Trip Report, first 13 days

Our extended family left today, so I have a minute to write a quick trip report to satisfy those people begging for a proper report!

We had an uneventful trip down via AA (with 7 kids that was a blessing!), except for a 10 minute lightning delay in Miami on 6/19. Took a cab to municipal and Tropic over to SP. We arrived before 1pm, picked up our golf carts and drove to Miramar. We unpacked our bags and headed out to grab a late lunch and swim at Fido's Sandbar. Had chicken nachos, grilled shrimp, ceviche and chicken fingers for the kids.

12 of us snorkeled Shark-Ray Alley and Hol Chan and 1 person came along for the boat ride. We met some great folks from Philadelphia, and they accompanied us on the trip, too. The kids and adults all had a good time.

We went to the block party on the last day of Lobsterfest and patronized the Taco's booth repeatedly. They had one of the BEST drinks ever - the San Pedro Sunrise! FANTASTIC! The rest of the family sampled it, so we had to go get 4 more! Chatted with Tim J. and his wife, watched the dancers and tumblers, looked at the jewelry booths and even met the infamous Travelqueen! We discovered our daughters were born only days apart!

We had some good meals out, but in our typical fashion lately, we cooked in quite a bit, too. We had our fave lime/garlic lobster and whole fried snapper at the Reef, burritos and quesadillas at Caramba, lobster and beef burritos from Waraguma (the new location but the old location is still open, too), fish and chicken sandwiches and ceviche from El Divino, fabulous snapper, pasta, steak (the grouper was a little too spicy)at Wild Mango's, wonderful lobster, chicken, shrimp, ribs and snapper at Hidden Treasure and out-of-this-world desserts at Casa Picasso! My fave was the cracked coconut (chocolate and coconut fans pick this!), but the Bananas Picasso and key lime were also great! Brother-in-law had some good snapper in white wine sauce with linguine at the steakhouse above Fido's. Also, the usual breakfasts at Estel's and Lili's are still great!

We had some great local, grilled chicken and ribs (hotdogs for the kids) and did shrimp boils twice for dinner! The Belizean potatoes and corn on the cob are really good, but it took forever to find a lemon in SP! We finally did but heard afterward they are not local and are smuggled in!

The best surprise this trip was the food at Mr. Joe's Grocery! The burgers, chicken and tuna salad sandwiches were excellent, convenient and fairly-priced. We also enjoyed a coconut mojito (cohito) from Mango's that was great, and the pina coladas at Hidden Treasure were TASTY!

We drove north almost to Rocky Point, stopping along the way for lunch at Belizean Shores, bug spray at several places, drinks at Blue Reef and Coco Loco's on the way back. Blue Reef was nice, but too quiet for us! It was secluded, and we only saw one guest! The pool and bar area was nice, and we enjoyed a swim before heading south.

We drove far south several times, and the kids were amazed at the birds, lizards, iguanas and plants. We trespassed and used Fish's dock as a backdrop for some great pictures! Thanks, Fish!

We got caught in a few downpours, and it sure was nice to have cobblestoned roads! The gutters sure fill up fast, though, and the roads past Victoria House are still filled with potholes!

The most eventful time so far, though, was when my 8-yr-old son slipped at the pool and ended up requiring 3 stitches. We rushed in and saw Dr. Allison and he was great! Stitches and some antibiotic cream was about $65US. Then, 2 days later, I stepped in a pothole at Caye Caulker and twisted my ankle! If you see a boy with goose-egg and his hobbling mother, that is us! Stop and say hi! Hopefully, after removing the stitches on Thursday, this will be the end of our medical emergencies!

We have another 9 days, including a trip to the mainland, so I'll post more when we get home.

Really good report. Keep it coming, after you continue to enjoy Paradise, of course.

Thank you Cakelee for the report! Sorry to hear that your son got a boo-boo and my mouth is watering thinking of all that good food.

cakelee, it was great meeting you! Your kidos are so precious. We'll have to get our daughters together at some point!

Excellent report thus far!

Oh and btw, you and your son are almost famous!... http://sanpedrosun.net/old/08-262.html

Thanks - I didn't know I was almost famous!

http://s95.photobucket.com/albums/l160/Cakelee/Belize%20June%202008/

Here are some pictures to hold you all over until I can write the rest of the trip report.

Well the last 8 days of our trip were pretty memorable, too. The hubby got food poisoning, my ankle was still sore, and our friend who was going to take us to the mainland couldn't get off of work, so we stuck close to home. My son got his stitches removed by Dr. Allison, and all 3 kids managed not to get hurt for the rest of the trip, so that was good!

I spent some good quality time with the kids as their dad spent 3 days inside. We ate at Celi's and walked the beach one night, checked out lots of souvenir shops and caught various creatures including hermit crabs, land crabs, sea crabs, geckos and even an iguana (with the help of some construction workers from next door). We spent one afternoon at Pelican Reef drinking Fanta, watching the guys trim the trees and playing in the pool.

We met tacogirl at Pedro's for bowling, but the wii was taken over by kids playing Guitar Hero, so we didn't bowl. Watching the faces of the male bar patrons while those teenage girls rocked out the guitar was entertaining enough, though!

We had lunch at El Patio and Caramba when the hubby was feeling better. We got a babysitter and had a nice birthday dinner for him at Sunset Grill for our last night. The next morning, we got some fry jacks from the take-out place across the street from the airport before we boarded the plane. There were no near-misses of dogs or bicyclists on the runway, so it was a calm flight over. The only complaint we had was that it took FOREVER to get the luggage in Miami. Otherwise, we were pleasantly surprised by our first trip through MIA. Looking forward to our next trip...

Sounds like a really great time! Glad there were no more injuries!

Love the pics of the kidos!!

Cakelee - what a bunch of refreshing pictures. Nice! Thank you for sharing your family vacation.

too bad about the rest of the situations, but - been there, did that too, more than once!
SO Sick - ya wanna die!
The children seemed so happy
Again, thanks for nice pics