Happenings in the house of Hoke

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Belize spring break! Days 3 and 4

The adventures of Moms and teens continue on our island paradise of Ambergris Caye, Belize! Sunday was somewhat of a chill day with some adventure mixed in as well. Jenny and Molly headed to scuba school Belize in the afternoon to start working on their confined water skills in the pool. Drew is working on his Rescue Diver course - hope we don't need any rescuing!

Here's Jenny and Molly doing their pool skills

Here's Drew with Junior working on his next certification. Believe it or not Drew was 8 and Junior introduced him to Padi bubble makers for his first dive experience. He's grown up a little bit since then!

after that we headed to pick up supplies on the preferred method of transportation

in San Pedro - golf cart!

Supermarket nearby us

back to the beach for a spell....life's tough

Sunday's are big beach BBQ days in Belize so we headed off to Estel's on the beach for a fabulous BBQ lunch of chicken and ribs.

Oceanfront dining. Not too shabby

Dinner at Hidden Treasure. So let's say the food was a treasure but the hour and a half long wait to get it was NOT! Don't go hungry... you may pass out before you see your food!

beautiful downtown San Pedro

DAY FOUR!

We took a break from diving as the weather was pretty rough and headed to Saga Humane Society where my sweet dog Mango came from almost 4 years ago!

I brought a GIANT 50 pound duffel bag filled with goodies for the shelter there including poop scoops, thermometers, leashes, collars and lots of dog and cat toys, treats and bones.

This is Ingrid Lima who runs the shelter and is a fantastic advocate for the animals!

Off we go to Fort Dog to gather up the older dogs and take them for a walk!

These dogs are so happy and grateful to get a walk on the beach and escape from those kennels!

walking dogs on a hot day makes you sweaty and gross! Time to cool off with a margarita on the beach!

FINALLY! I get a pic of me! Camp photographer always gets left out!

Molly photobombing me...

Time for a dip in the pool!

afternoon Pantyrippers at RoadKill bar!

The day was topped off with perfection with dinner at Wild Mango's! Our favorite favorite island restaurant and our Saga dogs namesake!

Another tough 2 days in paradise!

Monday, April 7, 2014

BELIZE! Spring break with Moms and teenagers! Day One

Well the countdown has ended and we are finally here in my favorite paradise Belize! I plan to blog our adventures every day of the trip so come back and check out what we are up to!

Day one started with a 3:45am wake up call to head to the airport. 3 Moms (including me) and 4 teens starting with Jenny and Molly both on their senior spring break trip and Drew and Jen my two, 16 and 13. Poor Drew, he's the solo guy on the trip. Although I think he can handle us just fine!

Day one has us flying to Belize City with a van pickup and 2 hour drive north to a fabulous eco lodge near San Ignacio called The Lodge at Chaa Creek. Beautiful resort in the jungle but pretty much you, a few other guests and the howler monkeys and wildlife.

made it to Chaa Creek and this tired, hot and sweaty entourage made an immediate beeline to the beautiful salt water pool!

then we headed to our fabulous cottage to unwind

the outdoor palapa covered bar and restaurant was a beautiful place to relax!

Drew and Jenny chillin out

The restaurant here is fantastic! They have a fixed price menu for dinner and you can choose from several fabulous entrees. Shrimp risotto was outstanding!