Pura Vida

Its 8 in the morning on Day 6, and this is the first time I've been on the Internet since arriving in Costa Rica. Considering I spend over 10 hours on the computer on a daily basis, thats quite a shock to the system. Thats par for the course this week, everything in a 3rd world country is a little shocking.

Im sitting in the outdoor restaurant by the infinity pool overlooking the dark blue Pacific Ocean at Bahia Paz Vela. Its certainly beautiful here but not quite what we expected. We are on the Northwestern coast outside of a town called Playa del Coco. There are lots of jungle like trees all around the beach that we are on, but just above eye level if you look towards the mountains, the green lush stops and its a dirty, dried out brown color. A lot of the roads are half paved and there is a tremendous amount of dirt and dust everywhere. We were definitely expecting more greens and less browns, but then again, this is the dry season so I'm sure that lush tropical look is coming back later this year.

There is so much to talk about from the people, the towns, the activities, the friends and so on. Maybe I will just cover a few things in this post.

Our biggest adventure so far was the jungle ziplining trip. The Canopy Tour interesting because we were completely off the main path and saw how a lot of locals lived. Sometimes the houses are literally tin shacks. Of course there is no running water and the way that people get electricity to their house from the road is something special to see. At one point in our drive the road took us through a dried out river bed. It was pretty cool. Sarah, Willy, Brian, their two older kids and me all went on the ziplining tour. We showed up at the gate at 8 in the morning and were the first ones there; they actually opened for us which is a great way own a business (don't have to open til the first customer arrives). While we were waiting for the tour guides to show up to work, we walked around the complex. They had a mariposa (butterfly) farm and a mono (monkey) house that we checked out from behind the fence. Once the main tour got started we had a wonderful time. The longest zipline was 400 meters and I did the Superman for that entire line. I also got to hang upside down about 80 feet above the jungle floor for a couple of the lines. We saw an Iguana that was about 5 feet long and lots of monkeys. Monkeys are everywhere was about a 45 minute drive from our beach house. 6 kilometers of that trip was spent driving down a bumpy half paved dirt road with little or no signs to direct us. It was really around here. Sarah had a blast too, I think she even did a Superman or upside down line, but cant remember for sure.









Yesterday about 7 of us (there are 13 total staying here) went into town for the day. We took a taxi and got dropped off a couple hundred yards from town then spent the next 4 hours just walking around and checking out local places. We did a little touristy shopping but mostly just took pics of life down here, spent some time on the local beach, ate at a local pollo shack called Pollo Crispy (KFC without the K), and got off the main road a couple times to see what was just around the corner. It was an exciting day but, as with all activities, came to an end when the babies got too frustrated (overheated).

We have spent a lot of time at the beach, pool, or just sitting around the patio at our little complex. Its about 85 degrees with 80% humidity (dry season) so muchos calor. I have been sea kayaking almost everyday and we both have had professional massages on the beach.

We have today and tomorrow then make our way back to the airport at about 4 in the morning on Friday. Will blog more later, hopefully from CR.

Pura Vida, life is fantastico, wonderful, pure

C

Almost Crawling

Caden's First Finger Foods

6 Months Old

Well, Caden recently had his 1/2 birthday and is enjoying being 6 months old. The doctor says he looks good but she wants us to fatten him up because he has dropped down to the 27th percentile for weight. Not too bad but he started out in the 80's so she wants to keep him chubby. As you can see, he is much happier now that he is old enough to do more on his own. He is eating solid food (if you call mush in a jar solid food), sitting up on his own, and scooting. I really think he will be crawling soon but for now he gets where he wants to go by rolling or scooting on his belly. He likes to make sure that he is the center of attention so he does a lot of screaming and squealing. He is definitely not a quiet baby.

Cory is still at home with Caden for one more week. It has been a learning experience for them both but we are all really glad that he was able to stay home for so long (our bank account is especially glad). Although Cory's happy to go back to work he's going to miss hanging out with the little baby man. He is really excited about the new ideas he has for work and hopes to improve the success rate for students at school. Between implementing all these new ideas, keeping up with his job, working on his masters, and taking care of Caden he's a little busy. But we know that it will all pay off in the near future.

I am enjoying being back at my school and working with all "my kids" again (after three years with the same students they really start to feel like they're mine). I'm learning what it means to be a working mom - balancing teaching, yearbook, fundraising, diaper changing, feeding, cooking, laundry, and cleaning leaves little time to do much else (especially sleep). Of course it's all worth it and I wouldn't change it for the world, but it's definitely a learning process. Poor Max certainly doesn't get as many walks as he used to.

Lastly, Barack Obama won all four states in the primaries today! Yes We Can!

The Tale of Two Babies

Caden has recently discovered his vocal chords and makes sure that everyone in the neighborhood knows it. We took a video of him happily "talking" in his jumperoo.




Five minutes later.... Caden's evil twin arrives...

Hello Again...

Well, it's been a long time since our last post and I take full responsibility (this is Sarah, by the way). Yes, Cory has officially transferred the family blogging duties to me. Between working from home, taking care of Caden during the day and preparing to start his master's program, Cory decided that he didn't have time. We are now learning the value of the precious little time we have to do "other things" that don't involve diapers, crying, or bottles.
So, here's the update...
Caden is 5 1/2 months old now. He is eating solid food, almost sitting up on his own, and laughing a lot. He has become a very happy baby and is getting the hang of sleeping through the night. He still wakes up once or twice, but usually goes back to sleep fairly easily. Cory is thankful of this since he is now the one getting up at night. Caden enjoyed Christmas (mostly the wrapping paper) and slept through his first New Year. :) We really enjoyed our 2 weeks off for winter break - my Dad and Carol took us to Utah for a weekend where we got to tour Bryce Canyon and spend some time in the snow; we spent Christmas with Niki and the grandparents-in-law; my Mom came to visit for a few days; and we caught up on sleep.
Cory is still at home with Caden until mid-February. He is doing a great job as "Mr.Mom" and balancing work with baby time. Last weekend Cory took the GRE (Graduate Entrance Exam) and passed! I helped him with studying and was VERY thankful that it wasn't me that had to take the test... but, Mr. Smartypants passed with flying colors so he starts his Master's next week! Good luck with that. :)
I have been back at work for 5 weeks now and although it's nice to feel productive and engage in some "adult" conversation, I still miss Caden every day. I'm sure Cory is sick of me calling everyday at 11:00 but I can't seem to make it through the day without checking in on the little baby man. Working full time and being a mommy full time is difficult, but it's definitely worth it. I just need to remember to find a few moments to update this blog and keep you all posted.
We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!
Sarah

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