Pura Vida!!

 Lee and I just got back today from an 8 day trip to a place we've always wanted to visit, Costa Rica!

I haven't blogged in forever but I don't want to forget anything so I'm journaling it all.

After months of research, we planned out the "must make/see" stops. We flew into San Jose, stayed the night at the Airport Marriott and woke the next morning to rent our car for the week and headed north to the popular surf town, Tamarindo. (we rented a 4 wheel drive from Budget for a week for around $300 and brought our own GPS that we downloaded maps to before we left)

The GPS said it would take about 3 1/2 hours to get to Tamarindo but clearly didn't take into consideration the 40 different 25 km school zones and buses. 3 1/2 hours turned into 4 1/2.

So picture this - our first real day in Costa Rica. We're so anxious/excited to see this beautiful country and surf at this popular destination. We've been in the car for 4 1/2 hours, much longer than we anticipated, and we pull up to the hotel we booked for our first 2 nights, one of the most highly recommended hotel in Tamarindo by TripAdvisor...

No, I'm not kidding.

 We can laugh now, but after our long drive and built up excitement, we were not laughing at the time. It had more of a "hostel" feel to it, but it was a full fledged hotel.

So, in my opnion, this picture and surroundings is a pretty good representation of Tamarindo.

It's the hot, dry desert part of Costa Rica.

And the beaches...well, they aren't beautiful. Tamarindo beach is similar to some of the not so pretty beaches in san diego.

Anyway, we decided to stay one night just for the experience, and bailed on our non-refundable next night and Tamarindo all together.

BUT...not before getting up the next morning to get in some surfing at Playa Grande on our way out.

It was a nice beach. Not pretty, but the water is warm and we were 2 of abot 6 people on the entire beach. AND, there were some nice roller waves perfect for longboarding.

We left our valuables in our car and parked at the nice people's...house? that we rented the boards from. So this was taken at their place after.

just a little friend we passed on the way to the beach...

On to our next stop...Arenal!

And this time, we weren't disapointed. We added on a night (that we gained from leaving Tamarindo) and stayed 3 nights at the Hotel Silencio Del Campo in our own private cabin nestled into this beautiful scenery.

Now THIS was the Costa Rica I was looking for!

The hotel staff was amazing, the food was superb and there were natural hot springs scattered throughout the property to relax in anytime.

The hotel gave us (me) a complimentary volcano mud facial...heaven!

 While in Arenal (the rainforest part of Costa Rica near the active volcano), we did the hanging bridges, hiked to the La Fortuna waterfalls, and did some amazing white water rafting.

Hanging Bridges - a beautiful hike/walk through the rainforest, crossing several bridges suspended hundreds of feet in the air. It was beautiful! We were fortunate to have met a nice Tico that worked there and pointed out several animals, a wild turkey, an anteater, and a howler monkey that our new friend was kind enough to point out that howler monkeys have white testicles. We looked up. Yep, there they were! Our unofficial tour guide spoke only spanish so Lee did the talking. I heard our friend ask Lee if I spoke spanish and Lee said, "Nah, she just asks people how old they are."

Nice. Thank you Lee.

(When we were in mexico last year, I kept asking everyone "cuantos anos" instead of "cuantos questa" to find out how much everything cost....Lee waited until the end of our trip to tell me I had been asking everyone how old they were instead of the price of what they were selling.)

While at the hanging bridges, it started pouring rain. It made it that much more fun. It was a warm rain and for some reason, it  just felt amazing to be in the middle of the rainforest in the pouring rain.

White Water Rafting - Funnest experience EVER!

We rafted down the Sarapiqui river in class IV rapids. Amazing!

We only lost one paddle and two people...we got them all back. ;)

Pura Vida!!!

 La Fortuna Waterfalls - 

Great hike with LOTS of stairs. We hiked out the back side and then all the way back down again. Great leg workout! ;)

So fun swimming in the waterfall!
The current was so strong, you had to fight just to stay as close as we are, it kept pushing us back to shore.

The night before leaving Arenal, we went back into the little town of La Fortuna and strolled around downtown.
We ate at a local soda (the little mom & pop restaurants the locals open) and found a chocolateria where they make they're own chocolate from hand picked cacao beans! We did a sampling, learned how to make our own chocolate, and brought back some cacao beans to try it! Can't wait!

Typical Costa Rican food, Casado. (casado is a Costa Rican meal using rice, black beans, plantains, salad, a tortilla, and an optional entrée that may include chicken, beef, pork, or fish.)

On to our final destination, Manuel Antonio!

On our way there, we drove through Tarcoles and crossed over this bridge where crocodiles love to gather. They were HUGE! Some were 12-13 feet long!
   

...and since we stopped to see the crocs, why not get something from one of the hundreds of fruit stands? :)

Manuel Antonio had some beautiful beaches! 

The view from our room at Hotel Mariposa. Said to have some of the best views in Manuel Antonio.

Best place to watch the sunsets.

Manuel Antonio National Park - a must see! Hiking/walking trails through beautiful rain forest full of animals, leading to beautiful, warm water beaches. Just before the entrance, Tico's are out trying to hard sell you on a private tour (which takes the price of entrance from $10 a person to $45-50 a person). They tell you you wont see any animals without them and it will be waste. I would say 90% of the tourists went with tours...we went on our own.
And...we saw a huge sloth, a rare agouti (over-sized guinea pig looking animal), several large iguanas (3 feet long), a deer, squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys, and the ever mischievous white faced Capuchin monkeys.
It was fun playing I-spy throughout the jungle!

This is how close we got to the guys! One little guy kept reaching over and pulling some guys hair whenever he would turn around!

K, bare with this video. One little mischievous monkey watched these people put their backpack down at the beach. He waited for them to go into the water, then while looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching, scampered over, UNZIPPED the backpack, double checked again to make sure the coast was clear, rummaged through their stuff until he found a bag of individually packaged cheese and crackers and ran off with the loot.
This is the video we took. Its amazing how he opens up the package like a human would do, not like a wild animal!

Our last day in Costa Rica we decided to hike to the Nauyaca Waterfalls.
It was a short 45 min drive from Manuel Antonio, just south towards the little town, Dominical.
We stopped at Don Lulo's and paid the $5 per person entry fee. We were told to drive down and park in the "parking lot", which we somehow missed so we just drove until the road/path became  impassable.

We hiked the rest of the way (about 2.5 km) and saw beautiful, bright colored turquoise butterfly's and hundreds of the tiniest baby frogs you've ever seen, jumping along the path.
The hike took about 30-45 minutes.
We hiked to the lower falls first, where you could swim, and had the falls all to ourselves!


Selfie's under the waterfall!

After cooling off there, we hiked up to the upper falls.



Our hike out was about another 45 min out, then we stopped by the cute little town of Dominical and had lunch a "Porque-no?"  Delicious fresh food, beautiful views, and awesome fresh fruit smoothies...a perfect ending to our last day.

Despite the beautiful views and scenery, and the amazing adventures, by far, my most favorite thing was just getting to be with this guy...all by myself!

So, so grateful for the family and friends that helped out with our kiddos while we were gone, THANK YOU!

He'll be the death of me...



I found this picture on my phone...

Nice.

He and a friend took my phone for a stroll around the neighborhood and graced it with several similar pictures and video of Carson.  You could hear the friend in the background saying, "Wicked! Now try it from over here, Carson!"
 

My pediatrician always said about this kid, "if he doesn't kill himself by the time he's 18, he'll go on to do amazing things."


The death of me I tell you....

Erroneous.

Last night, Bryson came home from swim with his Basha swim cap and jammers for their first meet today.

Lee asked Bryson to take out the trash or something, I can't remember, and he said, "Just a sec, I gotta go put these up so mom doesn't wear them."

 

Huh?

 

Lee laughed and said, "I don't think mom wants to wear your swim cap and jammers."

Bryson - "Yah, last year when i first got my wrestling singlet, she put it on and texted me a picture. I opened it during engilsh and was like 'nooooooooo!'"

 

Erroneous, I say.

I have no recollection of that.

 

However.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parent teacher conferences

Had parent teacher conferences today for my two still in elementary school.

So refreshing to hear things like "I know I'm not suppose to say this, but he truly is my favorite kid".

And "I don't even know what to say about her as far as improvement goes, she is just outstanding in both academics and behavior."

However, my 4th grade daughter's male teacher pulled out a paper the students had to write and said, "I just had to show you this. It kept me laughing all evening!"

The students were suppose to write a letter to this one specific dictionary company and ask that a new word (of their choice) be added to the dictionary and then explain why.

Kendall's letter was as follows:

Dear Ms. Berube,

My name is Kendall Varney. I'm in the 4th grade at Patterson Elementary. I just love your dictionaries, I use them all the time.  I am writing to ask if you could please put the word "YourMom" in the dictionary.

I would like you to put the word "YourMom" in the dictionary because it is fun to say.  Also because it is a good thing to say when someone says, "you're ugly!" You can say, "YourMom is."  See?

Please put this word in your dictionary.  Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Kendall Varney

Mr. Reynolds laughed and went on to say, "Kendall's just so sweet and quiet. I don't know, I guess it just caught me off gaurd. I totally wasn't expecting that, especially from her!"


I nodded my head and said, "Let me just clarify this for you.  She has two older brothers, one almost 13 and one almost 15."

(Isn't it weird how a picture can be worth a thousand words...)

 

 

A child after my own heart...

If you know my two oldest at all, then you know how completely different they are.

When my oldest son was in Jr. High, i would threaten that if he missed the bus, he would have to walk or ride his bike the 3 miles to school.

Worse punishment EVER.

He only had to do it twice in two years because he was mortified at the idea of having to walk or ride his bike to school, people might SEE him. And apparently riding your bike to Jr. High is "gay".

Now son #2 is in Jr. High.

His threat goes more like this "if you are late to first hour one more time, I will make you ride the bus."

On day 3 of school, he was accused of throwing something at somebody on the bus. 

He didn't commit the offense but the "big-faced italian" (obviously not my words) bus driver made him move from the back of the bus with his friends, to the front by himself, right next to him. I'm sure Carson argued all he could with this man (because that's Carson), but the bus driver obviously didn't care at that point.

Carson watched as the bus driver threatened another kid with suspension from the bus when he got off a stop he wasn't "assigned" to get off on, even though it was right across from his house. Carson kind of scoffed and pointed out to the bus driver how ridiculous that was. 

Again, bus driver, not amused.

The next day, Carson went back to his old seat at the back of the bus and the bus driver said, "oh no, kid, this is your new assigned seat, right next to me." 

Again, Carson tried arguing his case, and the bus driver called the vice-principal over.

It was made very clear that regardless of what did or did not happen, regardless of the truth, Carson would be under this man's authority, subject to whatever rule he laid down.

And so, Carson took matter's into his own hands. 

Without making a fuss, or complaining to me, he started riding his bike. 

He went to the bus stop the next day and when the doors opened, he started walking up the steps and then looked at the driver and said, "Oh yah, I forgot. I'm not riding your bus anymore." And turned & walked away.

The bus driver yelled at him and said, "Get back in this bus right now!"

"Nope," Carson said, over his shoulder. And kept walking.

4 weeks into school and that boy rides his bike or walks (flat tire) to and from school everyday in this crazy heat! 

I said, "Carson, you know you're not hurting that bus driver. He could care less if you're on the bus."

He said, "I know."

I said, "Have you ever heard the term 'cut off your nose to spite your face'? Don't you think that's kind of what you're doing?"

"Nah," he said, "it's the principle. I leave for school and come home from school on my terms. And, usually i get home the same time or right before the bus."

"Besides, he added, "i can't help but think this is exactly what you would have done when you were my age."

Little stinker...

I have to hand it to him though, he doesn't care what other people think and he's not easily persuaded.
He is a young man of conviction and that's a great quality to have! :)

Gym buddies...

The chinese guy asked me if I wanted to race today in spin class. :)

See Lee, they do want to be my friends!




Seriously, dude? You think you can beat THIS!?

I was in the zone today in my RPM/spin class.

Had oatmeal for breakfast, got a good bike, I was on.

The instructor was talking about the cyclists in Olympics, getting us all pumped, talking about rounding the corner, picking up speed...

The chinese man next to me bumped my arm.

I smiled, he wants to race.

Ok, little man, it's on!

I took off! All the while making sure my legs were pumping harder and spinning faster than his.

He was focused, kept his eyes straight ahead of him.

Ohhhh, he's good.

He's trying to completely block me out, doesn't want me to get in his head.

I kept my head low and stared over at him, smirking, like, "you better look over here, I'm kicking your booooo-tay!"

And I totally was.

I was pushing harder, my strokes were faster, sweat was dripping...I was clearly winning. 

Whew, we finished!

The song was over and we were instructed to "ride easy".

I leaned over and playfully punched the chinese man in the arm.

I said, "I won!"

He jerked back kind of surprised and said with his brow furrowed, "It's no race. Is for self.

We not here for competition, is just for workout!"

Oops, my bad.

Around my house, EVERYTHING is a competition.

I though he wanted to take me on...

 

I is smart, I is kind, I is important....

Ok. Recently it has been made abundantly clear to me (after overhearing and/or reading text of not 1, but 3 of my children) that my their perception of me is skewed.

I'd like to clarify that now for all future generations before these falsehoods get passed on.

First off, I am smart.

Yes, your dad is above average when it comes to math & anything electronic. BUT, this does not make him THE smartest member of our family.

AND it does not mean that when you excell in school it's your father's genes.

I'll have you know I was a straight A honor student.

And, i spell way better than your dad.
I bet I can read faster too.

The fact that my scholarship was in drama and his was in academics, doesn't define us.

And, for the record,
 I didn't pass college algebra because I was OVER it.
Math isn't my strong suit.
Even superman has a weakness...

Second, I am a good girl!

 Why, (my two teenagers that shall remain nameless), do you find it so funny when I try to tell you what a good girl I was growing up? 
BUT, when your father says it - nothing?

Hmmmmmm???

Let me replay a recent convo.

Teen #1 - "I don't like her like that because she's too much of a goody-goody."

Me (appauled that the would be a turn off to my eldest teen) - "What?! Why is that bad? I was a goody-goody."

Teen #1 -  (as you nearly spit out the milk you were drinking and your brother starts laughing out loud) - "Okay, now that is a big lie."

One can have a free spirit and still be a goody-goody...just for the record.
I do believe you are mistaking the two.

Listen, if you're great at volleyball, don't just assume the credit goes to the tall guy.
I can jump pretty high for my size, you probably got your hops from me.
And, if you're so great at math, don't just assume all the credit goes to the computer programmer.
I can memorize numbers like nobody's business. I bet that comes in handy alot more than converting letters into numbers and decimals into fractions, yada, yada, yada.

I am not the Danny Devito in this gene pool people!



Omg...

So I just found Bryson's school folder from 8th grade last year.

I went to toss it in the trash, and this picture fell out.

I asked him who it was and he said, "me."

I said, "That is NOT you."

He argued that it was and I laughed and said no it wasn't and he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Oh. Well, I used it for a project last year that required a baby picture of ourselves."

Seriously.

Seriously, could that kid care any less about anything other than the current sport he is playing?

Really?

Who the heck is this random kid with a receding hairline??

Toby

We lost Toby this weekend.

We were gone all day Saturday at the Lake & when we got home that evening, he was gone.

We drove around and looked for him, checked our phone messages in case someone called...nothing.

We were all sad, but Kendall was devastated.  

I suggested we say a prayer that someone would find Toby and call us.

Camdon said, "Why don't we just ask Siri (the all knowing voice of the iphone)?"

I said, "Honey, Siri isn't going to know where Toby is."

Camdon, with that 'do i have to do everything for you people look on his face' - "Why not, she knows where Circle K is?!"

We found Toby. :)

I fell in love in California.

While we were in California I fell in love....
with surfing.

Nothing like that feeling of catching a good wave.

Nothing like wiping out, it always made me laugh so hard for some reason...

and nothing quite as sexy as my hunky guy on a surf board. :)

Beach camping!

Every couple years, we join a group of friends and camp on the beach in CA for a week.

The kids absolutely love it!

They love the freedom, the friends, the chillness of it all.

Nothing beats celebrating 4th of July in California...

16 years baby!!!

Once upon a time, there was a young girl.

She met a very handsome guy and thought they'd make cute babies so...

she married him.

Sixteen years later, that not so young girl, realized how deeply, madly in love she has fallen with that, ever increasingly, handsome guy.

I can't even fathom a life without this amazing man by my side.

He is such a part of me, literally, my better half.

I love that he doesn't care what people think of him, but if he even feels for a second that I might think unfavorably of something he does or says, it devastates him.

I love that he lets me be exactly myself and has NEVER tried to change me.

And i love that he thinks who I am is exactly what he never knew he couldn't live without. :)

I love that he goes along with all my crazy ideas and whims with full support and a big smile.

From coming home to find me in scrubs...surprise, I decided to train as a dental assistant! 

or coming home to a cleaned out pantry as I declare that we are going on a very strict 34 day nutrition/fitness plan that I already signed us up and paid for. 

Or, coming home to find a stray dog that I had already named.

or, when I drag him out of bed at midnight, Zorro masks and toilet paper in hand, cuz someone was really rude to a good friend and deserves a good old fashioned toilet papering.

And, that's just the past six months...

Thanks for boarding the crazy train, babe, and for not even asking once to stop for a potty break! :)
LOVE this man!

Uncharted waters

I just dropped off my teenage son at a girl's house, 25 minutes away, that I've never met.

I dropped him off with two boys I met (when they showed up at my house just in time for dinner) just two hours before. I think their names were Jordan and Dallin. Or was it Damon? David?

Anyway...

Friends he met at EFY. To go to a party at a girls house he met at EFY.

I got out to meet the girl's parents and he was like, "Ummm, mom why are you turning off the car? I don't know how to break this to you, but you weren't invited."

I told him I wanted to meet the parents.

I turned to the other boys (both a year older) and said, "Right? I should meet the parents?"

To which they shrugged kinda wide-eyed.

That was my cue.

The girl who lived there came out, I met her.

Maddie, with a cute smile and perfectly straight teeth (a definite sign of good parents.)

I waved goodbye and drove off.

And, I thought, "What am I doing? I just dropped my son off in an unknown neighborhood in a different city with two boys I may or may not know the names of, to the house of a girl named Maddie. Where, he will be brought home by the father of one of the boys, again unknown, at an unclear time."

I called Lee.

"Should I go back?  Is that normal at almost 15 years old?"

What did I know, the town I lived in at that age was so small, your parents didn't have to ever meet the parents of new friends, they just asked their last name and knew exactly who they were, where they lived and how they were related to you.

Lee assured me it was fine. He has his phone.

I worried for the next hour and a half, until i got the text-

"Lame party, Jordan's dad is picking us early, be home soon."

So, let me get this straight.

I went from me picking his friends, based on what mom's I was friends with, to

him picking his friends, bringing home their phone # scribbled on a torn piece of homework and me then calling the mom on the phone to arrange a park playdate to meet.

To him picking his friends with the unspoken rule that the first mom to go to the other's house would walk them to the door and introduce themselves,

to groups of friends (apparently they travel in pairs now), new ones every week (sometimes everyday), no need to meet the parents because you may never see the kid again??

Uncharted waters that I'm not quite sure how to navigate through yet...

The good 'ol days...circa 2005.



Hooray for the little things...

 Can't believe Bryson is old enough for EFY...

 He had the time of his life! Great experiences, made great new friends and lots of great memories.

Funny story...

A friend and I drove Bryson and her daughter, along with a couple friends, up to Flagstaff for EFY.

When we got to NAU, I took Bryson to find his room in the boys dorm and my friend to her daughter to find her room in the girls dorm.

We met back up in the lobby where Leah laughed and said, "When we walked into the dorm room, Brooke was like, "OMG, how does anyone LIVE here for a year?! I couldn't do it. These rooms are so little, they're like a prison! Is this seriously where people live when they go to college?"

That's real funny because when we walked into the dorm room Bryson said, "Are you kidding me?! This is AWESOME! Look, there's two beds, a place to put your clothes...a desk! You could totally do homework there! And wait a minute, is that...yes!!! It's a little refrigerator/freezer! They thought of everything! This place is the bomb! There's even a sink to brush your teeth!! This place is amazing!"

It's the little things. What can i say, he's a simple guy... :)

Meanwhile...

the rest of us ventured to Safford to see Due West in concert and attend my cousin's baby shower.

Yes, this is how the Varney's roll when we travel...

(I think he just likes the smell of the seat-belt....) 

It's so fun seeing such a good friend doing something they love so much, so happy for Brad and Due West.

My kids are HUGE Due West fans and we're thrilled to see them in person and get autographs.

Got to see all my cousins at Christen's baby shower.