Day One:

We present ourselves at the airport at 5:40 for our 6:25 flight, only to learn that Southwest will not accept our luggage for travel because we’re checking in less than an hour before departure. Cue rush to the car rental facility, where we rented a car and drove to Houston.

We arrived in Houston with 30 minutes to spare and met up with Logan’s parents.

After that early morning excitement, the flight to Belize itself went just fine.

Logan had arranged a shuttle to Placencia for us, which couldn’t have gone better. Well, aside from the fact that baby Asa was DONE after 3 hours in the car and 3 hours on a plane…

The drive down the Hummingbird Highway from the airport to Placencia was gorgeous. We saw a huge variety of palms and tropical flowers — just so much GREEN.

Lunch was at a roadside stand where Pa and I had our first Belikin beer and Ami played with her first coconut. Asa was SO relieved to be out of his carseat and able to stretch his legs a bit, and of course chew on the grass. (Yes, the 4 year old is still in her pajamas. And?)

We arrived at our rental house just outside of Maya Beach at about 6:00 local time, having left our house at 5:00 central — so, a 14-hour travel day. Ami immediately stripped off and hopped into the house’s pool, where she has spent the last three days.