Just Swingin'

Here is the little bug, Ethan, in the little red car swing...just lovin' up life.

Gnawing on Rubber

Could it be?  

Could this be the start to a potential love of tractors?  

This Oliver is Ethan's first.....or it could be that he's teething.

That's it!  He saw the tires and had to gnaw on them.

Come on, teeth!

Run on the River

Austin's first time on a tube!  He loved it - wasn't scared at all.  I'm so proud!

Today we met up with my brother, his girlfriend Whitney, and my brother's coworker/friend Ben.  We met up at Bukholt Park and went for a ride on his boat....Kyle, Ben, and Whitney wake boarded (something I'm itching to do!), Michael skied, and Ethan and I just hung out in the boat.  A combination of relatively recent childbirth and Mommy Nature's wrath this month took away all hopes of me getting into a swimsuit today.  Hopefully the next time we're out on the water the timing will be better and I'll be ready to gear up and either slalom ski or try wake boarding.  

My punk-ass little brother and his rockstar moves on the board!

Hangin' with Ethan....the poor vest was practically choking him...need to reinVEST in a new one.  Sorry, couldn't resist that....!

Austin holding tight to Daddy's thumb.  He decided he needed to hang on to something, and since there were no handles, Daddy's thumb would do just the trick!

Finshed Costa Rica update: Saturday to Tuesday

On the way to Manuel Antonio...I think this is Quepas.

Manuel Antonio Beach.....a little slice of heaven on earth.

So-o....

Saturday we woke up to travel to the seaside resort in Puntarenas.  It was a Double Tree Hilton...all-inclusive..which was nice, so whenever we got hungry or thirsty we could just pop on over to a food bar or a drink bar and ask for it.  I, however, did not like the idea of a 'resort' for an educational trip....on a beach that was, well, how do I put it mildly??  Shitty.  Really.  It was down right horrible.  The riptide was strong, so the kids were told to wade only.  The sand was black, which I didn't mind, but it was kind of dirty. Not in the sense of garbage, but just ocean debris that had washed up and no one bothered to go out with a 4-wheeler and rake it away.  So, I was glad that we were only really there for the remainder of the afternoon, and in the morning my group of 8 and another group of 3 were off to Manuel Antonio National Park.  The other 3 groups decided to stay behind and enjoy the resort...what were they thinking?  Why on earth would they fall back on that decision when one of the most beautiful beaches in the world awaits them?  Stupidity.  The beach was simply g.o.r.g.e.o.u.s.....blue sky, blue clear water...shells, coral, rocks.....lizards, crabs, a 'perezosa' a.k.a female sloth that was climbing up the branch of a humongous palm tree to find the branch bending ever so slightly so she could grab ahold of a branch of the neighboring tree....and we watched it all...with another tour guide doing a play-by-play.  Totally cool. We all got fried at the beach, collected shells, tried our hardest not to swallow the salt water, took pictures of lizards and crabs and the bay were in....wow.  I want to take another honeymoon!  Lots of my girls said that..."When I get married this is where I'm coming for our honeymoon."  Fabulous idea.  

"La perezosa"  - Female Sloth

A working ox cart....our bus driver hopped in for a short ride.

El Establo....hotel in Monteverde.  The view from my window.

On Monday, our last day in Costa Rica, we had a jam-packed itinerary for the day.  

First stop:  Elementary School visit.  We visited a school that put on little performances for us. Singing, dancing, and more singing.  Then they walked around with their notebooks and pens and had us sign our names....my hand was suffering from writer's cramp by the end of the visit. They prepared ice cream with jello and fruit...in the same bowl.  It was good. 

All the children...they were so excited to see us!

Second stop:  Ox Cart Crafts.  In Costa Rica part of their history is using ox carts, that can be decorated.  Decorated means painted ornately by hand. We got to practice by painting a wheel...the size of a CD.  I won a prize since mine looked so good.  He asked if I painted.  I laughed.

A painted ox cart.

Third stop:  El Torito at Tiquicia.  The kids got in lines and learned the steps for a dance, El Torito.  It was quite amusing to watch, considering the number of students to the one teacher who was going so fast...but they managed, and after they did their little stint to music without the teacher, it was time to watch the pros perform.  

Just when the kids thought the party was getting started with live music on the outside dance floor, us old, tired, cranky, no-fun-allowed-this-late decided it was best we head back to the hotel.  It was about a 40 minute drive (not so much because of distance, but in Costa Rica it's more about the winding, hilly roads), and we needed to leave the hotel at 4:00 AM for our 6:30 departing flight to Houston.

Luggage on the bus, we left in the wee hours to the airport.  Once there, we had to do a passport check with an official before checking our baggage.  My turn at the check in, my assumption came true.  "Mam, this suitcase is 7 lbs overweight.  Either you'll have to remove some items from it, or pay the $50 penalty."  Crap.  I knew I over packed.  A hairdryer and flat iron I never used since I let my hair be all curly and unruly the whole trip, and a pair of jeans I never unfolded as well as 2 tops and 2 pairs of shorts.  Crap.  I looked to my left and there she was....my victim. Actually, she is one of my students, and I saw that her suitcase weighed considerably less than the limit.  "Hey, can I put a few things in her suitcase? We're traveling together."  "Absolutely!" "Jen, do you have room? Can I unload a few things in your suitcase?"  "Sure, I'll bring it over."   Four items later we were set to go.  Then we turned around and didn't understand the excited look on people's faces and the camera crew resting on the benches 30 feet away.  A few of my group members saw it.  A couple, with red and backpacks, donning baseball caps, signing in on a sheet posted to the wall labeled: "Amazing Race", then dashing off while a woman came and snatched the sheet down, waiting for the next couple.  The Amazing Race.  Love that show!  And, they were in San Jose, Costa Rica the same day as us.  I wonder what little adventure the show is making them go on???????

Costa Rica update.....Wed to Friday

Arenal Volcano

Iguana on the boat tour on Arenal Lake

Hibiscus outside my room near Arenal Volcano

Lunch at the Doka Coffee Plantation

Wednesday:
Waking up at 5:45 for a 6:30 breakfast was rather difficult today. Tough. Especially after the day of travel and a mere 1.5 hours of sleep on the flights. But, with a few good hours of sleep under my belt, I was ready for adventure today. Our first stop was Poas Volcano. We were the first group there at 8:30. We trekked up the walkway and as the vegetation cleared, I saw that it was cloudy. We hung onto the railing, peered into the crater, and saw…..clouds. We waited 5-10 minutes in hopes the clouds would blow over. You see, the volcano gets winds from the Caribbean, and in a matter of minutes it can go from clear to cloudy to rainy to clear. We hoped for the best……in the meantime we ventured over on another trail to see Bota Lake, an extinct part of the volcano. After that visit we ventured back over to the main part and in was a little clearer, so we did get to see something.

Next we were off to the Doka coffee plantation. Coffee is a major part of Costa Rica’s economy, so it was interesting to find out that Starbuck’s buys 50% of the coffee beans from the Doka coffee plantation. Here in Costa Rica they cannot process the coffee to the decaffeinated state, so they send the beans to Germany for the decaffeination process and get the beans sent back. We got our coffee fix with samples….yum!

Time to relax and soak away: we were off to our hotel for a quick check-in and swimsuit change…off to the Baldi Hot Springs! There were like 13 hot spring fed pools…..we lost count. My apologies. The springs were constructed on the side of a mountain…so the higher the spring, the hotter the water. There were water slides (I counted those, there were 3) that the kids got to go down…and they convinced me to go down one. The middle one. The fastest one. The one that had a sign hanging by it that said ‘this slide is constructed to make you go 40+kph’. The one that it was pitch black inside. The one that at the last moment, just when you had your eyes closed because you still had your contacts in you wondered ‘when in the hell am I going to hit the pool water and get out of this blasted tube?’. The one that when you rounded said corner, you caught air. Literally. My body flew up so high, that I almost lost bodily functions. Then you round another corner and it spits you out like yesterday’s garbage. The landing in the pool is like getting a good enema. Just kidding. Not really kidding. It was fun though!

Dinner was next…at the hot springs. What a fabulous dinner! Ham, beef, pineapple, mango, plantains, strawberries and a chocolate fondue pot….and coconut flan to die for.
We all got back to the hotel, and went to our rooms. I turned on the TV and made the mistake of getting started on watching Monster-in-Law. Good movie.

After a good night’s sleep, it was time for Thursday to begin….
My group in 2005 took a 25 minute boatride to a ranch, then a 3 hour horseback ride. This year that wasn’t possible, although a covered boatride across the whole lake was ….. 2 hours. We did it – saw monkeys, tons of birds, an iguana….it was a break from the bus and it was worth it! It rained the last 10 minutes, but stopped before we hit land.

Back on the bus….a quick restroom stop and we were off another 1.5 hour drive to Monteverde. We stopped at a restaurant to eat then checked in our hotel. We stayed at this same hotel in 2005, but this time we’re staying in a new part of the hotel, much, much further up the mountain and it’s absolutely gorgeous!!! LOVE the room, the views…..wow. (On a side note, I most definitely want a king size bed now at home.)

Cloud forest. Sounds kind of interesting, doesn’t it? I’ll clue you in: it’s not a forest made of clouds, if you were going there. It’s a forest, where the elevation is so high the clouds can come right in and make it feel like you’re smack in the middle of them. There are many here: we went and had a walk through one of them this morning. We saw lots of caterpillars, centipedes, monkeys, birds…..and a plant called ‘labios de mujer’, translated to woman’s lips, or hot lips. They look like lips, literally. Pucker up, baby!

Then it started to rain. Now, being that this is the rainy season in Costa Rica, we are prepared for it with our lovely ponchos and rain coats. But, we had a reservation for a canopy zip line tour….what is that exactly? I will explain. We wear helmets and gloves with a thick leather pad on the palm, and we’re in harnesses. There is a safety rope with a carabeaner, and another rope that is hooked on to a pully that rides on the cable. We stand on a platform and one guide hooks us up to the cable. We ‘sit’, ankles crossed, and put our dominant hand behind the pulley on the cable, and our weak hand on the ropes. Then we’re off…zipping atop the canopy of the forest. At the other end of the cable is another guide waiting for us, signaling for us to break by pulling down on the cable, or by coming faster by letting go. What a thrill!

Que lastima!

Too bad!

At this particular hotel, El Establo in Monteverde (as lovely and wonderful as it is) we do not have free Wi Fi in the rooms, nor in the reception area. We did have the chance to ´buy time´online for $3/half hour on some sweet computers in the reception area. I´m down here with 4 of my girls ...they are all on on Facebook....so in anticipation of coming down here tonight, on the mini 7"laptop I´m borrowing from my friend Dawn, I uploaded some pictures and a blog write up in Microsoft Word and stuck them on a jump drive...however this computer will not recognize the drive. Idiotic.

Anyway....

I´m doing well...having a great time. We´ve done so much and there´s much more to do yet. We´ll be at the Hilton Doubletree Resort in Puntarenas on Sat and Sun nights, so hopefully we´ll be able to get online with the little laptop so I can upload my original blog post and the pictures I was hoping to post.

Missing my boys .... all three of them....I look forward to having the rest of the summer to love them up!

Tomorrow is the cloud forest walk, and the canopy zip line tour.

Then it´s off to the beach!

PURA VIDA

Llegue en San Jose Costa Rica!

I've arrived! It was a little hectic.......we left the school parking lot at 12:30am, Yes, you read correct - AM. Meaning, no sleep! We drove to the twin cities, left our vehicles at Park N Fly and they took us to the airport. We decided since it was 3:50, and the check in opened at 4:00, we'd stand in line since we had been sitting in a car for 3.5 horus. Good thing we did. Within 30 seconds of getting in line, a whole drove of people followed suit....check in was a breeze, we got on our plane and waited. And waited. We were waiting for an hour total....according to the pilot the airconditioner was on the fritz, and they were low on fuel so they decided to fuel up. Duh!! Then we were off. I was really worried, since our connecting flight from Houston to San Jose left 45 minutes after were due to arrive in Houston.....IF WE ARRIVED ON TIME! We were an hour late in departing...........but with some asking, they had people in red coats waiting for us as we got off the plane, and they whisked us to our flight, and we boarded. We waited again.....have to take turns on the runway! :)

But alas, we are here. The skys are overcast, but it's over 80 degrees and the exotic birds are chirping out my balcony window. I'll try and get some photos uploaded tonight...or tomorrow....or soon. We'll see what I can do!

Missing the boys and my hubby already!!!

Ethan, After the Storm

Awhile back, on April 24, we had weird weather.  By weird, I mean strange lighting in the sky - the clouds and sky were all wickedly strange looking, the wind was goofy, the air was eerie.....and then it started to pour.  Then it hailed.  I was glad both cars were in the garage.  Whew!  

When Mother Nature was done making her anger known, she turned on some gorgeous lights in her sky.  I just had to snap a picture of Ethan in the lighting....thanks girlfriend!

Busy.....and My Nerves

So-o...

Has it been apparent that it has been quite some time I've been updating the blog?  Is it that obvious?

Well....ahem....I'm here.  Really.

All is well.  It's just been ..... kinda....oh, what's the word I'm looking for?  Hectic?  Busy?  Eenie, meenie, miney, mo....choose one.  It'll work.  

Wrapping the end of the school year up, helping with graduation and all the details that help the ceremony go smoothly...holding meetings for my students who I'm taking to Costa Rica on Tuesday....spending time with the boys who are growing faster than I ever could have imagined......  

Yes, you heard me, Costa Rica!  

I don't know how to express how I feel about this trip.  

On one hand I'm super excited to to, am looking forward to a little 'me' time, can't wait to go again seeing I just fell head-over-heels in LOVE with the country when I was there last. When was I there?  In 2005.  I didn't know it at the time, but I was carrying around a little boy in my belly....yes, Austin! He got a belly-button view of the precious land in Central America.  Gosh, looking back on what we did - if I knew I was pregnant, I probably wouldn't have done most of what we did on the trip.  Zip line canopy tour, swimming in the ocean, taking a dip in the hot springs, peering into the crater of a sulphur-oozing volcano, taking a 4 hour mountain trek on horseback....yes, I did it all and I'm doing it again, baby!  

But, on the other hand, I'm nervous.  I'm scared I'll make myself sick over not seeing my babies....I've only been sans-Austin for 2 nights in a row 3 times, and have not been away overnight from Ethan.  I'm afraid I'll have too much fun without my man and babies.  I'll dread it if the trip goes soooo sloooowwww.....

I hope it's quick, fun, and safe.  I want to come home.  I have to!