Belize - Day 1

Our trip began with Ashlyn getting upgraded to First Class on both her flight to Houston and onto Belize.  Her international travels gave her enough mileage for the free perk!

We said hello to her as us pheasants passed by her on our way to economy.

During our 3 hour layover in Houston, we decided to have a little fun.  We found a conveyor belt walkway and pretended to be a bicycle.

We finally arrived in beautiful Belize!  Warm temperatures, sun, and an English language we can understand with a hint of Caribbean and Spanish dialects.

Eric hailed us a taxi to the water port.  Our first three days were on the island of Caye Caulker.  Here's us on the hour boat ride out to the island.

Destination success!

 Now to find our hotel for the next few days...

Found it!  It's called the Anchorage (like in Alaska).  Not too crowded, and we loved it!

Now to find a bite to eat... These were the "streets" on the island.  They only had 3 - Beach Street, Central, and West St.  No vehicles were here, but we did see a few golf carts.

Most people got around on foot or bicycle.

For dinner, we ordered from a local place that served Red Snapper fish (the whole fish), with cole slaw, rice & beans, and a fried plantain.  The rice here is cooked in coconut milk and was very flavorful!

After dinner, we headed out exploring the other areas of the island and came up on something called the "split".  In 1961, a hurricane devastated Belize City and split this small island in two.  The locals made the best of it, and had this area developed into a fun night scene.

For an island with not many beaches, this area was one of the few places you feel like taking a swim.  

The sun goes down pretty quick in the evening, so we enjoyed the music as it neared sunset.  Here you can see where the waterway splits the island in two.

Such a gorgeous sunset after a busy day of travel!

Battle of the Books

This was our little one's 3rd year in a row to participate in Battle of the Books.

The teams get together at the beginning of each summer and spend 10 months reading all the nominee books (20), including the author's notes.

Then in the spring, the school has a competition among all the teams.  This year's Battle occurred in early April.  It was a nail biter...super tense and down to the wire in what they call the sudden death round to break a tie breaker.

Her team, SASS, came in second place.  But the good news is that the top 2 teams from each school goes on to compete at the District level!

Today was that district competition.  Three middle schools in the district each had two teams, for a total of 6 competing for that coveted trophy.  Here they have a bit of prep just before the competition.  They were so nervous!



Then the matching t-shirts arrived and the lineup was drawn.  SASS was in the first draft round.  After 10 questions,they tied with another team.  Again, they went into sudden death.  Gosh, it was so tense, but exciting!

After a grueling 18 rounds of questions, SASS answered one of them wrong, although their question could have been challenged.  The sweet group of girls bowed out graciously and went home proud.

The little one's BFF came to cheer her on, so I took them out to eat when it was over.

Happy Easter!

Easter 2019 was really fun...although we were missing our son.  He spent the day with his girlfriend's family who live closer to USC.  Here's a picture of them at the Vigil Mass:

I brought him an Easter basket several weeks ago when I had a meeting in Columbia.  It was filled with new shorts and a book.  The girls got baskets, too!  Ashlyn's was full of beans while the Little One had flip flops and her favorite NutriGrain bars.

No formal Easter picture, so this selfie on the way to church will have to do.

No Easter celebration would be complete without the traditional egg hunt.  Here they are all lined up.  Notice how Eric is already looking for the eggs before he can go...

Youngest gets a 30 sec head start...

She only found 3 eggs before the next one goes.  

Eric was counting fast for his turn...he's like a big kid himself chomping at the bit to go!

He found 4 right away, and wanted the candy instead of the money inside.

Opening their eggs...  Ashlyn was excited to put the $14 she found toward medical school.  The Little One kept her $5 for spending at Barnes & Noble this summer.  Eric was just happy to eat all his candy.

Mom/Daughter Date

I don't get a date with my two girls very often, so this was really a treat.  It started by winning tickets for the strings orchestra in Greenville.




But a date wouldn't be complete with dinner beforehand (don't worry...I had a coupon!).  The oldest met us there and got the grits buffet loaded with all kinds of vegetables and sauces.

We enjoyed the beautiful weather strolling downtown and taking a picture with the Little One's favorite statue.

Then the concert itself...wow!  Incredible performance, although very long.

Love my girls!  :)

Family

It's not often the whole family is home, so we took the opportunity to have some fun.  This was the college spring break, so a few friends were with us. Below is Luke with his friend Collin, girlfriend Anna Marie, and our little one.

When Ashlyn was through studying, we went to a trampoline park that had a ropes course, ninja warrior courses, and wipe out activities.  Eric was the first to make it up the warped wall.

Then Luke...notice how it's the tallest wall, too!

Next, they made me try to straddle the glass walls.

Ashlyn and Eric did it, too.

This one wanted to try all the obstacles, as nothing seemed impossible for her.

These two sisters loved flipping into a foam pit.  I've never seen so many twists and somersaults into the air!

Eric was pretty good at the ninja course.

Then we discovered the knock out ring....oh, it was on!  Eric and I were first.

Collin played the winner.

Luke and Anna Marie were next....

The Little One then played the winner of that round.  Girl power!

All the 'kids' with big smiles afterwards.