Enjoy your weeds.
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
Scarlett turns 3
The first morning of the first birthday that she'll actually remember
Scarlett had an Easter tea party to celebrate the big day. She invited her besties, Ellie, Olivia and Ainsley.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Western Caribbean Cruise- Belize
Belize was much more au naturale than our previous stop at the domesticated beaches of Honduras. We got off the tender boat, had to fight our way for a taxi and then pay nearly $200 for a half hour ride for the 8 of us. That kind of bill always hurts my soul, but now looking at the pictures of where that money took us- it feels totally worth it.
We saw the ruins of Altun Ha; we walked where ancient Mayans walked, and we had bagel sandwiches where... well, where they most likely performed sacrifices.
Altun Ha, a place that was occupied from the pre-classic time period through the classic time period (200 BC - AD 900). This city may have been one of those referred to in Alma 51:26 regarding cities that were on "the east border by the seashore". Also cool that the name fits right in with ones like Ammonihah and Nephihah and Moronihah.
other cool info on Book of Mormon and Mayan connections--- http://desertsaintsmagazine.com/2009/12/01/the-book-of-mormon-and-the-ancient-maya-a-connection/
It was ridiculously hot- around 100 degrees hotter than the temps we left in Minnesota, so we were a bit melty feeling. We were able to climb each of the 4 towers, but by then end, we were dragging and too tired to even snap a photo of our miserable shiny faces.
At the top of this tower- the temple to the sun god- the priest was buried and to mark his tomb there was this jade head- the largest carved work of jade ever found. It's currently in the Belize City Museum.
Monster faces (below)- These were representations of the Earth God of Mayan culture- frequently seen in doorways.
As we left the ruins, we met some local boys and their pets. Crocodiles. !!! Put yourself it Charlie's mindset and this was the coolest thing you've ever experienced in 8 years of life. Each croc had a rubber band to hold its jaws shut and man, oh man, were they cool.
When we left the oldest boy offered to trade Chuck a crocodile for his watch and Charlie's eyes lit up like I've never seen. We declined and the whole way back to the ship Charlie kept telling each of us how nice those boys were. "They risked their lives to catch those crocodiles just so we could get our pictures with them." FYI- going rate for a photo with a croc was $5 for each boy.
We saw the ruins of Altun Ha; we walked where ancient Mayans walked, and we had bagel sandwiches where... well, where they most likely performed sacrifices.
Altun Ha, a place that was occupied from the pre-classic time period through the classic time period (200 BC - AD 900). This city may have been one of those referred to in Alma 51:26 regarding cities that were on "the east border by the seashore". Also cool that the name fits right in with ones like Ammonihah and Nephihah and Moronihah.
other cool info on Book of Mormon and Mayan connections--- http://desertsaintsmagazine.com/2009/12/01/the-book-of-mormon-and-the-ancient-maya-a-connection/
It was ridiculously hot- around 100 degrees hotter than the temps we left in Minnesota, so we were a bit melty feeling. We were able to climb each of the 4 towers, but by then end, we were dragging and too tired to even snap a photo of our miserable shiny faces.
At the top of this tower- the temple to the sun god- the priest was buried and to mark his tomb there was this jade head- the largest carved work of jade ever found. It's currently in the Belize City Museum.
Monster faces (below)- These were representations of the Earth God of Mayan culture- frequently seen in doorways.
As we left the ruins, we met some local boys and their pets. Crocodiles. !!! Put yourself it Charlie's mindset and this was the coolest thing you've ever experienced in 8 years of life. Each croc had a rubber band to hold its jaws shut and man, oh man, were they cool.
When we left the oldest boy offered to trade Chuck a crocodile for his watch and Charlie's eyes lit up like I've never seen. We declined and the whole way back to the ship Charlie kept telling each of us how nice those boys were. "They risked their lives to catch those crocodiles just so we could get our pictures with them." FYI- going rate for a photo with a croc was $5 for each boy.
Feb 2013 Western Caribbean Cruise- Roatan
Last week we went on a cruise along the second largest reef in the world, stopping in Roatan, an island of Honduras, Belize, and Cozumel, an island of Mexico. Grandma and Grandpa Shepard and Jenny and Joseph joined us and spoiled the kids rotten with the attention of extra people able to toss them and tickle them about the pools and waves.
We started with two days at sea (and loads of eating) and spent most of those days reading by the pool (me) and swimming in the pool (everyone younger than me). Chuck and I took dance lessons and learned little bits of the Merengue, the Cha-Cha and the Tango complete with this little trick where I kick my leg around him. I know! ooh la la!
Day 3- Roatan. Wow! This was by far the most groomed and custom made for the cruise crowd beach that I have ever seen in my life. It definitely wasn't an accurate viewing of Honduras, but it sure was easy to enjoy. We were able to walk right off the boat, down the huge dock into a little mini plaza of shops. Then we paid like $5/person to ride on this ski chair lift thing 67 ft in the air and 1200 feet over to the white sandy beaches of Mahogany Beach. This beach was pristine. 825 ft of chairs as far as the eye could see, not a speck of trash in existence, shade equally mixed with sun and coconut stands.
Katesy is a nut for coconuts and we made a goal to either pick one out of a tree (like she did last cruise) or buy one every place we stopped. $5 was all it cost for coconut water so sweet and fabulous and then the salesman whacked open the nut and scooped out the fruit into easy to bite pieces of yummy.
Roatan has a rich history of pirates and treasure, castaways and iguanas. In 1723, a young castaway from New England survived on Roatan for 16 months before being rescued. There were many souls not so lucky and there are legends of ghosts, or duooees, that whisper in the ears of visitors. There was an iguana farm (home to 2700 of them!) that we missed cause we were too busy being not busy. If we had gone, there was a chance that we would have seen a Jesus lizard, or Monkey Lala lizard, so named for its amazing talent for running across water.
Best known local cuisine for Roatan is a baleadas- a thick flour tortilla folded in half and filled with refried beans and grated queso duro ( a salty white cheese) with avocados, chicken possibly added.
Below shows the many emotions Mahogany Beach can elicit from visitors.
We started with two days at sea (and loads of eating) and spent most of those days reading by the pool (me) and swimming in the pool (everyone younger than me). Chuck and I took dance lessons and learned little bits of the Merengue, the Cha-Cha and the Tango complete with this little trick where I kick my leg around him. I know! ooh la la!
Day 3- Roatan. Wow! This was by far the most groomed and custom made for the cruise crowd beach that I have ever seen in my life. It definitely wasn't an accurate viewing of Honduras, but it sure was easy to enjoy. We were able to walk right off the boat, down the huge dock into a little mini plaza of shops. Then we paid like $5/person to ride on this ski chair lift thing 67 ft in the air and 1200 feet over to the white sandy beaches of Mahogany Beach. This beach was pristine. 825 ft of chairs as far as the eye could see, not a speck of trash in existence, shade equally mixed with sun and coconut stands.
Katesy is a nut for coconuts and we made a goal to either pick one out of a tree (like she did last cruise) or buy one every place we stopped. $5 was all it cost for coconut water so sweet and fabulous and then the salesman whacked open the nut and scooped out the fruit into easy to bite pieces of yummy.
Below shows the many emotions Mahogany Beach can elicit from visitors.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Merry Christmas
Below, I've tacked on a quick video of the kids explaining why we've gotten a third day of Christmas gift opening. Some of the gifts were delayed because of a criminal stealing credit card numbers, but Santa saved the day.
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