Last Hurrahs

Lately we keep calling everything we do our “last hurrah.” If there is something fun we want to do, we usually do it with the excuse of it being our last opportunity. We have had a few over the past week or so, and I think a couple are worth mentioning.

First of all, we took a trip to Belize! It was time for Amber to renew her visa, so we decided it would be a fun last trip for all of us to take together. Besides the actual trip itself, Belize had several last hurrahs. We left on Tuesday and after an eventful day and a half of travel by buses, taxis, and boats we arrived in Placencia, Belize. If you’ve never been to Belize but love the beach, I would recommend it as a prime vacation option. It was so relaxing and beautiful! It was kind of like time just slowed down for a couple of days. In Belize they speak English, Spanish, and this combination Belizean language…but pretty much everyone speaks English. We kept trying to speak to people in Spanish, and they would just look at us like we were crazy. What else is new.

The second day we were there we decided to go snorkeling on the reef. The decision wasn’t an easy one. Manatees are in Belize at this time of year and we really, really wanted to see one, especially Alli (who also thought that they were around her size. She was pretty surprised when we told her she wasn’t going to be able to hug one because they’re actually like 12 feet long). So anyway, we wanted to see a manatee, but the manatee tours were really expensive and didn’t guarantee that you would even see one. And our big dream was to swim with the whale sharks, but that turned out to be out of the question anyway because you have to wait until a full moon which doesn’t happen until next week. But we couldn’t think of a reason not to go snorkeling on the second largest reef in the world, so that was what we settled on. It was definitely a good choice! We saw a whole mess of colorful coral, all these different fish, starfish, barracudas, sea urchins, big clouds of minnows you could swim right through, a sting ray, stuff like that. We were definitely not disappointed! Other things we justified as being last hurrahs were the three trips we made to the local gelato shop (the last one being at 8 am the morning we left), Alli’s decision to splurge on a big, beautiful hammock, and the hours we all spent sitting on the beach soaking up the Belizean sun.

After another day of buses and boats, we arrived back home late Friday night. By the time we got back I felt like I needed to take a vacation from my vacation! All that traveling will wear you out! But we were definitely all happy with the way things worked out!

Last night was our last hurrah dinner. Amber made all of our favorites, fajitas, tortilla chips with salsa, these jalapeño things with cream cheese and bacon that the other girls love, and a cinnamon sugar chocolate coffee cake for dessert (yes, it is as delicious and as unhealthy as it sounds).

The best part about the last week or two has been all of the quality time Alli, Tess, Amber and I have been able to spend together. We have taken advantage of all the fun things we have gotten to do together and have just been absorbing all of the laughs, trying to have as much fun as we can to make it last as long as possible after we’re not together anymore. Sure it’s sad to think about leaving, but I’m trying to focus less on that and more on being in the moment. And since there never seems to be a dull moment here, that seems like it makes the most sense!