Underwater Fun

Aric Suspended in a Blue Background

Belize is known for its world-class diving and this year was awesome. We saw turtles, sharks, tarpon, rays, barracuda and all of our favorite little & tiny fishes, crustaceans and corals. My son Aric and brother-in-law Richard & his wife Sandy, came with us this year so it was a very special time for all of us.

Cruising Through An Underwater Canyon

Bull Shark for Dinner

Aric's Bull Shark (Tricia in white cap & Clifford in red)

We went fishing in Belize with the same guides we used last year. Clifford & Eric, who run Uprising Tours, did an awesome job & we had a good time. Everyone who wanted to fish caught something. We also stopped and snorkeled then ate some of our catch on a deserted stretch of beach.

Aric, lucky guy that he is, had just taken over my rod & reel at the back of the boat and immediately hooked this bull shark. It was good challenge on the light tackle we were using and everyone was happy & excited until the shark got closer to actually being landed. That is when Eric got out the club and whacked it a few times to kill it. At that point we were all wondering whatever happened to "catch & release," but were glad to find out that Clifford had an order for 50 pounds of fish & planned to sell it to a local lady who uses shark for her empanadas.

Asian Football Championship Challenge

David & Kurtis on Top of Mount Democrat

I went to a Saudi friend’s house the other night and watched the Saudi Arabian national soccer team win against Japan in the semi-final of the Asian Cup. There a few of us watching and my friend had all the traditional Arabic coffee, tea and snacks so we listened to the announcer in Arabic while chatting in English & munching away.

The funny thing was every time the Saudi team scored everyone leapt up and shouted. Then in very short order my friend’s uncle would come crashing through the door smiling broadly and yelling something almost unintelligible and then he would disappear as quickly as he came. I was laughing so hard because it reminded me of myself with my sons when our teams play basketball or football.

The Saudis earned the chance to play Iraq in the finals so I challenged my son David, who is serving in Iraq, that my Saudi National soccer team would beat his Iraqi team in the finals of the Asian Football Championship. I was wrong! The Iraqis were the better team that day and won the title 1-0.

I took this photo of the two of us from the top of Mount Democrat in Colorado prior to David deploying overseas. We were sitting at over 14,000 feet and had excellent cellular coverage so we just had to phone home. I'm looking forward to the day David returns home so we can get together and climb a few more peaks.

Seat Belt Professional

Seat Belts On - Ready For Takeoff

Flying is sometimes more than an adventure. Last year on our way to Ambergris Caye, Belize we boarded our single-engine, "puddle-jumpin,'" Cessna Caravan airplane and as we settled into the last leg of the journey we immediately had a problem. Everyone was asking each other about how to fasten the seat belt latches. They were unlike any fasteners they had seen before. After a few seconds and a little common sense those of us who wanted to get a belt on did so.

This year we visited Belize again and Patricia made sure all the aircraft trays were stowed, seats were in the upright position and everyone had their belts fastened, prior to takeoff. She should have been paid to take this flight. Never mind everyone had every electronic device in their possession on videoing excitedly.

On Short Final for San Pedro

Enough Flying Already!!

"The Final Four" - (L-R) Amanda, Jessica, Emily & Kurtis

With my vacation regrettably over I decided to calculate the airline miles I traveled. I found a website where you plug in your takeoff and landing destinations and after inputting all 19 of the flights I was surprised to find out I had traveled more than 30,000 air miles. To me that sounds like a lot of miles in a 30 days period.

Fortunately, I traveled nearly all those miles with family and friends. Without family and friends I would not have been having such a great time, as the airlines repeatedly cancelled or delayed flights. In my final trip back to the US from Athens, Greece, it took a patience-taxing three days for me and my vacation buddies to reach home!

The photo above was taken in Dallas on the third day while we were awaiting the final flight to reach home. We were the last of our group of 35 to get home yet the young ladies were real troopers who kept their spirits high despite all the delays during the final stages of our adventure.