La Isla Bonita

We definitely loved our time on Ambergris Caye.  Belize is such a fun place to visit--lots of jungle adventures on the mainland, and then heavenly turquoise, warm water and white sand on the islands.

We stayed at Xanadu, which is still the best place on the island.  Sure, the rooms might be a little groovy, but they are super roomy and incredibly clean.  Also, each one has a full kitchen and living area.  Their pool is wonderful, and the location south of the main town hubbub is very restful.  The views from the rooms of the Caribbean are unsurpassed.  You can just sit in a hammock or chair and read or just watch the sea.  They also have a beautiful palapa dock to hang out on or swim off of.

We did a few adventures on the island, but mostly we just enjoyed the town and hung out.  We all went snorkeling one day at Hol Chan/Shark Ray Alley.  We saw beautiful colorful fish, rays, nurse sharks and all kinds of coral.  The barrier reef is just about one mile from the shore, and it is teeming with an underwater wonderland.

The next day Mark, Jacob, Joel and Noah learned how to scuba dive.  We went with Ecologic Divers, because Charlie is the best dive teacher in the world and the only guy I trusted to take my boys 30 feet under the water.  Abram and Aubrey had ear infections and even being underwater in the pool was painful, so they skipped the diving.  I am still traumatized from my experience 3 years ago when I felt like my eyeballs were exploding while scuba diving, so I did not dare to try again.

They all loved it, and went again the following day on a two-tank dive.

Another day we went out in sea kayaks.  Now, I've kayaked dozens of times on the rivers here in Oregon, but never on the ocean.  I absolutely love kayaking the rivers.  It's probably my favorite thing to do.  But I had a horrible time on the sea.  The waves really got to me and made me vomit.  Twice.  To make this adventure even more exciting, the kayak Jacob was given was not exactly....seaworthy.  After about 20 minutes the back was sinking. Turns out there was a plug missing.  He and Noah tried for about 15 minutes to get it upright and get back in it, but it was impossible, so Mark loaded Jake into his kayak and towed the purple kayak back to shore.

Even though I was completely sea-sick, I still couldn't get enough of the crystal blue water--that was 90 degrees!  It was also amazing how shallow the water is inside of the reef.  You could see everything.

We loved swimming in the sea and playing on the beach.

Poor Savvy got sunscreen in her eyes. 

Savanna and Abram both ordered chicken legs from the same restaurant for lunch.  Abram's was "Kentucky Fried" chicken, and Savanna ordered her usual rice & beans with chicken.

The boys got some sweet necklaces.

We met Carvin' Marvin.

We drank a LOT of Fanta.

We went to church in our finest beach attire.

Savanna met some new friends. 

The guy in the background owns this insane coati.  If you walk too close to him he will put the animal on your head, even if you don't want him to.  Coati.

Zachary read a sign at a restaurant that said, "No shirt, no shoes, no problem!"  He immediately ripped off his shirt and posed for this picture.

We loved driving the golf carts around the town.  We had 2 carts for our family, and I always ended up with the singers on my cart.  Aubrey, Joel, Savanna and Zacky belted out every pop tune you can imagine as we drove around San Pedro.  Everyone could hear them, and everyone started at us like we were crazy.  Where did these kids learn to sing while driving around?  Hmmm.  I guess from their mother.  But I couldn't talk them into singing show tunes.  Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Jason Mraz, you name it they sang it for the whole town to hear.  Daytime, nighttime, anytime was the right time for singing at the top of their lungs.