Happy Halloween and Pura Vida

We celebrated Halloween in full-on Americana style tonight, in the Paseo del Sol neighborhood in Nosara. Paseo del Sol is a neighborhood of about 9 homes straight out of set design for ET. The residents there, most of whom go to school with Baker, Riley & Tae at Del Mar Academy were wonderful enough to host Trick or Treating for the night. The kids loved it. Baker was a bandit, Riley a bat, Tae a ghoulish monster, Tara a feathered-mask wearing wonder, and I was Batman wearing a blue bandana and carrying a lunchbox full of beer. We had a wonderful time. Thanks to all in Paseo del Sol. Conversation was diverse, ranging from water quality in Granada, Nicaragua to the advantages of the Bowflex (though we did not cover the use of the Bowflex in Nicaragua--perhaps next time). Scariest costume of the night: our fried Koz, dressed as a woman. Nightmares tonight for all women-loving men who saw him.

Had a great day yesterday (Thursday) motorbiking with my friend David up to a small beach called San Juanillo and, from there, up into the hills for a beer with a beautiful overlook of the Pacific. I was riding a borrowed Honda Tornado 250 (said just like a biker) and crashed only once (at low speed, Mom...I'm totally OK.) Every cliche that has ever been written about the freedom one feels on a motorcycle is entirely true...it is like flying, it is liberating, it is utterly different from experiencing a place by car, and on and on...Suffice it to say, it won't be my last ride! Just need to figure out how to drive across wobbly, narrow, suspension bridges hung across crocodile infested rivers and accessed via absurdly steep cement ramps.

Riley went for a horseback riding lesson the other day. Here are some photos of her and her friend Maya taking care of and riding Paloma, a beautiful white horse!

And in another "throw safety to the wind moment," we had some fun surfing and swimming in a lightning storm on Wednesday. Apparently, water and electricity in Costa Rica do mix and pose no hazard to those impacted by them simultaneously. This was, in any case, the presumed belief of about a half dozen college-educated parents, including yours truly, until an enormous multi-pronged bolt of lightning appeared above the roiling waves of the tropical Pacific followed within two seconds by a thundercrack louder than the raucous cheer we will hear after the Yanks win the Series. Above-mentioned adults grabbed children and surfboards and headed to drier places, nobody harmed.

Until next time, good night and good luck and pura vida....

Feeling Low, Flying High

Lots to share today...

1. I think they are not bedbugs, but rather just mosquitos that have a particular taste for my blood. Slept well last night. Thanks for all those who were concerned.

2. Every move overseas--this is my third and Tara's third--has its ups and downs. An almost predictable cycle of "I love this place," "I hate this place", "It's wonderful here," "It sucks here," etc. Yesterday, we hit a crescendo that had been growing for a few days of "It sucks here," an opinion put forth by all three of our wonderful children simultaneously. In unison, they all declared their desire to get home, and get home fast. Even Tae, who to this point has not spoken his opposition to our move--though of late has screamed non-verbally his opposition--said "yes" when asked if wanted to go back to his old pre-school. Suffice it to say, yesterday morning in particular was tough. Tara was extraordinary (as is her ordinary way) in helping the kids through the day. They are facing the challenges and opportunities of new friends, new ways of doing things, a new language, but are seeing and feeling only the challenges. Combined, this is all conspiring to make them wish they were in Alexandria, VA, at their old school, with familiar friends. We've got great kids and we know they'll make it through. Right now, they just need to know that they will make it through and could even enjoy this fantastic place.

3. We had a spectacular flight the other day in a gyrocopter. Check out this photo of Tara in the copter. And, if you've got a few minutes, this video and its second part and its third part that our friend David took during his flight. David and Tara both touched the face of God while airborn, literally coming to the ground with expressions of profound awe and wet eyes. While they were in the air, I had had a similarly profound experience with an top-notch plate of rice, beans and eggs at the soda across the street from the airport. But neither Tara nor David would listen to my praise of a simple gallo pinto con huevos.

Indeed, the flight was extraordinary. Tara and David each went south on their flights from Runway Alpha at Terminal 1 at the Nosara Airport. They saw the kids' school and the lovely homes on the hill in Playa Guiones and Pelada, including David's. They also skimmed low over the water--i can vouch that this is an experience straight from National Geographic, as I did the same. My journey (we each went for 20-25 minutes) took me north to Ostional--where female turtles arrive by the thousands each month to lay their eggs--and on to San Juanillo, a beautiful little beach with a dozen blue and red and white wooden fishing boats moored just offshore. Unfortunately, I did not have a camera with me. I also caught a glimpse of an 8-foot croc, basking in the sun on the banks of the Rio Nosara. Guido, our pilot, said that the crocs while clearly capable of damaging a person, are mostly quite shy and people do in fact swim in the Rio. (More on that later) Leaving the river behind, we zipped just twenty feet above the breakers in Ostional. Just above the whitewater smashing into rocks and the spray spouting upwards. The crystal blue and green water, changing into white was magnificent. Add to it the vision of twenty or more sea turtles headed toward the beach to lay their eggs and a real moment was created. (In the evening, and on the right nights, thousands of turtles come. At other times, it is more scattered landings, such as these twenty.)

The beaches here are set against a backdrop of beautiful green mountains rising upward, dotted with homes and full of monkeys, pizotes, exotic birds and other wildlife. For Tara, the beauty of the flight literally brought tears to her eyes. She commented that in the hustle-bustle of running to a rundown grocery store, driving over rutted dirt roads, chasing stray dogs out of the house, fighting mosquitos, seeing too much trash on the sides of roads, one can forget the natural wonder in which we are living. She and David and I were all reminded of the incredible beauty of this place and our good fortune to be here to enjoy it.

Beautiful Playa Guiones

Rocks on the northwest edge of Guiones

Del Mar Academy - the kids' school - as scene from several hundred feet

Fearless Dave about to take off in the Gyrocopter

Can't help but think of paving paradise--and thinking about the many, many paradises that have been destroyed through our development...Costa Rica has generally done an admirable job of avoiding this, though the financial pressure to develop is extraordinary. I recently began reading The Quetzal and Macaw, by David Rains Wallace, which discusses the history of Costa Rica's world famous national park system and how that system stopped the pillage of Costa Rica's forests (which had declined from something like 75% of national coverage to 25% in the first 50 years of the century.)

The last bit on our flight: David and I are now signed up to learn to fly one of these babies. If you come visit us after Christmas, I expect to be able to take you up for a ride. (Grab a good life insurance policy before you come down...)

Pura vida...

1:42 a.m.

I think we have bedbugs.


Or at least my half of my bed, and the whole of any other bed I might climb into to find respite, has bed bugs.


It is 1:42 a.m. I am bathed in Caladryl (the pink stuff) and sitting up while the family sleeps on.


Tae passed out at 7, only to awake again at 9:45 to interrupt my viewing of "America's Most Smartest Model." For my own health, it was probably good to be interrupted from such a show, but at the time, I was bitter.


He went back to bed and I climbed into bed as Tara got off Skype.


And, I began to scratch. I think it was my hand first, then my right big toe. Then my cheek. (on my face) And, I don't know where it went next, but eventually the caladryl came out, as it has every night for the past three or four.


Then, Tae woke up (about 12:30) and, since I was sort of awake, scratching. I dealt with him. He went back to sleep (again) and I poured more of the pink stuff on me and then took this photo.


And wrote this blog.


Hope all are sleeping peacefully in the rest of the world.


More tomorrow on an exciting flight...


Pura (scratch, scratch, yawn) vida...

Parenting at the Rodeo

A question for parents out there, a hypothetical: You are at a rodeo in a small lesser developed country. The rodeo ring is simply a small circle of dirt enclosed by a rickety looking fence made of bamboo and other woods, haphazardly nailed together and sometimes tied with thin rope. The bulls are large and horned. Here's the question: Do you allow your ten year and eight year old children to balance themselves on the rickety fence while holding a Fanta in one hand and while the aforementioned horned bull is charging at the fence, having already thrown its rider?

The answer seems obvious. No, right? In the States or Canada, Child Welfare would lock you up for any decision other than no. Might even lock you up for letting your kid drink Fanta from a glass bottle while balanced on said rickety fence, with or without the charging bovine.

But move your parenting brain to another place--a place where you've said, "Heck kids, don't wear a seat belt--it's too uncomfortable!"; a place where you've said to your ten year old, "I don't want you taking this 500 pound ATV faster than 25 mph over these potholes and ditches."; a place where you've said, "He's 3! Of course he can slide down this 500 meter long wire suspended hundreds of feet above the ground. He's gotta grow up some day!"; and a place where you've said, "Can't these undernourished horses run a bit faster for my un-helmeted eight year old?"

In that place, the answer is actually equally obvious. What the hell! Go for it! Just don't fall in to the ring and, if you do, don't worry about your Fanta, just get out.

For parents who think we've lost our mind, please know that we did draw a line at actually kicking the raging bull. When our friends' son Tom socked a big-horned Brahmin bull on the back with his foot, all four parents agreed that this was a step too far. He was promptly put back on the rickety fence and asked to be more gentle with the bulls.

And, Riley and Tae did not sit on the fence. (But, to be honest, they didn't ask.)

So, there we were at the Esperanza del Sur Rodeo, this Saturday. What an event! You can get some sense of it in this short video below (16 seconds) and an even better sense of it in this longer video made by our friend Koz. (My video camera died about 3 minutes into the event...)

We did not see the famed MalaCrianza, who may have come back the second day of the Rodeo (Sunday, which we missed), but the bulls we saw were impressive in their own right. Furthermore, the bravery/foolishness (often closely linked, particularly after a few beers) of the rodeo "clowns" was particularly entertaining. These barechested, beer-drinking ticos ran around the ring taunting the bulls in an effort to get them away from the fallen rider and back into the stable. They waved their t-shirts at them, danced in front of them, ran from them, sliding under the fence as they did so, more than once having their backside or whatever went last through the fence nearly gored. One time, they even gave a bull a beer--in its mouth or up its nose I couldn't quite tell. Suffice it to say this was not a PETA-approved event.

An ambulance stood at the ready, just outside the fence. But fortunately it was never called upon during the 3 and a half hour event. There were pork shish-kebabs, cold beer, Fanta, and every ten or fifteen minutes the opportunity to see whether a bull would maim or kill a rider or clown. A real family event. (Honestly, human nature is an interesting thing: I think I speak for more than myself judging by the sounds of the crowd when I write that the emost exciting parts of the event were when the bull was on the loose and there was a real possibility of someone getting hurt. Of course, neither I nor anyone else wanted anyone to actually get hurt, but the near misses were terrifically exciting.)

In other news, we have a dog! (Tara doesn't know so, shhhh!) His name is currently Henrietta Jr. He has posted himself in our yard now since Friday, sleeping on a lounge chair and hanging by the door all day. He is not allowed in the house. But he seems very much to have adopted us. He is a beaten up looking guy, but very tranquilo. See this video of him.

Futbol, Surfing and Rodeo

That last post was an overdone attempt to dispel the notion that this place is paradise. Forget it. This place is paradise. I say that despite the fact that I have a stuffy head more common to a February in New England, Tara has a peach-sized addition to her forehead, Tae screams more than ever, and Baker and Riley...well they are doing great...The 3 Great S's abound in plenty: Surf, Sand, Sun.



First up in the news...it is hard for anyone not here to comprehend the sadness on Wednesday night when, with 20 seconds to go, the US National team scored a goal against the Costa Rica National team, thus tying the game and all but ending the Ticos' hopes of making it to the World Cup this summer. We were watching the game at a beach bar here called Olga's with another expat family and about half a dozen Ticos. The Costa Ricans played a strong first 25 minutes, going up 2-0 but from there on it was all the U.S. Still the Ticos held on...until the 95th minute of play when the US tied the game on a corner kick. Those out of the World Cup loop need to know that the US had already qualified for the Cup but Costa Rica needed to win this game. Hence, while still a loyal Yankee, I was rooting for the Ticos so that they could be in the cup. The only good news out of this is that the one remaining chance the Ticos have is to beat Uruguay in a 2-game series (best of 2? I don't get it either)--one game is in San Jose on 11/14 and I am hoping to make it to that game.



In a desperate bid to move out of my 4th place position in the Casagrande Family Surfers Ranking (behind Tara, Baker & Riley), I took my second surfing lesson on Thursday, at 6 a.m. Rode some sweet waves and, briefly toyed with 3rd or 2nd place in the ranking. After lessons for Tara yesterday and for Baker and Riley today, I am sure to be back in 4th. Thank you Tae for showing no interest in the sport yet. Check out this vid of the whole family surfing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbGYC5Kyq9U



Being the surfers we are, we have also suffered our first surfing injury. Yesterday Tara (who is really #1 in the family now) took a big wave, or should I say it took her, flew her off the board, flipped her board up in the air and landed it right on her forehead. Fortunately, she is totally fine but has a big lump (which we imagine will turn all sorts of interesting colors) on the left side of her forehead. You can see some real video of Tara surfing at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i14hA0z_yw&feature=related. Different from the video posted the other day, this was made by a friend and you will see two of Tara's friends also surfing in it...Tara appears first (surfing) at about 1:10 in the video..



Hopefully, we will all survive today. At 3 p.m. we are off to our first Costa Rican rodeo, just a couple miles from where we live. When we were in Tamarindo last weekend, taking a boat cruise, our guide asked us if we knew about MalaCrianza, one of the most famous bulls in Costa Rica, and the "home" bull for Nosara and surrounding areas. MalaCrianza translates more or less to Bad to the Bone, as George Thorogood described it. I googled MalaCrianza and came up with this video. This could be us in just a few hours...(unlike the surfing video, this really is the bull we will see today...)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRY4J8TT9hw



That's all for now. Let me leave you with a photo of Riley and her friend Javid in school...



Pura Vida.

Daily Life, Tamarindo, Venga Costa Rica

Greetings all, after a bit of a blogging break!

A new friend of ours here suggested that, "Bloody hell, people back home don't want to keep reading about Costa Rican adventures. The blog makes everything seem so rosy. Tell them the way it really is."

So, herewith is a look into the more mundane aspects of life in Nosara, Costa Rica.

We need to pay rent each month and currently need to pay a down payment on our rental house post-12/15. In order to achieve this I have to either take money out of an ATM, in large sums daily, beginning a full week in advance of rent payment (or even longer when putting down first and last months rent + security deposit) and then hide these funds in our safe. Or, I have to somehow manage to set our Bank of America account up for wiring capability remotely. I just spent 45 minutes on the (skype) phone with a host of BofA folks trying to accomplish this...and failed.

We shop for groceries at the Super Nosara, which is no Whole Foods (or Safeway), though you can get a gallon of mango pulp, a soccer ball, and fingerpaints all in one stop.

We do dishes. (Thankfully the house we are in until 12/15 has a dishwasher. We joke that the post 12/15 house has two dishwashers, one named Baker, one named Riley...it has no machine dishwasher, unfortunately. And the two dishwashers of which I speak make a strange whining sound.)

We beg the kids to do homework, clear their places, go to bed, etc...

Once the kids began school (10/1), we also began to settle into some daily routine, which has me writing several hours a day...my work in lieu of CarrotSeed. A screenplay is shaping up into a share-able draft.

And, like many DC-area folks who go to Bethany for a long weekend, we also went away for this past long weekend. Yesterday was "World Culture Day" in Costa Rica. Costa Ricans, and many Latin Americans (particularly those with substantial populations of pre-Columbus natives--most of Central America + the Andes countries, for example) are a bit uncomfortable celebrating the arrival of Columbus because, with his arrival, began the slaughter of millions of Aztec, Maya, Inca and other indios. In the US, where that slaughter was more or less completed, there are not enough natives left to protest the celebration of Columbus' arrival. Down here, where most people trace their roots to both Spanish and Indian roots, it is a bit more troublesome. World Culture Day is a way around that complexity. In other countries, it is called Dia de la Raza--celebrating this day as the birth of a great new race of people of both Spanish and American heritage. A way of uniting, rather than dividing. Nice, I think.

Hope you enjoyed the tangent...So, on this long weekend, we packed up and went to Tamarindo, a hotspot for tourists visiting Costa Rica, that is only 30 miles away as the bird flies but which, during the wet season, requires a 60 or so mile drive. The roads that follow the 30 mile path are just too washed out to cross.

A fun weekend in Tamarindo, where we took a 2-hour boat ride up an estuary and saw numerous blue herons, small crocodiles, a KingFisher, and numerous other birds. Swam in the tiny waves of Tamarindo beach, a change from Nosara's monster waves. Went to a place that billed itself as an animal rescue operation but upon closer inspection seemed, unfortunately, to be a low-end, unregulated zoo. It was home to one of the most beautiful cats we had ever seen--an ocelot as well as to some beautiful toucans, spider monkeys, a peccary and more.

Tara on the beach in Tamarindo

Baker burying Tae in the Tamarindo sand.

See the Ocelot in this video...

On the way home, we stopped at the Maxi-Bodega, a super-store in Nicoya, where we loaded up on a few essentials. We grabbed lunch at the Pollo Rico Rico, whose pollo was indeed rico, though perhaps not rico, rico. The kids played in the park in Nicoya and we grabbed an icecream while Tae and Riley too rode on one a little mechanical donkey...

Tae on the Donkey...

Riley on the Donkey...

So, you see: Life here is quite different:

• roads are not paved.
• the beach is right down the street
• everybody surfs
• the food is different--rice and beans each and every day
• the weather is hot, hot, hot

And: Life here is very much the same (seems like a school assignment...name 5 ways life is similar and different...)

• we get up
• get kids to school
• work
• pay some bills
• get some groceries
• clean stuff up
• pick kids up
• eat dinner
• get kids to bed
• go away for the weekend
• ride mechanical donkeys...

Same or different though, I must say it is all pura vida!

PS. 2 futbol notes: a. The Costa Rica Under 20 team is in the Semi-finals of the Under 20 World cup. Game starts any minute against Brazil. If they win, they go to the finals. Please root for them!

b. The Costa Rica national team (not the under 20s) plays the US National Team tomorrow in DC. Go to the game if you can. Watch it if you can't. And...root for Costa Rica. I know, unpatriotic, but here's the deal. If Costa Rica wins, they make the World Cup. If they lose, they probably will not. The US has already qualified for the World Cup, win or lose tomorrow. So, pull for the ticos and then root for the US should the two teams meet in the actual cup. Gracias!

Help in Samoa, por favor. (& check out the surfer girl!)

Buenos dias, todo el mundo!

What's new? For us:

First, please check out my brother Greg's blog at http://www.microdreams.org/blog/. As many of you know, Greg has been doing extraordinary work over the past nine years assisting the poor of Samoa, in the South Pacific. That island nation was just devastated with an 8.0 earthquake followed by a Tsunami. Greg's organizations, Microdreams and SPBD, are the organization leading the relief effort in Samoa. I urge you to read Greg's blog to understand the magnitude of the problem and to make a donation at http://www.microdreams.org/help.html. Thanks so much.

Here in Costa Rica, an iguana just tried to enter the house. Just another day. Tara shooed him away.

The kids are enjoying school. Here is Riley working with some friends on short vowel sounds.




And, here are two baby goats just born at the school. Not so far from the kids experience at Burgundy Farm...

And, in huge news, a Surfer Queen is born. Tara had her first lesson and ride today. She totally hung 10, dude. Totally. She's rad. Check out this vid. It is impossible on video to capture the extreme size of the waves she was riding.

That's all for now...

Pura Vida.

Invasion!!!

If I were to post a photo for this entry--unfortunately, I had no camera--I don't know if it would be of Baker, Riley & Tara standing on top of the kitchen counter, of me wielding BBQ tongs like a Samurai, of the racoon just feet from our porch door, or of the culprit who really caused the excitement...

Chess is an utterly absorbing game. Last night, about 8 p.m., found Baker and I in a tight duel (which he ultimately won...), with Riley intently watching and suggesting moves to her hapless father. Tae was fast asleep in bed after a full day of swimming and playing with newfound friends. Tara was in bed, awake, reading or facebooking.

Our backyard, while well mowed, is surrounded by "dry rainforest." Have not quite figured out what that means...similar to "Super Mini" I guess. (Referenced in an earlier blog). And inside that dry rainforest is a wealth of critters. You, faithful reader, have heard about Peter the Pizote and the iguana, who we have discovered actually lives upon our roof. There are howler monkeys, that we hear nearly everyday though do not so often see in our backyard. There are stray dogs, including Henrietta who we first met in our kitchen, when she roamed in and plopped down for a rest on a hot day at the kids' feet.

And there is a racoon as well. While back in the States and Canada, I have rarely seen a racoon during the day, here one little guy is a regular visitor. He (or she...haven't looked that closely) seems to get a bit braver each day. First his visits were limited to the grassy part of the yard and then he ventured on to the deck beside the pool. The other day, he came within feet of our open back doors, resting himself under the shade of a lounge chair. And, Tara tells me, this weekend he actually entered the house. He ran away quickly when Tara clapped loudly at him.

And so it was, with these experiences under our belt, that Baker and Riley and I found ourselves absorbed in the chess match last night. Baker had me in a particularly tough spot--one of my bishops was going to die for sure, it was just a matter of which one. While I was puzzling over this, facing away from our back door, Baker who was facing towards the back door, said, "Dad! Raccoon!"

I quickly jumped up, spun around and...stopped dead in my tracks. There on the living room floor in front of me, about 4 feet away, was a snake.

Now, he was not a King Cobra with that hooded head. Nor was he a rattler. Nor was he particularly enormous. BUT he was not a common black snake or garter snake. He was not a snake that I could immediately identify as either venomous or not. He was a full three feet long. His head was up off the ground staring at me. And he was, as I said, in my living room!

And, did I mention, snakes scare the heck out of me. Give me a spider any day. Or a plane to jump out of. Or a roller coaster to ride. Or something funky to eat or drink. I'll take it. I'd rather pass on a snake.

My first reaction therefore was, in a parrot of Baker, to say "Tara! Snake!"

My very brave wife rushed out of the bedroom, took one look at the snake and jumped on the kitchen counter, feet first. Baker and Riley soon followed and I found myself, Harry Potter-like, alone with the serpent.

I moved to the kitchen and found a pair of BBQ tongs (and a BBQ fork and flipper, for good measure) and approached the beast. He was four or five feet from the sliding door that leads outside, just about centered at the door. My first plan was to use the tongs to actually pick him up, below his head so that he could not get around to bite me. As I got closer to him, and he continued to unblinkingly stare me down, that idea seemed a bit too bold.

Instead, I banged the tongs and the flipper loudly on the floor in front of him. At first, he did not react, but after a few bangings he moved--and quickly! My fear suddenly became that I would not scare him out the door but rather would scare him under a table or chair, where he would simply lie in wait, holding off his attack until my precious family and I were asleep.

So, I skedaddled around to the edge of the door towards which he was moving and banged the floor in front of him, sending him retreating thankfully for the center of the door. A few more bangs and he was outside. I slid the doors shut and looked out through their glass panels.

He was resting right up against the door. He was a very thin snake and I noticed that below one portion of our door, there was about a one inch gap between floor and door bottom. It was against this portion of the door that the snake was resting. I got down on hands and knees and soon saw that he was reattempting an entry, or so it appeared--I cannot be entirely sure of his intentions. I poked and prodded him with my tongs and soon enough he slid away.

Tara, Baker and Riley climbed down from the kitchen counter and, lo and behold, I was a hero of sorts! It is not often that today's modern dad, with all the comforts and safety of home, gets to defend his family from a wild animal that is threatening the entire family (or that is imagined to be threatening the family by some overly active imaginations.) It was a fun and exciting moment. (Ended all too soon by me losing my bishop, and shortly thereafter the game to Baker.)

Unfortunately, we did not have a camera handy so there are no images to support this story. Readers of the Life of Pi may question whether it is really true (but isn't it always better to accept the interesting story?) I do not know the type of snake. A woman at the kids' school this morning suggested that it might have been, gasp!, a young boa constrictor! I google imaged boa constrictors and found this image of young boas and, indeed, he did look a bit like this. I can't confirm it was a boa, but it might have been.

Stay tune, readers, for our next adventure...

Pura Vida!

First Day of School

Though there is not a Staples store within three or four (or more) countries of here, our sentiments were very much with the Staples Most Wonderful Time Commercial today. Call the folks at Guinness (I am thinking the World Record people, not the beer people, but you could call them too), because we have just survived the world's longest summer break. Begun June 5th 2009, this break lasted a record 10,195,200 seconds. (Go ask your 5th grader to figure out how many days that is...a good math project).

We love Baker, Riley and Tae. And as far as we can tell, they love us. But after that much time together, particularly the last 17 days, since our arrival in CR where we knew no other kids with whom the kids could play and where the TV broadcast nothing of interest in english (though they have watched iCarly in Spanish), we were all going a little batty. Perhaps, to be fair, me the most.

After a bumpy ride to school, (see video), Baker and Tae each had a great day. Tae's teachers are Ms. Aidi, Mr. Joey, and Ms. Carolina. Baker has Ms. Paige. (The school's custom is to use teacher's first names with the Mr/Ms. title attached. Baker made a friend even before class started--a Canadian boy who is also new to the school. Tae grabbed Mr. Joey's hand and walked happily off to class.

Riley had a rougher day of it. Unfortunately, her tough day began about five hours before school, at 3 a.m. when she awoke with an earache, which I consider to be the most painful of all common childhood maladies. She had a poor night's sleep and arose early, by shortly after six. She shuffled off with half of her new classmates when 8:15 rolled around. As it turns out, the other half of her classmates have school in just the afternoon this week, while Riley has it in just the morning. Furthermore, the other kids in the morning session are mostly younger because...well too much detail. Suffice it to say they are younger. So, many of the kids who ultimately will become Riley's friends are not yet known to her. Neither Baker nor Tae have this situation.

So, when we picked Riley up after her half day, the poor kid was melted. It was 90+ degrees, her ear hurt, she had not drunk much water, and she was tired. We got her home and Tara managed to get her into her air-conditioned bedroom and down for a nap. She felt much better after that and we took her off to the doctor who prescribed some medicine for her ear, which she said is indeed infected. She was in bed by 7:30 tonight and we are hoping for the best for tomorrow.

In other news, test drove an ATV today, continued looking for housing post-12/15, and learned that I can play soccer on Monday nights in CR...woo-hoo! Tara is doing well, getting excited about a month-long yoga intensive that she plans to take at the Nosara Yoga Institute.

Pura Vida!

PS Riley just woke up as I went to publish this...ear hurts and she has a fever. She'll be home from school tomorrow...