Here Comes the Bride…(and Groom)

My brother is recently engaged (woohoo!) and his good friends, Mark and Rachel (also good friends of the bride) decided to host a black and white engagement party to celebrate the upcoming event!  My parents were also invited and I thought it was so cute that they went out and got outfits to fit the black and white theme!  We are really looking forward to the day Alicia joins our family next year.  Until then…lots of events and parties to get us ready!

Michael, Tamra, Caitlin, Alicia (bride-to-be) & Jared (groom-to-be)

 

A close up of my lil’ pumpkin

 

The family

Gigi & Auntie Em

Michael’s mom (Gigi) and his youngest sister (Auntie Em) came to visit us and to meet Caitlin for the first time a few weeks ago!  It was so nice to have them around because they are both really good with kids.  Michael’s mom raised 4 children and she is a teacher.  Emily works on cruise ships and she is the manager of the kid’s club.   

Gigi and Auntie Em were so generous and watched Caitlin for us Saturday night so Michael and I could attend our friends’ couples shower.  I knew I wasn’t ready to leave Caitlin with a sitter, so the timing worked out really well.  Thank you so much!!  

We didn’t do anything too exciting, but we did manage to get out of the house on Sunday for lunch at Scotty P’s (love those shakes!).  We can’t wait to see you both again soon and good luck at the new job Emily!

 

Family photo before heading out.

 

Gigi, Caitlin and Auntie Em

Belizean Babymoon – Part 2

Michael and I spent most of our days lounging at the pool or chilling in the room.  It was so nice to not have anywhere to be at a certain time.  For dinners, we either ate at the hotel or ventured out to a restaurant at another hotel.  To get to the hotels for dinner, we had to take a boat.  The destination hotel would pick us up at our dock at 7 pm (not much flexibility here) and bring us back after dinner.  It was already dark when we would leave, so I didn’t get any pictures.  The funny part is I would spend time fixing my hair only to have it look like I didn’t after two seconds on the boat ride.

One day, we decided to venture into town.  The only way to get around the island is by a water taxi (boat ride) or by golf cart.  There are hardly any vehicles on the island.  Instead, everyone owns a golf cart and the legal driving age is 18.  It was an amazing experience to walk around the downtown area and see how the locals live.

 

Water taxi schedule.  You purchase a ticket and wait for the taxi to arrive.  It’s like a bus.  There are multiple stops along the way depending on how many people are on the boat and need to be dropped off at different hotels.  Many of the locals work at the hotels, so this is how they would get to and from work.

 

Cool street shot

 

Another street shot.  Notice the golf carts lining the sides of the street.

 

Michael in front of Manelly’s ice cream shop.  This was a favorite among the message boards during my research for the trip.  We went in and had ice cream.  I got chocolate, but tried the famous homemade coconut flavor.  It tasted so fresh!

 

Church and another mode of transportation.  Bike.

 

Night club

 

Town council building

 

   Each street had a different fish on the sign and a large map.  It made it easy to figure out where we were with the help of my map reader (Michael).

 

Make up store

 

Another ice cream place that reviewers raved about on the message boards.  We didn’t try this one.  Can you tell I had an ice cream obsession during my pregnancy?

 

Their version of Target

 

Grocery store

 

  Hardware store.  I especially like how the hardware store is four times larger than the grocery store.

 

The fire station and the police station were located right next to each other.  The police station is to the left (yellow and green building).

 

I’m not sure how this happened, but it’s a dog on a roof.  He seemed to be enjoying the view.

 

  This is just before we left the island to head home.  I think the camera lens had some condensation on it, so this is the best I could do with a little editing. 

 

Thank you honey for the amazing babymoon!

Belizean Babymoon – Part 1

Michael and I took a trip to Belize that I like to refer to as our Belizean Babymoon (last vacation before baby).  I got a ton of strange looks being 33 weeks pregnant and traveling!  To get to Belize, you just take a short 3 hour flight from Dallas to Belize, San Pedro, then another flight to the Ambergris Caye island, a short taxi ride from the airport to the boat dock and a 20 minute boat ride on the sea to the hotel!  It was definitely an adventure!  

There are so many pictures that I want to share, I decided to break it up into two parts.  Below are pictures of us getting to the hotel and the hotel grounds, including our room.  Enjoy!

 

*WARNING*  Tons of pictures to follow!

  Boarding pass for the flight to Ambergris Caye from San Pedro.  If there aren’t enough people for a flight, they actually cancel it.

 

Headed to Ambergris Caye island via Maya Island Air

 

Umm…this plane is so small I can see the pilot and the cockpit.  Michael and I were in the back row so these were all of the passengers. 

Is this good idea???

 

Passenger safety instructions

 

Life vest

 

Reflection of our plane in the water below

 

  Maya Island airport

 

Baggage handler and the runway in the background

 

Baggage Claim

 

Front Desk

 

Waiting area

 

Exchange rate and other info

 

Boat dock with a bar at the end.  Too bad I couldn’t partake…

 

Michael in our water taxi to the hotel

 

  Approaching our hotel – Las Terrazas

 

Las Terrazas (hotel) dock

 

Our room

Third floor and no elevator.  I got some exercise!

 

  Entry way looking in from the front door

 

Guest bedroom (we didn’t really use this room)

 

Dining room table

 

Fresh fruit basket compliments of the hotel

 

Full kitchen and there was also a stackable washer and dryer

 

  Master bedroom

 

Bathroom sink

 

  Shower

 

Two person tub (or one pregnant lady tub)

 

Living area

 

Balcony area and our own private pool! 

 

Close up of the private pool

 

This was the view from our balcony.  The ocean is just over the building in front of us.

 

  View of the pool from our balcony

 

This was the restaurant on the property.  They served breakfast, lunch and dinner.  The best part was the dinner menu changed daily, so you could eat there more than once and get something completely different.  Michael and I ate a few meals here and it was very good.  The service was also excellent.

 

Pool

 

Michael in the pool

 

Tamra day dreaming about ice cream

 

The open area under the cone roof is the lobby and the bar is just to the left above the heads of the couple in the pool.  I love coconut rum and I couldn’t have any fun tropical drinks!  Ugh!

 

Palm tree on the beach

 

Beach lawn chairs

 

The bottom of the ocean was covered in this green grass.  Needless to say, we didn’t swim in the ocean and I wasn’t prepared with water shoes.

 

Hotel beach

 

Michael walking up the dock

 

Cool shot of the dock

 

Me at the end of the dock.  The white caps in the far background is where the waves break on the barrier reef.

 

Old cannon on the hotel property

 

   Large anchor on the hotel property.

Next up…the trip into town!