We recently got back from an amazing 2-week trip to Belize with my family and we’re just now settling back in and getting over the jet lag. In fact, as I write this, I’m battling with the prospect of taking a nap because I really need to stop going to bed at 2 a.m. (Update: I failed. Just woke up.)

Every year, my grandparents plan a mind-blowingly awesome trip somewhere in the world, and then 18 of us show up on the day they tell us to, and off we go! Yes, you read that right… EIGHTEEN! It’s a good thing we all love each other. =)

We’ve been doing a trip like this since 2004, taking us all over North, Central and South America, and this year our trip was to Belize.

Brian and I flew to Miami on Thursday, June 5, even though we weren’t heading to Belize until that Saturday. We just wanted a day or so to get accustomed to the time change and to hang out at home for a bit. We spent Friday being both lazy and productive, running some necessary pre-trip errands, and then on Friday night, we had dinner and drinks with my mom in her new Hollywood ‘hood (which is awesome)!

Us and mom enjoying drinks and tapas!

We flew to Belize on Saturday, where the first week was spent at duPlooy’s Jungle Lodge Resort in San Ignacio. Here we were able to tube down a river adjacent to the lodge, go hiking and horseback riding on the lodge grounds, hiking through a dry cave, tubing in a cave (as in floating down a river in a cave with a headlamp), and of course, walk through the amazing Mayan ruins of Caracol.

Hiking through a dry cave with headlamps.

The river adjacent to duPlooy’s.

Enjoying some Belikin beer at an outdoor bar.

At the top of one of the Caracol ruins, with another in the back!

After our adventure-filled week here, we took a bus to the coastal city of Hopkins, where we spent a week at Villa Verano indulging in lots of alcohol while floating in the swimming pool and SUPing (stand up paddleboarding) in the ocean, which was literally feet away from the pool. This was probably the nicest place I’ve ever stayed in, and leaving here was really difficult, I’ll be honest.

View from Villa Verano. Not too shabby, huh?

While in Hopkins, we also spent an afternoon zip lining through the nearby forest, and a day snorkeling/frying our backs on the Belize barrier reef!

Zip lining the longest course in Belize!

These family trips are always the highlight of the year, and this one was no exception. I’m excited to go into more detail about all the exciting adventures we had, but I just wanted to set the scene before jumping into our tropical trip!