Happy Tuesday My Lovelies,

It seems like its been forever since I’ve blogged! I’m so excited to share with you how amazing the past two weeks have been. If you follow me on social media, you know that my family and I have spent the last 2 weeks in beautiful Belize! Eeeeekkk! There is so so so much to blog about, so I’ll do it in parts – going in order of events. I know a lot of you are here for my sewing related posts, but you know…I love to share my life with you, and this experience certainly deserved to be blogged! So, first up is our amazingly magical visit to The Lodge at Chaa Creek.

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My brother and sister-in-law gifted us an amazing two days one night with them at this breathtaking place and we seriously could not have ask for a better way to start our visit than to have spent the first couple days with them! (I have no idea how Shaun and I will ever re-pay them once they come visit us in California! haha!) We took the red eye flight as we normally do and got to Belize early the next morning. My parents picked us up from the airport and we all headed up to Cayo to meet my brother and sister-in-law at Cheers; where we had a lovely Belizean lunch. Sorry, no pictures here because we were both excited to see each other and too hungry to think about taking pictures lol. After lunch we headed to our most anticipated destination.

My sister-in-law had asked earlier on if I preferred to know where we were going or if I wanted it to be a surprise…. guess which one I picked!?? SURPRISE OF COURSE!! And boy was I surprised! Chaa Creek is a place of magic. I have heard the term “Green Tourism” before, but never fully understood what that meant until having experienced it first hand. Green tourism is a form of ecotourism; it is low-impact tourism that protects the environment and culture, plant and animal life of an area, Chaa Creek does just that. The dirt roads and beautiful trails leading up the the reception area seemed like something out of a story book. You would think the constant rain would have made for a yucky mucky day, but the rain seemed to have refreshed the greenery, adding more vibrance and a hint of mystic to the life of the trails.

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We were greeted with a fancy tropical elixir (tasted like hibiscus and ginger) for each of us while we waited to be checked in (don’t know why I don’t have a picture of that!).  Isaiah (my nephew) seems to be telling Abbie all about the fun we were about to have. =) 

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Once checked in, we were given a tour of the grounds and then taken to our respective rooms. We had Luxury Tree Top Suites adjacent from each other. And it was literally just that, because when you look over the veranda, it seems you really are in the trees! This is the view standing on our verandah. I had a birds eye view of the river.

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Mannnnn……I seriously cannot adequately describe just how breathtaking the suite was. I loved everything about it, from the large open screen windows to the high thatched roof – I’ve been sitting here for 20 minutes trying to find the right words to describe in full the awesomeness of this room – but I’ve concluded that you really just have to experience it for yourself!

But here’s a breakdown of the structure of the room: A private lavatory and standing shower sat at the very top of the suite.

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Down one floor was the master bed, and the first floor had two couches that transformed into beds – which is perfect to accommodate a family. As you can see, Abigail made claims to the bigger pull out bed (haha) and surprising she slept there by herself through the entire night. We were also told that we occupied the same suite that Prince Harry did when he visited the resort a couple years ago, I thought that was neat!

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We spent some time settling in and then we headed to the pool!

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This pool is something really special! It is a fresh water pool – meaning it uses a salt chlorinator, so there is no burning chlorine stinging your eyes. I loved that! I also appreciated that the kiddie paddling pool was on a completely different flat than the adult pool, so there was no worrying about anyone falling into the deep end of the pool. The adult pool was on the top…

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While the kiddie pool was on the bottom. You had to come out of the adult pool and take a flight of stairs down to the kiddie pool. I loved that the water in both spots were warm, made for a totally relaxing experience.

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After the pool, we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner – but not before trying out our very own private jacuzzi located on the other side of our veranda.

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After a very cramped (the kids insisted on jumping in too) jacuzzi dip we got ready for dinner. Dinner was by candlelight and it was yummy! I can’t remember what we had exactly, but I do remember the Key Lime Pie was AHHHH-MAZING!! We ended the night with some tea and good conversation in our suite.

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It was rather difficult getting the kids up the next day….I don’t blame them the beds were far too cozy.

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The hubby and I decided to let them sleep in for a little so we could enjoy some silence outside on the veranda. I made myself cozy on a lounge chair with a cup of tea…

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And he made himself cozy in the hammock …

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We had a bird’s eye view of the river and so we just sat there not saying a word, just listening to the sounds of the insects and the river flowing, watching the birds and animals fly and scuttle by. It was just the most perfect 20 minutes ever. But then our tummies started to grumble so we woke the kids up and headed to breakfast.

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Breakfast was delightful; it included: freshly squeezed orange juice, pancakes, french toast, refried beans, scrambled eggs and of course fry jacks with a couple different types of homemade jams and fruit. Again, my mind was on food so by the time I remembered to capture a few pictures we were almost done with breakfast. Isn’t my nephew adorable?! He thinks Uncle Shaun’s plane spoon is funny. lol

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A number of different TOURS were also included in the package and so with the limited time that we had, we opted to do something none of us had done before: canoeing! We took a 10 minute walk along a nature trail to the river enjoying the sights while cracking jokes about which animal was behind all the different sounds we heard.

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At the river we suited up, grabbed our paddles and started our adventure! But….the adventure was  short-lived after we realized how scary paddling down a river with absolutely no experience and no guide was while storm clouds were coming in and thunder could be heard in the distance (plus the boys were being super chickens! lol)! hahahahaha! So instead of going down the river we took Abigail once across the river and back again just so she could have the experience of having ridden in a canoe.

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And my sister-in-law stayed nearer to the bank with the baby.

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Then The Boys got brave all of a sudden and took the canoe for a little spin…lol

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It really looks like they know what they’re doing doesn’t it? lol

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The clouds started to come in faster and the skies started to get darker so we decide to head back to the pool to get one last dip in before we it was time to check out.

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Abigail especially enjoyed this time in the pool because this time I remembered to bring the mermaid tail I made her earlier in the year! haha! (You can view that blog post HERE). If you follow me on social media, you know just how much she loves mermaids and being a mermaid. This was the FIRST time she actually wore the tail in water so it was certainly a “magical” experience for her.

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Here’s a video of it in action:

We ordered some virgin piña coladas and spent the remainder of the afternoon at the pool.

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Sadly we had to leave the same afternoon, and although our time was short the experience and the memories our families created will forever stay in our hearts! This was truly one of the best experience we’ve ever had, having had spent it together with our family, creating wonderful memories in a most magical place was truly PRICELESS. I cannot wait to return and create more memories in my beautiful Belize!

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Thanks for stopping by you guys! Stay tuned for Part 2, it will be all about my FREE 2 day Sewing Workshop at the YWCA Belize; it was a phenomenal experience to be able to share and teach some amazing women the fundamentals of sewing- can’t wait to tell you all about it! =) Talk to you soon! xoxo

love-candice

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4 thoughts on “Belize 2015 – PART 1 – The Lodge at Chaa Creek

  1. I’ve been waiting impatiently on your post all day! I ran home to retrieve it during my short lunch break and saved it for Jay and me to read together. I kept it in my pocket all afternoon and guarded it like a treasure – taking good care not to lose the page (You know how the internet is here…). Immediately after the school bell rang, I scooped Jay up from work and we headed to our favourite coffee shop to enjoy and celebrate your post! We didn’t want to be interrupted by two-year-old cuteness. Over two ‘cholis’, we savoured your post!

    My, this is lovely! Thank you for your blog – your life, stories, family, pictures, and words are all so beautiful! You tell stories so magically and take such stunning photos – thank you for sharing all the beauty. What I love most about seeing you in action with your camera is that you use it judiciously. Though you could have snapped a million more pictures, in many instances, I saw you simply enjoying the moment, and allowing the beauty to exist in your mind’s eye and heart alone.

    I can’t tell you what my favourite part of this blog is – it is so dear to my heart! Thank you for preserving so many good simple beautiful things about our time together in this magical place.

    All my heart,
    Isela

    1. Aww man, I want a Cholis too!! hahaha! You know, normally I would have felt some type of way for not having more pictures than I did, but my heart is so happy to have just lived in the moment with you all. I have no regrets about leaving the camera alone and truly living the moment =). Can’t wait to see you guys again! Kisses AND squeezes to darling PIE! Love you guys! <3 - Can

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