Posts Tagged family
Posted on December 23, 2010 by angela
In two weeks we will return to South America and resume the road trip.
Even though we’ve been back in the US long enough to feel at home, it did take us some time.
We are drinking lots of tap water, sometimes accidentally speaking Spanish (poorly), and having to remind Bode that he can flush the toilet paper. It’s all very exciting. I’ve also spent more time shopping in the last few weeks than I have in the entire 16 months since we left Alameda.
Family and friends, of course, are the reason we are here in Texas for the holidays. It’s been great to spend so much time with them. Because we lived in California, it was easy to forget that in addition to his cousins, Bode also has a whole slew of step-cousins, 2nd cousins, etc here in Texas that he has never met. Not to mention that we have friends with kids he has never met or seen in a very long time. We’ve really enjoyed spending time with all of them. Especially Bode.
We’ve also eaten a ton of great food and added a few pounds in the process. The other night Bode devoured 12 sushi rolls whole – despite the clear unease of his aunt, uncle and those watching from neighboring tables. I’m not sure there’s anything (healthy) he loves to eat more.
We’re also pretty sure he will eat an entire gingerbread house before we leave.
As far as the blog goes, although all the recent extraneous VW-related stuff might be a bit of a bore to some, I really, really appreciated the break from photos and blogging. Jason – you may consider this my Christmas present. It is within our gift guidelines, inexpensive and fits in the van.
Posted on August 28, 2010 by angela
We had lots of fun with my parents in town. We wrapped up the week with them by hitting a another beach with some great tide pools and interesting sea life.
We also had some time to knock out a few projects on the bus list, like repairing a couple of closet shelves and a thorough cleaning.
More importantly, we managed to get to my parents back to the airport without breaking down.
We had been waiting for our return to Liberia to get some new front tires, so this was our chance. We met up with Doug and went to get new tires, where the tire guy told us our front right axle nut was really hot. He wouldn’t fix it, so we pulled out with our new tires and fixed it in his parking lot.
Jason had to take it apart and apply lots of grasa to the front bearings and make sure things were adjusted properly and we were on our way. I was glad that it wasn’t with my parents waiting to catch a flight.
We finally got on the road and headed up to Rio Celeste. There is a national park near here that is about 15 miles down a dirt country road, so we went looking for it. Again, we were warned it was 4×4 only, but we had no problems.
We heard a lady offers camping in her front yard, so we went to investigate. Sure enough, it was just her front yard and she wanted to charge us quite a bit for the privilege, so we passed on it. We drove around a bit more following hand-painted wooden signs for cabinas until we found accommodations in what Doug referred to as ‘the halfway house’.
The house was in a lovely valley, but was a muddy hike from the car. It had a bathroom, but no sink in it. The kitchen had a sink and a refrigerator, but no stove or cooking equipment. The walls didn’t quite go all the way to the ceiling. But, it was cheap and that is our usual criteria.
I was putting Bode to bed in one of the rooms when we heard Doug screaming about a giant spider coming up through the shower drain. Neither Bode nor I really wanted to go check it out, so we just decided to pretend we were asleep. Poor Doug.
We were 3 km from the park entrance, which featured an enormous variety of creepy crawly dead things in jars. The hike to the falls was only 2 kilometers, but Jason had sprained his ankle back in Montezuma and it seemed to be getting worse. He waited in the car with his leg up while the rest of us set out down the trail. What they didn’t tell us was the last kilometer involved sliding down a very steep muddy mountain. It was all we could do to keep from sliding all the way down to the bottom and by the end we were covered in dirt and mud. It was worth it.
The water color here is the same shade as the sky. The legend has it that when God was painting the sky, he dipped his brush to clean it into the water at Rio Celeste. It really was pretty amazing.
Posted on August 27, 2010 by angela
When we have visitors, we try to get them to write a guest post. Here are my mom’s thoughts on the week…
Highlights of our week in Costa Rica…
Arriving at Liberia airport and seeing Angela, Jason and Bode holding a sign that read “Grammy and Granddaddy.”
Bahía Pez Vella: Our beautiful condo overlooking Sailfish Bay with multiple swimming pools. Bode tried them all.
Casado: Costa Rico’s national dish. A plate containing either fish, pork, chicken, or beef with
rice, beans, and fried plantains. Muy delicioso. The fish sandwiches are also good.
Dead chicken wind chimes.
Eco Tourism. Costa Rico has figured out that preserving the environment attracts tourists which helps the economy which helps provide a stable government.
Friendly, accommodating, laid back locals.
Green Season, recently renamed from the tourist reducing Rainy Season. Not to worry, the rain is only in the late afternoon or at night and lasts half an hour or so.
Howler Monkeys in the morning.
Iguanas and white-faced monkeys eating bananas from Bode’s hand.
Jason driving Red Beard, sans power steering, around curves and up a mountain like it was no big deal. Speed bumps are a redundancy when the roads are narrow, dirt, full of pot holes, and choked with bicyclists carrying passengers on the handle bars. His cooking isn’t bad either.
King sized crocodiles basking in the sun.
Long, lazy afternoons with my family.
Magpie’s that steal your breakfast.
Noodling with Bode at the swimming pool.
Open air dinning and ocean breezes.
Pedicure and shopping with Angela.
Quiet nights with only the sound of the surf.
Rocky the Raccoon who visited every evening. Make sure the door is closed securely or he’ll get in.
Swimming, snorkeling, snuggling, and sunsets. Bode excels in all but one. Sunsets didn’t mean as much to him as they did to the rest of us.
Tinker Toys and tide pools.
Unit thirty-three, complete with Shaggy Dog movie, which we watched every night. Our landlords owned one of the five dog actors in the movie.
Volcanic black sand. It might not be as pretty as white sand but it’s easier to see if you washed it all off.
Watching a mama whale and her calf cruise around for our enjoyment every afternoon.
Xanadu (Utopia) : A vacation in Costa Rica with Angela, Jason, and Bode.
Yellow birds building a nest in the palm tree on the patio.
Zerberts by the dozen from Bode.
Some random quotes from the week:
Bode: “Grammy , let’s play noodling. You wiggle your fingers and I’ll be the fish.”
Grammy: “Ouch!”
Granddaddy: “Didn’t anyone one else see that coming?”
Jason: “Is it still fishing if you don’t touch the pole?”
Angela: “Bode, Grammy is not a piece of playground equipment.”
Granddaddy: “I think that crocodile’s stuffed and nailed in place.”
Angela: “We’re back. Pour the wine, cue the sunset.”
Bode, on leaving our condo: “Can we stay someplace this pretty again tonight?’
Angela: “Uh, probably not.”
Posted on August 25, 2010 by angela
We’ve been so lucky to have lots of visitors lately, and we had 2 more VIPs coming in. Grammy and Granddaddy!
My parents came in for a week of relaxation with us and we are all very excited. With them came an entire suitcase of books for all of us, clothes and toys. Perfect timing. The usual hostel trade-in bookshelves are full of terrible reading that I’m too embarrassed to trade-in if anyone is around.
We rented a nice villa, which upon entering Bode declared was “just like a real house.” Not sure how the parents took that. He even had his own room, which he at least started every night in.
We picked up my parents in Liberia, a fairly small town (1 of the 2 international airports in Costa Rica) on my dad’s birthday. We celebrated van style with a box cake and chocolate syrup. Bode immediately wanted all of their attention–they read, played games, watched movies and went swimming every day.
