Getting Ready

Getting ready to head back to school required a couple different things... school supply shopping and a Pooley family fun day!

The weekend before school started, I headed to Iowa to pick up the girls (who had been in SD while we were on vacation).  Grandma Jane, Quinn, Sullivan and I had an evening to spare - as we were spending the night in Iowa City before making the journey home the following day.

The girls were anxious and antsy to school supply shop.  They asked a few dozen times before we left on vacation.  But sadly I was in survival mode before our trip and had no desire to shove supply shopping in there.  So they were beyond elated when I told them we could school supply shop in Iowa.  They were even more elated that Grandma Jane was there with them!

We got back from SD - thrilled to all four be together again.  We had a blast in Belize, but man alive, did we miss those girls!! To celebrate being together again, and the start of the new school year, the girls wanted to go to Ben and Ari's - a local mini golf and arcade.

We had such a great time playing and laughing.  But the fun couldn't stop there - a stop by the gas station for slushies was calling our name! It was a marvelous way to end the day of fun!

One More Belizian Story....

One more story to document from our time in Belize.  Our adventures with Scott and Abatha are never without a tale....

To preface this story, our expected departure from Belize was set for Wednesday morning.

 

As we were headed through town Tuesday, we noticed that all the locals were hauling plywood. We thought it was odd.  We made several comments about it.  We even joked that it must be "plywood day."  On the island, they are known to get shipments of different items on given days (milk comes on Mondays)  So we had a good chuckle about the many people hauling lots of plywood around.

Once we got home though, the joke was on us!  We noticed our groundskeeper was on our beach hauling in our lawn chairs. He hadn't done that the whole week we were in Belize.  That's when the lightbulb clicked. Ryan checked the weather report and sure enough... Tropical Storm Earl (later categorized into a hurricane) was bearing down on Belize the following day.  Shortly there after we got a call from Port Authority asking what our evacuation plan was going to be.  Given that we had flights headed back to the States the following morning we felt safe.

We made it from our small island to Belize City on our little prop plane.  A whole new level of anxiety hits when you are sitting in a small prop plane knowing that a hurricane is looming!  Once we made it to Belize City, the airport was swarming with people trying to get out of Dodge. Our flight was delayed getting out of there because of lightning. They put the airport on "Alarm 1" - and halted all boarding of airplanes.  Once the first rounds of storms went through and there was a small break in the weather, the plane quickly loaded and headed for home!  Thankfully we made it out safe and sound. 

We later found out that the airport closed about an hour or two after we departed. Scary to think that we made it out of there by the skin of our teeth. Otherwise our experience with Hurricane Earl would have been way, way worse!

Hurricane Earl left a lot of destruction on the island of San Pedro where our house was located. The estimated damage on the island where we stayed alone was nearly $10 million dollars.  Sadly, that's about $10 million dollars more than that island can afford to spend.  Here are some images from the local paper. So devastating and so sad to see...

We couldn't have enjoyed our trip to Belize any more than we did - even if the weather and Mother Nature were trying to stop us!!!

School Has Begun...!

Today marked the start of the 2016-2017 school year for Quinn and Sullivan.

Both girls were super excited to go back to school, see their friends, and meet their teachers.

Quinn started 5th grade at the intermediate school today.  

She is in a school of about 1,000 students in both 5th and 6th grades.  

Quinn is becoming so independent and so grown up.  She picked out her outfit all by herself and had an idea of just how she wanted her hair to look this morning. Long gone are the days that I get to pick out her outfits for her.  Her independence simultaneously makes me sad and makes my heart sing all at once!

Sullivan continues at the same school as last year.  

This year she is a big 2nd grader!!!

Sullivan was hoping for one specific teacher all summer long.  Turns out luck was on her side and she got the teacher she was hoping for!  We went to the ice cream social on Monday where she was able to meet her teacher, Ms. Coldren.

Here are the school girls together this morning....

Both girls came home with a great report today.  They both enjoyed their teachers and saw old friends.  They are eager to go back again tomorrow for day #2.  One day down, 179 to go!!

Here's to a great new year!

Belize

Ryan and I spent an "unbelizeable" (as many tourists say in Belize) last week with Scott and Abatha.

Again, Abatha outdid herself with finding the best accommodations for us in Belize.  We flew into Belize City and then took a little prop plane to San Pedro, an the island of Ambergris Caye.

I was terrified at the thought of the small plane, considering we were inches away from the pilot and the exit door.

But it turned out to be very peaceful. The views were absolutely breath taking. 

Our trip to San Pedro in the prop plane made one stop on Caye Calker - another small island in Belize. This is the airport in Caye Calker. Quite a different lifestyle than the American airports we are used too!!

While we were in Belize, we took a couple of adventures. The first adventure involved Scott and Ryan. They took the kayaks from our house into the sea to an area where snorkeling was abundant. 

You can see them as two small dots in the picture - leaving on their adventure...

And here they are returning...

Notice that they are now in one kayak, instead of two!! Turns out Ryan lost this paddle sometime while they were snorkeling. When he went to get back in his kayak and discovered it missing, it left them only one option. They tied the kayaks together, hopped together in one of them and headed for home. Always an adventure and a story to tell when those two are together! 

On another day, we went on the most amazing tour. We took a boat from San Pedro up the river. From there we docked at a very small village called Bambo.   As it turns out, Bambo is so small and so remote that they just got electricity for the first time EVER one week before we were there. 2016 and just getting electricity.  

It was truly humbling to be there, meet some locals, and see their way of life. 

From Bambo, we loaded a school bus and headed up the Pan American Highway (except that there was nothing highway-ish about it).  It was a battered up back road that took you through several villages like Bambo. Another humbling experience.

Once off the Pan American Highway, we took another boat up the New River to a Mayan Ruin site called Lamanai.

Lamanai was an amazing site to visit. Almost unfathomable to think that anyone could build such marvelous building, let alone marvelous building without modern tools and technology.

The history was amazing. The buildings equally amazing. 

After a long day traveling the rivers and highways, we were happy to be back at our house and relax. Although relaxation wasn't for long, as we endured an amazing snorkeling adventure the following day!!

We loaded up on this wonderful boat, sailed out to the barrier reef and began our snorkeling trip. A great assortment of sea life was seen - lobsters, octopus, Angel fish, and much more.

From there, we loaded back on the boat and headed to an area dubbed 'Shark Ray Alley.'  I'm sure you can guess why!

We plopped in the water, and shortly after doing so, the sharks and rays came swimming up. These were nurse sharks and apparently want nothing to do with humans. So while the Sharks focused on the fish they were being fed, we got to swim next to them. I even got to touch them - two of them!!! Yes, I touched a shark in the ocean - a real live shark. Cross that off an invisible bucket list. Check. 

After snorkeling, the boat docked at Caye Calker, another very small island nearby. It has only dirt roads and not many of them. It is an island that is home to many backpackers making their way through the country. A neat area to visit.

Aside from those adventures, we made our own fun too. 

We ate at many fabulous local restaurants...

Traveled around in our golf cart....

Tried to find lobster at the local fishing docks...

Cooked some amazing meals at our house..

And just enjoyed the scenery right outside our front porch...

 

The trip as a whole was very relaxing. We did a whole lot of sun soaking, book reading, food eating and beverage consuming. A perfect way to end the summer!

We couldn't have enjoyed our trip to Belize any more than we did - we are so thankful for amazing friends who are willing to travel the globe with us and make memories together.

Thanks Scott and Abatha for the most amazing week!!!