Grady and I took Mandy and little Laura to Belize City for her appointment with the heart specialist.. Ashley had offered to stay home with Grace and the boys.. we all thought they would probably have a better time here at home than riding 3 +hrs in the minivan! When traveling as a family, someone either has to sit behind the back seat in the hatchback area or somewhere on the floor. Not too bad for short trips.. but a bit uncomfortable for longer ones!
We got to the bridge in Spanish Lookout and were relieved that the water was low enough to slowly crawl through!
As we drove over, we could see the waters swirling around us!
Our first stop on our day trip was the Art Box in Belmopan. We were told that they serve espresso! We had left home early enough to swing in and take a look at some locally handcrafted items as well as
peruse their bookstore and of course have a
goood cup of coffee!
Mandy really liked these lovely wooden stools in their cafe area
The tourist in me almost gave in to purchasing this carving. This special verse had been especially encouraging to us over the past few weeks..
Laura found these Amish dolls quite charming.. so much so that she grabbed the Amish Mama with her toddler death grip and had to be
forcibly convinced that it did not belong to her! I had Mandy snap this photo to see if we could duplicate this sweet doll at home.
Here I am, showing off our
AMERICANOs! Yes, they were in
styrofoam and yes they had powdered creamer in them BUT were nonetheless delicious!
This is a typical police check point. Actually, I believe this was a customs stop.
As we enter Belize City we noticed this very clean looking market
Looks good but it's not quite lunch time yet!
The elevator was out at the hospital.. Mandy decided to walk up the 2 flights of stairs instead of being carried. It was slow going though as she really does not have much energy these days. Always a smile though~
Mandy and Ashley's new friends had insisted the night before to let Mandy borrow a shirt and skirt from them.. one of the sisters had experienced a heart monitor before and knew that it would be difficult to fit it to Mandy with a dress on. This was an answer to prayer as it helped the process go much more um, modestly and smoothly! :) This photo was taken after Dr.
Gough had put the
monitor on.. you can hardly tell it is there! He warned her to keep the monitor, which was hanging on a rope around her neck, inside her shirt as someone may think it was an expensive phone or other electronic device and steal it from her! He is a great doctor. We have been so blessed to have worked with him.
Upon leaving the hospital, we asked this friendly hospital staff person where we could find Brodie's Grocery store. It sounded easy enough....
Somehow we found ourselves at the end of the road and at the Port of Belize City
Now if we could just find a place to turn around! Brodie's where are you???
Hey, haven't we already driven by this round-about? A few times?
We drove through many, many different neighborhoods.. This father and son were selling sodas and orange juice.. as well as this old toy riding car
..still lost
Getting lost was increasing our appetite quite a bit.. we decided to stop at this campus cafe. It looked popular and busy which we took as a good sign that it was at least fresh food.
It was special to just have two of our kiddos with us. We love to make time for special 'dates' with our children but since coming to Belize have not found the time to do so as often as we would like.
Excuse me, may I please have that coke?
If only I could just
taaaste it!
Sweet victory!
Silly baby!
Our fancy 'turkey dinner' It actually was pretty good! Time to get back on the road!
A group of school girls
I snapped this photo while we drove over the bridge. I loved the spring in her step!
This house displays the name of a Belizean political party. We are noticing more and more political 'advertising' .. there are important elections coming up early next year~
We finally found Brodie's! We purchased some coffee beans.. Grady and I agreed that this store is much like our Fred Meyer back home.. you can find anything there but it is pretty overpriced. It is good to know where it is located now, just in case we *really* need an American brand product (and for coffee beans.. they have the cheapest prices around for the only brand of beans we can find) By the time we arrived at Brodie's, Amanda was exhausted. She was a trooper though and did walk through the store. We continue to pray that the Lord would heal Mandy and that this difficult time in her life and ours would be over soon.. if that is His will. And if not, that he would give us the Grace to rest in HIM for all things!
Jabiru Stork
This wooden 'statue' shows the Jabiru stands 5 feet tall and has a wingspan of 8 feet. Its heavy bill is about 12 inches long. Look how small Gracie is next to this giant fellow!
Dad and Gracie with a Scarlet Macaw 
Grison ~ I believe he is in the weasel family... ewww!
Grant and Grace hike the stairs to get a better view of the entertaining Spider Monkeys
Mandy makes the trek too!
The Spider Monkeys are so fun to watch! This guy seemed to be posing for the camera~
Tapirs or 'Mountain Cows' These gently giants allowed my more adventurous daughter pet them! We later heard that if you are not careful they will sometimes try and urinate on you! Yikes! (sorry to be so gross.. :O )
This way to the jaguars
Springfield ~ our children got to hear first hand from Franz how he captured this lovely Jaguar near Springfield.. hence her name
Jr buddy, Springfield's beautiful son
Coatimundi
napping in the sunshine this crocodile looked almost surreal
This Margay is even more beautiful than the well known Ocelot! The photos do not do her justice
Here is the family favorite! This lovely Puma (or Mountain Lion or Red Tiger) was rubbing herself against the fence. She finally flopped on her back and on her side, purring and growling. She was such a beauty!
The male puma
The coy little Ocelot
After spending the morning at the hospital with Dr. Gough, Mandy was exhausted! We had brought along a wagon to pull her around in. She was able to walk a bit also but had to resort to being pulled quite a few times.. as of the time I am writing this, she does feel a bit better Praise the Lord! Just looking at this photo and seeing where she was a week ago encourages us that she is slowly regaining her energy! Yay! 
The whole zoo was so well maintained! There were workers painting railings and picking up debris the entire time we were there.. it was such a joy visiting such a beautiful zoo!
Lovely tropical flowers decorate the entire grounds 
