Monday, February 15, 2016

Escape to Warmth

I am definitely not "caught up" with things, but we did just get back from a trip so I'll skip to that!

A few weeks ago, a cruise we had been watching dropped a TON in price and we went for it. It was a little crazy to book a cruise only about 2 weeks in advance, but it was so worth it. It was an itinerary we had done before (Cozumel, Belize City, Roatan Honduras), but we didn't really mind considering the whole point was just to get away, relax, and soak up some sun! 

We left out of Houston which was a first for us. We managed to get a pretty spectacular last minute flight deal too, and the itinerary was pretty quick and painless. The weather was a little cooler than we had hoped for, but we still managed to get some sun! (And by cooler...the day were still in the 70's at least!) 
(We LOVED our cabin this time around. It was a 2 bedroom/2 bath suite with a balcony. This was the boys' bedroom.)

First stop was Cozumel. We had planned to do a beginner's snorkel lesson but it got cancelled due to the weather - it was windy and the water was pretty choppy. We were all kind of disappointed because we didn't love Cozumel the last time, so I had planned this in advance to hopefully have a better time. But no. We pretty much just walked around and did a little shopping. The kids were not into it at all, and neither was I. So we went back to the boat early and went swimming there instead! 

Next up: Belize. Love. We loved it last time and we loved it again. Last time we did a boat ride up the Old Belize River & then went to the Altun Ha ruins. This time we did the Belize Zoo and the howler monkey sanctuary. I wish we had more time in the city, but we had to be tendered in and it was a disaster. We left about 2 hours late. Ugh. So our day felt pretty rushed, but we still had fun. 
The tender was actually pretty exciting. Lots of wind and some choppy water with lots of spray. 

This black jaguar was pacing back and forth. I felt so bad for him, but all of the animals at the zoo were rescued so I guess it is better than the alternative. They have really nice environments for the animals, and they are all local to Belize. 
(There's always one with his eyes closed...)
Lunch by the river - after the zoo, before the monkey sanctuary.
The boys got to learn how they make the mosquito brush things (technical term, obviously!!) from the palm branches
We saw (and heard!) lots of howler monkeys (or baboons as they call them in Belize). We saw some cute babies too. 

Arch & me on the tender back to the ship

Then we were back on the boat bound for Roatan, Honduras. We have lots of love for this little island. If the school system was a little better, and it didn't get the occasional hurricane, I think it would be a contender for full-time living! We had a local guide who was pretty awesome. He took us all over, including to his family's house. The big highlight of the day though...ziplining!!! It was SO MUCH FUN! We had the course to ourselves thanks to the drizzly weather, and our guides were so nice and helpful. I wasn't entirely sure that Preston would like it. He's definitely our cautious child, and he kept going on and on about being afraid of heights before we got there. Well. He loved it. As did the rest of us!
Ready to go!
Yeah, pretty sure he loved it...even covered in dirt!

Oh, and Archer would never forgive me if I left out the most important part of the day in Honduras: Archer lost his first tooth! We were eating lunch and he looked at John and said "Dad, I want you to pull my tooth right now." About 2 seconds later, it was out. 
Cute little toothless smile. He was so excited!

After Roatan, we had a few days at sea to relax a little. The kids club put on their circus for the parents, and we read, swam, and soaked up the sun. 
Preston the clown
B
Arch

On our way back to Houston

Back in Houston

We stayed for a night in Houston so we got a rental car and went to the space center. Archer serenaded us quite a bit (this was outside the rental car place).

All of us touching the moon!

And now we are back home, and I'm sick. Ugh. I have a nasty cold, so we aren't even finished unpacking. Some day! Hopefully everyone else stays healthy!





Holiday Festivities

Well. It's mid-February and I still have pics on my phone from mid-December that I need to get on the blog. How exactly did I get this far behind?? 

Christmas. I realized that I didn't take a single picture on Christmas Day! We were too busy enjoying our family time! But, we had an office Christmas party in mid-December, and the younger boys had a Christmas program at school. 
Office party!

My handsome boys had such a cute program. Their music teacher does a good job of picking fun songs that aren't babyish for them. They always sing catchy songs that the kids love!

We made cookies...

Snowmen and snow forts...

Played with trains...

The boys met Santa for the first time in a loooong time

Oh wait! I found the one pic I took on Christmas Day!

And the snow. So much snow. Thankfully it is gone now and there isn't any more in the forecast at this point.