Aggressively progressive

I hope by now people can start to see the difference between Krista and I when we write. Like yesterday she says.... progressively getting more after the cold beverages. Well Progressive today meant I had her get all the panini fixings and just jump right in. I am glad to say that she rose to the occasion like a champ (there might have been a little gripping, but if you know Krista you know that is wasn't loud and wasn't much....LOL) The food was a huge success, the portions were big enough that we were asked to provide to go bags. The food looked good enough that when I served it I heard people asking "where can I get that." So things took off from there. Three trips to the store and two emergency deliveries later we had a full day of service on the first day. Quite an impressive start given there has been little advertising beyond word of mouth. I am staying causiously optomistic at this point knowing that this is the busiest week of the year so far meaning that we should have a good day regardless..... Still, people liked the food, liked the service, liked the location. Can't get much better for day one. My hat is off to the chef, and her foot is up and elevated for the evening. This is the first line at the Snack Shack

A little water aerobics and painting......

Ms. Eileen, I have come to find out, runs an awesome water aerobics class at the pool on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 10am. Rob "signed me up", so I had my first class last Friday. It was such a great time, I showed up Saturday morning also. Ms. Eileen is full of energy and her students feed off of her, plus it's a great time to get to know some locals and get the "scoop" around town. Saturday's class was full of students, as you can see from the picture above.

We were able to paint the shack yesterday with it's first coat of primer. That's me hidden in the tree to the right. The guys still need to put up the big window in front and the door, but putting a brush to the walls was a great feeling. They will also add the inside shelves today along with the electrician giving us some light. Well.....the computer is fighting with me so I will try to upload more pictures at a later time. We are off to get that second coat on the shack today and hopefully have electricity by the end of the day. Plan is to serve cold beverages beginning tomorrow and progressively get into our menu. Grand opening is scheduled for Sunday (New Year's Day) and Monday.....with FREE POOL for everyone! BBQ will be going all day and the drinks will be flowing. Hope to see everyone there!

Shack looking like a shack.....

Significant progress on the shack within the last few days. The guys are doing a great job on building this shack. Rob has fun with them during the day-dancing, building playlists for them on their phones, and learning new Spanish words. Rob likes to throw around the words at home. I told him, yeah, I can count to ten in Spanish too! So all the wall studs are built, the roof should go on today, along with the remaining walls. The door will get hinged and the two windows should also go on today. Amazing that they are working on Christmas Eve! The shack should be complete by the end of the day today, as far as building status. Can't wait to put my individual touches on the shack-paint, decorating, organizing....that's what I'm good at!

We plan to have a "soft" opening on Thursday. If all we are able to serve is beer out of a cooler, then we will do it! We will have to wait for electricity and water next week and then we will be in full operation. Our plan is to have a big opening New Year's Day. Hopefully there will be lots of people that want to spend the day at the pool. Hard to believe it is Christmas Eve. This is the first Christmas both Rob and I have spent away from family and living in 75 degree weather. It is quite a change, but we are adjusting well. Not a day goes by that we do not think of our loved ones back home. I'm thinking I should have started video chat a long time ago...what a cool way to communicate. Water aerobics starts again this morning at 10am. Eileen runs the class at San Pedro Fitness Club. Rob just happened to "sign me up" for yesterday's class. And it wasn't so bad! Friendly people and a great way to get others to know about The Snack Shack. Classes are held every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 10am. Eileen knows her stuff and is very focused-I looked over at the shack yesterday at one point and she said "focus....Rob has it under control." Alright Eileen, I like your style!!! And Janice is bringing her homemade Christmas cookies today...so I will be back! (sorry if I have misspelled names...don't have the spellings yet) So a full day for us Burrows' here in San Pedro. May try to throw in some football watching too at some point. If not...go Chiefs! Hope everyone has a very happy holiday.

Hammers are Pounding, Walls are Forming.....

The building of The Snack Shack is official. Wood arrived and so did the workers. The level floor was completed yesterday and we found out that is the hardest, most time consuming, part of building the shack. It looks amazing and we are excited to see the shack finally coming to life. Although it is the Christmas season, the crew plans to work through Saturday, which is very exciting for us, as we are anxious to open.

Word is spreading and the buzz is out about The Snack Shack. We have had numerous individuals fill out our survey forms of what types of food and beverages they would like to see. Our menu is mostly complete, our drinks are delicious, and we are ready to serve! Plenty of people were at the pool yesterday and with the weather clearing up, I am sure the number will only increase. Wouldn't it be great to be able to get a cold beer or drink and a delicious panini while sitting at the pool? We are only about a week away from making that happen. Today we will head over and watch more construction of the shack and hopefully begin to get our menu printed. There are so many little odds and ends things that you don't think about in getting ready to open a small snack shack. The list of things to do continues to grow and I am sure we will "learn by doing" within the first few weeks. We do know that the fresh fruit smoothies and sandwiches will always be delicious and always include fresh ingredients. Only a few more days until Christmas and hopefully we will get what we want from Santa, which is a great little snack shack at the San Pedro Fitness Club.

Website is launched!

Sorry, no pictures for you this morning. We will try to get out and get some of the city today. Getting around and being mobile has been quite a task, as my foot surgery has slowed me down quite a bit. With the heat and the constant pressure on it, my foot needs ample rest and elevate time. For those that do not know, I fractured my foot way back in July and am still rehabing. The screws are out of my foot now, but not having put weight on it for about 5 months, getting back to the grind takes some time. It is healing nicely, but the swelling is more than I had anticipated when arriving in San Pedro. My ankle muscles are telling me that they need time to rebuild and sure are letting me know when they have had enough work for the day. Met this morning, bright and early, about the building of the shack. They should start construction this afternoon. The wood, hopefully, will be there within a few hours. With Christmas approaching, we have to get moving on this, as the holiday tends to slow things down here. Got the website up and running yesterday. Check it out at snackshackbelize.com. It is our first website, so don't expect the bells and whistles, but at least you can view our soon-to-be food and drink menu. There is also directions and a map on how to arrive at the San Pedro Fitness Club and our snack shack. There are links on our website that will take you directly to our Facebook page, Twitter, and here. What would we do without the brains of Rob?!? We are looking for some "decorating" ideas for The Snack Shack. Everyone tends to do the "hanging of the t-shirts". Anyone have other ideas of how to make The Snack Shack more homey? Off to enjoy this gorgeous day in San Pedro....once again....sunny and mid-70's.

Holiday Season is Upon Us

After leaving our cherished Christmas tree and decorations back in Ohio, it is nice to see Christmas decorations and even lighted trees here in San Pedro. Obviously the ones above are not your normal trees. We stumbled upon these while walking home on the beach from a night in town with Mike and Danyelle (AJ's owners). The palm trees put a smile on my face and reminded me that indeed it is December and Santa will be visiting soon. We have still been experimenting with our smoothies, blended drinks, and paninis. We have discovered the Mexican chorizo from the sausage factory is amazing and will be added to our menu at The Snack Shack. Making pancakes this morning to see if they work on our panini grill. Good thing the batter doesn't need water, as our water has temporarily turned off (after I started a load of laundry, might I add)! San Pedro is beginning to get crowded, as about 500 tourists arrived on the island this past weekend for the holiday. All of the locals are getting excited for the "busy season" and are ready to entertain for the next few weeks. The friendliness and hospitality here are one of a kind. We have been invited to a Christmas Day party, along with a New Year's Day party. Not having any other family down here is tough, so having others to spend the holidays with will be nice. Not sure what the norm is to have in your hands when you arrive at the front door of a party, so we will do our research. All we know is...never arrive empty handed! We got our website constructed and will hopefully be connecting that, along with our facebook page and Twitter with the blog this week. Be ready to get to know The Snack Shack and our doings in every way possible. Looks like a great day here in San Pedro. Sun is out and the road is beginning to have the sound of traffic. Saw many boats and jet skis out yesterday. Looking forward to another fun-filled day here in Belize. Hope everyone's holiday shopping is coming together and you are ready to spend this special time with loved ones. We are sending our love from the Caribbean.

Lazy Morning

We apparently had so much going so fast that we have actually caught up to be ahead of the game at this point. Today will be starting a new website(posting that here soon) and designing a logo. That means very little of having to go out and see the town. Probably a good thing given that we started really riding yesterday and I am feeling it today for sure. So after a first week here we have found several things. 1. SP Hardware is awesome, the guys over there are very helpful and willing to do whatever is needed. They have bikes for $275bz and with some minor adds like baskets and fenders they are all you need. 2. The Ex-Pats are totally willing to talk and help and share their background in what works what doesn't and what are the hidden traps. Mike and Danielle at Average Joe's bar are great and from what I can tell have the best wings on the island. Jeff and Michelle at Amergris Brewing Company have also been good contacts, and I recommend the Belikin Stout on draft with the Holiday spice add-in. 3. Picking the right people to work with makes life much easier. Paul and Kelly from Exotic Caye could be the best part about making this transition. Not only are they good people, the run a resort exactly how you would want it run. The servie is unparalleled and would highly recommend a stay 4. We like ANR for all the supplies that we forgot, a well organized store 5. Even though we have been told that the rainy season is in September, it apparently carries a little longer than expected, which means riding bikes in the mud and rain, could need some ponchos to avoid the skunk tail running up my back after a ride 6. The locals are quite possible the friendliest people around. Everyone says hello and asks about whats going on. I have been in a completely foreign country for a week and it feels like I have been here several months already I think that is enough for the moment. I am hoping that the sun stays bright this morning and that we can get some pictures going here, I know that they speak more than words. I am also hoping that we get far enough into this venture in the next week to start posting some of the bigger reaching questions and answers as to why we chose to start over in Belize. I hope this is helping someone

Rainy Day Here in San Pedro

Quite a rainy day here on the island. Good thing those rain jackets my mom gave us will finally come in handy. Thanks mom! Headed out to the Fitness Club this morning to see how the progress is coming on The Snack Shack. The guys did a great job yesterday cleaning out the area and taking down old parts, getting ready for the new build. We are hoping to have it built within a week and up and running in no time. Still working on some smoothies, drinks, and paninis at home. Have to say, everything has tasted delicious. Cannot wait to share our concoctions with everyone. My favorite so far has been the pineapple smoothie and tropical paradise. We have made our rounds at all the local stores so we are ready to bring in the bread, cheese, meat, fresh fruit, and tremendous/happy SERVICE! If anyone knows Rob, they know he will talk to you about almost anything and me...well, I see myself as the drink master.....blend, blend, blend. No pictures today, as it is quite wet outside. Looking forward to sharing more in the days to come up until Christmas.

learning about wild life

Started to get the site ready for building the snack shack by moving some old wood and plasterboard..... and I got several firsts for our stay in Belize. first tarantula....check first scorpion.....check first two foot iguna....check, check, check, and check (tastes like chicken fyi) I was given some simple advice after assking how often people are bit by the tarantulas, just don't stick your hand where you can't see. Seems kind of obvious but it will be words to live by for the rest of my life. other than that, place looks great. Met the water aerobics people and I am really hoping for some repeat business there. Sounds like a little snack and some cold beer after a morning workout is exactly what they are hoping for. I had did all this solo this morning so no pictures, I will have to get Krista on the video journal process asap

Good morning from San Pedro, Belize. It is a nice and sunny day and we are ready for our daily adventure to begin. We are working on our drinks for The Snack Shack and have been testing them out at home for the past few days. I am sure everyone is going to love them! Fresh fruit, blended smoothly, and healthy....adding a few tasty rum drinks in there also. Today we are dealing with some logistics for the business and also taking care of a few very important "personal items", such as buying bikes! We have two set aside for us at the local hardware store and, I have to say, I am very excited to be getting a pink bike. If I only had the bell I had for the past 6 months, I would be set, but that got left behind in Ohio. Construction on The Snack Shack should be starting up either today or tomorrow and we are hoping it will take no time for us to have our new "home". Going to hit the marketing hard this week and looking forward to everyone on the island knowing The Snack Shack is a great place to come and hang out. Hope everyone enjoys their Monday!

Starting Over in Paradise

After several years of planning we are taking the biggest adventure of our lives and have decided to move to Belize and start over.  This blog will cronicle the process that we went through in making the decsion, the process that we went through in making the move, the hurdles and successes in starting the business, and then on going posts of how the business is going (there could be some gloating about living on the beach in there). 

I see this as being funny, and moving, and a fantastic read.  You should know upfront that I will say anything and everything and will answer any and all questions but my background is in engineering so I make no guarantees as to spelling grammar or readability.

So as we start that is me, the fat man, measuring the area that we be building the snack shack in.... looks rough now but add some people drinking pina coladas and I think it will look amazing.

This is the kickoff and all the time we had today.  Have to get the shack design and the menu done but I am sure we will be posting again soon