“This is the day the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
– Psalm 118:24
Our Everyday
Sharing our stories, big and small.
The Cayo District is the largest in Belize. It is located on the western side of the country which borders Guatemala. The nation’s capital, Belmopan, is in the district. The district capital is the town of San Ignacio.
Tagged: Armenia, Belize, Cayo, color, playground, San Igancio, travel
My horseback riding experience is limited to nose to tail, group trail rides in tourist destinations and I love it. It is a beautiful way to see and experience a place. I didn’t think we’d be able to ride in Belize due to our children’s ages so was happily surprised when we learned they could accommodate us.
We depart Sleeping Giant for a 30 minute drive into Belmopan. Our driver turns down a narrow, dirt road surrounded by brush. The road comes to a dead end and he tells us we have arrived. 9am, not a soul in sight. There is an abandoned shelter to my right surrounded by high grass. Where are the horses? He gets out of the car and rings a bell letting them know we are here. No one comes. We follow him down a path that opens up to reveal the river ahead and my hesitation vanishes. Our boat arrives. Using strength and a rope our boat captain literally pulls us across the river to bring us to Banana Bank. 
Tagged: Banana Bank, Belize, Cayo, horseback riding, travel
None of my children know how to ride a bike. Our neighborhood backs to a farm filled with wooded trails, streams and waterfalls. We’ve only explored the trails once. When we went to Great Falls Park last summer for a family hike we enjoyed a solid hour of whining and complaining.
Based on my children’s ages and their obvious love of adventure and exploration I had managed expectations of our excursions.
St. Herman’s Blue Hole National Park features 575 acres of forest rich with wildlife, two cave systems and the Blue Hole, a sapphire-colored pool formed by the collapse of an underground limestone cave. The main attractions in the park, the St. Herman’s Cave and the Blue Hole, are connected by an underground stream. Julio, our guide, meets us at the park entrance and fits each of us with a helmet, headlamp and inner tube. As we walk the 200 yards through the forest to the cave entrance, Julio points out the national tree, termite nests and the path left by cutter ants. When we arrive at the cave entrance my children fall silent. Backlit by the depth and dark of the cave Julio begins telling us that the Maya believed that the Rain God, Chaak, lived in caves and therefore performed rituals and sacrifices within the caves. Maya also believed that many caves were entrances to the underworld, or Xibalba. Today many native Belizeans do not venture into the caves.
Oliver clutches my hand a little tighter and whispers, “Mommy, I want to go back.”
Tagged: Belize, Blue Hole, Mayan, ruins, St. Herman's cave, tubing, Xunantunich
“So that our guests may fully disconnect and enjoy the beautiful nature there is no wi-fi and television in the guest rooms,” says our host moments after greeting us at the Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge. I hear gasps from my children and sense some discontent from my husband. We will soon find that being surrounded by over a hundred thousand acres of untouched wilderness is more than enough for our senses. By the end of our stay Lucas will tell me that he enjoyed not having wi-fi. Without the distraction of video games he was able to get lost in the wonder of this place.
Our day started at 5:30 am EST. The kids woke easily as excitement set in. Twelve hours and two time zones later our driver pulls over on Hummingbird Highway and asks us if we know why our resort is called Sleeping Giant? He points to the mountain range ahead and challenges us to see something. After some assistance we make out the profile of a sleeping giant in the mountain range. We turn onto a dirt road. After climbing the bumpy hill our driver stops and tells us we have arrived. I look out the van window and see the beautiful flora and fauna but not much of anything else. The kids find the pathway first and we are greeted by a warm voice telling us we are in the right place. Before us is an unassuming Hacienda style open-air building. Gareth learns our names and gives high-fives while Swift begins making our rum punches. Over the next four days Gareth will serve us many meals; Oliver will become his “main man”, he will make the table for two in the romantic alcove become a table for five because Oliver, and I, want it, and on our last day the kids will give Gareth homemade cards as we say our goodbyes. Our host gives us a tour and points out the view of the sleeping giant, I can see it more clearly now. The kids still struggle to see it but our host reassures us that the view from our room is even better.
We make our way up the steep, newly constructed walkway to our room. We stop halfway to catch our breath. It will surprise me in the days going forward how easily and swiftly we make this steep climb and how none of my children ever complain. We are rewarded with this view and now we can all see the sleeping giant.
Tagged: Belize, rainforest, Sibun River, Sleeping Giant
I had three teacher conferences this year, told at each one where my son was challenged or challenging. It was sobering, my son who has always been complimented on his self-control, manners and humor now being scrutinized for all of the above. I rained down on him, my disappointment and frustration falling in thick sheets. I doled out punishment and new expectations. Lucas, meekly, accepted it all.
I ask Lucas to do ten things a day, he does all ten without question or hesitation. He makes me laugh out loud; sometimes I am laughing at him, so is he. He relents when I demand. And he gives the warmest, hardest, sweetest hugs.
I couldn’t normalize what I was told and what I know to be true.
Tagged: basketball, birthday, childhood, nine
“It’s all your fault”
“You’ve ruined everything”
I have not said these things to friends or to my spouse, not even to my co-worker who really deserves to hear them. Nope, I have said these things to my children. As the words form on my lips and are lashed out by my tongue I immediately regret them. I am helpless, left to stand there, towering over them as I watch my words crash and land on the wide-eyed innocent face of my child. But I’m too angry to show my cards so I stomp away, curl up in a corner and berate myself.
Sometimes my words are so terrible that I have an immediate, physical reaction, trying desperately to scoop them up, wipe them off their shocked faces.
Either way it unfolds the same way; I calm down, explain to my child why I got so angry and make sure he understands his part in all of this, he says sorry, then I say sorry. Then the next morning or a week later I hear my child repeat those same awful words to his sibling.
Tagged: parenthood
On September 11, 2009 Lucas had his first day of junior pre-school at Lake Anne Nursery Kindergarten (LANK). February 12, 2016, Oliver has three months left. Over the years I’ve volunteered, attended class parties, play dates and school events, eager to participate in anything and everything. Now in my seventh year I rarely make it to kiss and ride, haven’t been to any class parties and only one play date. So I nudged my way into Oliver’s Valentine’s Day party. All the kids were gathered in a circle where they patiently waited their turn to hand out their Valentines to their classmates. They iced and decorated cookies, licking knives and fingers. As the kids finished up, Mrs. Even started a game. I watched the kids silliness and giddiness and was reminded of what I too often forget with my youngest, the magic and wonder of being five years old.
As we finish our 7th year and LANK its 51st year, I am grateful for the time Penny bit another child, twice, because she finally learned to share, the teacher conferences where I found out Lucas has sick dance moves, Penny is quietly confident and Oliver is an artist, the art projects that fill my treasure trove, and all the bittersweet memories Lucas, Penny, Oliver and I have made in this nurturing, affectionate, sweet school to which we’ll soon say goodbye.
Tagged: childhood, Lake Anne Nursery Kindergarten, LANK, pre-school, Reston
“Medicine, business, law, engineering these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life but poetry, beauty, romance, love these are what we stay alive for.”
Mrs. Pearson, my fourth grade teacher, was the first to notice my writing. I had just settled in that morning, unpacked my backpack and started on the day’s assignment. She tapped me and asked me to follow her into the hallway. Immediately all my actions from the previous week filled my head, what might I have done wrong? Mrs. Pearson was a wonderful teacher; practical, direct, supportive. She smiled on occasion but mostly she was practical. With a smile, she told me that my recent writing project was excellent and that I had a talent. I am the youngest of four daughters to immigrant parents. My parents held steady jobs that provided for a home and security but left them little energy at the end of the day. They assumed we did our homework and did our homework well. So hearing this from my teacher was foreign, surprising and motivating.
Our Everyday 