After hurricane Earl

 A road downtown is flooded the morning after.

If you click on this link you will see an awesome photo of the flooded river at Iguana creek bridge. the high as well as they could estimate it was 23 feet above the bridge.
http://iguanacreekbridge.blogspot.com/2016/08/a-picture-from-yesterday-aug-4.html

 Our corn field. a lot of corn seems to be lifting again so it will not all be a total loss but it is still a big loss for many farmers and the biggest loss the hurricane incurred.

 The rain trees on our yard were severely broken up. they are easy breakers.

 Mangoes and more mangoes. There must have been a thousand on the ground. I see a lot of work with mangoes ahead of me.

 

The house shook a few times but other than those broken trees and a few beds getting a little moist we have had no issues. we mostly enjoyed hearing the wind howl and the branches being torn from the trees, knowing we were safe in our beds.

Another camping trip....

 Before you all think the only thing we do in Belize is camping since my previous post was also on camping, let me assure you that is not the case! this is a special post for our friends up north (or south, dependin...) who have been waiting for this post. Enjoy, Julie & Billy! And all the rest who are interested.

  The famous swimming hole. this time we had it all to ourselves every time we went. Was great!

 Elizabeth is learning that sapodilla wood is hard splitting. But they did manage to cook us a great mountain man breakfast. Yum.

Time to do the dishes.

 

 We had very nice and sunny days at first.

 And then we had one rainy afternoon that we thoroughly enjoyed as well. A nap inside a tent when it drizzles outside is fun if you stay dry, which we did for the most part.

 a game or a book come in very handy.

 

 as does a hammock hung way up high.

 This gal totally fits into the Belizean culture with her hammock! i have never even slept a night in a hammock yet. :(

 This swing has kept the girlies busy.

 I don't know how she did it but she had strung this hammock up so tight it took two grown men to release it. Good job Elizabeth!!!

 And we also decided a rainy afternoon was a perfect time to be trying out a mango cobbler. (even the rocket stove we built a while back came in handy) Here we do not have briquettes so this feat did not prove as easy as we thought but we managed. we are learning all about charcoal cooking with lump charcoal.

This was the worst part of the rain, but our friends learned the important fact of how termites migrate, after a good rain. good thing it was only a few hours and they don't hurt us.

 Cobbler is ready; anyone? Yes I hear you Cagles. We can make it again next time.

 A new dish I tried for the first time while camping was this biscuit and sausage gravy. Getting there.

If someone has never tried this, this is a must. Grilled pineapple with butter and brown sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on top. It makes the grilled apple pale in comparison. But maybe that's the Belizean in me talking.

I was a bit sad to leave this place. It starts to feel like home away from home and we really like it. We are so happy we have the right to this little nook out in the Belizean wilderness.

I decided to add these two videos of the siblings swinging into the Belize river. this is not at the camp; this is close to our place. Hope you enjoyed the post! :)

A recent camping trip to Moutain Pine Ridge

 

 In March we went camping with my sister's family together and here are some pics to show the fun we had. The baby in the middle is my sister's.

 Steaks and tortillas, anyone?

 

 A few of us checked out the abandoned military camp close by. 

 Let boys be boys! Just after this trip my nephew here broke his collar bone and had to take it easy for a while.

 This swimming hole was visited every day by the men and kids. the boys had fun swinging and jumping into the water.

 The hills are steeper than it looks in photos.

 Gametime.

Below is the video of a jump into the river close to home:

Bedroom Makeover

 This summer is going great so far! The kids are out of school for the year, and we are having a blast doing all sorts of fun things. Actually this bedroom got painted before school was out. But Jessica is still moving in. 

The bedroom idea started with this old bedstead that was recently given to us by some friends who knew I had my eye on it since I had always wanted an antique frame like it. That's what friends do... I had fun sanding and cleaning it  but painting was the best part of all. I decided gold was a fit color for a princess.

 

 Green and pink are the colors we chose. The gold frame goes well with the green and hot pink curtains.

 She has a nice view out the window.

We think the new flooring is a nice improvement over the old.