Friday, December 29, 2006

A moment of Zen

Well, I can finally relax again. The rooms are ready, the guests have moved in them for the next 4 days, Christmas is over (and I am one year older) and all is well. I can tell you now from experience, working on deadlines in Belize is NOT the way to go! And anyway, that's what we wanted to get away from when we left Europe. So for now, peace has returned and it's very pleasant.

Just a few pictures to get you up to date on what's happened here:


On Christmas eve we gave all the local kids presents (many of which were donated by Ros Grieve and the Coutts family. Thank you guys!)

The kids were delighted and are still very busy with the gifs, especially the 'outdoor' ones like the kits.

And then there's 'The House'. After 10 months of hard work we've managed to get half of it build. We've put up a temporary wall so the work can continue on the living room, the dining room, the kitchen and the guest bedroom, whilst the other rooms can already be used.

Guest bathroom with Mayan carved basin ( a bit hard to see in this picture)


Master bathroom with sunken bath and (unfinished) private courtyard


Shelf unit in Master bedroom


Our new King-sized bed (I'll be able to waive to Andy from my side of the bed), complete with reading lights and build-in bookshelves.
In four days we'll be moving in!!!!!!!





Monday, December 18, 2006

Wishing you a merry Christmas!

Dear all.

I wish you the very best for this Christmas season and let's hope that 2007 will be a year of new beginnings. A year where peace returns to earth and where we all learn to take better care of the environment and each other (I guess that means that I'd like to see George Bush booted out or silenced by the American majority)

"Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us, above us only sky

Imagine there's no country
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
and no religion too"




And now for something completely different...we will be getting those rooms ready in time. We had to switch to a 'plan B' to manage it, but that's just how it is. I'm just happy we can breath again.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

6 months to build a house in Belize? I think not!

It's been pretty crazy here the last few days. We are still finishing off rooms in the new house that we're renting out just after Christmas. It's all becoming a mad rush, with several 'plan B's' thrown in to get the project done in time.

Anyway, I'm too tired to blog about it. But here are a few pictures of what's going on:


















Friday, December 08, 2006

What we have to teach our children

Most people teach their children things like 'Watch both ways before you cross the road' and 'Don't accept sweets from strangers'. Here at the Belize Jungle Dome the main lessons are 'Don't walk through high grass, there might be snakes' and today's one was 'Don't tease the tarantula, it can be deadly'.

Yes, there was a tarantula on the tree next to the swing this afternoon and Lucas and his friend were throwing pebbles at it. Andy took the tarantula and, whilst it was in the bucket, we gave the kids a little lesson on these spiders. About how the red hairs on their back can be shot at you, how they are poisonous, how they don't like to be teased, etc.

Yep, this is jungle living at its finest!

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Our happy baby


Isn't he the most delightful little thing ever? I could just eat him!

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

How a 4-year-old can make your heart melt

Lucas often surprises me with the things he says. This morning he was being rather moody for a while in the car, when suddenly he turned to me and said:

'You are like my sunshine, mum. Because you are always so nice to me.'

I definitely didn't see that one coming. It put the biggest smile ever on my face! You've got to love 4-year-olds; they drive you crazy and make you fall in love with them from one second to the next.

Monday, December 04, 2006

By the way...

I'm so happy with my new Ipod. After blogging about my busted Ipod a while ago I received several emails of people offering to bring me a new one. Oh, the amazing power of the Internet!

Karen bought a Fifth Generation Ipod in Canada for me & I have to say, it is fantastic! Love the video and photo option too. And it keeps Lucas entertained on long boring car journeys ; )

A day on the ranch

After almost 3 weeks of being in Belize my mum has gone back to Aruba. It seems like she was only here for only a few days, probably because we didn't manage to do too much, we were so busy nursing my flu-infected boys (they are better now, thank God)

One thing we did do was a little day trip to Green Acre Ranch on the Hummingbird Highway, a beautiful part of Belize.

The surroundings are so stunning. Shame the sun didn't co-operate much that day...
Oh, and look how big Aidan is getting. I bet he'll be walking soon, although I'm not sure I'm ready for that. Because that's when life really gets crazy! I would be quite happy if he waited until we moved into our new house. Still, it's not up to me, is it? And of course I'm a proud mum with each little milestone.




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