536 pictures before they did. Of course.

This was the Jaguar Temple that was in the leader's private area. We were just in awe of the structures.

 

After walking around the site for several hours, we got back on the boat, to head back to the bus, to board another boat again. I'm not kidding, it was a looooong day. But it was very worth it! I loved not only seeing the ruins, but being on the rivers and the bus to see wildlife and villages that I never would have been able to see if we had not chosen to travel this way.

We were beat that night and I think I slept better than I've slept in a long time! The next morning, we were up again to go snorkeling and to Caye Caulker. We would have preferred not to do two outings back to back but that's just the way it worked out. The snorkelers...

The first snorkel stop was the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. I very much enjoyed it - we saw many different, beautiful fish and even a small octopus! The next stop was Shark Ray Alley where they kind of cheat and feed them so you get to see lots of sharks and rays. 

So. I jumped in, looked under water, saw some rays and some smaller nurse sharks. Who aren't supposed to hurt you. Or so they told us. I then looked up to see where everyone else was, and when I put my head under again, there were bigger sharks with their mouths open and aggressively going after the fish. 

Welp. 

That was enough for me! I hopped out of the water and back on to the boat. I took pictures of these fools that couldn't get close enough to the large teeth. 

I mean really.

Give me a margarita and I'll sit here and enjoy the scenery!

The bro-mance is strong. 

After snorkeling, we made our way to Caye Caulker. This area is called The Split because a hurricane actually split the island years ago.

Caye Caulker is less populated than Ambergris Caye and is very quaint and beautiful.

Back on the boat to go back to the house. I loved this day and being out on the water. So peaceful.

The obsessive compulsive club...We rule.

I'm tellin ya...strrroooonng.

We went to breakfast at this little spot one day, The Baker. This was the best apple turnover I've ever eaten! The smoothie wasn't bad either. 

The food was so good on the island. I don't think I had a bad meal. This was the night we were going to a restaurant that was famous for it's Lobster Burrito.

The golf cart life is the best. How nice it was not to get in a car for a week!

I had the lobster tacos and they were fantastic! 

Lobster was everywhere. So basically I was in heaven. I had lobster every chance I got. One day, we decided to acquire some of our own to cook at the house. Here are the boys heading on to the docks to talk to the local fisherman. 

They weren't able to get any from the fishermen, but we were able to find some at a market nearby. Yummo!

Scott & Ryan did a wonderful job cooking the lobster on the grill. Thank goodness for Google, as we don't have much occasion to cook lobster on the grill in the Midwest. It was a seafood feast!

We were making our way through town the day before we were scheduled to leave and we noticed that we kept seeing plywood every where. We thought it just might be the day for that shipment - as we found that certain things are not available every day. Like milk. But when we got home, we noticed the groundskeeper was at our house at an odd time, moving the chairs in from the beach. So Ryan looked up the weather and sure enough, there was a Tropical Storm a'comin (later classified as a Hurricane).

The Port Authority even called our house asking about evacuation plans. Thankfully we had a flight out the next day! We were all a little nervous as we boarded the small plane the next day to go back to Belize City. The airport was swarming with people.

We made it to Belize City safely and then on Atlanta. I was very thankful to be back in the USA. We heard that the airport was closed an hour or two after we left! San Pedro, Ambergris Caye sustained millions of dollars worth of damage the following day from the Hurricane. It makes me so sad for the people there, it's such a beautiful place and they depend on tourist dollars. Prayers for the rebuilding that will need to happen there.

So we went out with a bang! Wonderful trip, amazing friends. See you on the next adventure Pooleys

More Georgia Adventures

One of the traditions of our summer trip to Georgia is to go to Stone Mountain Laser Show! Usually I'm working, so I don't get to go on this trip, but this year I was excited to be able to take part in this fun event this year!

We could not have asked for better weather. It was cool and clear. Perfect. 

We got there early so the kids and Scott played some football on the lawn.

No personality. None at all.

Serving up Stone Mountain!

Scott had to head back to St. Louis to go back to work, but the kids and I stayed the rest of the week. One of the days was a Ladies Day! We fulfilled one of my long time dreams, which was to go to the Margaret Mitchell House. I love Gone with the Wind and have read it many many times. The "house" didn't disappoint! It's actually just an apartment where Margaret and her husband lived when she was writing Gone with the Wind. I found it all very interesting!

It was definitely worth the trip and I was so thankful to get to spend the day with two of my very favorite ladies! It was a nice break to get to spend the week in Georgia talking and catching up with them. Good for my soul.

I was lucky enough to get to take Lila & Levi to Catch Air one day! The big boys went with Aunt Amanda and Mimi to the arcade while the littles jumped their hearts out.

They stopped for a minute to pump some iron...

and ride the stationary bike.

I was so thankful to get to spend some one on one time with these special kiddos.

 Mwah! Love him.

Farewell to Turner Field

In mid-July, we made the trip down to Georgia to hang out with Mimi, Paka, and the Odoms!! Since this is the last season for Turner Field (where the Braves play), we decided to make a farewell game. 

The big boys...

And the little ones, who aren't so little anymore.

 The Boyle 4.

Lots of farewell photos being taken:)

Sweet cousins!

We stayed until the very end, and Lila decided a rally cap was in order. It worked! The Braves won 1-0.

Goodbye Turner Field!

Summer "School" & Around the Neighborhood

I decided that the kids and I would make time during our summer days to stay fresh on school stuff. When I got the idea, I thought they would fight me tooth and nail. 

But. 

They did not. 

In fact, one day I wasn't feeling well and suggested that we skip that day and they were all like, "NOOOOOOOOOOO, we have to do school today!!" Lila even asked if I would home school them. To which I said NOOOOOOOOOO way. 

One day they wanted to get started before I had finished cleaning up lunch, so Nate sat next to Lila and helped her with directions. In a summer that was filled with sibling bickering, it was a bright spot.

We are getting used to our new surroundings. Even though we were in the area of our new house quite frequently, we weren't often riding bikes or walking around. They both love this fountain on the edge of the green space that is basically right out our front door.

It has a great sidewalk all the way around it, so perfect for bike riding!

Catching Up

Wanna know a good way to get your friends and family to check on you??? 

Don't update your blog for over a month. 

Done. 

Thank you to all the fine peoples that checked on us! 

Sigh. It's been a crazy summer. That's about all I can say. I'm going to try to catch this baby up in the next few days. 

Way back at the end of June, Mimi & Paka came to visit our new house! It seems so long ago now, and there have been many furniture / decorations changes since then. But don't you love this Canoes sign that the Pooleys gave us?? I absolutely love it and it has found it's way to the 3rd Floor Lounge (Nate's name) which has turned into the Canoe room. I am so excited to have a room to decorate this way!

Chowing down on some fried chicken from Gus's! We are so excited to be literally across the street from Gus's Fried Chicken!

Playing games with Mimi & Paka...this couch is now at my parents house and the rug is in the Lounge. Just when I think we haven't made any progress, these pictures remind me that we have!

On July 4th we went to the ballgame. It rained. It was cool. It was hot. It was humid. A little bit of everything during this game, but we had fun anyway!

More to come about the rest of our summer. Hard to believe the kids are back in school now!!