Day 1: The boys were complete travel champs. Amazing. They listened. They chilled. They played with their happy meal star wars action figures and they watched movies. They colored with their markers, which conveniently attached to their belt loops (thanks Nana Sue). They behaved so amazingly they even got to sit alone on the plane. Max and Ted that is, but Gus was a happy flier too. The flight from Belize City to Dangriga was exciting. We arrived in a 12-passenger plane, which Ted helped to fly (head phones on) from the very back seat. We saw orchards and jungle and rivers from above. The resort picked us up at the airport and the boys made friends with Fischer, from Salt Lake City, and the three of them fought the bad guy bus behind us the 45 minutes to Jaguar Reef Lodge. TJ and I enjoyed the sights along the way: pastel houses, lush fields of citrus fruit, yellow flowered bushed, roaming roosters and chickens, bicyclers and the skinny and scant livestock. Upon first sight of the sea from the bus, Teddy exclaimed, “there’s Belize!"

Day 2: Boys up at the crack of dawn ready to swim in the sea. Of course, the laborious task of sunscreening all of them, took over “100 minutes”. Then, they had to wait for TJ and I to taste our first Central American espresso of the trip. They both donned their snorkel gear and life jackets and headed to the long wooden dock for a jump into the sea. Gus chilled on some beach towels under a palapa on the beach, TJ took a run, and Max and Ted enjoyed lots of swimming, jumping and sandcastle building until the wind came up and chased us to the pool to swim with Fisher, Twee and Matt. King at the swim up bar was patient with his clientele. February 27, 2010, Hopkins, Belize: Teddy puts it all together and shows us he can swim. J and I were delighted, but he didn’t seem too surprised, as he has thought himself able to swim for a very long time. Gus napped in the suite while the rest of us enjoyed lunch at the restaurant and played on the hammock. After a Scooby-Doo movie break, Teddy and I biked the mile or so into town for some groceries. The five of us took a ride into town later on for a scrumptious dinner at Chef Rob’s. “She” treated us well to fresh fish and we all, Gus especially, enjoyed the Garifuna drummers. – No pics this day, we were too focused on enjoying the warm sun.

Day 3: Water too rough for the snorkel trip. Hike too difficult for a “tree year old”. So, we’re headed out soon on our rented golf cart. …

FUN. We cruised in, TJ and Ted in front and Max, Gus and I rear-facing in the back. Seeing everyone donned in their Sunday best and headed to church was good travel entertainment. We had fruit smoothies at Thongs, where we ran into Chef Rob and his partner. We also saw a book on the shelf written by a guy Uncle Scott knows from Omaha. We checked out some other resorts, the “Sew Much Hemp” travelling school bus, and enjoyed cruising around letting the boys drive, until a man in camo and combat boots told us we were breaking the law. We weren’t aware there were any… It was still really windy upon our return, and we were exhausted from our adventure and “the roughest ride in the world”, so movie time for the boys and Belizean coffee time for me, TJ and GUS. The bugs were gone, but it was also too choppy for swimming, so we spent the rest of the day doing various activities poolside. The day after putting swimming together, Ted masters the snorkel gear. Hopefully we make it out the barrier reef this week. There was some volleyball that picked up and general merry making that TJ and the boys enjoyed while I explored inland with the golf cart as the sun set. The Sittee River totally seems worth checking out. I only went a couple of miles, but the sounds of the jungle were intoxicating. The day ended with a moonlit walk down the beach to a little place crawling with babies and young ex-pats and some live jazz and reggae, dancing welcomed. In between bites, the boys went flashlight exploring on the beach.

Day 4: I left Max reading and everyone else sleeping to head to the lodge and post this blog and enjoy a cup of coffee. Calm waters and little wind—meaning good swimming and lots of bug spray. These little sand flies are pests! We were going to go monkey searching today, until we realized the cost. We’ll save that to put toward a future trip to Costa Rica, going a bit more rustic. On the agenda today: nothing.