Belize - Tobacco Caye - Saturday

Tobacco Caye - this tiny island is home to about 20 full-time Belizeans - no school building of course so any children spend the week on a nearby island and come home only on the weekends!! There's very little space on this island that isn't occupied by something - in fact, Hurricane Mitch leveled most of the island in 1998 so most everything has been rebuilt - which is ALSO hard to believe!! Sand, sun and salt are certainly hard on the buildings!!

Even though I slept so badly, I awoke early as Glenn had headed out the door a little earlier to fish!! I crept outside to take this picture of the brightly colored chairs, noting the gray, cloudy skies at the same time!!

Here's a picture of our little cabin - Joleen and Martin were on one side and we were on the other side!!

One thing I immediately noticed about the island were the abundance of conch shells - those beautiful pink large shells!! In fact, there are hundreds and hundreds of these on the island and they're used partly to decorate and partly to put along the shore to help keep the island intact!! I loved how every tree was surrounded by these beautiful shells!!

Soon the dinner bell was clanging - yes, the cook had a western type triangle that she used when it was time to eat and of course you could hear it all over the island!! Breakfast was great and we were famished once again - sausage, scrambled eggs, fry jacks and juice!!! The fry jacks were kind of like a fry bread and they had the best mango jelly to put on them!! Now coffee was another story - it was instant!! But we weren't complaining!!

Jo and I took a walk around the little island to check it out - I think it took all of 5 minutes to circle around!! We saw this huge nest on top of this old building and pretty soon this large bird flew out of it!!

The skies soon opened up and it rained off and on all day - I was really hoping to see the sun but it just didn't happen on Saturday!! Below is a picture of the smallness of the island - I am standing on the boat dock where we came in last night - and on the other side you can see the ocean - amazing!!! The red building is where we ate our meals - I LOVED all the brightly colored buildings!!

Here's a picture of the little bar - the sun must have peeked out for a moment because the background sure looks bright!!!

The two guys and Joleen fished quite a bit - I of course opted to read - I believe I was on book #2. Here's the catch of the day -which of course was cooked for dinner that evening!

Even though the sun hardly came out and we didn't feel like snorkeling with no sun on our backs, we did enjoy the day and it was very relaxing!! Lunch consisted of meat patties (these deep fat fried pockets with fish inside - delicious!!) coleslaw and fruit and it was all very good!! I was surprised when the darkness arrived, about 5:30!! Once again we used our flashlights when we walked over to eat!

I think the guys look a little grumpy in this picture - but actually they were SO hungry that they didn't even want to stop eating to smile!!! It's amazing what "island life" does to your appetite!!

We headed over to the bar after dinner to have one quick drink and even though the guys really thought they should head to bed (at 7:30????? on vacation????) we told them they HAD to come back to the dining room to play a game with us!! I had brought Phase 10 to play, and my IPOD and docking station and we cranked the music up and had a great evening together!!!

No storm on Saturday night - no breeze either - but I slept like a rock.........To Be Cont'd.......

Belize - Travel Day/Friday

Writing a blog on vacation???? Yes, I am!! 2 reasons prompted me to write: 1) I was journeling by hand and decided that was a waste of time to HAND write it and then type later and 2) I know how incredibly busy I am once I get home and never seem to do my vacation blogs justice!!!

So since I now have Internet and the sun goes down early here, why not spend a little bit of time downloading my pics and writing..................

I'm already 4 days behind and I probably won't get caught up before I come back home but at least it's a good start!!!

Last Friday seems SO LONG AGO already!!! Glenn, Joleen and I headed up to Denver on Thursday night and Brad took us to the airport on Friday morning where we met Martin!! For once, we didn't have a 6:00AM flight so it was nice to sleep in a little bit and just have to be there by 6:30!!

Our journey for the day consisted of 3 flights - Denver to Houston, Houston to Belize City, and Belize City to Dangriga - and a boat ride, Dangriga to Tobacco Caye!! All the flights went great - we had a wonderful lunch in Houston and were all excited to head into Belize City!! I was surprised at how small the airport was and after finally getting through customs (since we were at the back of the plane), we headed to the wing where the "small" airlines were!!

Tropic Air was the name of our next airline but since we had an hour layover, we went to Jet's Bar - a famous bar that is TINY, TINY and run by this little old wizard looking guy named Jet - his voice sounds like a munchkin!!

Of course Joleen and I had to walk around the bar to get our picture taken with him!!

This guy was kind of cute so I thought I better get a picture of him - and also because my sister Patty, told me to take a picture BEFORE I got to Belize since I had this beautiful tan!!

Jet made some pretty darn good rum punches and before long, we were heading out to catch our ride!! The plane was pretty small - probably held about 15 total people and because I was snapping pictures, Glenn and I were the last ones in and had to sit on a bench seat at the back along with another guy!! No seat belt checks here - we were in the air before I even got mine fastened!!

The guy I sat next to was a wealth of information and pointed out all kinds of stuff from the airplane as we flew along!! It was really neat to see the shrimp fields and I think a tour of that would have been fun!!!

After a short 15 minute flight to Dangriga, we unloaded and there was a taxi waiting for us to take us down to the boat dock, another 5 or so minutes away!!!

Captain Fermin was our captain and it was just the 4 of us riding out to Tobacco Caye!! Because it was stormy looking out, the waves were pretty high - and yes, we got wet!!! But not a lot!!

It was a great boat ride which took about 30 minutes - and soon we saw the tiny island ahead, our home for the next 2 nights!! It was almost dark as we pulled up to the dock and a guy came with a wheelbarrow to take our luggage to our places!!

With just a generator for electricity, it was dark - I mean REALLY dark!!! Luckily we had both brought flashlights!! We walked to our cabins and yes, they were quite dark too!! An extremely basic room with a double bed and a set of bunk beds, a night stand, a shelf for some clothes and a small bathroom!! The lights were so dim, we had to dig out the flashlight to find what we needed for the night!!

They told us to come and eat, as soon as we got the bags to our rooms and we headed to the small dining room to eat our dinner - the only other people visiting on the island were 5 Canadians and a guy from Holland!! They were already done as we were served a plate of food ( just a tad different all-inclusive!!) and it was delicious - a huge serving of rice, BBQ meatballs and a soup which we decided was a split pea and potato type - it tasted SO good, probably because we were all starving by this time!!

After dinner, we headed over to the gathering area - a bar on the beach with some music coming out of a boom box and the 10 of us visitors, sitting around the bar having a drink - it was great - probably the most LOW-KEY place we have EVER been to!!

Since it had been an exhausting day traveling, we didn't stay too late and headed back to our cabins, with flashlights in hand!! All the beds had on them were a bottom sheet and a top sheet but I didn't need to worry about getting cold - it was hot and humid and before long the rain started pouring down on the tin roofs!! It was one heck of a storm and all I could think of was that I was glad the cabin was on stilts!! Did I forget to mention that Tobacco Caye is only about 200 feet wide and 400 feet long??? That when you pull into the dock to unload, you can see the water on the other side of the island???? That a grand total of 5 acres is all that makes up this island????

But the storm passed - the humidity stayed - and it wasn't a great nights' sleep for me - I think I had JUST gotten to sleep when the first BANG woke me up!! I knew exactly what it was as Martin and Joleen had prepared me - the biggest threat on the island, coconuts falling from the trees!! And the BANG is when they hit your roof!!! Ah, the memories I'll have from this tiny island................To be cont'd...............

Belize Bound!

I can almost feel the sand between my toes - see that beautiful blue water - hear the crashing surf at night, lulling me to sleep! Yes, it's time for another adventure - time to check another place off my bucket list!!

We're heading to Belize with good friends, Martin and Joleen! The bags are packed, the last day of work is almost 1/2 way done and soon we'll be flying those friendly skies!

Yesterday Glenn and I both received air brush tans - a first but certainly not a last!! My beautiful tan is so even and pretty that I feel like I've been sunbathing for weeks (minus the suns rays and the lotion and the sweat.........) This is DEFINITELY the way to go if you want to get a base tan BEFORE vacation!!

We're heading to 2 islands: 2 nights on Tobacco Caye and 7 nights on Ambergris Caye - my camera and laptop are going with me so I might even post a blog or two since we'll be gone for so long.................

I'll leave you with a picture from Ambergris Caye - a picture that I hope will be on my camera SOON!!!

Our First Snow!!

.....and we weren't even home to enjoy it!! But there was still plenty left when we got home on Saturday!! Probably about 4 to 5 inches covering the driveway and it was heavy and wet to scoop off!!

The peak was gorgeous when the clouds moved enough to show it!! Unfortunately, the aspen trees will for SURE start dropping their leaves now - we always hope for a late fall but Mother Nature is in control!!

No Pumpkin Patch - Boo Hoo

For some reason, the weather just doesn't seem to cooperate on Pumpkin Patch weekend in Denver - we knew there was snow in the forecast so packed some warmer clothes when we headed to Denver after work on Friday but we had no idea it would be such lousy weather!!

Friday night was fun though - Jaime and Brad, Jessi and Gary and Glenn and I all met at the Stampede for an evening of dancing!! Glenn and I had been practicing all week for the country cha-cha. The people at the Stampede do it differently than what Glenn and I had learned years ago but I found a video on YouTube that showed a couple doing it that way so we spent several nights trying to watch the video and teach ourselves - not an easy process when you've worked all day and are tired, the video keeps stopping AND trying to watch a computer screen while you're dancing.........BUT our practicing paid off because we had that dance down almost perfect and they played several songs over the course of the night that we got to dance too!!

And then Saturday morning arrived - rain, then a mixture of snow and rain and finally SNOW!!! It was coming down pretty heavy so there was no way we could go to the Pumpkin Patch - in fact, we're not sure they even still had it that day!! Jessi and I went out for coffee together and then all of us headed over to Jaime's house and soon Jill, Aleah and Parker arrived!!

The kids were were excited to play in the snow - all of us had forgotten of course how much work it is to bundle them up for their few minutes of play outside!!

Evan and Kenzie were decked out in cute Halloween shirts!!

And little Parker - not only smiling up a storm but pretty much crawling now - he's so cute!!

Our 3 cuties!!

I just had to put in this picture of Kylan - he has become a REAL Indiana Jones fan - they have all the movies and it's all he ever wants to watch, along with the Indiana Jones game for their WII. Jaime got him the cute hat and a whip and he looks so cute with it!! Yes, he will be Indiana Jones for Halloween!!

Glenn and I left by 1:00 to head back home as he was hunting with a friend and we had heard that our mountains did receive quite a bit of snow - the drive was long and miserable with the snow and rain mix coming down!! Woodland Park had around 9" of the pretty white stuff and there was a lot of snow to get off Glenn's car which was parked at his work!! But oh, the snow was sure pretty!!!

Rayna's Excellent Adventure - Part #2

I didn't want to get out of bed on Sunday morning because I slept SO GOOD!!! One of those lazy mornings............

But the laundry was waiting to get started and I knew we had a full day ahead with Rayna!! Next on our adventure list was another craft - but one I can't tell you about because it's a Christmas surprise for certain people!! All I can say is that Rayna enjoyed it and the project turned out rather cute!!

An early lunch was in order before we headed into town and I caught this cute pic of Glenn and Rayna brushing their teeth, looking out at the aspens...........

We headed down the pass to Cave of the Winds - Rayna had been wanting to go here the last couple of years so today was the day!!

I was SO disappointed when we walked in the door and saw that "The Discovery Tour" was NOT operating that day - so the only other choice that I considered was "The Eco Tour" - each person carries a flashlight as the tour is done in the dark. I talked to Rayna and she thought it would be fine so that's what we did!! And I'm SO glad we took that tour because it was great!! Walking through that dark cave with your little flashlight was pretty neat and of course you could shine it around and look at what YOU wanted to!!

After the customary t-shirt buying and rock buying, we headed down to the Citadel Mall for Rayna's LAST surprise!! As we walked out of Penney's, there was a little merry go round that had animals you sit in - I looked at Rayna and told her THAT was the surprise - she said "Really???" and I said yes, was that OK - she kind of looked funny but of course was polite and said, "Yea, I guess...........". I started laughing and told her of course that wasn't it, look to the side and there it was - "Miniature Glo Golf". It was a really cute place where they had 2 sets of 18 hole miniature golf - everything was kind of dark with glo light stuff all over the place!!

They had these machines all over the courses where you could stick your golf balls in and hit a button and they would "GLOW" really bright!! We all had a blast playing golf - didn't keep score but we were probably all pretty equal!!

After golf, Rayna decided she wanted to play the "reflex" game!! You stood in this cubicle type place with mitts on and there were 3 different poles - once the game started, a light would light up and you had to punch it with your mitt or stomp with your foot if the light was on the ground - she was running around like crazy but did fantastic!!! AND got her name in the Top 10!!

After all of this, we were starving - so it was off to the pretzel place for hot pretzels - butter and salt for Rayna, sugar and cinnamon for Glenn and I!!

And then Rayna's Excellent Adventure was over - it had come to an end and it was time to meet her dad and head back to Denver!!

Thanks Rayna for spending the weekend with us - I hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed having you - and we'll look forward to NEXT year for our weekend together!

Rayna's Excellent Adventure - Part #1

AND what an adventure it was!! Nana and Papa were DARN tired by the time the weekend was over - but we sure had smiles on our faces!!

Rayna's adventure started Friday evening when we met Brad in Colorado Springs after her volleyball game (and yes, her team won!!). Glenn and I had eaten at Texas Roadhouse ( a delicious margarita, smothered grilled chicken with jack cheese and grilled onions and mushrooms, loaded baked potato and baked beans!) and then it was shopping time at Hobby Lobby and Walmart before picking up Rayna!!

So it was bedtime by the time we hit home and I slept poorly that night - maybe too much rich food to eat?? You suppose???

But the 3 of us were raring to go on Saturday morning as we packed up a backpack with snacks and fishing poles!! First stop was Papa's work as he had to load some granite so I headed back up to Gold Hill Java to pick up smoothies for Rayna and I and a coffee for Glenn!! Rayna LOVED the little umbrella they put on her mango peach smoothie!!

Papa and Rayna decided they better catch some live grasshoppers to fish with - they brought one of our water bottles from the house and I don't think I'll be using it for water anytime soon!

And then it was off to Catamount Reservoir, where the parking lot to hike in just happens to be on Edlowe Rd where our old house is - my, I had forgotten how pretty the aspens were on that road!! The parking lot was FULL of hikers and one bunch offered to take our photo!

We hiked in about a mile and a half - the water was really low and we walked on places where water used to be!! Rayna had her sunglasses on and ran on ahead of us - big mistake - she sunk in this black, clay-lake mud and couldn't move!! She tried to step up and of course her shoe came off in the mud and she walked forward on her white socks - then tried to step with the other foot and the same thing happened!! Papa ended up pulling her shoes out of the mud and the white socks? Well, I ended up throwing them away when we got home because they were NOT going to come clean!!

Rayna ended up just putting her tennis shoes (caked with mud) back on without socks and luckily she didn't get any blisters!!

Her tears from that episode turned to one big smile when she immediately caught a fish!!

I had brought a blanket out and spent my time reading while Glenn and Rayna fished - he reeled in another nice one so at least we had two to cook for dinner that night!! We hiked back to the car and I couldn't help but take a picture of these gorgeous aspen trees!

Then it was off to the movie "The Dolphin Tale" - an excellent movie and we all loved it, along with the popcorn and pop which is a must when taking in a movie!! And if THAT wasn't enough, Glenn decided we needed ice cream and we went up to the new ice cream shop "Mountain Scoops" which features soft serve ice cream and gelato - yummy!!!

After arriving back home, we put Rayna to work picking tomatoes - tough job, huh??

Next on the list was crafts!! I pulled out a bunch of my scrap booking supplies and we made the place cards for Thanksgiving Day! Can you tell Rayna was having fun???

One of the things I bought at Hobby Lobby was the cardboard folder where you put in the quarters for the different states!! I not only had a nice cardboard folder, but also did the smaller yearly ones for the states where you collect 4 per state!! I have been at this project ever since they started producing the quarters but still had 4 slots left to fill!! I knew Rayna would enjoy this project since we have a huge glass jug we put our change in and it's almost full!! So the NEXT project was to start through the jug................

I couldn't believe all the quarters we had for the corresponding states!! We kept at it and before long, the folder was ALMOST full and I had completely finished MY OWN folders!! But we couldn't find Florida - we were to the bottom of the jar and had exactly 10 quarters left to look at when lo and behold, Rayna found a Florida one!! HOORAY - we FILLED her folder!!

Glenn grilled up some yummy fish for dinner that evening and we checked in with Jaime to make sure "mom" wasn't missing Rayna too much!! She wasn't!!

Even though it was 8:00, we still had ONE more thing to do and that was to get in the hot tub - a relaxing end to a fun-filled day!!

But wait, we still have ONE MORE DAY for Rayna's Excellent Adventure..................