western carribbean

Hello family, here are some pictures from the last three stops of our cruise to the western carribbean. I can honestly say that I did not care for Belize as a port stop. We did however rent a taxi to take us to the Belize zoo. They were still suffering from hurricane damage at the zoo but all in all it was neat to see the different wild life from that country.

 Entrance to the Zoo

 Emma and Camrie holding a Python

Believe it or not, this is the national animal of belize. here is some info I collected on line regarding their national animal: 

Tapir (Tapirus Bairdii) is the largest land mammal of Central America. Known as the “mountain cow” in Belize, they are forest dwellers, active mostly at night as they forage along river banks and forest clearings. The tapir is the national animal of Belize. The tapir has a prehensile, long nose like an elephant or anteater, but is actually related to the horse and rhinoceros. Its general color is dusty brown with a white fringe around the eyes and lips, white tipped ears and occasional white patches of fur on the throat and chest. They feed on grasses, aquatic vegetation, leaves, buds, and fruits of the low-growing shrubs. Its long, flexible upper lip and flat molars are well suited for foraging and swallowing twigs, nuts, and other tough plant tissues found throughout river basins.



The next pictures are of Roatan. This was a beautiful island and is a part of Honduras. I loved this island and would entertain flying there and staying for a couple of weeks.

 The two girls and I took lessons to learn how to wind surf. It was fun, however, we picked too nice a day and didn't have as much breeze as we would have liked.

Cozumel was a busy place! very commercialized and was a fun port for Emma and Camrie. Too many people for Janene and I.

 We did a snorkle session on this island. Emma and Camrie were given the opportunity to drive the boat. (These guys just wanted to flirt with the blonde, fair skinned Canadian girls.)

Well that about does the trip we took to the western carribbean. Until next time... Adios!

Love you all,
Garth

The Adventures of Cal and Shauna Continue!

Hello dearest family, Cal and Shauna here! Thought we would give you guys an update about how things are going in Cranbrook, British Columbia! Things have been pretty busy for us (Cal is full-time at College and Shauna is finishing up the last bit of her program). Here are a few pictures of what Cal has been doing in school and what we've been doing together (don't worry, there will be plenty more pictures to come!!).
The first picture here is the back side of City Hall in Kimberely, BC. This is where Cal does most of his training. Some of the minor classroom work is done in Cranbrook and the majority is done in Kimberley. This is about a 30 minute drive between the two cities. All practical training is done in Kimberley such as live fire practices, pictures of the live fire training will soon come!  

 

 This is where Fire Chief Al parks (don't park here or you run stairs in P.P.E for an hour)

 This is where all the career firefighters keep their P.P.E.

 These are all the technical knots we will be learning next week!

This is the Number 3 fire engine that is used between Cranbrook and Kimberley. This is Kimberley's main apparatus.

 

 I jumped in the engine and showed Shauna and her mom all the gear and fun toys.

This is the mask they wear for going in fires.

 This is the interior of the fire engine I get to drive, this is Kimberley's Number 4 engine and is only used if they need an extra engine on scene. This is also our training engine. We call it the Green Slime.

 

 This is part of engine 3's pumping system.

 I am the king standing next to the Green Slime. The two hose beds I am pointing at are called the attack lines. These are used for going into the building to fight the fire.

 This is where my class gets to ride up to the training grounds (unless one of us calls shotgun).

 These are the air cylinders that we breathe out of that go along with our P.P.E. We have 20 that stay on the truck at all times and 9 that stay on our backpacks.

 This side of the rack is where the volunteer firefighters put all their P.P.E.

 This is my gear!

 (This one pretty much speaks for itself). Rockin' the Hudkins name!!

 Shauna geared up in all my P.P.E. Showing her what it's like.

Since I sweat like my father.....its not fun to be in this on a hot day.

 Here is me all geared up (minus the gloves).

 Here's a few glamour shots (Shauna wanted me to pose. Mr. January?)

 Tush shot.

 Lookin' fine in suspenders.

 Fire engine number 4!

 This one's for Mike. Happy Birthday, Buddy.

Shauna and Cal taking a ride in the Fire Engine!

 Crazy axe man.

Always workin hard in the class room.

 Hmmm, I wonder which one is Cal's. (I was surprised to learn that it was ACTUALLY the neat one...wow!)

 Showing the guns.

 Little bit of Cal and Shauna together, this is for our fans (aka. moms and dads).

Cal and his new ride.

Hope all is well with everyone. Until next time, comment lots please!
Love, Shauna and Cal