New Years at Guacamaya - Glamping (glamorous camping)

Relaxing, rejuvenating, hilarious, adventurous, new, fun, exciting, delicious, creepy, amazing, glamorous, and wonderful are just a few of the many adjectives I could use to describe one of the most fantastic weeks of my life! Thanks to our friends Martyn and Debi, for the invite that started off the New Year right!

• Relaxing - Because it is a completely private beach where we enjoyed total solitude and serenity in one of the most picturesque back drops you could imagine, while 'camping' in 5 star safari tents fully equipped with electricity, air conditioning, pedestal bathtubs, down comforters, and so much more. Hammocks - enough said.
• Rejuvenating - Because everyone took turns cooking amazing food, and NOBODY had to clean it up! The beach came with it's own staff. I took a daily hot bath overlooking the ocean, or showered in a private outdoor shower surrounded by foliage and flowers. B to the E - autiful.
• Hilarious - Because we were surrounded by good friends and lots of kiddos, which always makes for a few good laughs! Add a few fireworks, bonfires, motor bikes, tractors, horses, kayaks, paddle boards, Manta Rays as big as a bus, gigantic Tuna fish that are paralyzed by the 'cold' water, and lice...well, there was more than one hilarious moment!
• Adventurous - In every way. Catching the paralyzed Tuna fish by hand. Paddling with theManta rays (even one as big as a BUS), turtles, jelly fish, and general sea life. Making the biggest bonfires known to my children, surprised a plane didn't think we were signalling! Illegal fireworks, and the scars to prove it. Bio luminescent Dino flagellates - Night swimming in the glowing surf. Jet Skiing. Killing a few scorpions fall under the adventure category for sure, especially if you are Amy and you are terrified of the small, dangerous creatures. Of course, there isn't much out there more adventurous than Yoga on a Paddle Board. Namaste.
• New - The whole week was filled with a bunch of firsts. Elle riding away with the love of her life on a horse. Actually feeling good when I run. Being the first one awake and making breakfast (that's a biggie). Watching a sunset on a paddle board. Saying 'Hello' to a sea turtle on my kayak. Paddling through thousands of Jelly Fish. Eating too much - LOL, that's not a first, but the food was amazing!
• Fun - because I didn't want the week to end. Family, friends, good food, sunshine, and nature's best playground. Couldn't ask for more.
• Exciting - Jake would say the most exciting part of his trip was when the dirt bike broke down in Flamingo while he was buying our lice treatment shampoo, and he hitched a ride back with 'save the day Christian'. That sounds pretty darn exciting! Brody would say - riding on a big tractor/digger to collect massive amounts of wood for the biggest bonfire ever. Elle would say - Riding down the beach on a horse. Brooklyn would say -riding down the beach on Daddy's moto. I would say - definitely the seat turtle being an inch from my paddle. Tom would say - that I can't say ;)
• Delicious - Because we ate the most gourmet and indulgent food the entire trip, which is part of why Martyn coined the term 'glamping'. Turkey, Tuna, Ribbbbbbbbs, Lobster,mmmmmmmmmmm. Fresh fruit smoothies, and homemade desserts, all overlooking the ocean. Seriously people.
• Creepy - Because it goes without saying that LICE is pretty much the creepiest thing that could ever be! Anybody with hair had it, but Brooklyn and I had it worst. We had unknowingly had it for a few weeks, eek. Thanks to Reyna, one of the property's care takers, for picking them out of our hair one by one. Yuck! Thousands of Hermit Crabs could fall under the category of creepy or adventurous, but with the numbers they were traveling in...I'm going with creepy.
• Glamourous - Because when I was washing out the lice, I was doing it in my private outdoor shower, surrounded by beautiful foliage and listening to the waves. Also, because when I laid my tired head down at night, I enjoyed the comfort of a down pillow and soft clean sheets. Not the usual 'comforts' of camping.
• Amazing - The experience over all was so enjoyable. Thanks to our great friends Martyn and Debi, Jake and Amy, and all the kids and crew for such a great week!!!
• Wonderful - So much so, that I'll never forget!

Guacamaya Beach

We brought in 2011 with great friends!

We can see you Jake!

Favorite play spot for the kiddos = quite a few bonked heads and a couple of good wind-knocked-out-of-you's.

Fully Equipped with all the luxuries of home....not my home, but the home I envision in my dreams, lol.

The inside of our tent...hence Martyn coined the term, "glamping." Well done Martyn.

View from 'tent' patio...

Moto on the Beach

Brooklyn and Jake and unknown in back, out for a paddle.

Those are the wing tips of a Manta ray. There were dozens of them, although I never saw the one 'as big as a bus'.

(to the tune of the old Foldger's Coffee Commerical) The best part of waking up....is paddling with the scary sea life that might eat you or sting you or be as big as a bus...

Lip Sync and Dancing to bring in 2011~ She's her mother's daughter.

Part of the personal fireworks display provided by Jake and Martyn, no expenses spared. Also very illegal, yahoo!

Happy New Year! While we didn't actually stay up for the moment 2010 ended and 2011 began, I woke up in 2011 in one of the most spectacular settings on earth. Feliz Ano Nuevo!

The guys after they came back in from their sunset paddle. Laughing because they are lying? Or just in shock.

"We saw a Manta ray that was so big, it was as big as a bus!"

Check out the goose egg on her forehead....she's always got one as an accessory.

Everything you need...

Our gracious hosts, Martyn and Debi. We love you guys!

Elle loves Ticos, and they love her! Here she is getting her surprise ride, which she loved.

Guys on there way back in from collecting wood for the bonfire. Guys just love toys.

Tom and Brody

Lice treatment number 1, only 4 more to follow!

We tricked the kids into the lice treatment with a 'spa day' theme. Elle really went with it.

The Tuna that was caught with bare hands...

This is Elle as she watches Tom and Martyn carry the fish out of the water. She looks slightly bewildered.

Then the cleaning. Boys like doing gross stuff. Girls like watching it....

The girls watching the Tuna get dissected.

The were disgusted.

Bracing each other out of pure shock, but they couldn't stop watching!

Coming in off the jetski with the fish.

Nothing like a little zen to start your day...

Hermit crabs by the thousands, you could hear the buggers!

yummy!

HALLOWEEN - PURA MUERTE!

We all had an instrument, although they aren't all pictured here. Brooklyn was on the mic, and I had a spooky keyboard, Tom had an additional guitar adorned with skulls and cross bones and other spooky stuff. None of us had our costume shoes on yet, the paint was still drying. They really completed the ensemble!

Elle in Character.

Still in character.

Winners of the Costume Contests - hooray!

Jello eating contest!

Elle, who was only two and 2 weeks, got really into character. She loved the accessories and posing for the cameras!

Elle's first real trick-or-treat. She was pretty freaked out by her own dad, it was hilarious.

Brooklyn was really pumped on the crazy hair, but she still wanted to look 'pretty.'

Halloween is definitely one of my favorite holidays. I love to dress up and I love to eat candy, so it really makes sense. My kids are totally into the idea of group costumes, so we were going for that this year. We thought about our costumes for many months leading up to the big day. Becoming Allice (mad hatter, allice, queen of hearts, the cat, and the pig), but it was so expensive. Lazy Town, but nobody here knows the tv show, so we would have just looked stupid. Your typical food group costumes; fruit salad, milk and cereal, rice and beans.... Nothing seemed right, and we were taking it real serious like. One day Brody was jammin' out on his air guitar and it came to us, Punk Rock Band! It's been done before, of course, so we really developed the 'dead' punk rock band theme. We named ourselves "Pura Muerte" which means, "Pure Death." It's a play on the famous Costa Rica saying, "Pura Vida" which means, "the Pure Life." With the help of my great, great friends, we developed our band logo, made t-shirts, and had to get super creative on the accessories, which included lots of electrical tape, paint, metal fan strings, safety pins, chain link...you get the picture. We won some pretty cool prizes, and had a great time. It is a fabulous way to have family fun and a little spooky bonding. In total we went to the CDS Halloween Party, trick-or-treating with great friends, and Witches Rock Haunted House and Trick-or-Treat. A total of 3 days of dressing up and good times. Can't wait to see what we come up with next year!

Dia de la Independencia ~ Septiembre 15!

Traditional Girl's Dance Dress

No bombs, no guns, no bloody battle..a simple letter from Spain arriving by ship and then horseback, to grant the people of Costa Rica their request for independence. Today, the peaceful achievement is remembered with several days of traditional celebrations,including, music, dancing, lantern lighting, torch passing, parades, and of course, good food.

Country Day School took full advantage of the cultural educational opportunity, by putting together an assembly of traditional dance, costumes, and music as the story of independence was narrated in Spanish. The children had been preparing dances since the school year started, and a few local public schools attended and participated in the event as well.

After the traditional celebrations, the day was left for the kids to enjoy a variety of fair-like activities on campus, including, a bouncy 'water' castle (ie- they stuck a hose on it), frog races (for real!), face painting, guitar hero, skateboarding, a cake walk, musical chairs, etc...Brooklyn sat and watched/helped Miss Lizzy do the face paintings, while Brody didn't even make it to that section as he was trying afternoon for winning treats at the musical chair station. If I call it appreciation for music will it make me feel better??? :) It was a day to remember!

The Matapalo Band was playing and all of the girls got up to dance in their beeeeautiful dresses! Brody joined in as well of course, but where I was I couldn't snap shot.

Elli comes with to all of the school functions, and she loves all the attention she gets from the big girls!

Brooklyn with part of her class.

Brody with 1st and 2nd grade - he's back left corner :)

A woman from our church made this dress for Brooklyn in just a few hours!

Face Painting Fun

Of course she wasn't going to miss out!!!!!

The boys danced with scarves and wore the typical hats, a little less fancy than the girl's stuff, and I wasn't hearing any complaints!

She's finally happy, so needless to say, SO ARE WE! An update on Brooklyn.

My happy girl!

After one year in Costa Rica, Brooklyn has achieved piece of mind, contentment, and general happiness. Thanks mostly to her lovely new kindergarten teacher, Miss Lizzie, who has created a welcoming, structured classroom, fully equipped with almost ready-to-hatch baby chicks! The incubator has been the talk of the school, and the kids have been counting backward to hatch date. It has created as much excitement as Christmas, so well done Miss Wizzie (as many of her little kinder students call her.)

Brooklyn's early to bed, early to rise schedule is really working for her. Aside from the wonderful education she is getting at Country Day School, which includes gardening, p.e., art, and Spanish as part of the curriculum, she has a full line up of extra curricular activities. She takes ceramic art on Monday, and exhibits almost as much love for art as her big brother Brody does. She does hip hop twice a week, once with me and the Country Day Cheer Squad, and once from a wonderful teacher at the local 8 count dance studio. Next year she'll be old enough for surf club, that is if she can handle the 'stickiness' by then! She has at least one play date a week, swims every day, looks forward immensely to lunch and snack, and has a great little following of 5th grade fans. She is an amazing big sister, and treats Elle with lots of love and kindness. She's the one responsible for teaching Elle how to swim due to her zeal for the sport, but also her patience to teach her. And the cherry on top is she is FINALLY speaking Spanish with a little bit of confidence and frequency.

I am so pleased that she has taken a liking to it here now, and while she misses her cousins from home, she is making lots of new friends from all over the world. She still brings a little bit of sass to our home, which cracks me up. I know she will grow into a very strong, self-motivated, unwaivering woman, as she already, frequently, single handedly gets all the kids on the playground to line up out of sheer fear of hearing her yell. Where does she get that from??? (heheheheh) A feared woman.....it could be worse.

I started as an EGG! - The Egg Hatching Countdown begins.....

Working in the garden at school is a weekly part of the curriculum...is this heaven? Nope, it's Costa Rica!

Gettin' Dirty

At Bear Lake with her bestest cousins!

Dear AutoMercado

Why do I miss you so? Let me count the ways...

• because I know all the faces of your employees and they know me, because sometimes I give them rides to work when they are hitch hiking.
• because although your things are twice the price, your small selection, cleanliness, and simpleness make shopping effortless.
• because when I have to put $20 of groceries back at the end because I ran out of cash, I'm not embarrassed because you live the 'pura vida.'
• because you have no 'holiday' or 'seasonal' isle. Those are just code for, "we always have something you think you HAVE to have, even though you don't, and you'll buy it anyway, because that was commercialism is all about, convincing the consumer that their life will be better if they make the purchase and add the item to their ever growing pile of other holiday and seasonal items....

I love you Auto! You make living in Costa great!