On our family’s first trip to Belize, over two years ago, we lived for two months in a house known around the neighborhood as the “tarantula yard.” The kids learned that after dark you can take a flashlight and go tarantula hunting, startling the tarantulas with the light and then picking them up. They were excited to share this aspect of Belize with their youth group friends last month!
Here is a tarantula in the dark! 
This is Stanley. Stanley is a native of Belize and caretaker of the Camalote Camp. He was kind enough to head up a tarantula hunt for our group. Notice the above tarantula is now on Stanley’s shoulder. 
At first the kids would only hold the tarantula in a cup. 
Then they got a little braver and passed around a hat with the tarantula attached.
Abby
Alex
Then they got a little braver!
Foster Toft
And FINALLY…the girl who is petrified to be within 20 feet of a spider….the girl who NEVER went tarantula hunting when we lived in the tarantula yard….the girl who refused to walk onto the porch because there was a tarantula on the wall….the girl who cannot take a shower if there is a granddaddy long leg in the bathroom….made a break through!
Shelby!!
And that is proof of the power of peer pressure!!!
Oh my! That’s…uh…that’s…I don’t have words, but I’m awfully glad God keeps sending you to Belize and not me!
ahhhh…. eeeeek!
I want to write a comment- I really do. but I am sitting here shuddering, all of the muscles on the back of my neck are as tight as a spring… and I am so so SO glad that those tarantulas are on *your* side of the computer screen. phew!
Fun pictures, I actually think my favorite is of Alex with the look that says “Duh, it’s just a dumb spider.”
I love the pictures of you guys with the toddlers at the beach. Phoebe is just growing so fast!
Alex let that thing crawl all over him, and then had a little rash on his neck the next morning and worried that it was from “where the pokey things on the spider were digging into his flesh”!!
Phoebe is growing up too fast! The other day she said, “Where’s my passport? I need to go to the beach!” She might be surprised some day to find out we have beaches in the good old USA!
Aww, Bo! You sure you don’t want to come hang out with me there some time? We could hunt tarantulas, and chase geckos out of the bedroom, run from killer bees, and pray we don’t step on any of the nine types of poisonous snakes! For extra fun, we could hang out with our jungle friends and watch for panthers! lol