Playa Pelada

Surfer Girlies

2012-01-25T13:19:00.002-06:00

Last week the girls had their VERY FIRST surf lesson/surf club session (sponsored by their school: Del Mar Academy). Both girls had body boarded just a little bit and body surfed as well, a little prior to this. We swim a lot and they are good swimmers. But the previous two years we just didn't think they were ready for surfing and waves. This year they both wanted to do the club very badly, and Rick agreed to help as each kid needs a parent to be there. They were ready!

Last week was low tide at the beach and the girls learned how to "pop up", where their "sweet spot" was, and how to stand. This week they learned about rotating and using the feet placement to facilitate turning. Due to the high tide this week, I think the lesson may need to be repeated...

This week was high tide. Suffice to say last week at low tide Celeste must have ridden about 8-10 waves (standing up) in an hour, and Francini definitely got into the double digits... But this week at high tide Celeste gave up after 15 minutes of being pounded.

Francini kept at it though! This week and last (including Celeste last week) she did NOT want to come in. She just kept going and going and still must have caught about a dozen waves.

However, I do wish that I took photos last week as there were so many more opportunities to see both girls up, even a video would have been easy to get. As you can see below, the photos are so-so...and because the waves were almost breaking on shore, it was hard to get the camera ready in time to capture them catching anything.

Trust me though: Surf Club is super fun and both girls are quite into it. Francini, in particular, is a natural and has said she now wants to be both a teacher and surfer girl when she grows up.

Rick and I have been really enjoying the Surf Club too: it's fun to see all the kids take to surfing and see how quickly they learn. It's an exciting environment- everyone's cheering (adults and kids alike) the surfers on and it's a real rush when kids catch waves and improve their skills.

The 45 Places to Go in 2012-NYT We're #41!

2012-01-07T15:19:00.003-06:00

Taken Xmas day at the Boca Nosara (Nosara River mouth): 2011

The 45 Places to Go in 2012

NYT article today in the travel section: full article available on this link

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/travel/45-places-to-go-in-2012.html?pagewanted=all

41. Nosara, Costa Rica
Surfing geeks have descended on a remote little town.

With sandy beaches, warm, jade-green waters and rolling waves that rarely get too big, the remote jungle community of Nosara on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica has become the ideal spot to learn to surf. The crescent-shaped Guiones beach is a good jumping-off point to go hiking or visit the nearby turtle refuge, and there are small, charming hotels and local bars with live music. But in a place that sees sunny, rainless weather from December to May, surfing’s the thing.

Surf schools have popped up all over town, including Surf Simply, which focuses on a technical, sports-coach philosophy and has a new guided trip option along the coast for its 2012 surf programs, and Safari Surf School , an official Billabong-certified surf camp. Nosara Surf Cam offers a real-time Web feed of the waves. Take a look and get your stoke on. BONNIE TSUI

Might we add: contact www.nosaratravel.com for all your travel needs while visiting us down here!

Christmas with Padrinos

2012-01-02T17:23:00.004-06:00

Photos above: Girlies modeling some holiday presents including their very own cooking aprons; some river scenes from late Christmas day; Padrinos/Godparents/Cousins visiting over the holidays- super nice and they even found a driftwood Xmas Tree on Playa Pelada!

It was a very hectic time for our business but we are very grateful nonetheless for having had family and friends visit during December. Their visits were enjoyable and also gave us much needed balance.

We love having visitors... just so you know....

!Feliz Ano!
Happy New Year and may 2012 bring us all health and prosperity.

'Tis the Season!

2011-12-18T07:19:00.005-06:00

The girls participated in the winter holiday show at their school: Del Mar Academy. The theme this year was giving the gift of values. Francini was "originality" and wore her "peace" shirt and some fun props while Celeste embodied "respect".

The show was really touching, especially when the upper elementary children described which values they were giving to the world this year, and why. Rick and I got really teared up. We so appreciate their school and cannot say enough good things about the faculty, staff, students and families there- what a privilege it is to be able to send the girls to this wonderful place where they learn to be smart guardians of our future!

We are also, when we have time (it's a busy time of year for our business- more so this year than in the last few years- yay!), have been thoroughly enjoying visitors to the area from San Diego, CA. The Scuba family is here 3 months (only 6 weeks left though!) and two other San Diegans just joined us this week visiting at our home.

Lots o' fun and plenty of reasons to be grateful this holiday season.

`Peace and Prosperity in 2012`

Sushi Sunday

2011-12-01T06:57:00.002-06:00

Yum! Had some yummy Japanese food we made this past Sunday with our new wonderful friends, the Scuba family. In town from San Diego visiting for 3 months- how lucky are we? We have known the Scubas actually for years with many many friends in common. But we never knew each other well and are now making up for lost time. We are planning weekly get-togethers so far, and moving through some yummy cuisines. I'll get a photo of everyone at some point. Here are the sushi-eating kids. Rolling your own maki rolls was a hit. That and the tempura- anything fried, right?

Costa Rica VS Spain en Futbol/Soccer: Nosara Travel Gets Their Game On!

2011-11-19T13:43:00.005-06:00

We'd been discussing getting our office staff at www.nosaratravel.com /Nosara Travel and Rentals to a soccer match at the new stadium in San Jose for the last year or two. Always too busy....

Well finally we just squeezed it in! Costa Rica was playing Spain on November 15th (a formidable opponent) and Rick, our top guys Gerardo and Roberto, and our accountant, Luis and his son- all went to see the match.

Apparently it was a super tight game and CR almost won! CR is not really in the same league as Spain (consistently) so this was a very exciting game to go to. Our employees really appreciated the experience and Rick said it was a blast. We are now going to make it a yearly tradition.

Below: an employee appreciation dinner we had recently, thanking our office staff for making our US trip possible by taking care of the Biz for us while we were gone. Thank you!

Halloween in the Tropics- Boo!

2011-10-31T09:12:00.007-06:00

My inspiration (above) vs. my creation (below)

Dorothy and her cowardly lion!
Notice Francini's "fire" for her fire-breathing breath...be scared, be very very scared.

My favorite photo. All night I showed her off going "Francini, show them what you are" and she would happily make her scary face. The girls decided last Spring their halloween costumes and I worked on putting together what would work, given our tropical climate down here.
Hint: face painting in the tropical October humidity has its challenges!

Dry run: Oct. 28th but not in their "real" costumes.
Francini was a soccer player (I put lightning on her cheeks) and Celeste was a diva.

Just practicing.
One face painting novice + kids' non professional face painting kit + tropical humidity
= messy faces and happy kids.

Celeste liked her butterfly.
All I can say is that I am FAR from professional status but we did have some fun!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Nocturnal Visitors: Spotted Skunks Gone Wild!

2011-10-21T13:04:00.002-06:00

They've been visiting us nightly (or should I say visiting our food) and coming in through our cat door. The cats do nothing about this except for the occasional hiss. They are so small, that they can easily get under our fridge. Last night they kept us awake, a couple, perhaps on a date, under the fridge, arguing. I don't know if this is courtship behavior or truly an argument. They do a lot of hissing themselves, when communicating. Skunks are in the weasel family and that's about all I know about them besides to stay clear of them when they turn around. These guys could seem to care less about people. The other day when the male came over early in the morning, the girls and I were able to follow him as he made rounds through the house, looking to see if he could score some cat food. He seemed completely unconcerned about us. The spotted skunks are very small, maybe the size of a squirrel.

Anyway- on what might be their favorite date destination at La Casa de Tres Verdes, back to the argument.

The female was under the fridge and the male kept coming out from under and hissing at her from both next to the fridge and also when he went back under. Eventually, Rick had to pull the fridge out and coax them out with a broom. The male left fast but the female needed more coaxing.

We imagine it went like this (replace hissing sounds with words):

Male: "Come on, let's go, get moving!"
Female: "I'm not comfortable moving this fast, you're pressuring me."
Male: "I'm talking about the oatmeal cookies up there, we barely got going on those and you're wussing out now."
Female: "Oh, well I like the cat food better."

Home is Underrated!

2011-09-29T17:43:00.004-06:00

New Firsts for the Chiquitas:

Visiting the cockpit of an airplane (thank you pilots!)
Making an announcement to Mom on an airplane (Celeste)
Blueberry picking
Saving their allowances and spending their allowances in dollars and getting the math!
And also getting the angst of budgeting
Making their own apple pie
Gardening
Rollerskating
Amusement park with roller coasters, a real carousel, basically the works- and riding the works!
Spumoni
Bowling
Peach pie, strawberry rhubarb pie and all the other pies we ate
Cotton candy
NYC
NYC Subways!
Earning money for actual labor
Visiting an art museum
Learning magic tricks (Celeste)
Petting an Alpaca
Watching a road race
Enjoying fires in the fireplace
First hurricane (Irene)

And now we are back home.
Home is underrated.
We are enjoying home again too!

Massachusettes, the last of the US Trip 2011

2011-09-29T17:31:00.006-06:00

An homage to the Lark:
our wonderful girl who takes us where we need to go when we visit the US!
And a big thanks to my father for storing her for us in MA

There's cranberries in them there bogs!

Yup, it's for sure, we're not in Costa Rica anymore.
Not pictured: first blueberry picking for the Chiquitas with Gramma Annelise. Wish I had photos of Francini, as she reported to me she just ate and ate and ate. Surprised she's not still purple!

Rollerskating Girlies Sipping Some Sodas: Super Fun!

Peach Festival in Acushnet, MA: yummy food, good music, great company.
The grandparents above, adored by their granddaughters.
A big hug and thanks to my father and Susan for being such generous and fun hosts and putting up with us taking over their entire house. We can't thank you enough and we love and miss you already.

We are going home soon and going to miss the colder weather, leaves turning colors, Fall and.... Halloween in New England! Nobody celebrates my favorite holiday as well as New Englanders!

"We'll eat you if you don't let us buy something with our allowance in this store."

New York and the Catskills: the last NY Leg

2011-09-29T17:18:00.006-06:00

Francini is now a seasoned cotton candy eater and the only downside is when she finishes.

Not so thrilled.

Went to a little town fair in Bethel, NY one day and saw the site of Woodstock. Next time we need to go in the museum. I'm a bit of a hippy at heart.

I told Celeste she wore the right shirt for the day!

Apple pies with local apples, yum!
We ate a lot of pie by the way, on our trip:
Apple, apple caramel, peach, strawberry rhubarb, blueberry, chocolate...
Francini has her list for next visit: lemon meringue, key lime and more apple is on the menu!

Whirlwind trip because it went by so fast!

We owe a huge huge thank you to the cousins/Padrinos/godparents above for hosting us for so long and making the trip really possible truth be told. We ate an impressive amount of food, had our share of tantrums (I know, but it wasn't Rick or myself this time) and basically took over their house! The Padrinos put up with all of it and more with good cheer, generosity and a fun attitude!

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you! We love you and miss you!

US 2011 Trip: What We've Been Up To So Far

2011-08-30T15:24:00.013-06:00

We've been having a great time of course. Upstate NY in the Catskills is a fantastic, quiet, rural area for us to just enjoy walks, runs, the Delaware river, great food and wonderful family.

Our cousins in the Catskills are runners. I ran my first 5K in who knows how many years- 5 or 6 minimum. I'll be honest. I walked the hills and the next day I was still sore.

CT: a week of loads of fun! My new motto (still doing research to support my theory) is: "The family that roller skates together, stays together!" Girlies first time and we're for sure going again. I'm getting a video next. What fun! I'm wearing a glow necklace...

Another first: Bowling! Look at these girls: pros already!

The joy of a first strike.

The aunt and uncle who taught them a thing or two

Last year we went to a little kiddie amusement/miniature golf park. Well- that is just no longer going to cut it! These girls rode EVERYthing they were allowed to and Celeste's only down moment was being told "next year" for a ride she was too short for. They are speed freaks now.
Now it's more, faster, backwards, etc... for them.
The only ones needing respite after a few sketchy rides were the aunt and the uncle.
New firsts here were: roller coasters, cotton candy and the tilt-a-whirl. I wish I had a photo for the moment they tasted the cotton candy and stuffed their cheeks like hamsters.

The first ride we did was not a little kid ride. It went really fast and up and down while going around and around. Francini cackled happily the entire time.

But it made the aunt queasy...

NYC

We hit the Big Apple and did a few fun days of: Times Square, Union Square, and I'd say the subway riding was one of the highlights for the girls (pre-amusement park rides).
Below: kitschy NYC Diner

MA: So far it's been mellow in MA. Spending time with family, swimming in the Atlantic, working on house or vehicle projects (while I work or cook, Rick has been working with my father).
Below, we attended a small fundraiser and the girls got their faces painted and met a super sweet puppy.

We are over halfway done with our trip and I'll try to take more photos. I've been lazy and have missed several photo ops. Suffice to say the order of the days has been: good food, great family, gorgeous scenery and fun where we can get it!

July 21st, 2001-2011 Happy Anniversay y Buen Viaje!

2011-07-21T11:43:00.005-06:00

Well! It has been a whirlwind week and today Rick and I celebrate 10 very happy and exciting (sometimes TOO exciting) years of marriage.

We had planned to depart for the US July 15th to do our summer visit.
And then we got to San Jose 2 days prior to departure and encountered glitch after glitch after glitch after glitch (I'm shortening the glitch litany for editorial reasons) to leave the country with the girls.

The process was very much complicated by a) the adoption finalizing but not being registered yet in the central Registry; b) Costa Rica's special system in their Immigration office, for all children leaving the country who are residents or citizens to prevent child exploitation and; c) the ineptitude, laziness and incomplete and/or incorrect work within the many bureaucracies that preceded us and had given us documents with which to use to get the girls new birth certificates etc....

Seriously, if not for the many many people also bending over backwards to help us, we would be here until next year sorting everything out. No joke. Long story short- in less than a week the girls got registered in the registry, new birth certificates and new passports and we got a permanent "permiso de salir" (permission to travel with the girls with either parent so we don't have to do this again prior to future travel outside of CR again! Ever!) and we only lost 1 week of our trip.

And so: here are some snapshots of our lives in CR just prior to leaving and reminders of what we will be missing while visiting family on the east coast of the US the next 2 months.

I am acutely aware that today is our 10 year wedding anniversary and I do not have it in me to celebrate UNTIL we make it on US soil. I am trying to decompress from a week of running back and forth to different offices and departments and pleading our case and thanking people (the thank yous were the easy part- we are VERY grateful to everyone who helped us do something in 1 week that would normally have taken many months).

I think I just need about 24 or so more hours and I'll be ready to FULLY celebrate!

Not just our anniversary, but that fact that the adoption finalized last month and is now visible with CONCRETE evidence including passports, birth certificates and the ability to travel fairly freely as a family. Whew!!!!!!!!!

Celeste, Sadie (her good friend who is moving back to the US!) and Francini as special guest to their recent homemade talent show.

Me with Caitlin and Maggie- good people, good friends, and we will miss some great people we have gotten to know. But all the more to look forward to when we return to CR.

Well hello there!
Celeste and Francini and I went to our employee's property to see the 14 piglets (Chanchitos) he had. OMgoodness, super cute and funny to watch. Apparently the piglets play with his dogs. Wonder how Daisy would respond to them and vice-versa... I think we will miss the beautiful countryside of where we live and especially these months: July, August and September are beautiful here in Nosara.

Speaking of Daisy- boy did we want to take her with us. We love her SO much. Rick and I adore her beyond description. But, she is enjoying herself in Costa Rica while we travel, staying with our employees and tracking mud in their house instead of ours. We can take small comfort in that. And when we get back, it's still rainy season so we can continue to enjoy her happy muddy self again.
Daisy- we love you!

Now, on to our next big adventure!
New York City and points beyond- here where come!

Aerial Nosara: We Live in Paradise...We Do!

2011-06-07T19:42:00.011-06:00

Aerial Nosara: We Live Somewhere Special

Playa Pelada

More Playa Pelada

Our Daughters' School: Del Mar Academy
www.delmaracademy.com

Playa Guiones: Day of the Tico Surf School Surf Contest June 4, 2011

Playa Pelada Sur

Nosara Airport: National Flights Only!

Nosara Pueblo and the Catholic Church

We really do live in an idyllic setting. I can't imagine prettier beaches, although I am sure they must exist somewhere, right? Right now it's the rainy season and it is just so darn beautiful. I am very grateful for fresh rain forest air and ocean breezes on a daily basis. Yes there are bugs and loud monkeys, mud and potholes. It truly is part of the charm though. Beautiful green trees and aquamarine turquoise sea charm.

All photos courtesy of Nosara Shack- "like" them on Facebook please!

Oh- And we still get a famous visitor or two.
Why should we care?
Because given how far off the paved roads we are- you REALLY have to want to be here when you are here. You don't usually come to Nosara by accident. So when people of means and access to visit ANYwhere wonderful in the world, INTENTIONALLY get themselves to Nosara, well, we're proud.

I was delivering some $$ to Miss Sky Canopy Tour today and noticed someone had signed a waiver with a famous name. I said hey, that's the name of a famous actor. The Miss Sky employee said yes, you're right. Then I said, "how nice to visit here and be famous and it not be a big deal and you can just walk around anywhere and have fun like all the other visitors do here." And- too bad I hadn't come a little earlier, huh?

I hope my posting this is not a "big deal" and more in the vein of a thank you for thinking Nosara is a special place, like we do, and taking the time to check it out. And feel free to stop by the Nosara Travel and Rentals office ANYtime to shoot the breeze, check on your Charter flight, how the road to Malpais is, book a massage, etc... I don't mind. www.nosaratravel.com and we aim to please!

Day of the Surf Tournament on June 4th, photo courtesy of Surfing Nosara:

Local Surfers with actor and Nosara visitor: Liev Schreiber

Daisy at the Dog Show: Fundraiser for Nosara Animal Rescue

2011-06-06T19:52:00.007-06:00

Late-breaking Dog Show News:

SCROLL to BOTTOM for NEW PHOTOS not originally in this POST!

DAISY! Look at that Mug!

We had a lot of fun this weekend.
I attended my first dog show ever.
It was to raise funds for Nosara Animal Care and Rescue- one of the most worthy causes in our town (in my opinion).

a) She didn't win any of her categories: Waggiest Tail; Prettiest Bitch; Best Costume, Mirror Image (we dressed in alike colors but apparently you can look a LOT more like your dog than I did) etc...but she made a good show of it!

b) She did handle being on a leash, in a crowd with lots of other leashed dogs for 3 + hours ( we live in the country and rarely use a leash on her for more than 15 minutes!)- total accomplishment.

c) We still love her to bits: she's a winner in our family.

Rick and I told her she's really the "Prettiest Bitch" (a long-haired Chiuaha named Lulu won that one)... like she cares.

This dog matched his owner's tattoos. I think they may have won best costume...

Above two photos- we are working on winning Waggiest Tail, which alas, we did not! An extremely happy, waggy lab won. Figures.

Okay, above, is one of two puppies that were at the show. I think maybe she is 5 weeks old, max. She mostly slept. Anyway, she did not win Prettiest Bitch NOR, while looking like an adorable bumble-bee, did she win Best Costume. I was quite surprised. She had my vote on the Costume one, for sure!

Photo Credits:
All by Bobbi Johnson except top photo courtesy of Graham Swindell, Nosara Shack

This and That

2011-05-31T19:34:00.005-06:00

Some photos from the last month or so, mostly just this and that.
And I am also of course doing an update on the adoption process....

Easter baskets home-made: woven paper heart baskets. We made them together and then they looked for chocolates in our Casita. This was a big hit and the first time we did anything with the girls for Easter at home. I didn't grow up celebrating Easter so it took awhile to figure out what to do here. In Costa Rica it's mostly just a religious holiday and not commercialized at all. However, when in doubt, adding in chocolate never seems to hurt anything, right?

Well! April came and went. We went to an Easter Egg Hunt over Easter weekend that friends had generously organized. It was fun, especially so to see some kids in their Easter finery (hats and gloves, oh my!), down here in the Central American tropics.

We also (top photo) got to see our cousin, Stacey, in San Jose for a nice long weekend at the beginning of May. She is the girls' Madrina/godmother and they were beside themselves with excitement waiting on the trip. We did some errands for our business but mostly just relaxed and enjoyed some dinners out, playing cards, swimming at the hotel pool, and going to the park. San Jose has a large park that is like their "central park" and it's a great place to hang out and people watch. The girls also got taken to see "Rio" with Madrina and Madrina informed me that she cried- she said it's a good movie.

I threw in some photos of Daisy because she is such a big part of our family. Wherever we are, there Daisy is. We are continually enamored of her and of course we think she is the best, smartest and cutest dog in the world. Above, she's jumped into a client's Tuk Tuk that Rick was servicing- ready for the ride she expects.

Adoption Update:

We went to our meeting with the judge yesterday. There was a court-appointed psychologist (different from the one who did the social study that took almost 18 friggin' months) and the appt. went fine. Started at 8:30 AM sharp and was over by 10 AM. The girls were each interviewed by the psychologist with the judge individually. Then the psychologist met with all three while the judge met with me to get all the "details" for her report. Then the judge met with Rick alone and then finally the judge met with all of us after the psychologist left.

I could list out the questions she asked the girls (as I read the report when we were done as we were given our own copy) or the questions they asked us, but they were all routine questions you'd imagine would be asked when going about to finalize an adoption. What are things you do with your parents? How are the girls now compared to how they were in the beginning? Stuff like that.

In 9 days or less, the report will be submitted to the department which is in charge of birth certificates and name changes and then it'll be about 3-6 more months before the names actually change. For our purposes, when we get the document that finalizes the adoption in about 9 days, that is THE DAY we are done! However, yesterday at 10 AM, we were informed that the adoption is being finalized so you could say yesterday was also a special day on this long journey.

It was a nice, non-stressful experience all around and we went out for lunch after wards to celebrate another milestone. We had trouble explaining to our girls that there was something still to be finalized. I mean, how do you say that we've been living and functioning like a family for well over 2 years, almost 3, and that there is something left to do requiring papers, that makes it more real than it already is? Well you can't. Not only did they not understand, I think it actually bothered them that there was still a step remaining to make us a legal "family". I understand, I had been thinking the same thing for at least almost 2 years myself! Ah well, we are finally there and the girls are for sure, worth the waiting.

6.0 Costa Rica Earthquake, Friday May 13th

2011-05-15T08:27:00.001-06:00

And No Damage to buildings, nor fatalities.
Rick says CR building codes are working.
That a 6.0 should have caused some damage.
Gracias a Dios! Y Gracias CR building codes...

Rural in Costa Rica = Police Yourself

2011-05-12T07:44:00.001-06:00

Note: I often say it's like we live in the "wild wild west" and it is beautiful and idyllic but there is also a downside:

Insecurity rampant in rural communities throughout Costa Rica

Posted: Friday, April 15, 2011 - By Adam Williams
TICO TIMES

Town in Osa Peninsula lacks police.

DRAKE BAY – Leaders of two small communities in southwestern Osa Peninsula share the same growing concern: they both feel that the local police presence is vastly inadequate.

Given the chance to sit and discuss community issues with U.S. Ambassador Anne S. Andrew last week, many residents of the small towns that dot the peninsula echoed the same concerns over public security. Community members, police officers, park rangers and fishermen all said they feel unequipped to deal with the region’s growing security problems.

“It is known that Drake Bay is a ‘no man’s land,’” said Nichole Dupont, manager at La Paloma Lodge and who has lived in Drake Bay for 19 years. “There are two police officers for 1,100 people and the phone at the police station doesn’t work. Whenever something happens here, the police are usually the last to find out. They arrive long after the event has taken place.”

A small community situated on a crescent bay on the Pacific, Drake Bay lies on the northern ridge of the Osa peninsula in the Southern Zone. With such a small population in an isolated spot, Drake has always been on the tail end of government assistance. The only road in town, which dead-ends into a dark sand beach and a row of palm trees, was built six years ago. Electricity arrived 10 years ago.

Given the history of government neglect, residents of the town say they need the assistance of the current administration of President Laura Chinchilla and Public Security Minister José Maria Tijerino now more then ever. In addition to the lack of police in the community, residents also say that increased drug trafficking is taking its toll on the community. The region lies in the middle of a major drug trafficking route from South America to North America.

Osa Outreach: Anne S. Andrew, U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica, shares a laugh with a student from Drake Bay Elementary School, in the Southern Zone's Osa Peninsula. Andrew visited the region last week to meet with community leaders, environmental groups and area schools about concerns and plans for the region. Courtesy of U.S. Embassy.

Given an opportunity to share concerns over security with the U.S. government’s top official in Costa Rica, Fernando Guerrero, president of the association of tour operators in Marino Ballena National Park, Ramón Loaiza, a fisherman with the Association of Artisan and Small-Scale Fisherman (Fenopea), and local fishermen Jovino Vargas and Eliver Duran, all expressed worries about increased drug trafficking within the first minute of their responses.

When asked to give examples of the drug trade that have been observed in Drake Bay and surrounding communities, Duran was the first to speak up.

“Narco-trafficking has gotten people killed in this area,” he said as he leaned over a table, crinkling his brow. “You always sort of have an idea who is involved but you don’t really say anything about it, and there’s nothing that can be done. There is no vigilance here by the government. People in tourism have tried to help with some of the issues, and so have non-for-profit organizations and volunteers. But the government, they don’t seem interested in helping us out at all.”

Duran also said that fishermen in the area often come across packages of drugs floating in the ocean and nearby channels. Sometimes the drug traffickers’ abandoned cargo washes ashore.

Duran worries that it won’t be long before those drugs start showing up at local schools and other areas where young people hang out.

“There is only one street in Drake,” Duran said. “If drugs become more present and spread, particularly among the kids, it could become a much more serious problem.”

The biggest town in the Osa Peninsula is Puerto Jiménez. Its main street, which divides downtown, is lined with small restaurants, barbershops, quaint hotels, “pulperías” and a cramped nook with slot machines that acts as the town casino. A lone gas station sits on the corner where the main road intersects with the long, rocky road that runs along the southern tip of the peninsula.

Puerto Jiménez is the Osa’s primary port of access to the Pacific and Golfo Dulce, a highly regarded national fishing spot. In addition to sportfishing tourists, the town also often serves as a home base for tourists visiting the lush beauty of Corcovado National Park.

Ambassador Andrew also met with Puerto Jiménez residents last week. Many were concerned about better education, wildlife conservation and efforts to curb deforestation. Like Drake Bay’s residents, they were also worried about security.

“We have 47 officers that are expected to cover 760 kilometers from Rincón [in the northeast corner of the peninsula] to Carate [on the west side of the peninsula],” said Luis Carlos Alvarado, Puerto Jimenez district police chief. “We only have two cars, one jeep and one truck and are expected to cover the entire area. The truck is in bad shape and can’t make the trip to areas with difficult terrain. If we are called to attend to a situation far from Puerto Jiménez, we don’t have any possible way to get there on time.”

Alvarado said that robberies and theft in the area were on the rise, though, like the police in Drake and other rural areas of the country, they feel powerless. When asked if he has asked the Security Ministry for more resources, Alvarado laughed.

“Of course we have,” he said. “Several times. We are always told we will receive more assistance, more vehicles, and more personnel. The help never arrives.”

Resources Going Elsewhere

On March 30, President Chinchilla and Security Minister Tijerino traveled to the border town of Los Chiles in northern Costa Rica to inaugurate the nation’s first border police unit. The unit included 153 police that were distributed in groups of 40 to four locations at the national borders with Nicaragua and Panama.

According to the Security Ministry, the police trained for six weeks to prepare to their deployment along the national borders. The government invested more than $1 million in training and equipment, which included a boat for 20 people, radios, 18 4x4 vehicles, fixed line telephones and cellphones, fax machines, computers and uniforms. The border police’s assignment is to thwart drugs and arms trafficking along international borders.

“We are doing this to provide a greater dose of national dignity for the country,” Chinchilla said at the border police inauguration in March. “To do so, we have created a specialized, professional and civil police force that will serve as an example of the dignity that we are capable of providing in protecting our territory and defending the nation.”

“It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to send 40 officers to a small border town when there are only two in the entire town of Drake,” said Vargas, the Drake Bay fisherman. “It seems like it was more of strategy to create news with the whole Nicaragua situation than to actually serve a purpose. There are so many other communities in the country that could use more police.”

Same Story, Different Pueblo

Far away from Drake Bay and Puerto Jiménez is Barra del Colorado, a Caribbean coastal town tucked in Costa Rica’s northeastern-most corner in the province of Limón. The two regions are as far apart as any two places in the country. Yet the problems are strikingly similar. Barra del Colorado has three police officers, two park rangers and a handful of Coast Guard personnel whose job is to serve and protect 3,000 people spread across 92,000 hectares.

Barra del Colorado residents also say they frequently find packages of drugs floating at sea or washed ashore. Referred to locally as “blocks of cheese,” or “white fish,” drugs filter into the community and with limited resources, police are powerless to stop it from happening.

Residents say they too have asked for additional police, but they never arrive.

Last September, Rodolfo Coto, a 20-year veteran of the Costa Rican Coast, summarized the increasing problems caused by the dearth of national security resources: “It’s the same everywhere. What you see here is what you see in Limón, in Quepos, in Guanacaste, in Puntarenas, everywhere. Twenty years ago, it was only illegal fisherman. Now drugs are the main concern. We do all that we can, but really, what can we do? We have a limited number of staff, and drugs are coming in from all directions.”

Costa Rica Finds Body Of Kai Lamar, U.S. Student Missing At Sea

2011-05-09T10:58:00.004-06:00

Costa Rica Finds Body Of Kai Lamar, U.S. Student Missing At Sea

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica -- Costa Rican rescuers on Friday found the body of a third U.S. high school student who was swept out to sea while taking a beach break during a religious mission.

A coast guard patrol recovered the body of Kai Lamar in waters off Bejuco beach on the Pacific coast, said Jesus Escalona, Red Cross assistant director of operations. The bodies of the other two students, Caity Jones and James Smith, were found earlier this week.

A strong undertow pulled the three away from shore Wednesday afternoon, according to a statement from their school, Patriot Preparatory Academy in Columbus, Ohio. They were among eight juniors and seniors on a trip not sponsored by the school.

Escalona said the body was found in roughly the same area where Smith's body was recovered a day earlier. He said the body fit Lamar's description and rescuers called off the search.

The bodies were taken to a morgue where relatives or U.S. Embassy officials can claim them. The U.S. Embassy has declined to comment, citing privacy restrictions.

Wednesday, the day before they were to return to Ohio, was a free day, and students were given a choice of whether they wanted to ride horses near a waterfall or go to the beach, the brother of one of the students told an Ohio television station.

"Unfortunately, it was just a fatal mistake," Smith's brother Nick Smith told WCMH-TV in Columbus.

He said the trip was the first mission for his brother and that he had worked to raise every penny needed to pay for the trip.

"That kid was more driven to do things for God than I've seen anybody at his age ever. ... He was doing things and so committed that honestly, in 16 years, he finished everything he needed to do in this life," Smith told the station.

A message seeking comment was left by The Associated Press on Friday at a phone listing for Smith's parents.

Shari Lamar, Kai Lamar's mother, said that while her family was saddened by her son's death, they found some comfort in knowing he had taken advantage of an opportunity "to show his love for the Lord and to do what he thought he was called to do."

"He and his friends had the time of their life doing the work," she said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "It just brought them great joy. They were phenomenal kids. ... It's sad, but we just trust God."

The three students swept away, all juniors, were described as active in school and the community, well-liked and good students.

The mission was organized by Ohio-based Impulse International Mission Trips, where a spokeswoman said no one could comment Friday. The students visited an orphanage, a drug rehabilitation center and some villagers, according to a post by Lamar on a blog the group was keeping on the trip. The group also played soccer, colored and read with youngsters at a community center and did some painting at a Salvation Army church.

The K-12 school, on the city's east side, is a former private Christian school that converted this year to a charter school, meaning it is publicly funded but privately run. It has about 500 students.

Students had made the same volunteer trip to Costa Rica in the past when the school was private, said Paul Blythe, a friend of the Jones family and a school board member whose children graduated from the school. They raised funds and obtained sponsors to pay for the trip, he said.

In 2006, three Kansas students and their teacher drowned in Costa Rica while on a Spanish language immersion trip. A group of students were swimming and some were swept away by strong currents. At least two were rescued, but the teacher and one of the students died trying to save the others.

"These beaches are some of the most dangerous beaches in the world," said David Angueira, a Boston attorney who brought a wrongful death lawsuit against a tour operator over the 2006 deaths. "These beaches are unbelievably dangerous, rip currents like you wouldn't believe. And our kids just keep drowning."

Costa Rica Finds Body Of Kai Lamar, U.S. Student Missing At Sea

Copied from Huffington Post, May 7th, 2011:

At least 52 people have drowned at sea in Costa Rica this year, said Freddy Roman, another Red Cross spokesman. While that appears to mark an increase from the 2010 full-year total of 76, Roman said he did not think it was a trend, noting last year's number was far below the usual. There were 103 drownings registered in 2009 and 128 in 2008.

Emergency officials have attributed the drop last year to an overall decrease in vacationers caused by an economic downturn.

Jim Batres, assistant director for rescues and operations for the Red Cross of Costa Rica, said the Red Cross is the only agency that offers lifeguard service at Costa Rican beaches, but doesn't have a big enough budget to cover all the beaches full time.

Batres said there are only about 60 volunteer lifeguards for all the country's beaches. Some hotels hire their own lifeguards, and there are signs on many beaches warning about hazards.

My note: we have had two drownings in Playa Guiones this year. Both were Costa Rican vacationers (vs. foreign vacationers) and one of the two, also was an experienced surfer. It truly is tragic and just a reminder that a long life is not a guarantee- life is precious now and may not be around tomorrow...

You Know You've Acclimated to Life in a Central American Tropical Jungle When...(Top 35)

2011-04-19T08:15:00.017-06:00

Warning: This list is not for the Squeamish!

A TRUE Top 35 List of
"You Know You've Acclimated to Life in a
Central American Tropical Jungle When...

35. Driving over 20 mph feels like speeding in the family go-to-town car which happens to be a jacked up '83 Diesel Land Cruiser.
34. Clean means "no bugs right now" and you no longer notice the smell of mold.
33. You grab snakes with bare hands to "relocate" them outside.
32. You don't need a special CD of jungle sounds and birds chirping. You could make those CDs. In fact, you need a white noise CD to drown out the incessant chatter of said birds.
31. You brake for anteaters and monkeys.
30. You wear 50 spf daily.
29. You cut your own hair.
28. You swing on vines and know how to use a machete.
27. You no longer need to use bug spray.
26. You encourage your kids to climb trees to get coconuts to supplement the family larder and gourmet food = pizza in a restaurant.
25. You self-diagnose and treat most minor and major ailments.
24. Driving with the top down is going on the quad/ATV.
23. You startle easily in big cities.
22. You don't own clothes that aren't stained and dressing nicely is wearing a shirt.
21. You've had jungle rot.
20. You've named the wild animals that frequent your garden.
19. You no longer consult maps to navigate.
18. You have a plan for power outages and can implement it in under 2 minutes.
17. Your idea of a fun night is buying ice cream and eating it before it melts.
16. You know what to do if you are stung by a sting ray, scorpion, tarantula or jelly fish.
15. When the ants come marching in one by one and cover your walls you simply take that as an opportunity to go out to dinner.
14. You no longer expect stuff to work that you buy at the hardware store: your definition of "working" for electrical appliances is "not dead".
13. You have battles with wild animals and you sometimes win!
12. You prefer the monkey poop on your property to the monkey howls on your property.
11. You've been stung by a scorpion and aren't scared of them.
10. You know more words in Spanish for animals, minerals, plants and the weather than other categories (i.e., various kinds of dust, mud and rain).
9. Certain scenes from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" no longer make you squeamish (i.e. the monkeys, bugs and snakes scenes).
8. It's not a rainstorm unless there are power outages, upended trees and some flooding.
7. You've slept with wild animals in your bed and liked it.
6. Rain on a metal roof lulls you to sleep and roosters crowing are your morning alarm.
5. Driving 3 on a quad (including kids), a dog, and assorted groceries is normal.
4. You eat stuff that grows wild and have stopped asking what it is before doing so.
3. You've seen blue flames come out of your electrical outlets while thundering and lightning and you simply marvel at it.
2. When ants have gotten into the Nutella you don't scoop them out before eating.
1. You've cuddled with 3-toed Sloths, Congo Monkeys, and a Boa Constrictor and have the photos to prove it.

Circo Del Mar/ Circus by the Sea

2011-04-18T10:39:00.003-06:00

Del Mar Academy Talent Show 2011 Highlights from projectgfs on Vimeo.

The girls at their school's Talent Show: Circo del Mar/ Circus by the Sea.

Celeste is hoola-hooping near the beginning. Francini is watching the show in a fluffy white dress and you see her in a frame after the hoola-hooping. At the end, Celeste is back blowing a kiss to the audience.

Rick and I absolutely loved the show- what self expression, creativity and talent!

Adoption: Final Meeting with Judge May 30, 2011

2011-04-17T08:50:00.005-06:00

Nap time

Our attorney confirmed to me that yes, the result from the complete application to the judge to confirm the adoption- is that she issued a meeting and it is....drum roll....
THE FINAL INTERVIEW just to confirm it is all as stated in our application to complete the adoption, most importantly that the girls and us have bonded
(duh- I'd say so!).

May 30th, 2011 will be a day of celebration for us for sure.

10 days later or less, the judge sends the decree of adoption completion to the National Registry to get their new names and birth certificates.

3 Months or so later their new names will be inscribed in the Registry as such.

Whoo-hoo!

So now we can plan to work on their (dual)
US citizenship for our upcoming trip late summer.

Happy to be on the final leg of this particular journey.

Wish we started to do this in November of '08-
but we have now done this 3 Aprils in a row & it's sure true: kids grow fast.

Daisy Flower: a Rite of Passage for a Pup

2011-04-17T08:32:00.008-06:00

My disclaimer: It was all Rick's idea.
The girls and I were just following orders with our paintbrushes.

Daisy got spayed this week.
She has been recovering fine.
Although she has her moments of feeling quite sorry for herself.

About 2x/day we put antibiotic on the incision and then one of those cone collars on her so she doesn't lick it off. We leave the collar on for about 30-90 minutes. She gets instantly paralyzed by the cone collar and sinks to the ground, staying there for however long- who knows? As we have to remove it before she'll get up again. So we leave her like that and if she naps we just wait until she awakes to remove the offensive article with kryptonite-like powers over her.

So here is Miss Daisy, painted appropriately so, from "woe-is-me" to wilted, and I know, it seems cruel.

But she would look like this twice a day regardless of adornment.

Really.

And yes, we all like how she looks- in her white petal ensemble- yes it thrills us, but we still feel bad for her.

Wouldn't you?

We really really love our Miss Daisy.

News Related to being on the Drug Route

2011-04-14T14:33:00.003-06:00

Lifted directly off the

NEW YORK TIMES
March 23, 2011

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras — Josue Oviedo looked into his sister’s fading eyes as she fought to speak her last words.

Police officers kept watch recently outside a lab used to process cocaine near the town of San Pedro Sula in Honduras.

“She was trying to tell me something,” he said, a day after the funeral for Daisy Oviedo Mejía, 22, who died in a storm of bullets while watching her brother play soccer a few weeks ago. “But she couldn’t. I gave her mouth-to-mouth but there was too much blood.”

Ms. Oviedo, a primary school teacher who liked to dance and sing with her students, was one of four people killed that day when gunmen opened fire at a park, the second such massacre here since November. She was innocent, the authorities said, another casualty in the violence and social ills rocking Central America as criminal groups turn the region into a main artery for funneling cocaine north to the United States.

Traffickers have used Central America as a stopover point since at least the 1970s. But the aggressive crackdowns on criminal organizations in Mexico and Colombia, coupled with strides in limiting smuggling across the Caribbean, have increasingly brought the powerful syndicates here, pushing the drug scourge deeper into small Central American countries incapable of combating it.

Most of the known cocaine shipments moving north, 84 percent of them, crossed through Central America last year, according to radar tracking data from American authorities — a sharp increase from 44 percent in 2008 and only 23 percent in 2006, the year President Felipe Calderón of Mexico took office and began his assault against the drug gangs in his country.

Responding to the pressure — and opportunity — the cartels have spread out quickly. Five of Central America’s seven countries are now on the United States’ list of 20 “major illicit drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries.” Three of those, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras, were added just last year.

At the same time, management has changed. Mexican cartels have taken over from Colombians in recent years, recruiting local gangs to help bolster shipments, increasing consumption by paying with drugs and expanding extortion and kidnapping networks to round out their enterprise.

“This is David versus Goliath,” said Marlon Pascua, Honduras’s defense secretary. “And we are David fighting the giant.”

The issue took center stage when President Obama, during a visit to El Salvador on Tuesday and Wednesday, announced a plan to fight organized crime in the region by strengthening civilian institutions and providing training for local authorities, weapons and equipment.

But such promises have been made before, and many Central American leaders are frustrated by the wait. Of the $1.6 billion in law enforcement support promised under the antidrug Merida initiative announced in 2007, $258 million was assigned to Central America. Yet only $20 million of it had actually been spent by April of last year, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Meanwhile, the problem continues to metastasize. American officials say the 2009 coup in Honduras kicked open the door to cartels, and this month the authorities there made a troubling find: a major cocaine processing lab, suggesting that the region was becoming not just a way station for drugs, but also a manufacturer.

Even once peaceful corners like Costa Rica are struggling with addiction, gangs and drug-money corruption. Without immediate help, said José María Tijerino Pacheco, Costa Rica’s minister of public security, “the region is going to degenerate into another Mexico.”

Overmatched Defenses

The American military’s map of suspected drug plane and boat traffic heading from South America to Central America last year shows scores of lines running north. On the Atlantic side is a pistol-shaped arc of flights: the handle is the Venezuela-Colombia border and the barrel is pointed at Honduras’s Caribbean coast. On the Pacific side, the tracks show mostly boats — with dozens of lines heading from Colombia to an area of Costa Rica famous for fishing.

Both routes are increasingly popular: suspected drug flights to Honduras spiked to 82 last year, up from only 6 in 2006; in Costa Rica, there were 100 “maritime events,” up from just 12 five years ago.

The patterns reveal how drug traffickers exploit the region’s geographic, political and economic vulnerabilities. In Honduras, the coast northeast of San Pedro Sula offers a remote, largely uninhabited rainforest that is perfect for the single-engine planes traffickers use, then hide or burn to destroy the evidence.

One former smuggler said he had little trouble moving cocaine loads for years. He said he collected pound after pound from planes and then drove it by boat or car to the Guatemala border, without once being caught.

“We always got it through,” he said, withholding his full name for fear of reprisals.

Honduran officials hardly dispute such claims, saying the radar system they would need to closely track the planes would cost $30 million, and even then, they would need helicopters and other equipment to quickly intervene. The coup only made matters worse, because the Honduran military was diverted to containing street protests and American officials suspended anti-narcotics aid in response to the political crisis.

In Costa Rica, the Pacific Coast has proven just as porous. Speedboats with contraband ply the shipping lanes, according to fishermen in Puntarenas, the country’s main Pacific port. They say their radios have been crackling for years with cartel requests for food or offers of a few thousand dollars to carry drugs ashore.

Enlarge This Image

That is, if the traffickers do not own the boats already. Chamber of Commerce officials in Puntarenas said that people suspected of being cartel leaders have bought at least a half-dozen fishing businesses over the past few years, coercing sales either with the barrel of a gun or by offering more than the going rate at a time when fishing yields are declining.

Mauricio Boraschi, who occupies a newly created position as Costa Rica’s drug czar, said the Mexican cartels were gobbling up any legitimate business to hide their product. “They buy everything — the farms, the means of production, the transport,” Mr. Boraschi said. “It’s all to move cocaine.”

At the small Coast Guard base in Puntarenas, most of the guardsmen admit they are outmatched. “It’s extremely frustrating,” said Pastor Reyes González, the commander. “There is not much we can do.”

He pointed to his boats. The smaller ones, he said, were too slow to intercept the cartels’ speedy skiffs. Of the unit’s three larger boats, only one had a functioning engine. And that was a hand-me-down from the Americans, commissioned in 1960.

All around the country’s 801-mile coastline, the story is the same. Of Costa Rica’s 26 boats involved in security, only 14 function, said Mr. Tijerino, the minister of public security. Even the largest Coast Guard stations, he said, can cover only 5 percent of their territory — and even less at night because they lack proper equipment.

Costa Ricans used to joke about such limitations. The country abolished its military in 1948, and with a motto of “pura vida,” or pure life, it has spent decades cultivating an image of easygoing democratic stability.

But what had been a point of pride has now become a vulnerability — and a catalyst for requests for help.

In Costa Rica and in Honduras, as with other countries in the region, the largest seizures have come only with American assistance. Just a few weeks ago, after American radar picked up a plane near the Honduran coast, Drug Enforcement Administration helicopters with night vision gear helped pinpoint where the plane landed. Oscar Álvarez, the security minister, said its cocaine was seized, but only because the police and American agents happened to be training nearby. Even these victories can be fleeting. Last year, a single-engine plane that had been seized and stored at a military base in San Pedro Sula disappeared. Five armed men somehow slipped past guards, broke into the hangar and flew the plane away.

Consequences Pile Up

Central America is not just awash in smugglers. The region has become a major cocaine consumer, starting a few years ago when the cartels began paying people in kind. Local dealers quickly turned those payments into crack that sells for $1 a hit.

The consequences continue to multiply. Urban areas and coastal towns are experiencing more drug-related crime, while treatment centers are as overwhelmed and ill prepared as the police.

In San Pedro Sula, Honduras, all of the slots at the drug treatment center were full during a recent visit. The closest alternative was a six-hour drive away.

In Puntarenas, Costa Rica, the drug center offered a portrait of what happens when cartels infiltrate a town of 10,000 people, in a country smaller than West Virginia. Housed in an antique train depot, the center was full, as usual, with 32 struggling men.

“Demand for help has doubled since last year,” said Hanzel Mora Badilla, 26, the center’s manager. “Every year, it doubles.”

He pulled out a heavy ledger identifying everyone who has passed through. Only about one in 100 get clean for good, Mr. Badilla said, so the book was mostly a casualty list of the come and gone: Fernando, 24, a carpenter addicted to crack; Miguel, 52, a fisherman addicted to crack; Marvin, 22, Juan, 37, José, 30 — page after page, name after name, each a tragedy in shaky script.

“They’re zombies,” said Mr. Boraschi, Costa Rica’s drug czar. Some, he added, are also dangerous.

A month ago, the Costa Rican police found a couple that had been killed in a neighborhood of Puntarenas called Progress. They were known as the area’s main dealers, and the police said they were killed because they owed a debt to Mexican bosses.

But for those who knew them before they joined the cartel economy, they exemplified a wider, regional spiral.

Jesús E. Chávez, one of the Coast Guard officers in Puntarenas, said the dead dealer had been a school classmate. “He was a good kid,” he said. But, Mr. Chávez noted, drugs and money in Central America have become hard to resist.

“The narcos are hiring our good workers, people I know,” Mr. Chávez said, describing a raid in which he found himself facing a neighbor who lived three houses away.

Climbing Murder Rate

That is exactly what frightens the people and leaders of small countries like Costa Rica and Honduras. While Mexico continues to struggle with heinous violence, its murder rate is still relatively low, at 12 per 100,000 people. In Honduras, the already high murder rate has climbed rapidly and is much higher than Mexico’s — at 66.8 per 100,000 people, it is the worst in Central America.

Ms. Oviedo’s father, Gonzalo Oviedo, knew the statistics. He preached nonviolence in San Pedro Sula and in nearby La Lima, where his daughter lived and worked at the religious school the family runs.

Never did he imagine, he said, that his words and faith would be so tested.

“It is not easy to have hope,” he said. “What we have is desperation, anguish and fear.”

Randal C. Archibold reported from San Pedro Sula, and Damien Cave from Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

Pins and Needles: Judge to Rule in One Week

2011-03-23T16:28:00.003-06:00

Adoption Update and a little photo retrospective...

We have taken only a few photos all together of us, thought I'd include them for a nice retrospective. For our family, I'm mailing you hard copies of these and a few nice other ones of just the girls. Expect them in 1-2 weeks! Above photo: Nosara, November 2010.

November 2008, Nosara! My how we have grown!

November 2008, Puntarenas, CR, this was the day we took them home!
Francini looks a little shell shocked. It's great to see how their sweet smiles become more genuine as they blossomed. They may have had stressful beginnings- but now our girls are both well, happy and beautiful inside and out.

August 2010.

We are a bit on pins and needles here. The social worker finally turned in her report (literally 11 months after the study was conducted and that was another 9 months after it was ordered!) a couple of weeks ago to the family court in Nicoya (Juzgada de Familia). They took a week or so to review the entire file which is our petition to complete the adoption. On Monday, it was deemed ready for the judge to review. This takes up to 10 days before he or she rules on it.

That will be a week from today. We got a copy of the report today. It looks fine to me. Rick's last name is omitted and my first name misspelled, and we are not surprised at all. There is no date on the report and no mention of the dates the study was ordered, done, etc.... The results of the psych test they gave us (which rankle me as a psychologist) are mentioned in extremely vague, but luckily as well, fine terms as far as our psychosocial intellectual functioning goes.

In other words- we all seemed normal and to be adapting as such, and they recommended to proceed with the adoption. Sort of anti-climatic.

Rick is worried the judge will want the report to reference our legal names spelled correctly. Understandable. But who the heck knows. I was worried there was no home visit. But in the report, the presence or absence of the home visit is simply not mentioned at all.

Pins and needles!
We hope the judge approves the adoption as is- it's a go kind of thing.
A worst case scenario is the judge orders something else to be done as it is unlikely there would be a ruling against finalizing the adoption. All of the other items for the application to finalize the adoption were done, and done in a timely manner. This report took 1 year and 9 months or so to get done from date of order. I am a little worried about that and the name spelling, but not overly so. If you knew how things were done here, the report certainly "looks" like the real deal and after all, what's a few misspelled names for foreigners anyway? They do it all the time on our legal documents here.

So, hoping hoping for a simple YES, they are your kids, and new names are now being ordered for them! And then of course hoping they get those new names right! Hah!

Eye Candy: We Actually Live Here!

2011-03-22T17:28:00.001-06:00

It's a good life.....

Tsunami Green Alert to Stay Informed

2011-03-11T19:56:00.003-06:00

We were on green alert all day, just to stay informed.

The newest information I had was that the expectation of sea level change was maybe 31 centimeters higher than normal, between 2-6 PM today.

Surfers were of course, warned to stay off the waves then.

That is it and we all stayed dry and well.

I'm very sorry for the people affected by the earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan. What a tragedy and reminds me that daily- you never know what may happen.

Appreciate each day, I often forget to do that!

Stereophonics- I'm loving them!

2011-03-07T19:40:00.000-06:00

DAISY- @4 MONTHS !!

2011-03-01T08:19:00.003-06:00

DAISY @ 4 Months!

People have been checking out the blog and emailing me to ask what we finally named our new puppy....

Meet Miss Daisy!

(Daisy Lee, Daisy Lou, Daisy May, Crazy Daisy, Dazers, and Puppy-licious still on occasion...etc...)

She's growing very fast and a wonderful sweet girl who we all love very much. Having a puppy is challenging, I'd forgotten how much so. But it is worth all the chewed shoes, pee on the floor and sleepless nights. Plus she's already growing just too darned fast so it's also a time to treasure.

Girls' School: Del Mar Academy, Nosara, Costa Rica

2011-02-15T19:52:00.001-06:00

Del Mar Academy Nosara Costa Rica from projectgfs on Vimeo.

Girls' Field Day at School- Go Red and Yellow!

2011-02-13T20:20:00.004-06:00

Nothing like being carried in the sack race (she froze up) to make you feel happy...

Celeste informed me: "Mom, last year I was nervous. This year I am going to participate a lot!" And she did.

Vintage Costa Rica

2011-02-03T21:29:00.001-06:00

An old travel short about Costa Rica made for airing in the US. Pretty interesting and SO vintage...

Hello January!

2011-01-24T06:52:00.005-06:00

What a Gorgeous January!

The weather has been spectacular with cooler nights and mornings
and some days not so brilliantly sunny...
(Costa Rican "summer" can be a bit too sunny for me)
Beach days on the weekends have been ideal.
We've even had some rain this month!

Today	Tomorrow	Wed	Thu	Fri
Mostly Sunny	Mostly Sunny	Mostly Sunny	Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy
High: 95° Low: 64°	High: 95° Low: 62°	High: 95° Low: 65°	High: 93° Low: 65°	High: 93° Low: 65°

Beauty and the Beach

2011-01-17T17:42:00.000-06:00

Last of December: Holiday Activities

2010-12-31T07:49:00.009-06:00

We had a really nice month getting to be with family visiting us down here (ALWAYS appreciated by us) and our only complaint is they just did not stay long enough! Here is a photo with all of us. We love you!

The girls' school had a holiday play or set of skits and it was really cute. You can see Francini on the right. She got to sing with her class and Celeste was in a skit. Photo above and photos below.

This is from soccer (an extra curricular activity) and Rick just started coaching.
It's fun to watch. The little ones are starting to get it!

Some more shots from family visiting the tail end of November and early December. The girlies above, with their Madrina. Below, Vicki and Alan celebrating their 30 year anniversary in Costa Rica with us. Nice!

Scott- got to be co pilot on our small flight from La Fortuna/Arenal to San Jose.

Alan gave us a few really good business tips to start off the New Year. www.nosaratravel.com is entering 2011 with some pizazz and flair or something like that. We're still working on it all!

Feliz Navidad/Happy Holidays

2010-12-25T08:54:00.003-06:00

Weather in December this Year: Lovely!

2010-12-19T13:50:00.003-06:00

Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy
High: 88° Low: 64°	High: 89° Low: 62°	High: 90° Low: 64°	High: 89° Low: 66°	High: 89° Low: 66°

Weather Forecast for Nosara, Guanacaste, Costa Rica: Dec. 19-23, 2010

I Love it!

I've heard that there is a "cold wave" happening in many parts of the world right now (as in uncharacteristically cold).

Seriously, we've got it happening down here as well- it's just more tolerable and simply refreshing!

Please Help Name Our New Puppy!

2010-12-18T11:59:00.001-06:00

La Chiquita Nueva: We have a New Puppy!

2010-12-12T12:23:00.007-06:00

Who me?

I'm just looking at the book...
I have no ill intentions....
I could never be the cause of the cats binging on Imperial....

When life gangs up on you (in the form of a puppy especially),
sometimes cats turn to maladaptive ways (beer, hiccup) of coping.

We are calling her Chiquita right now, until we find a name that suits her personality. She is only 6 weeks old and she should
grow into a medium-large size dog.
Hard to imagine.

Rick calls her the baby orca whale
Celeste calls her Angelina
Francini calls her muscle head
The cats call her profanities I'm not allowed to print

GRrrrr! So tough!

Thanksgiving and other November Adventures

2010-12-12T12:08:00.011-06:00

Water Park with hot and cold pools from natural hot springs in Arenal, Costa Rica
Volcano (above in background) in Arenal (Volcan Arenal) has been dormant for 3 months!

Apparently this is real issue after dark!

xx

Park located at a restaurant called "Monteverde" which is on the PanAmerican Hwy in CR in Puntarenas. Lots of dinosaurs you can climb on (a relic from when Jurassic Park was filmed in CR, I believe). Anyway, we only went to the beginning because it was getting dark.

At the jacuzzi pool at our hotel in Arenal: Hotel Villas Vilma
Girls with their cousin: Vicki. Vick and Alan came to visit us from southern California. First visit to CR!

At the same time, other cousins, converged upon Arenal the same time for a visit- from the east coast in New York. !Padrinos!

Below: photos from Thanksgiving day, hosted by our friends Emma and DK. Yum!!!

No Progress- 2 year Mark

2010-11-19T07:13:00.003-06:00

This past week we have hit our two year mark of being a family together. Lots of emotional and familial progress- so many blessings and things to be grateful for during this time.

However- the social work study assigned to our case August '09 has yet to be completed! That was to be our last step before the court ruled on the case. We, finally in Jan. '10 got an appt. for April '10 to have the study done (taking MANY phone calls on our end to push and push for the darn appt). We did the study in late April, but one remaining piece, the home visit- needed to be completed. They never came.

We gave them our schedule for dates we would not be home, and 80% of the weekday daytime last year, we were home or at least available via a multitude of ways to reach us- which they were given in writing twice. No calls. The office, when asked by our attorney about getting this complete, told her that they would just write up the report without the home visit complete- that it had been "too hard" to get to us when we were home (apparently they came once or twice when we were not here- one time they KNEW we were out of town and another, we were around- all they had to do was call us- what do they do when parents work all day outside the home!). And the social worker told our attorney to expect the written report to the family court within 15 days.

That deadline would have been a week ago.

No report has been filed by the office of social work to the family court.

Our attorney is consulting right now, as to what we can do.

It's quite frustrating! Our girls do not have our last names. To travel with them out of CR we must jump through so many hoops I cannot count them- basically we do not have all the rights of legal parents but just the responsibilities! Crazy crazy crazy!

The wild wild west of adoption I call it because it is like this due to our locale- far from the capitol. I asked our attorney about accountability: "are there deadlines for completing the study- to whom is the social work office accountable to do a "good" job-to anyone-" and so on.

Ay ay ay. So celebrating the final step and completing the adoption is on hold. I cannot believe we may exit 2010 without finishing it. But it looks that way (once December hits, I would be surprised if anything happens until after the new year).

Blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.

Happy November!

2010-11-15T18:28:00.002-06:00

Stranded!

2010-11-08T07:39:00.002-06:00

We were stranded for a few days when all roads into and out of Nosara were impassable due to storms and flooding. Save for this makeshift footbridge.... Repairs are happening this week (some temporary and some permanent).

What a way to mark the end of the rainy season here! Guancaste drying winds have now arrived (wreaking havoc with local flights) and the summer\dry season has officially begun.

Halloween 2010 BOO!

2010-10-31T09:30:00.006-06:00

BOO!

My favorite holiday ever, and this year the little celebration the girls' school organized was even more fun. Trick or treating, spooky decorations, and adorable kids running around like lunatics in their costumes. And then there were the adults- next year I have to participate too.

I took only a few photos and a few of these are from other people.

Francini at her class's party- oh yeah!

Thrilled with this year's costumes
Fancini = hada\fairy
Celeste = ballerina\bailerina

And the french fries in the background, super cute!
I love the ketchup trick or treat bag

Celeste's class - first graders at her school

This is a good day.

Francini's class party

Last Post on our US Trip and all the Firsts for the Chiquitas There

2010-10-28T23:40:00.003-06:00

Well, from this list you will ascertain that not only do we no longer live in the US, but we really do live pretty far from a lot of modern "conveniences" out in the boonies. Our girls had a great time in the US experiencing a ton of firsts for them. For us, it was a joy to see the girls enthusiastically try so many new experiences and to enjoy what we have to share with them. We look forward to many many more firsts and many more visits!

Firsts! In order of Experience:

1) First international flight for Francini y Celeste
2) First flight ever for Celeste
3) First time using their passports
4) First experience with automatic toilets
(causing a range of responses from caution to terror)
5) First time in the US!
6) First time meeting grandparents!
7) First time meeting most cousins, aunts, uncles and friends.
8) First ride in an antique car
(and in car makes and models that both no longer exist)
9) First time in a power boat
10) First clam chowder and clamcakes (Francini loves them\Celeste hates them)
& first time digging for them!
11) First time eating cranberries, blueberries, nectarines & strawberry shortcake
12) First movie in a movie theatre in the US (and thus in English)
13) First time seeing fireworks
14) First time being at a large family get-together
15) First bath in a bathtub
16) First time to play miniature golf, ride go-carts, go to an amusement park
17) First visit to a museum
18) First experience with Thai food
19) First SMORES
20) First time playing croquet, bocci ball and wiffle ball
21) First time buying ice cream treats from an ice cream truck
22) First time playing a piano
23) First time going into a clothing store, trying on clothes and buying the clothes
24) First US road trip (and all the firsts that go with that!)
25) First Pez!
26) First gumball machines
27) First time in MA, CT, NY, RI, PA, WVA, VA, MD, DE
28) First time hearing Danish (courtesy of Gramma Annelise)
29) First time meeting a great-grandparent
30) First time watching a movie on an airplane with headphones

US Trip: Massachusettes

2010-10-14T08:23:00.001-06:00

We began our trip in Massachusetts, staying at my father's house for the most part. He lives in Marion, MA which is very close to Cape Cod, on Buzzard's Bay. It was late July and we started off by enjoying summer activities: swimming; beach; boating; barbecuing; cleaning out attics; fixing old cars; cooking seasonal foods the girls don't get much of; and eating lots and lots of fresh seasonal fruit. Rick and my father also spent a lot of time doing work on his house.

Girlies with some of their favorite people: Grampa Tom and Gramma Susan, and some of their favorite vehicles in MA.

Some MA family in front of two classic cars: the '60 Lark (ours) and the '49 Plymouth (my father's) with Rick, the girls and my father and Susan.

I told the girls before we went to the US that my very most favorite car in the whole world, a very beautiful and special car, lives in the US and is the car we drive on our US trips. The '60 Lark Studebaker station wagon. Sure enough, she's cherry inside and out (literally) and as we drove all over, the number of waves, thumbs' up, smiles and other fond gestures from other motorists proved my point. "Wow Mami, I didn't know this car was so special. But everyone thinks it is beautiful."- Celeste. I call it the "Lark spreading joy wherever she goes." Rick's newest acquisition, the M35 ex-military vehicle, is in the background.

The girls with grand parents Jim and Annelise. With the number of divorces and re-marriages in my family- the girls have about 9 different kinds of grammas and grampas! No complaints from them on that score.

Rick and my father, throwing down.

Rick with the girls and Jim and Annelise.

Ding-a-ling, banana phone calling.

Caitlin and the girls dancing.

Another new cousin to meet! Caitlin, granddaughter of Jim and Annelise.

'49 Plymouth at my father's house. Rick helped get it running again.

The girls call "Snickers" their uncle because he is my father and Susan's dog.

The girlies with Gramma Susan- had some special times and outings with her to see horses, make jewelery, playing the piano, helping out in the kitchen and lots of goofing around.

Rick bought on auction another M35 used ex-military vehicle for eventual export to Costa Rica. He and my father drove down to VA early on in our trip, to pick it up. It is now staying at my father's in MA until Rick has the funds to export it to CR. This will be the second one he has exported. I call it the Green Machine because it is a bio-diesel-multi-fuel truck: gas, diesel, bio diesel, used vegetable oil-
it runs on pretty much anything.

The Girlies in action.

Getting to know more cousins from MA- this was a super fun day and a big thanks to Susan for hosting it!

Chilling after the swim with Cousin Laurie, waiting for the barbecue....

Swimming in Buzzard's Bay, MA, right off the dock in front of my father's house.
!Que Rico!

US Trip: New York, Upstate, that is!

2010-10-13T15:11:00.017-06:00

If we could describe the time in NY, hosted by our cousins, Scott and Stacey- in one word it would be "leisure". They live upstate, in a small town called Cochecton that is in the Catskills.

One day, near the end of our trip, we spent time at a local, small amusement park called Carousel Park in Beach Lake. There is NO carousel there but whatever. The other activities are great! It was the girls' first experience in an amusement park. We played miniature golf, rode go-carts, motorized jeeps just for kids (see video below), bumper boats and if the weather had been warmer, there are also pools and water-slides and batting cages. Fun!

Looks like Daddy is driving at warp speed or something!
More photos of this day are further down. I'm interrupting this post for more.... leisure.

We played a lot of Bocci ball and croquet in Cochecton. Some people were more aggressive players than others... Celeste and Francini, particularly Celeste, caught on fast. Her one stroke handicap had to be scrapped after awhile or there was no chance for an adult to win at all. Can't have that now! Above- Tio Marco is a little zealous.

We visited a railroad museum in PA. Onesdale, PA.

The girls like trains. A lot. They're going "Choo-choo" right here.

Above 2 photos are of the little town of Onesdale. Which is incidently, home to the Hi-Lites magazine for kids.

Above and below, photos of Callicoon, NY, town nearby to Cochecton.
Very nice town.

Celebrating Rick's 50th for the 3rd time here. We also celebrated two others: cousins' Joan and Stacey's birthdays too. Hey, when you take a whole month to celebrate a birthday, you're gonna hit someone else's special day too.

Rick and I and the girls with Scott and Stacey.

Stacey took the girls rafting a few times on real water. Not so with Papi. Stacey also took them on many walks and they visited the nearby farm and the farm animals. Can't believe I took photos of none of these activities...

More croquet, talking strategy here. This game caused me to hurt my back! But I still like it a lot.

Back to the amusement park. This was the high-light of the day. Driving their own vehicles.

Francini, above, demonstrates how to change gears. I love it!

Bumper boats.

Bocci Ball. And that was upstate NY- we ate and played a lot!

Thanks to our wonderful hosts Scott and Stacey for making our entire family feel comfortable and welcome to just stay there for many many days. We loved it! We are coming back and we're doing more of all of it again. Cannot wait.

US Trip: Virginia & Blue Ridge Mountain Country

2010-10-13T11:16:00.011-06:00

In between visits to NY (post pending) and MA, we took a nice long road trip in our favorite car (the Lark of course) to see cousins in Virginia. My cousin Linda, who I had not seen in person since I was 12 years old, lives there with her husband and two beautiful daughters (Maya age 4 and Taylor age 6). They live in Blacksburg, VA- home to Virginia Tech University, the Hokeys (mascot), and some of the most beautiful scenery you can imagine against the backdrop of the famous Blue Ridge Mountains.

It was my first time seeing this part of the US. We drove from upstate NY down through PA, Delaware, Maryland, West VA and then all the way down VA almost to the North Carolina border.

The drive down was 10 hours and then back to MA, closer to 15, plus some stops.
I have to say, the girls are excellent travelers. Flying-wise, they are now pros. Road tripping- this was their longest road trip and they were just great. Singing songs with us, entertaining themselves, and seriously, only a maybe a few "when will we be there's" in the entire trip both ways. If that.

The reason I have so few photos of this part of our trip is my back had gone out on me and unknown to me, SITTING was the worst thing I could do for it. By the time we arrived home from VA at my father's, my back was just one constant spasm and I was in bed except for short walks for 11 or so days after.

Bleck! So unfortunately, this part of our trip was tainted by lack of being able to fully enjoy our generous hosts' hospitality and all Blacksburg has to offer.

Check out these mountains! Everything was all green in early September but I imagine in Fall that it is an amazing sight to behold as well as the leaves change color.

Did not go here. A golf course. Rick did go mountain biking with David, Linda's husband. He said the town seems full of healthy, active people and the ride was really fun.

Maya and Taylor. The girl cousins seemed to enjoy each others' company a lot. Close in age to each other and with similar interests: princesses, movies, fun toys, dressing up, and parks for fun outings. There is a great park called Caboose Park we went to and if you are ever in Blacksburg, it is pretty special - there were about 4 separate kinds of play areas and they were very nice. A huge thank you to David, Linda, Maya and Taylor for hosting our family.

One of the many Hokeys ala VA Tech.

US Trip: Connecticut

2010-10-13T09:21:00.012-06:00

We went from MA to Connecticut next, and received a huge welcome from my cousin Deb and her friends. One friend sent an icecream cake to a party Deb had, just for the girls to welcome them to the US and their family and friends here. We were all incredibly touched by this gesture.

Samuel, one of Deb's cats. Wherever we went, there were pets. And that was nice for both the girls and for Rick and I. We noticed that we still mourned Nugget's death quite a bit on our trip. It's like thinking of who you miss back home when you travel, and then you catch yourself thinking that that person or animal is no longer back home waiting for your return.

Spending time with human and non-human family was very nice for us.

One of our last days in CT: eating lunch at the famous Mystic Pizza restaurant. Food is pretty good, but we all agreed that the pizza is not THAT special. The movie is fun though. I saw it when it first came out in '91 maybe, or '90 when I was in college with college friends. Julia Roberts debut and a nice little movie. Quite hard to believe that was 20 years ago though.

Another blast from the past. This is myself with Kim: she and I were best friends in kindergarten and first grade. She moved when we were in second grade I believe and we kept in touch through 6th or 7th grade. In 2007 I re-connected with her (power of the internet is astounding) and we've been keeping in touch ever since. She and her husband Gary, have a little boy Alek they adopted as an infant from Guatemala. So we have our Central American family connections as well. The kids met in CT and had a lot of fun playing together. Our plans for our next US trip are to take a long weekend together in Cape Cod.

My cousin Joan with her dog Charley. I think Charley is trying to emulate her owner's hair style.

The girlies with Kim, Gary and Alek.

Francini on the day before we leave, in CT. Leaves are starting to fall and it's now late September. If she doesn't feel melancholy and nostalgic here, I certainly do.

My uncle David or "Uncle" as the girls call him, with our friend Eileen in CT.

The two families in a photo op. I have to stand, having thrown my back out a couple weeks prior... the only bad memory of the trip.

Hanging out at Deb's in CT the day before we leave. Deb was an amazing and generous hostess.

The girlies with "Auntie Debbie" whom they fell in love with in about 2 seconds. Deb organized some fun activities for all of us in CT. We went to a great kids' science museum, swimming at a nearby lake, played at a nearby park, and enjoyed lots of yummy food and good socializing. She also took us shopping quite a bit and the girls' first time buying clothes -ever- seriously- was with her. They're sporting some new outfits in this photo.

Girls with Alek.

Girls with some presents from Kim and her family. They got lots of fun regalos from family and friends. The myth of the US being a Shangri-La for them has only gotten more entrenched in their minds.

At the Connecticut Science Museum for Children in Hartford, CT. Fantastic museum!

A day at the museum can be exhausting and should be fortified afterward with dinner at a nice Thai restaurant. Even for the big kids...

The girls loved their welcome to the family and to the US cake.

Part of the fashion show the girls put on (Deb MC-ing) for Papi after buying some new clothes.

Rick's 50th Birthday Party at Deb's. Rick celebrated his 50th party 3 times on this trip. Before he turned 50 at my father's- with a rich chocolate layer cake. Then at Deb's house ON his birthday with an old family recipe of a coffee cake. And then once again in NY with more family and back to the rich chocolate layer cake. When you turn 50, more than one celebration and cake are in order!

It's Summer Time and Vacation is a Comin'!

2010-07-23T19:36:00.003-06:00

Beaches and pools, beaches and pools- it can't get better than that. These last two photos are of Celeste with her friend, Ella- visiting at Ella's house over the weekend. And is that cute or what- having the same bathing suit? Who would have thought that would happen down here in Costa Rica... I'm sure they were bought in entirely different places.

Last post before we're in the US! We leave in a couple of days. More from North American then- as I'm signing out of Central America for a couple of months!

US Coast Guard and Marine Presence in Costa Rica

2010-07-15T12:43:00.001-06:00

This ARTICLE is from: http://www.welovecostarica.com

USS Makin Island

46 US Warships Plus 7,000 US Marines On Route To Costa Rica?

Scott Oliver - July 2010

On the 2nd July 2010 the Costa Rica Congress authorized the entry of 46 U.S. warships capable of carrying 200 helicopters and warplanes, plus 7,000 U.S. Marines "who may circulate the country in uniform without any restrictions" , plus submarine killer ships to the Costa Rican coast for "anti-narcotics operations and humanitarian missions' between 1st July 2010 until 31st December 2010.

With this kind of nation destroying firepower, it gives real meaning to the expression "war on drugs", but if this a real six month "war on drugs" we should expect to see some fantastic results, right?

Politicians representing the Acción Ciudadana (PAC), the Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC) and the Frente Amplio (FA) political parties opposed the measure saying that the destructive force of the ships, helicopters and 7,000 US Marines is "disproportionate for the fight against drug trafficking."

On Sunday, the President of Costa Rica Laura Chinchilla said that the government does not intend to militarize the fight against drugs and the Minister of Public Security Jose Maria Tijerino stressed that this huge, powerful military force would be under the command of the US Coast Guard and not the US Navy.

Although I don't suppose the Costa Ricans, the drug traffickers or we expats will notice the difference...

A few of the thoughts that raced through my mind?

To my knowledge at the present time, Costa Rica is not suffering from any "humanitarian" crisis.
The article did not make it clear what sort of "humanitarian missions" might take place.
The article did not mention where any "humanitarian mission" might take place.
Based on the truly horrific, drug crime related slaughters we have witnessed in Mexico, wouldn't it be better conducting these kinds of heavy weapon "anti-narcotics operations" in northern Mexico?
With what is probably the world's worst environmental disaster going on right now in the Gulf of Mexico, surely it would be more appropriate to conduct "humanitarian missions" in the Gulf?
On 10th July 2010 it was also announced that: "Honduras will build a new military base in the Caribbean, in addition to another military base built with funding from the U.S.A in the same region with the pretext of fighting drug trafficking." Last April Washington invested $2 million in a base in near the border with Nicaragua and the military base is "under the supervision of the U.S. Southern Command."
Since U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) is based in Miami, Florida, could these crucial warships and the 7,000 US Marines be fleeing from something infinitely more dangerous that is about to happen in the Gulf of Mexico?
SOUTHCOM's "area of responsibility... encompasses 31 countries and 10 territories. The region represents about one-sixth of the landmass of the world assigned to regional unified commands. What exactly they are responsible for is not explained.
The article did not make it clear whether these vessels would be patrolling off the Pacific or Atlantic coast but either way, is it possible they are on their way to Venezuela? Either as a show of force or something more serious?
Does anyone know if any of these ships carry nuclear weapons?

SOUTHCOM's "area of responsibility"

Another politician Francisco Chacón defended the arrival of the US forces saying that "they would give humanitarian support, build schools and fight against drug traffickers."

If these 7,000 US Marines, 200 helicopters, warplanes and submarine killers are coming to Costa Rica to "give humanitarian support, build schools and fight against drug traffickers," perhaps we could ask them to repair the new highway to Caldera? With that kind of manpower they could have it finished in a week.

We are Now 5 and 7 Years Old

2010-07-14T19:28:00.005-06:00

We have had two birthdays in the last month: Celeste turned 7 on June 1 and Francini turned 5 on July 10. Last year, we had a small group of friends celebrate over dinner for Celeste's 6th birthday, but no kids. And, then for Francini's we did have a kid-centric small pool party.

SO this year we needed to make sure Celeste had a kid party too- she had been waiting a whole year for that promise to be fulfilled and her memory is better than an elephant's.

We had a combined party for both girls and invited the kids they know (and they do know many more children than last year) from school and our friends etc... One activity we did was "decorate your own cupcake" and that was quite successful. See above for Celeste's and Francini's cupcakes.

So- Happy Birthday to both of our little girls!
And what a nice kick-off to the summer and our soon to be happening long vacation in the US (11 more days and we are G.O.N.E. !).

Rainy Season Rainbows

2010-07-13T21:11:00.004-06:00

Lies, er, I mean myths that we tell kids...

The girls told me that when you talk, especially loudly, the rainbow disappears. Lindsey told them this (thanks for that one Lindsey!). My thought is that when you talk, the rainbow CAN disappear because how long do they last anyway? So stop talking about it and just enjoy it, as it will be gone soon enough. That's what you really meant, right, Lindsey?

Pre-Eulogy: An Ode to Aging Pupsters Everywhere, including Nugget

2010-06-23T16:11:00.002-06:00

Ode to Nugget and Aging Pupsters Everywhere

(Rick found this article and saved it for me last November. I could see my sweet aging Nugget [then 13+ years old] throughout the article. She died on Monday, June 21st, about exactly 14 years from when I first got her as a fluffy puppy. I have more to say about Nugget and her contribution to my life, but for now, please enjoy the article below!)

The last word: Why old dogs are the best dogs

They can be eccentric, slow afoot, even grouchy. But dogs live out their final days, says The Washington Post’s Gene Weingarten, with a humility and grace we all could learn from.

posted on October 17, 2008, at 4:47 AM

They can be eccentric, slow afoot, even grouchy. But dogs live out their final days, says The Washington Post’s Gene Weingarten, with a humility and grace we all could learn from.

Not long before his death, Harry and I headed out for a walk that proved eventful. He was nearly 13, old for a big dog. Walks were no longer the slap-happy Iditarods of his youth, frenzies of purposeless pulling in which we would cast madly off in all directions, fighting for command. Nor were they the exuberant archaeological expeditions of his middle years, when every other tree or hydrant or blade of grass held tantalizing secrets about his neighbors. In his old age, Harry had transformed his walk into a simple process of elimination—a dutiful, utilitarian, head-down trudge. When finished, he would shuffle home to his ratty old bed, which graced our living room because Harry could no longer ascend the stairs. On these walks, Harry seemed oblivious to his surroundings, absorbed in the arduous responsibility of placing foot before foot before foot before foot. But this time, on the edge of a small urban park, he stopped to watch something. A man was throwing a Frisbee to his dog. The dog, about Harry’s size, was tracking the flight expertly, as Harry had once done, anticipating hooks and slices by watching the pitch and roll and yaw of the disc, as Harry had done, then catching it with a joyful, punctuating leap, as Harry had once done, too.

Harry sat. For 10 minutes, he watched the fling and catch, fling and catch, his face contented, his eyes alight, his tail a-twitch. Our walk
home was almost … jaunty.

Some years ago, The Washington Post invited readers to come up with a midlife list of goals for an underachiever. The first-runner-up prize went to: “Win the admiration of my dog.”

It’s no big deal to love a dog; they make it so easy for you. They find you brilliant, even if you are a witling. You fascinate them, even if you are as dull as a butter knife. They are fond of you, even if you are a genocidal maniac. Hitler loved his dogs, and they loved him.

Puppies are incomparably cute and incomparably entertaining, and, best of all, they smell exactly like puppies. At middle age, a dog has settled into the knuckleheaded matrix of behavior we find so appealing—his unquestioning loyalty, his irrepressible willingness to please, his infectious happiness. But it is not until a dog gets old that his most important virtues ripen and coalesce. Old dogs can be cloudy-eyed and grouchy, gray of muzzle, graceless of gait, odd of habit, hard of hearing, pimply, wheezy, lazy, and lumpy. But to anyone who has ever known an old dog, these flaws are of little consequence. Old dogs are vulnerable. They show exorbitant gratitude and limitless trust. They are without artifice. They are funny in new and unexpected ways. But, above all, they seem at peace.

Kafka wrote that the meaning of life is that it ends. He meant that our lives are shaped and shaded by the existential terror of knowing that all is finite. This anxiety informs poetry, literature, the monuments we build, the wars we wage—all of it. Kafka was talking, of course, about people. Among animals, only humans are said to be self-aware enough to comprehend the passage of time and the grim truth of mortality. How, then, to explain old Harry at the edge of that park, gray and lame, just days from the end, experiencing what can only be called wistfulness and nostalgia? I have lived with eight dogs, watched six of them grow old and infirm with grace and dignity, and die with what seemed to be acceptance. I have seen old dogs grieve at the loss of their friends. I have come to believe that as they age, dogs comprehend the passage of time, and, if not the inevitability of death, certainly the relentlessness of the onset of their frailties. They understand that what’s gone is gone.

What dogs do not have is an abstract sense of fear, or a feeling of injustice or entitlement. They do not see themselves, as we do, as tragic heroes, battling ceaselessly against the merciless onslaught of time. Unlike us, old dogs lack the audacity to mythologize their lives. You’ve got to love them for that.

The product of a Kansas puppy mill, Harry was sold to us as a yellow Labrador retriever. I suppose it was technically true, but only in the sense that Tic Tacs are technically “food.” Harry’s lineage was suspect. He wasn’t the square-headed, elegant type of Labrador you can envision in the wilds of Canada hunting for ducks. He was the shape of a baked potato, with the color and luster of an interoffice envelope. You could envision him in the wilds of suburban Toledo, hunting for nuggets of dried food in a carpet.

His full name was Harry S Truman, and once he’d reached middle age, he had indeed developed the unassuming soul of a haberdasher. We sometimes called him Tru, which fit his loyalty but was in other ways a misnomer: Harry was a bit of an eccentric, a few bubbles off plumb. Though he had never experienced an electrical shock, whenever he encountered a wire on the floor—say, a power cord leading from a laptop to a wall socket—Harry would stop and refuse to proceed. To him, this barrier was as impassable as the Himalayas. He’d stand there, waiting for someone to move it. Also, he was afraid of wind.

While Harry lacked the wiliness and cunning of some dogs, I did watch one day as he figured out a basic principle of physics. He was playing with a water bottle in our backyard—it was one of those 5-gallon cylindrical plastic jugs from the top of a water cooler. At one point, it rolled down a hill, which surprised and delighted him. He retrieved it, brought it back up and tried to make it go down again. It wouldn’t. I watched him nudge it around until he discovered that for the bottle to roll, its long axis had to be perpendicular to the slope of the hill. You could see the understanding dawn on his face; it was Archimedes in his bath, Helen Keller at the water spigot.

That was probably the intellectual achievement of Harry’s life, tarnished only slightly by the fact that he spent the next two hours insipidly entranced, rolling the bottle down and hauling it back up. He did not come inside until it grew too dark for him to see.

I believe I know exactly when Harry became an old dog. He was about 9 years old. It happened at 10:15 on the evening of June 21, 2001, the day my family moved from the suburbs to the city. The move took longer than we’d anticipated. Inexcusably, Harry had been left alone in the vacated house—eerie, echoing, empty of furniture and of all belongings except Harry and his bed—for eight hours. When I arrived to pick him up, he was beyond frantic.

He met me at the door and embraced me around the waist in a way that is not immediately reconcilable with the musculature and skeleton of a dog’s front legs. I could not extricate myself from his grasp. We walked out of that house like a slow-dancing couple, and Harry did not let go until I opened the car door.

He wasn’t barking at me in reprimand, as he once might have done. He hadn’t fouled the house in spite. That night, Harry was simply scared and vulnerable, impossibly sweet and needy and grateful. He had lost something of himself, but he had gained something more touching and more valuable. He had entered old age.

In the year after our move, Harry began to age visibly, and he did it the way most dogs do. First his muzzle began to whiten, and then the white slowly crept backward to swallow his entire head. As he became more sedentary, he thickened a bit, too.

On walks, he would no longer bother to scout and circle for a place to relieve himself. He would simply do it in mid-plod, like a horse, leaving the difficult logistics of drive-by cleanup to me. Sometimes, while crossing a busy street, with cars whizzing by, he would plop down to scratch his ear. Sometimes, he would forget where he was and why he was there. To the amusement of passersby, I would have to hunker down beside him and say, “Harry, we’re on a walk, and we’re going home now. Home is this way, okay?” On these dutiful walks, Harry ignored almost everything he passed. The most notable exception was an old, barrel-chested female pit bull named Honey, whom he loved. This was surprising, both because other dogs had long ago ceased to interest Harry at all, and because even back when they did, Harry’s tastes were for the guys.

Still, when we met Honey on walks, Harry perked up. Honey was younger by five years and heartier by a mile, but she liked Harry and slowed her gait when he was around. They waddled together for blocks, eyes forward, hardly interacting but content in each other’s company. I will forever be grateful to Honey for sweetening Harry’s last days.

Some people who seem unmoved by the deaths of tens of thousands through war or natural disaster will nonetheless grieve inconsolably over the loss of the family dog. People who find this behavior distasteful are often the ones without pets. It is hard to understand, in the abstract, the degree to which a companion animal, particularly after a long life, becomes a part of you. I believe I’ve figured out what this is all about. It is not as noble as I’d like it to be, but it is not anything of which to be ashamed, either.

In our dogs, we see ourselves. Dogs exhibit almost all of our emotions; if you think a dog cannot register envy or pity or pride or melancholia, you have never lived with one for any length of time. What dogs lack is our ability to dissimulate. They wear their emotions nakedly, and so, in watching them, we see ourselves as we would be if we were stripped of posture and pretense. Their innocence is enormously appealing. When we watch a dog progress from puppyhood to old age, we are watching our own lives in microcosm. Our dogs become old, frail, crotchety, and vulnerable, just as Grandma did, just as we surely will, come the day. When we grieve for them, we grieve for ourselves.

From the book Old Dogs, text by Gene Weingarten and Michael S. Williamson, based on a longer excerpt that originally appeared in The Washington Post. ©2008 by Gene Weingarten and Michael S. Williamson. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster Inc.

Garden Delights

2010-06-07T10:42:00.003-06:00

Garden Delights: besides some beautiful tropical plants and flowers (not to mention the trees) in our yard, we particularly enjoy the edible offerings from our garden. Right now, 2 years in the making, we still do not have a formal vegetable or herb garden. But we are getting there! We've had a lot of work done recently on the yard prepping for it (as well as other landscaping and water maintenance issues more important as the rainy season is upon us).

However- we do get some good eats!

We sorta compost: since our garden is not totally ready for being formal that means we throw all kitchen scraps/compost materials into the garden without pretreatment. Above: Francini with some of our watermelon crop that grew from volunteer plants via seeds thrown randomly. What the pizotes, skunks, armadillos, raccoons, opossums, porcupines and other scavengers don't eat- actually does get "composted" in the garden.

As for already in the garden and "cultivated" (term used loosely: a little pruning is all we do) we have our arboreal producers: Coconut Palms, limes, mangos, bananas (we do nothing except pick the bunches- nature does the rest), the occasional volunteer papaya, almonds and cashews. Celeste pictured above with some almonds. We don't eat them and just let the squirrels enjoy these nuts. I think the process to get them from seed pod to mouth is labor-intensive but I still need to check.

Getting Things Done in CR: It's All an Adventure

2010-05-28T08:07:00.006-06:00

Francini at an indoor playground in San Jose.
We get: wireless and cappuchinos and they get to play!

Celeste at the playground. This was a huge hit.
It tied for first place as most fun thing we did in San Jose.
The other front runner was seeing "How to Tame Your Dragon" in 3-D.
That was their FIRST movie ever, in a cinema. What an experience!

First professional haircut ever: "BANGS!"

What fun to be treated special and be cooed over by nice Costa Rican hair stylists!

Post Dentist Visits
Showing off our Smiles

Parks! Playing in the parks in San Jose is mandatory.

Francini's eczema: we've seen doctors, dermotologist,
had blood tests and are now seeing a holistic health practitioner.
The latter seems to be working the best. So far.

Visiting friends just outside of Cartago.
We visited San Gerardo de Dota, a beautiful cloud forest reserve near their home.
But it rained the whole weekend so no photos....
But we did spend the day with my friend Helen and her family.
Late June, they are all coming to Nosara for a week to visit us too.
We look forward to a week at the beach with our friends.

So May has been a busy month for us! We have been going back and forth to San Jose doing business for our clients, completing the process to travel to the US with the girls, and dealing with personal issues that can't be so easily addressed in small town Nosara.

Haircuts, getting help for Francini's eczema, dental work, seeing a movie, eating Sushi, even buying boots for the rainy season, it's all easier to do in the big city- and oh-so-much fun. At least the leisure items.

On our most recent trip to San Jose, we've made the most headway: 5 Year Tourist Visas were granted to the girls from the US Embassy. So now we are officially, really, truly going to go to the US for the first time with our newest daughters. We can't wait and I for one, am SO relieved we finally can travel like a family.

So: First US Visas, First Movie, And First Professional Haircut were added to our list.
May has been an intense, rich, productive month.

Adoption update: we still have not had the final home visit needed to complete the social work study ordered in August '09, scheduled in Jan. '10, and begun in April '10. Supposedly they said they'd do it within 2 months. That would be in less than 3 weeks.... Then when the study is turned into the court, we hear back on the adoption finalization.

Social Life with Kids: Kid-centric

2010-05-08T08:59:00.006-06:00

A big change in our lives since getting our girls is that a lot of our social life is now kid-centric. It has to be and this is probably the same for all parents the world 'round. A kid's party, a school activity, some surfing or beach time, and dinner with friends (who of course, have kids)- this is the sum total of an active social week for us!

School Talent Show:
Celeste was a bunny in the Old McDonald had a Farm skit.

There were so many good skits and numbers in the Talent Show. The two comedians above had some great jokes. Rick and I appreciated them and truly had some good laughs.

Francini did not participate in the show per se,
but she did get her face painted like a tiger.

School Field Day: Francini was perplexed pretty much the whole time. She did participate in the contests that involved balloons. She also volunteered to do the tug-of-war but was not happy when she lost.

Celeste was on the orange team and enjoyed the balloon contests. She said she wanted to do the tug-of-war too, but was conspicuously quiet when there was a call for volunteers. Maybe next year!

Celeste is a big ham.
She loves to clown around and perform for others. Dancing, joking, all of it. She really enjoyed being a bunny in the Talent Show and I almost wish I had more thespian talent and/or guidance to pass on to her.
Because she really is a natural ham.

Pizza party with some new friends (wonderful moms whose kids go to the girls' school). The kids had a great time and played well together so the moms could enjoy some wine and socializing. It was such a good time that we need to do more of it and I'm going to get to work on that asap!

Pizzas de Celeste y Francini

3 Legged-Porcupine (Prehensile Tailed variety) Returns and Camps out in the Girls' Room

2010-05-08T08:42:00.004-06:00

Bad hygiene or a wild animal?

I woke up in the middle of the night in March and thought to myself: "Rick has REALLY bad body odor and needs a shower!" Fast forward to the morning and it ended up that although Rick indeed may have needed a shower, the odor I smelled (that was strong enough to wake me up) was actually our three-legged porcupine friend.

Two different prehensile tailed porcupines have been visiting us during the night to get to the cat food on our balcony. The big one that climbs on the roof seems to have stopped coming around early March. But the younger, 3-legged one apparently has become a regular at "Cafe de Casa de los Tres Verdes".

That morning we found him huddled under the girls' bed. Scared of us but not wanting to leave. I think one of our cats (probably Frito) scared him and instead of leaving at daybreak after his dinner of cat food, he hid in the house. Rick had to scoot him out with a broom. He is not very big so he can't be too old. However, his spines are yellow now, vs. white like a baby's would be. So maybe he is an adolescent. Anyway, we feel bad for him having 3 legs. Obviously another animal must have gotten to him and it must be a hard life now. Free food would be very appealing to an animal with a disability where we live!

About a week after the first incident, he was back, under the girls' bed again (smelling like strong b.o.) and once again, didn't want to leave.

The photos don't really show his face, because I snapped them after he was prodded to go outside and he blends in with the leaves too. Next time I'll try a video if he returns. Celeste wants to keep him! I told her that he would not make a good pet but the truth is, he can eat our cats' food anytime. We don't mind. He doesn't do any damage at all and he has our sympathies.

This is a miniature porcupine that is a pet. The one above is a few months' old and a pet of the family who owned the cabinas we rented in Monteverde.

Primos/Padrinos' Visita

2010-05-08T08:15:00.006-06:00

Our cousins and the girls godparents ("padrinos") visited us again in early April and this time stayed 8 days. So we all met up in Monteverde for a 4 day vacation together in the mountains and cloud forest reserve of a wonderful town we have come to enjoy very much.

In fact, I began scoping it out for a potential landing spot for us should we desire to move WITHIN Costa Rica... And I liked what I saw. If only the beach were closer... Now that the rainy season has begun where we live, I'm content again. But I am keeping Monteverde in mind for the further out future. Monteverde has a cloud forest climate (vs. semi-dry rain forest climate where we live) and is about 4 hours from where we live. It is 2- 2.5 hours from the Liberia airport and about 3-4 hours to San Jose via the new highway. They have schools, health clinic, banks, and are a bit more swanky than us folks down in Campo Nosara. It was a nice get-away for us. We stayed again at Cabinas La Pradera and the accommodations are great there. Family owned and run, with good amenities and beautiful setting for very reasonable cost. I wholeheartedly recommend them! Monteverde grew in the 1950's from a tiny, tiny "town" via a large Quaker settlement who moved to CR to avoid the involuntary conscription in the US during the Korean War. There's a lot more I could write about Monteverde but other websites probably would do a better job so if you have an interest in this town that has now become one of the big tourist hots pots of CR due to the huge cloud forest reserves in both Monteverde and Santa Elena- please read more. If you are interested in visiting CR as more of an "ecotourist" than this would be on your vacation agenda for sure.

The girls and Padrinos went horseback riding together. We also went on a tour via train, through the cloud forest. This was the girls' first ever train ride and all they can say is: "Choo-choo!". They are "pro-train"!

In Monteverde we also visited a Ranarium (Frog Zoo) and toured the Quaker owned Monteverde dairy factory that produces a lot of CR's cheese and dairy products. This was very interesting as it gave much history of the town, as well as how cheese is made.

The rest of the visit we spent at the beach- enjoying each others' company very much. When we have visitors, the whole household is happy, even the pets. Thank you for visiting Scott and Stacey. The next visit together we'll be in the U.S., fingers crossed.

Adoption Update and Chiquitas' Quotes

2010-04-27T11:05:00.007-06:00

Nap one hot afternoon
(not pictured- the dog on the floor too)
This is our basement spare room - coolest spot in the house

We are at one year and 5 months as a family together. And about a year off the informed time line of completing the adoption. But, we are making progress! Last week Rick and I and the girls had interviews with a social worker and psychologist team who also tested us. This is supposedly the last step (two parts though- this part at their office and a second at our home during an unannounced visit) to turn into the family court for them to approve our application to complete the adoption.

All of the interviews and tests were in Spanish. By tests, I mean the psychological ones that I'm actually trained to administer. I can even cheat on them if I want, as of course, I would know how to! Regardless of their validity, Rick and I took a couple to measure our intelligence and to see if we had any mental disorders. I could write quite a bit about my opinion of testing myself and Rick and the validity of the results (given I needed a dictionary to translate many words - one exam is almost 600 questions- I assisted Rick on his questionnaire- and I'm a psychologist, just to name a few little issues with administration and validity) but I will say that we did our best and I did not fake anything even though I could have. I let the psychologist know that if any questions were answered by me that gave her a weird result (a big spike on an abnormality scale), it may be that I misunderstood the question (sometimes one word makes the question the opposite of what you think it is, and that is easy to miss in 600 questions). I also informed her that Rick had no mental disorders (seriously) and then because of that, she let him do a 60 question version of the one I did instead. Too funny- I both viewed the situation with some chagrin and yet, because of it being my profession- kind of obsessed on it as well. It was just... strange!

Okay, that was just a little about the weirdness and my reaction to being on the other side of the desk on psychological assessments. I was impressed with both the social worker and the psychologist. They were more thorough and professional than I expected. But, this type of assessment should have been done BEFORE our application was even accepted to be potential parents, in my opinion. So I was quite surprised. What would they do if for example, they found out that I was agoraphobic, hearing voices and unstable and Rick an active alcoholic with an antisocial personality? Take away the girls after a year and half? So again, I'm judging the system a bit. However, they were also very nice and let me cry a couple of times about not being able to travel with the girls and how restrictive it feels, as a family, to not be able to visit our extended family. They said they would finish their report as fast as possible and that there is still a home visit left to complete. But that they will be done in one month, at the most two and because of a recent cancellation, there was more room in their calendar to be able to give our situation priority. They said they understood my sadness and they were now giving the report priority for completion. They also said we did great and they had no worries about the results. I told them I didn't either- that we were all doing well but just that finishing the process was the most stressful thing now, vs. how we had adjusted.

I now believe that our trouble with both entities (family court and the social work office) involved in this last step that resulted in this study taking the better part of a year to finish was not a result of anyone being malicious or lying. We now think that both entities were just being lazy. Given how much we'd asked and asked between Sept. and January- someone could have figured out before we did- that there was a hold up besides us and fixed it (the mysterious file that was not sent but no one fixed). This type of vigilance about other peoples' jobs and the flow of the process to complete something in the CR bureaucracies is what wears us down. We don't like being this vigilant and "pestering" people and second guessing their work and what is next. But I am very clear that if we did not do this as a rule (vs. the exception) that we would be so far away from completing anything here, including the adoption. So that is our job as we interact with fill-in-the-blank bureaucracy.

The social worker told us that many adoptions, post-placement take 3 years and up to even 5, to complete! My jaw dropped open and I do believe it actually touched the floor. We are at 1.5 years and the end of my patience. I mean it. If we don't get it done this summer then at that point I probably will then have a psychological disorder and may not be a stable parent (sort of joking and sort of hinting at the possible need of Valium if we wait much longer). However, when I told her that the court had accepted all of the other items needed and that their study was the last item on the court's list, and had been for months and months, she said she could not guarantee it, but it seemed like we were near the end.

Vamos a ver.... We're going to San Jose next week for a week, to handle some business and health appts. (dentist, Francini needs to have allergy tests etc...) and to visit some friends in the mountains nearby. But after wards, I'll call their office to remind them that we are here and waiting for their home visit so they can complete the social work study. At least now I know them and feel I can trust them to keep their promise to complete their report fast.

Okay, now for some fun stuff. I'm listing out some fun "firsts" we experienced with the girls or they did, since being together and some recent quotes, because the things they say are just too funny esp., now that their English is so good.

Francini, age 4 years, 10 months, direct quotes:

"The trees are sad when it doesn't rain."
"Do you like hip hop?"
"I like hip hop."
"Do you like Rock and Roll?"
"I like hip hop and Rock and Roll."
"I'm not in agreement." (about which DVD they were to watch- I make them agree on a choice and then laugh when I hear one of them say "I'm not in agreement.")
"What's that? Mmmmm.... I like this fish!" (in reference to fish carpachio, Italian marinated raw fish in raw garlic and lemon juice)
"I'm working on not hitting." (both girls are working on a behavior that is the most noxious and resistant to other interventions we've tried. Francini knows what she is working on!)
"I like to move it move it!" (shimmying)
"Mami, who is more bobo, Daddy or me?" ("bobo" is Spanish for silly)

Celeste: age 6 years, 11 months

"I speak the cat words (meows to me to demonstrate) and Big Boy talked back to me!"
"When the rain comes it's my birthday!" (June 1 is her birthday and traditionally May begins the rainy season)
"Old McDonald her have a barn" (singing Old McDonald had a Farm).
"I'm working on not being bossy." (Celeste's behavior to try to boss/control her environment)
"I want to keep the porcupine!" (when asked why she was sad: a porcupine keeps coming into our house and hiding under the girls' bed. He only has 3 legs and we all feel bad for him)
"You see Mom, I'm using good manners." (in reference to earning a restaurant dinner after a week of not being bossy and in a PR effort to promote future restaurant attendance)
"It's a fun day for the rain forest!" (during our first rainstorm of the season)
"It's ok. it's normal. It's too big a water slide for my first time. In the US they have smaller ones right? I'll go on a smaller water slide in the US." (after debating and crying for a good 30 minutes to not go down the large water slide in Arenal when Francini did).
And of course, Celeste in particular thinks everything in the US must be superior:
"Do they have power outages in the US?"
"I like the US" (when I said not as many to her question about outages)

15 Months of Accomplishments and Fun Firsts:

1) First birthday parties
2) First real Christmas and Christmas stockings (sans snow)
3) First swimming
4) First water slide (Francini)
5) First Talent Show (Celeste)
6) First day of school
7) English!
8) First Halloween
9) First horseback riding
10) First train
11) First apple pie
12) First vacation
13) First painting or arts and crafts
14) First writing or reading (Celeste)
15) First soccer class (Celeste)
16) First "zoo" (animal refuge)
17) First of having own toys and clothes and room!
18) First tooth fairy (Celeste)
19) First field trip
20) First chores
21) First boogie board ride
22) First body surfing
23) First snorkeling
24) First museum
25) First waterfall
26) First Japanese restaurant
27) First cartwheel (Francini)
28) First field day
29) First passport
30) First trees climbed

Accomplishments:

2000 times+ hands washed and teeth brushed
500+ Bedtime stories read
9 sets of family and/or friend visits to our home
5 family birthdays celebrated
5 pets loved
4 wild animals appreciated in our house/yard up close and personal
3 vacations taken to different Costa Rican locales
2 languages spoken
lots of new friends!

On the Agenda for the next 6-12 months:

1) First adoption completed! Hah!
2) First US VISA (and hopefully last)
3) US citizenship
4) New last names
5) First plane ride
6) First visit to another country
7) First time meeting - everyone else in the family and our friends!
8) First water slide (Celeste)
9) First tree house (Rick's project)
10) First amusement park (maybe)

Next week we can do a small one though:

1) First visit to a movie theater, whoo-hoo!

Chiquitas' Rain Dance: First Rain of the Season

2010-04-26T10:45:00.001-06:00

First Rain of the Season 2 weeks ago and we celebrated by dancing in it! It rained medium hard for about an hour. !Que Fresco! Then last night, we had a soft, steady rain all through the night. SO SO GOOD! Video above: the family got out and danced in it. Nothing like cool rain to "Have a really fun day for the rainforest" (Celeste's comment at the very end).