Belize, Part Two... Caves Branch

The second part of our trip we spent at a resort near Belmopan which was in the jungle area of Belize. Chris picked Caves Branch because of the fun activities they could arrange for us. The lodge here was beautiful, too, and the best part was hearing the howler monkeys every night.  They sound just like dinosaurs! In fact, they used the sounds from the howler monkeys in Belize to make the dinosaur sounds in the movie, "Jurassic Park." Crazy!

The view of the jungle from our lodge.

This was the boys' favorite part... the outdoor bathtub on the second floor!

Our first activity was zip lining. Abram was all for it, the boys, not so much! They were screaming as they were putting their harnesses on, but then they calmed down. After the first line, they were hooked. Jack and Luke rode each line attached to a guide and they loved it. For the rest of the trip, they kept asking if we could go zip lining again!

All smiles!

Before we headed out!

Jack and Luke's guides. They were the best and so patient with the boys. 

That night at our lodge, we took the night time jungle hike. Our guides pointed out interesting bugs, frogs and birds.  The best, though, was the tarantula our guide dug out of its hole. And of course, Chris had to hold it!! The boys and I just stood back and watched.

Our next adventure was cave tubing. This was incredible and its something Belize is famous for. It was amazing to be inside the cave and tubing in there was a whole new experience! 

Right as we entered the cave.

Abram loved exploring.

They loved their helmets with lights!

Our final day, we headed out to the beach.  We spent the day at Hopkins Beach. They boys loved swimming in the beach and pool. Chris and I loved snacking on chips and tacos while we watched them swim. It was such a beautiful day and a wonderful way to end our trip.

Of course we had to get a picture of the boys swimming at the lodge... it was their favorite thing to do every afternoon when we got back from our adventures! Needless to say they slept well every night. 

We had a wonderful time on our first trip and we can't wait for our next trip!! We love making these memories with our boys. We hope they will remember them forever!

Our Belize Trip... San Ignacio

Traveling to other countries is important to us.  Traveling with our boys is super important to us! Now that the twins are getting older, we felt like we were ready to take our first international trip as a family of five.  We had no idea where we wanted to go or where was the best place to take our boys.  A dear friend of mine mentioned they went to Belize with her three young kids. When I asked her why Belize, she said they chose it because there was tons to do with their kids and because it was a two hour flight from Fort Lauderdale.  I immediately came home told Chris and he began researching it.  Chris surprised me with tickets for the whole family at Christmas! We needed to go in February because Chris' travel season is about to begin and he can't leave during the summer because it is hurricane season.  We were all so very excited!  

Our first stop after we got off the plane was to go to the Belize Zoo in Belize City.  It was a small zoo, but beautiful. It was filled with animals that are common to Belize. Our favorite animals were the toucans! We were thrilled because right when we came upon on the exhibit, the zookeeper was feeding the toucans and he let the boys try it, too! Luke is still talking about feeding the toucans!

The country isn't huge, but there are very distinct parts.  We decided to spend the first part of our trip in the town of San Ignacio and we stayed at the beautiful Vanilla Hills Resort.  

Our house at the lodge

The owner, Claudia, cooked an amazing breakfast every morning!

These huge iguanas were everywhere in Belize! This one lived behind our house at the lodge.

We spent one evening and one morning shopping in the shops and at the market in San Ignacio. We loved just walking around and enjoying the town, and especially buying our souvenirs.

One of the main reasons we stayed in San Ignacio was so we could visit Rio On Pools. The drive getting the to pools was crazy, but once we got there, we saw that it was completely worth it!  The pools were amazing and the boys loved swimming in them. 

After our long drive, we were anxious to jump in!

The falls were just amazing!

After we left Rio On Pools, we went to another recommended area called "The Five Sisters Waterfalls." We had the whole place to ourselves and it was spectacular!

Also, at the San Ignacio Hotel there is the Iguana Project. Guests could touch and feed the rescued iguanas.  At first the boys were terrified, but once they saw how calm and friendly the iguanas were, they enjoyed it! Abram especially had a blast taking pictures of the iguanas with my digital camera. 

Feeding the iguanas

One of my favorite pictures from the trip!

This picture took some bribing...

He loved using my camera!

Luke wasn't too sure what to think!

Our final stop before heading to our next lodge was to climb the ruins at Xunantunich. It was a super warm day, but the boys did great. Jack and Luke climbed most of it, but Chris and Abram went all the way to the top!

Before our hike

Heading up...

I love this picture, too!

They made it to the top!

Before heading down...

And of course we celebrated the completion of our hike at a yummy Caribbean restaurant called "Benny's." It was so good! We tried a famous Belize meal called 'pibil.' Which is pulled pork from a pig that was cooked underground. It was delicious!

This is one of Abram's pictures that he took of the hammock at our lodge. I just love it!