Pura Vida

We got invited to go fishing with the Young Men today. Kevin's been looking for an opportunity to go fishing with the Ticos so he can see how they do it with their line and hook and nothing else. We met at the church building and then piled all 10 young men between our car with all our kids and Hidalgo's five seater. We drove about 10 or 20 minutes to a friend of the Hidalgo's farm and found that we couldn't get past a locked gate. Efrain said it was only a kilometer or so, so we all unloaded and started walking...  and walking...  saw this cute little anteater looking animal in a tree...  some of the boys found an ox skull...  and walked some more...  passed Kevin's new favorite tree, the Matapalo tree  and another cool tree...  and some horses...  another cool tree.... (Kevin likes trees)  and walked some more...  Sadie and Tessa lasted as long as they could. At this point I realized that the water shoes I

We started the kids at a new school about 2 weeks ago and they seem to really like it. We decided on the private school that's right next door to us. I went and toured both schools and there just wasn't much comparison between the 2 options. The school by the beach we love just didn't have the staff or the facilities to really be a viable option. And we weren't sure we wanted to move again, especially to such a remote location. The roads to that area are mostly gravel, and it takes a good 20 minutes to get to any paved roads. There aren't any grocery stores nearby or other amenities, except for a few small restaurants. Plus, they've been making some really good improvements to our condo complex, like adding lounge chairs by the pool and a playground in the common area. So, we went with the convenient, more established option. We also just found out that all the Costa Rica public schools have been closed for the last two weeks and are staying closed indefinitel

What I like best about Costa Rica: the rain dragon fruit What I like least about Costa Rica: dry season what i like to see dead: scorpions favorite part of school: P.E. least favorite part of school: being sweaty favorite beach/playa: Prieta least favorite beach/el menos favorita playa: Grande and Junquillal (because I hurt my finger there). I MISS THE U.S.A MUCHAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i miss the u.s.a because i grew up there you know so that's were i have all my friends and memories and all the things and people i love.

We ran out of peanut butter a couple of weekends ago and I was complaining, so Kevin said, "want to go to San Jose?" And of course I was like, "yeah!" because I thought he was joking. An hour later we were in our car, heading on the 4 hour trip to Costco and a night at the Marriott with Kevin's reward points.  The kids loved having carpet again. Before we left, Kevin was headed out the door and looked back and Autumn was just standing still in the middle of the room. Kevin asked her what she was doing and she said she was enjoying the feel of carpet under her feet for one final minute. We made it home with peanut butter and an A/C unit for our main level...and a few other things. The A/C unit is definitely my favorite. I cannot survive here like all the Ticos without air conditioning. The kids felt like they were in a mini U.S. in the middle of Costa Rica. All the American stores we're used to--Costco, Walmart, Payless. All the restaurants: Appl