Home from Belize

    It is Christmas time again and it sure doesn't feel like it here in the 65 degree weather where each day is beautiful but very much the same.  We are so looking forward to the Edwards and Hanks families coming to visit this next week. I am sure that will help bring the Christmas spirit here a little stronger.  

    

    Things have really slowed down at the Clinic and will be that way for another couple of weeks.  All the school kids are out of school for Christmas break so we can't see any of them.  The future missionaries have other things on their minds that filling out mission papers so they have really slowed down also.  We do have the new group at the CCM coming in this Thursday and we will be seeing them on the 2nd and 3rd of January in the Clinic.  

    We had a great time in Belize with Fred, Bruce and Debbie Roghaar, Barry and Sara Parslow and their friends Paul and Shelayne Clarke from Wellsville. A super group of people.  We pretty much just sailed around to several islands between the coast of Placencia and the reef off the coast there.  This reef is the second largest one in the world and I have heard that there are about 400 islands in this area.  We would sail or motor from island to island and go ashore to check them out.  One island use to be owned by Ringo Starr.  We looked in the house that he lived in there.  It was pretty simple and no one has lived in it for over 23+ years so it is not in very good shape.  We couldn't go upstairs because the wooden stairway was falling apart.  That ocean air is pretty hard on buildings.  Another company bought the island several years ago and is building some buildings on it now, slowly.

     We snorkeled several times near the reef and saw some really amazing fish, plants and coral.  I was really wishing that I had an underwater camera to let you all see some of the things we saw.  Debbie had one and took some pictures, I will see if I can get some to share, however it won't look as good as the real thing.  There was one little fish that came very close to me and didn't seem to mind that I was there at all.  I so appreciated people helping to bring my life vest and snorkel.  Thanks everyone!

    So here are the pictures I am sending.  1-Dad coming off the small plane that took us from Belize City to Placencia.  

2- Fred and Larry at the helm.  

3-some Sea Urchin shells and a Sea Biscuit shell, they are actually pretty good size, about 5 inches across.  Sara found them but left them there, they are so very fragile there is no way they would make it home.  

4-a Manta Ray, picture taken from the dock.  

5- Our Catamaran   

6- A Placencia Christmas street decoration.  I am not sure but I think it is upside down.  

7- a sign outside a pharmacy in Placencia. 

   While we were sailing, we spotted three dolphins and luckily Debbie had her phone in hand and took a quick video.

And I just had to share some Christmas trees.  The large one is at a nearby major intersection and if you look closely you might see the rooster head at the top.  Gallo (rooster in Spanish) is the name of a big beer company here and they sponsor the tree each year.  It is probably about 90-100 feet tall.  The other tree is our little tree in our apartment.

   Merry Christmas!!

   Love to all and to all a good night!         MOM/Grammy