Oh Me Oh My

I am Sorry!!!!
I get caught up in things and forget about my blog.
Nana and Papa had a good time and so did we. Already we have had another visitor after them so now I can't remember what we did with Nana and Papa!!!!

   Well....Our visitor was Tyler Boelens and we had a great time with him. From the 4th to the 7th he, daddy and a young friend from church did a 4 day canoe race, La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge.(You can look that up)They did pretty well and came in 37th place out of 52 or somewhere around there. After that we went swimming, swimming, swimming....and.....swimming!
We went down with daddy on his Thursday runs and he dropped us off at the beach in Hopkins where we spent the rest of the day. It was hot and very sunny so it was a good day to go swimming.(We all have nasty sunburns to show for it!) We were all tired after a day in the salty air.

   The next day we just chilled at home because we didn't want to make our sunburns any worse. Then the next day we went to the blue hole(Inland one) and went swimming in its coooollllldddd water for a while.
Then on Saturday we went to Mountain Pine Ridge which is a big forest reserve with swimming hole and rivers that you can access for the small fee of : DRIVING ON THE BUMPY ROADS!!!We went to Rio on Pools(I think I told you about that in a different posting).Then we went to Big Rock which is where the river is a huge water fall and than a swimmable river again. Tyler did some jumping off of the 'Big Rocks'. Then we went home for supper and a beautiful sleep at 6.00 PM.

We have just dropped him of for his flight home on Monday the 14th.

Also, for school I a getting to learn how to write poems, so I decided to start a poem book that one day I may publish. Here is one of the poems........

Pictures in the Clouds

Written By: Paige J. Dietrich

I sit in the sand, water lapping my toes,

Ready to ask a question that no one knows.

What makes the clouds,

Turn into shapes?

What makes the wind,

Curl around me like snakes?

 

I see a mighty lion,

Ready to spring.

A bear standing tall,

As if on wings.

What makes the clouds,

Turn into shapes?

 

                                                          The wind is blowing strong,

Playing with my hair.

It blows along the still waves,

Shaking them awake.

What makes the wind,

Curl around me like snakes?

What makes the clouds,

Turn into shapes?

 

Well that is all.

Oh, no its not. We have hired our first employee for shoots Alive, Leroy!!!!! Woohoo!

Praise the Lord for that!

Now that's all.

Paige

Sorry, sorry, visitors are keepin' us busy!

So sorry, everyone, for not posting for a long time.

Uncle Doug came January 10th and we had a great time with him. We went down to Hopkins and stayed there for 3 nights, to the Belize Zoo, a chocolate demonstration and the rest of the time we stayed home, harvested and played games with him. Oh yes, I almost forgot......I am getting to be a whiz in the kitchen, so I got to cook a full meal while he was here. I cooked Jalapeno Poppers, which are jalapeno peppers stuffed with cheese, then breaded and deep fried(I confess, I asked Daddy to help me with that). I also made a sweet potato and veggie stir-fry with a side of rice and slow-cooked beef. It was DELISH! Then for dessert I made a fruit pudding which was also really good.


A tasty dinner made by......Chef Paige!...

...Followed by a wonderful dessert.


At the zoo we saw lots of Belizean animals, such as Jaguars, King Vultures, small birds of all types, Howler and Spider monkeys, Tapir(Belize's national animal), Toucans(Belize's national bird), different types of owls, Harpy Eagles(which looked liked a stuffed owl), Pumas, Jabiru Storks, Margay(which look like baby Jaguars and are SO cute!), Pelicans, Parrots, Scarlet Macaw, Alligators, Yellow jaw, Rattler and Boa snakes, white lipped Peccaries and lots more! (If you don't know what some of these are, I encourage you to look it up because they are all quite interesting.)

Spider Monkey.....He was a shy one!!

Tapir......Not the most beautiful animal I've seen!



Keel Billed Toucan





Yup....we had a fun time and NOW.........Nana and Papa arrived on the 3rd 

and now we are having a great time with them, but......

THATS FOR ANOTHER POST!!!

talk soon!

Paige D.

P.s send us some warm weather please! 

Margay.....Grady wanted one for a pet!

 



 

Jaguar...All I can say is "WOW"



 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, well, well, it's been so long since I wrote, I don't have a clue what I left you with.

Oh, yes, our surprise visitors. We had an awesome rest of the time with them.

So, we have two guys out at the property that are drilling a well. They are down about 230 feet and still no water. We are hopping to hit some water soon, so pray for lots of water. On Saturday, October 24,  we went out and planted some Arachis, which is a pant in the peanut family, in hopes that it will take over the other plants as a grass. It is also high in protein, so it is a good chicken food. We planted a Surinam Cherry tree and the Acerola Cherry tree so that they could grow. We also transplanted some small banana trees to a sunnier area.

Later on that afternoon, we went to FTC for their yearly sale. It was packed with people. There, we picked out a whole bunch of material for Summer, Nikki, Keaton, Grady and I's new business, Kids 2 Kids Belize. Sorry, let me back up a bit......
The De La Rosa kids, (Summer and Nikki) and the Dietrich kids(Keaton, Grady and I) have started a small sewing business called Kids 2 Kids Belize. We are sewing things, selling them, then using the money we get to buy the preschoolers in the village Christmas gifts. We are sewing bookmarks, hot plates, coasters, bean bags, zipper bags, aprons, pillow cases, and a few other things. So far we have four bookmarks done, about five sets of bean bags done, and a bunch of hot plates almost done. The material we bought at the FTC sale with the De La Rosa's is for aprons and pillow cases.

The road bed has been cleared and burned, now it is
waiting for the bulldozer.



The drilling rig, drilling our well at the property.

We started today, Monday, October 26, off with harvesting some of our fast growing sprouts. Then we started on school work. Today's school work went fast for me, so I had time to write to you. Tonight is our night to go to the Learning Center to help kids with home work and/or their projects. Other than that, today is pretty empty.

Oh yes. Oma and Opa have also booked their flights to come again. They are coming on December 4, and leaving December 22. But this time, Jim and Wanda, Opa's partner in the mechanic shop and his wife, are also coming down with them. We will show them Black Rock Lodge, a resort and restaurant that we supply sprouts for, and Hopkins, a second time for Oma and Opa, but a first for Jim and Wanda.  We are excited, yet again, and counting down the days.

Also, Happy Late Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and had lots of turkey and pumpkin pie. Our church held a Thanksgiving dinner at the church, so we went to that. We have been trying to find a sweet pumpkin to make pumpkin pie with but here, you can't tell a pumpkin from a squash!!! Yesterday, mommy made a squash 'pie' for lunch, so I made a honey and cinnamon drizzle to put on top, and that made it taste like pumpkin pie, so we are having that for lunch today. YUMMMMMM!!!

One more thing. We have our first people that seem to be interested in buying a few lots of the property. They are friends of Mommy and Daddy's teacher. They have booked flights already, for 4 couples to come down on November 29, and stay in Carmen and Faye's(the people we are renting from)house until December 8. Yay!!!

That is all for now,
I hope to write a little more often,

Paige

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!!!!!!!!!!!

On Thursday, September 3, we went to Belize City because Daddy needed to look  for a dehumidifier at the big hardware store.

 So once we arrived in Belize City we went to a store called Mirab. It was HUGE and had everything from shoes to silverware and dishes to stuffed animals to clothes.

 After that we went to Bennys(the hardware store) and looked at dehumidifiers.

 Next we went to Brodies which is my favorite store. While we were in the car after Brodies, Daddy told us that Jeremiah (one of our friends) needed us to pick up some boxes for him at the airport. So we drove to the airport and went inside and up to the viewing area to watch the plane come in. Once the plane had stopped, Daddy told us that we should probably start heading down to the main floor because boxes will probably come off with the luggage first. So we did. We waited outside at the arrival gate.

I was standing still just watching people come out, when  someone walked up to me. She was wearing a baseball cap and big sunglasses so I didn't recognize her at first. I just kept staring and staring at her as she walked closer and closer until finally she took of her sunglasses and gave me a big hug.  It was Hayley!!!!!! Then Oma walked out and I thought that I was dreaming!

 

 

 

 So we drove home and boy..... I was confused!!!!!!!

On Saturday September 5, we had a Family Fun Day that our church set up. First there was games such as sack races, lime-on-a-spoon, and jump rope for the kids. Then people sold supper plates to raise money for the new church building and to pay off the land. Then we had about and hour of worship. In between worship there was little fundraising things. The first was a short auction. The fist thing that was auctioned was a can of Mountain Dew pop. That sold for $20.00!!!!!!! There was also sheep, mahogany wood, a 30 minute plane ride over Spanish Lookout and a few other things. All of that money went to the church land and building.
The next was Hair Bidding. Two guys from our church( Jeff and Jake) had really long hair. The objective was have your side give the most money. Whatever side gave less had to have
their guys hair buzzed. Our side only gave around $600.00. The other team gave somewhere around $900.00 - $950.00.  So Jeff had to get his hair buzzed right there!!!!!!!! The money from the highest giving team also went to the church land and building.
 The last fundraiser was a Push-up Contest. For every push-up, $1.00 was donated. The most push ups done was 60, so $60.00 was raised just in push-ups.
It was a good day and we were all pooped.
So the total money raised between the fundraiser and the offering at church the next day was $43 000 Belize currency which is about $21 500 American!!!!!
                                                                                        

An awesome sack race. What are two adults doing in the kid games?!

       













On Sunday September 6, we went to church. Then we went home and brought some soup over to Marien and Nerys for lunch. After that we went up to Calico Jacks, the zip lining company and Nery, Summer, Nikki, Hayley, Daddy, Keaton, Grady and I went zip lining. It was just as awesome as last time. I think Hayley liked it to.
After that we drove to Barton Creek because Nery told us about a cave that you can swim in so we followed them there. It was pretty much a swimming hole with a big cave on the one end. The water was super cold but Grady, Hayley, Keaton, Daddy and I went in. After that we went home and got some sleep.





Ready to zip, zip zip!!!!!!

 

Go Hayley, Go!!!!!!

 





 

All Grady said was "Weeeeeeeeee!!"



On the suspension Bridge

On Monday September 7, we went to Caye Caulker. We woke up at 5:30 AM and left for Belize City. On the way there we watched Courageous. It was SO funny. We got to Belize City at about 7:30 AM. We went in to the port and waited for the fist boat. Once we got on it was a 45 minute boat ride to the island. When we got there, we walked down t the place that we swam most of the time. We jumped into the water in no time. We found tons of shells and pieces of coral. I even had a baby crab crawl on my finger!!!!  After swimming for a while we went for a walk around the shops and streets. Then, we went swimming again. After that we went for lunch. Keaton had a whole lobster and I had a chicken burrito. Grady and Hayley got burgers. Then, Keaton, Daddy, Oma  and Grady went to the park, while mommy, Hayley and I went shopping again. Then it got so hot that we had to go swimming again. We found a snorkel rental place so we rented two sets of snorkel gear for an hour. First Hayley and Daddy went, then Me and Hayley, then Keaton and Hayley. When Hayley and I went, I swam right through a huge school of minnows. Hayley and I also saw some big Dory fish. Also, we saw some big yellow fish and smaller yellow and black striped fish. My favourite fish though, was the big needle fish. We swam almost right under them.  Then we dried off and went for ice cream. I had Mint Chip. Finally we went to wait for the boat. O the way home I fell asleep on the boat. We have had an AWESOME time so far wit Hayley and Oma.

 

 

 

 

Yummmmmm, lobster!

Waiting for our food.

Relaxing in the BIG chair.

 

 

So that is all for now, but I will keep you posted.

 

Paige 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOTS Of New Things Happening!!!!

Hey Everyone,

Sorry for the late posting.

Lots has happened so I will start with the ,most resent, then to the later events.
First of all..........HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!!! In honour of Canada( even if we're in Belize) we wore some red and white.

We are also expanding our green house just less than double the size. Our resort market is getting bigger every week and we are up to about a dozen resorts, so we are making the green house bigger so that we can keep up. We started two days ago and put on the roof. This morning, the boys put up one wall up. I think it is fun and exciting to be doing all of our family projects together.

Also, we have gotten our fist mail in our mailbox!!!Yah! It was from Great Oma and Great Opa.

We also bought 1000 mahogany trees to plant on our new property so we went out and planted about 250 with Nery and Marien. We also planted some mango and avocado trees.

A friend of ours, Beatrice, and her kids, Beyla, Lisa and Isabel just moved onto Nery and Marien's property. God held of the rain long enough to get all the things off of the trailer just before it started to pour.( oh yes. It is rainy season now and we are getting LOTS of rain)The house looks very good now, now that everything's put in its place.

Also, Santina, Nery and Marien's German shepherd dog, just had seven puppies about three weeks ago. Now they are starting to open their small eyes and crawl around. There was only one girls out of all of the seven puppies. They look really cute.

So again, Happy Canada day.
Love and miss all so much,
Love
Paige