Barton Creek Cave

We signed up for a cave tour when we went to town the other day. The guy said that if we went the next day he'd give us a discoun t$55 each for Kris and I, Jonathan was only $5 and Aaron was free! So we couldn't pass it up! We went through Mayawalk Tours and Kris had read great things about them online. Kris said that if we only stayed in Belize for a few more days he wanted our last memories to be of something fun, not of the break-in. The guy in charge of the Mayawalk tours was named Andrew. We talked with him about where we were from and turns out he's from Belize but lived in Stockton/Modesto for a while (said he used to go cruising on McHenry Ave) and that he'd even been to Angels Camp
(his roommate had a girlfriend there and the roommate couldn't drive so Andrew drove him a couple times), "It's was like something out of those old Western movies," Andrew said. So we signed up for the tour and bought a disposable camera so we could snag some pictures, even if we had to wait to get home to develop them. The tour van picked us up at a market near the house. We met a couple from Belguim who would be taking the tour with us, there was also our guide Bruce, and another guy (maybe a guide in training?) who was from Australia. The ride out to Barton Creek was long and bumpy, but the van had cushy seats and air conditioning so we didn't mind it at all. We even drove through a creek! The water was moving pretty quickly but wasn't very deep.

We arrived at the cave entrace and donned life vests. The Belgian couple went in one canoe, Bruce and Mr. Australia in another, and our family in the third one. They have us big spotlights that were hooked up to car batteries (yes literally a big car battery) and we headed in. Bruce gave us a small talk about the cave at the beginning and the rest of the time was just paddling and looking around as we went 1km into the cave. The boys were real troopers! It was hard for them to sit in the center of the canoe and not move, but we saw lots of interesting rock formations: stalactities, stalactmites, flowstone, columns, calcite crystals ("Ooo, those sparkle Mommy!" Jonathan said). Kris' knowledge as a former employee of Mercer Caverns really came in handy! There were some bats flying around in the cave but Bruce assured us that they were fruit and insect bats and they woudn't bother us. We also came across a small huddle of bats and the boys thought that was really cool. Jonathan remembered from one of his books and expressed concern saying, "Mommy, bats are nocturnal, and if we see a bat in the daytime it means it has a disease!" We explained to him that we were in the cave which was the bat's home and he's only moving around because we are making noise and shining our light around, but that under normal circumstances outside, he would be right.

Most of the Mayan ruins that had been found in the cave have been removed due to looters, but we did see part of the skull of a Mayan child, about 12 years old and two Mayan pots. As we went deeper the river narrowed and there was at least 2 areas where the rocks were low and we had just enough room to go underneath them... and one time there was just enough room to squeeze by on the side. Soon enough we reached the limit of where the canoes could travel so we turned around and went back the way we came. I saw many things on the way back that I'd missed on the way in.. it's amazing what a change in perspective can do! Aaron started to get a bit freaked out. He kept saying that he was hungry (but all the food was back in the van). So I reached back (I was in the front of the canoe) and held his hand and tried to distract him by pointing out intersting things on the wall and ceiling of the cave. Once we exited the cave we were allowed to swim in the river which the boys really enjoyed! There were small fish in the river and Jonathan took great pride in "scaring all of them away!" he said. Back in the van on our way home the boys happily consumed the sandwiches and granola bars I'd brought. Bruce stopped the van and pointed out a Blue Heron- so neat to see that! We also stopped at a grove or orange trees and picked a bunch of oranges to bring home. The oranges here are a light green color when they are ripe. I've had a hard time convincing myself to peel one and eat it, maybe tomorrow, lol...Bruce said they are really sweet and juicy. Aaron asked to snuggle in my lap which I gladly welcomed. Thanks to the bumpy road, he was quickly asleep.

We did take a few pictures with our disposable camera and the Belgian couple said they'd email us some pictures from the trip too, so hopefully when they do that I can share them with you!

*** On another note, I'd posted yesterday about us locating Kris' Belizean cell phone. Turns out the policeman was leavign for Belize City at 5am and wouldn't be able to help us until Sunday at the earliest, I guess Kris misunderstood him (which is easy to do here as most people speak English but have thick Spanish accents). So Kris decided to try and meet with the girl himself. He was texting with hte gal about where to meet up, she wasn't familiar with Belmopan either, so Kris asked if she'd meet him at the police station.. after that we didn't hear back from her at all. He tried calling her today and she didn't answer. So maybe nothing will come of it. Oh and I know that someone is enjoying my Kindle because they bought the entire Twilight Series and our account was charged for it! I'd changed my Amazon password but because the Kindle has one touch book ordering it was easy for the person to charge us. So I deregistered the kindle and removed all payment options from my amazon account. Now I get to deal with Amazon about reversing the charges.. hopefully it goes smoothly and quickly.

There's a cool breeze blowing through our house tonight, a welcome relief from the hot temperatures of the day. It's hard to believe that it's nearly November!

I did pull some images from the internet, gotta love Google!

Entrace to the cave

Flowstone in the cave (coming off the ceiling)

Hope!!

Ok, Prayer Warriors, we need all hands on deck! We located Kris' Belizean cell phone today! Our land lady Ruth had been calling and calling it and getting a busy signal. Then she got a call from a girl who quickly hung up, saying "Wrong number". Then Ruth realized it was Kris' number that the girl had called from! She told Kris and he called the girl. The girl didn't give her name and Kris didn't press too hard, but we found out that she is in Belmopan. She said the bought the phone from a guy for $75BZ and that he was walking by and asked her if she wanted to buy a phone. Kris explained what had happened and that he'd taken lots of other valuable things too and that we're offering a $250 reward for information leading to the arrest of the robber. She seemed really timid and said she couldn't remember anything about the guy. Kris assured her that we'd do everything in our power to ensure her protection if she'd help us. He asked her if she'd meet him tomorrow and he'd buy the phone back from her. She didn't outrightly agree but said she'd text Kris when she knew if she'd be available tomorrow.

Kris immediately went to the police station to give the update. Turns out the officer working our case was there and was planning on going to Belize City tomorrow! Belmopan is on the way to Belize City! It's been a couple hours and we haven't received any texts from the girl. Please be praying that she won't chicken out, that she'd meet Kris and cooperate with the police and might point them in the direction of the guy who robbed us!

I'll update as soon as I know more, please join me in prayer! Blessings to you!

2 Corinthians 4:7-18

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

 ¹³ It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”^[b] Since we have that same spirit of^[c] faith, we also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴ because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. ¹⁵ All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

 ¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 

I've had the song "Trading My Sorrows" stuck in my head this morning. Last night was tough, sleep was elusive to say the least. Even though Kris set up motion sensors on the stairs and in the living room and kitchen that would ring a chime in our bedroom if triggered... even though we shut and locked all windows and doors and checked them twice, and left the light on over the stove, I still found myself unable to relax. We got into bed around 9pm and Kris suggested I read the Bible to us. I started reading Psalms. Kris was asleep by Psalm 20 and I stopped reading at Psalm 40, drawing some degree of comfort from King David's proclamation of God's greatness and easily relating to David's moments of sorrow and dispair. I think it was after 11pm when I finally fell asleep... every little noise made us jump up and investigate... that happened at least 3 times... the boys woke up at 5:45am and I gave up on sleeping after that... maybe I'll be able to catch a nap today while Kris is awake and the sun is out.

The boys have weathered all this amazingly well. I praise God that they are too small to really understand and feel the full brunt of what happened. Jonathan cried a bit when we explained that a bad man came into our house and took some of our stuff. He was sad for us and asked if the bad man would come back and take more things. We tried to reassure him that it was unlikely. Jonathan worried that the bad man might come back and take some of his toys. Aaron prayed, "Jesus, please let the bad man bring back our stuff." It's certainly humbling to realize our attachment to these "things"... some like Kris' camera, ipod, and my kindle were blessings to have, luxuries really that won't be quickly replaced, if at all... others like our smaller digital camera and at least one laptop (especially the laptop) have a greater bearing on our business and will need to be replaced ASAP. Thankfully we do have my desktop computer back at home in our storage unit so once we get home and get access to it (it's probably waaaaayyyy in the back as it was one of the first things we moved), all my data is there and it's a great machine that will enable Kris to do graphic design and more. We also gave my parents a decent laptop a few months ago and they've graciously offered to give it back to us, thanks so much Dad & Mom. So once we get home things can get back to normal pretty quickly, hopefully.

Still no reports from the software on Kris' computer. We haven't heard from the police either. We're going by the police station today to add my kindle to the list of things that were stolen. We're also going to check with pawn shops and computer shops to see if anyone sold some of our stuff and to see how much a decent laptop might cost.

Please be praying for our landlady, Ruth. She has been really shaken up by this and as far as we know she doesn't know Jesus. Her husband is gone during the week working on one of the islands. She lives downstairs with her 14 yr old daughter Monica and her male cousin. Last night we spent a long time talking with her and she said she felt horrible about the gate being left open and that her dog Shaggy (the one that would usually have been sleeping in the living room in the front part of the house, but was in her bedroom that night instead) had barked a few times but she'd just told him to shush. We reassured her that we didn't blame her at all. Her cousin had been staying in a room in the back of the house and last night he moved into the bedroom in the front of the house.. and she told us that she'd be checking on the dogs everytime they woke her up barking. She was shocked and said that they've been living in this house since 1998 and nothing like this has ever happened before.

We're still praying and discussing what our options are for this vacation... stay a few days, stay a couple weeks, stay the two months we planned? For me personally (being the scrapbooker that I am) I'm deeply sadded that we aren't able to take pictures of the things we see and do, regardless of how long we stay. I know I'll have the memories in my head, but it's just not the same.

We appreicate all your encoruagement and prayers and offers of support. It means so much. We feel very isolated and alone here, but knowing that you are all praying for us makes our hearts smile. Blessings and love to you!

Paradise Lost

It's been raining here today... fitting I think as the last few hours have been pretty miserable. Last night while we were sleeping someone broke into our apartment. He cut the screen on the window in the kitchen (we've been leaving the windows open at night to allow the cool air inside, thinking that being on the second floor and surrounded by dogs made us pretty safe). He came in through the kitchen and left through our front door which Kris noticed was unlocked this morning. He stole both our laptops, Kris' big digital camera, my small digital camera, my kindle, Kris' ipod, our Belizean cell phone, our video camera, and Kris' crocs flip flops. He also took Kris' wallet which had about $50US in it but he removed all of the cards including Kris' driver's license and ATM cards and left them in a neat stack on the kitchen table.

We met with the police here at the apartment this morning along with our landlady Ruth. She said that their gate was left unlocked last night (which rarely happens) and that the person must have walked right past their windows and up the stairs because there's no other way to gain access to the upstairs. Also their dog who normally would have been sleeping near the windows had slept in their room last night. Kris said he heard a couple clicking noises during the night and even got up to use the restroom, but didn't see anything amiss in the dark. Thankfully none of us were harmed at all. But we figure that we lost about $3500 worth of electronics!!

We can still be thankful though because he left us the ATM cards, if he would have taken those we would have had to deal with our bank and freeze our accounts leaving us with no money at all until we could have arranged a wire transfer. Also he didn't take our dvd player or Kris' Android phone, Kris' kindle, two other camera lenses, our movies, or Kris keyboard, mouse, and 22' monitor- all of which were in the same area as the laptops. Kris installed a program on his laptop that when the laptop is turned on will use the webcam to take a pictures of the person and then will send us the picture and gps coordinates using a wireless connection. So far the computer hasn't been turned on.. but we're hoping that we might be able to relocate the computer that way... as long as the computer isn't just torn apart for its parts. My computer had all the pictures from this vacation on it, so with the exception of those on this blog, they are gone.

We'll certainly be locking all windows and doors tonight (and every night hereafter)... but we are so grateful for our lives... and to have our passports, atm cards and our car so that getting home should be easy. We're not sure what our plan will be. With Hurricane Rita off the coast, we'll be staying put for the next few days until she moves on. While we don't want to sacrifice our vacation, it's hard to justify spending money on touristy stuff considering the staggering financial loss we suffered today. Without a computer we can't work so it doesn't make sense to stay much longer. We could buy a computer here but it wouldn't be a very good one and it would cost much more (plus then we'd just have to buy a better one when we got home).
The reason I can even post about this and ask for your prayers is because our fantastic landlord lent us his laptop so we can monitor the laptop software and change all our passwords.

We do appreciate your prayers for peace and wisdom..and that you'll be praying for whoever did this... for repentance and that they might come to know the Lord... for the police as they try to find our stuff. We're praying against bitterness which is easy to succumb to after feeling so violated.  We know that "All things work for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28) and that He uses even these trials to refine us into the image of His Son, Jesus.  We are grateful beyond expression that our Lord hears us and knows our situation, and that He will supply our every need.

More El Pilar Pictures

Exploring the Ruins

Evidence of Leaf-Cutter Ants

A meadow

Little tree growing on a big tree

Hiking deep into the jungle

Cactus Vines

Mayan Room

Sunset off our deck

Bye-Bye Sun!

10/21/11 El Pilar Ruins

Up the trail

Today we set off to see the ruins at Xunantunich, but the site was closed because the river was too high and so we couldn't get across on the ferry. So we asked the archeological reserve worker stationed at the ferry gate if there were any other ruins nearby that we could visit, he told us about El Pilar. We traveled about 5 minutes out of San Ignacio and saw signs for El Pilar, it was just 10 miles ahead! The road quickly became rough and those 10 miles took us about 50 minutes. We were so blessed to have the Suburban though because it handled the bumps, rocks, and ruts beautifully! We didn't even have to put in in 4 wheel drive! Ironically Aaron slept through the whole thing. He awoke rested and refreshed ready to hike. After a quick stop at the office where we paid our fee- $5US for Kris, J and me, AJ was free, we drove a bit more then parked.

JJ in a Mayan room

This was really deep deep into the jungle! Trees and vines everywhere... the trails were harder to discern due to all the vegetation. Apparently most of the sites at El Pilar have not been excavated yet, so there are big mounds of dirt (covered with hundreds of years of trees and leaves) with some ruins showing but no full plazas like we saw at Cahal Pech. The hike was flat and easy, and the scenery was breath-taking. The weather was sunny but cool and not humid at all. We started down what was called "The Chikin Trail" and went deeper into the jungle. In the midst of this trail we heard a deep grumbling/moaning sound... it was coming from pretty far away it seemed and Kris thought it was a howler monkey... but it was enough to unnerve me and we quickly turned around and headed back toward the car. Supposedly this site is great for birdwatching... not so for us with a noisy 5yr old and 3yr old in tow. We did see and hear a couple of birds. We saw lots of bugs, including the biggest grasshopper relative we'd ever seen before. He was at least 3 1/2inches long!  Also lots of ants and anthills, some leaf-cutter ants too. We stumbled across a tarantula hole and Kris tried to lure him out but the most we saw of the big spider was a couple of his legs. Another interesting find was a group of cactus vines growing on a tree. These looked just like the cactus plant (complete with pokey needles) but grew like a vine around and up the bark of the tree. 

View from a lookout point

 On our way home we picked up more corn tortillas (20 for $1US) from our favorite lady and also found a lady selling flour tortillas, 10 for $2.50US (these are so big and fluffy!). We grabbed some milk and cheese from the market and came home. I made homemade pizza for dinner and was excited to see that my yeast wasn't killed by the heat in the car on the trek down here. Our pepperoni, onion, bell pepper, and tomato pizza was yummy! It was a long day, I'm sure we'll all sleep well tonight!

REALLY big grasshopper-like bug

The Fam at El pilar

Butterfly wing we found

10/19/11 Cahal Pech Mayan Ruins

Up some big stairs!

Today we visited the Mayan Ruins at Cahal Pech, which means "The Place of the Ticks." They are located right here in San Ignacio. After only making 2 wrong turns and asking 3 people for directions we found the visitor’s center, paid our fee (which was $15US- $5 for Kris, J and me, Aaron was free), and we were off. The visitor’s center had many artifacts on exhibit- masks, bowls, vases, etc that had been excavated from the site. Jonathan has a dinosaur book that talks about archeologists and so we were able to discuss how those same type of people and processes that dug up dinosaur bones, found these things too!

Through a tunnel!

The weather was cool and overcast making it a great day for climbing and hiking! We were certainly in the midst of the jungle! We followed a stone path which was quite slippery due to the recent rains and the moss that grew all over it. Trees and vines on every side, we pressed on to see what waited for us at the top of the stairs. 

Looking down into the ruins

The boys in a doorway

Let's go!

The ruins were amazing! Huge stairs, walls, and rooms made of rock. Jonathan and Aaron couldn’t climb high enough or fast enough which made us pretty nervous since everything was slippery. We moved from room to room, up some stairs, down the stairs… through tunnels and doorways! We saw butterflies, fire ants, leaf cutter ants, and (of course) mosquitos (no worries, b/c we brought some repellant). We only saw about 10 other people during the whole 2 hours we were there, including a couple taking their wedding pictures. It was great just to be able to mill about at our own pace and as Jonathan kept saying “Go investigate”.  We made one pass through then stopped for lunch at some picnic tables. Then we decided to walk back through the main courtyard again and I’m so glad we did, because we hadn’t seen the entire right side! It was a bit maze-like in that you followed stairs and doorways and tunnels and weren’t sure at all where you were headed. As we climbed toward the big courtyard, we saw some people coming down from some stairs that led to the highest point on the ruins- we hadn’t even noticed that the first time through! We made our way around the plaza. By this time Aaron was getting pretty tired and cranky, his little legs just couldn’t climb the huge stairs by themselves. So Kris carried him for a while and even carried him up the sketchy stairway that took us to the top! The view from up there was spectacular. We kept the boys corralled in the center and even I couldn’t get too close to the edge because looking down from that far up made me quite queasy. If the climb up those stairs was scary, the climb down was even more so, but we just went super slow and everyone made it down safely. History lesson for the day- done!

Up we go!!

Buying tortillas

Within minutes we were back in the heart of San Ignacio and we found a tortilla stand. We bought 20 corn tortillas (made right in front of us) for $1US. We ended up on a road headed toward downtown, but we hadn’t been on it before and we came upon the coolest looking house ever! The colors and shape of the house and surrounding fence were unlike anything I’d see here before. We also swung by the market and picked up some bananas. Yesterday we’d met a lady at the ATM who told us about the library, saying that it has a lot of children’s books and free internet… so today we found it and made note of the hours so that we can go back another day- books for the kids and a decent internet connection for us, sounds like a great place to spent a couple hours! Aaron was asleep before we even got to the library and thankfully he stayed asleep after we got home and I moved him from the car into his bed. Aaron slept, Jonathan rested on his bed, Kris watched a movie and I took a nap.

Aaron sleeps

Coolest lo

Yum! Pizza!

Gourd lamp at restaurant

Kris wrangled the boys after naptime was over and let me sleep (I didn’t sleep well last night and I’m not sure why). When I woke up around 5pm he said we were going out to dinner so I didn’t have to cook! I love this man! He’d found a pizzeria online that got good reviews. Off we went back to San Ignacio to find a place called Mr. Greedy’s. It was a small bar/restaurant that resembled a tiki hut. The neat thing was that the floor of the restaurant was sand! It felt so wonderful to rub my feet in the cool sand! We ordered a BBQ chicken pizza and though it took a while to arrive, it was scrumptious!! We ate our fill and had 2 slices to bring home for tomorrow. The music at the restaurant was a bit loud, but Jonathan had fun dancing to it while sitting in his chair. The lamps that hung above the tables where dried gourds that had these intricate carvings in them- so unique! There was also a huge map of Belize on the wall next to our table so we showed Jonathan where we came into Belize (Corozal), and how we travelled down to Placencia and then west to San Igancio- geography lesson for the day, done! Dinner and drinks w/ tip was $25US. By the time we left the restaurant it was only a little after 6pm, but it was already dark. The cool breeze was back and we enjoyed the short drive back across the suspension bridge to Santa Elena (the lower bridge is visible now but is still closed for traffic).

The Fam at Cahal Pech

The top of the ruins- yes we climbed up there!

A seat of honor?

peek-a-boo Daddy!

Baths and bedtime rounded out the day. What a fun day of exploring around our town!

Just Being Tourists

Yesterday we laid low. Since it was Sunday most places are closed. We haven’t found a church to try out yet and I’m really missing our church family back home. It rained off and on all day, it was so breezy and cool outside that I got goosebumps for the first time in at least a week! We saw Ruth downstairs and she told us that the lower bridge into San Ignacio was under water! Thankfully there is a big suspension bridge that will still allow access to the city. 

Using the bug magnifier

One of the weird bugs we found

Aaron using the bug net

I did get out Jonathan’s back yard explorer kit and he and Aaron had a blast finding bugs and looking at them through the magnifier. It’s really neat because you can look at the bugs from the top or the bottom. Kris even caught a small gecko for them. 

Looking at Mayan art

cashew fruit with nut on the end.

Today we went into San Igancio. The day was a bit cloudy but we were a bit stir crazy so we headed out anyways armed with our umbrellas. First stop was the post office to find out how to receive packages via general mail so that we didn’t have to pay around $45/mo to rent a P.O. box.  Since we’d already found a parking place in the downtown area (a small miracle in itself) we opted to wander around and look in some shops. We got Kris a couple pairs of shorts and a second Leap Frog Reading Pen for the boys, for $21.50US. Kris picked up a bottle of Cashew Wine, made from the cashew fruit (in the States we eat the nuts from the fruit) for $6US.

ducking inside a store until the rain let up.

Boys and their Toucans

Next we found a video store and they were running a special, one dvd for $4 or 3 for $10. We picked out 6 movies: Rango, Cars 2, The Jungle Book, Curious George, Toy Story 3, and Kung Fu Panda 2. Since our internet isn’t working so well and we don’t want to pay for cable, we’ll be watching a lot of movies I think! We found Ruth’s shop (our landlady). It is called InditaMaya. It is full of beautiful Mayan artwork and craftsmanship, as well as other Belizean souvenirs. The boys were excited to see Ruth. They also admired these small stuffed toucans in her shop, which we had no intention of buying  (I know we’re such meanies, but we’d just bought them some movies!). As we were leaving Ruth told the boys that they could have a toucan. Kris told them to pick one to share, but Ruth insisted that they each get their own. She said she has a couple nephews and just loves having little boys around again (she has a teenage daughter). Jonathan and Aaron lit up like fireworks and gave her huge hugs! 

We passed by a clothing shop and I admired a shirt that was hanging outside. Unbeknownst to me, Kris (who was walking behind Aaron and me) went in and bought it! I need to wash it first, but then I’ll post a picture. Such a sweet husband I have!

J uses the teeter-totter all by himself

We headed over to Hode’s because they have free wifi and a

Bridge under water.

playground. We bought an order of fries and Kris got a beer (so that we didn’t completely mooch off of them). The boys ended up getting really muddy and enjoyed running around and climbing on the slides. Just as we settled in it started raining… we were sitting at a picnic table under a tree. Rain + laptop= not good. So we packed up and headed back to the apartment.  We did take a peek at the water logged bridge. I’d guess it’s under about 8 inches of water or so, and the water was moving pretty quickly.

Spellbound by the movie

J talking to Grandma & Papa on the phone

The afternoon heated up and the breeze disappeared. The boys and Kris chilled on the couch watching Cars 2 and I laid on our bed under the ceiling fan reading a book on my kindle. Dinner was garlic shrimp, pesto pasta and sautéed green beans. It turned out really good, although boiling water on the stove for pasta really heated up the house. It’s a blessing that the dinner table is outside so we can escape the heat. We moved Aaron’s standing fan out on to the deck and created our own breeze. After dinner Kris gave the boys some glow sticks and they danced around on the deck in the dark. Such simple pleasures! The boys were glued to their glow sticks for the rest of the night even taking them in the bathtub and then to bed with them.

AJ wearing daddy's flip flops

J showing us his full belly after dinner

J gives himself Mickey Mouse ears

Here's the gecko Kris caught (we released him soon after)

Jonathan catches a butterfly!