What we've been up to

As I've said before, I'm not too great at updating this, so I am again behind in my blog.

In October the kids had a few days off of school and we decided to hit the road and head for the Caribbean side of the country. There are far less visitors and hotels on the Caribbean side, probably because it rains alot more there. Although October and November are the rainiest months for most of the country, it's the best time to visit the Caribbean. After a 4 1/2 hour ride we enjoyed 3 days at a quiet hotel right on the beach with a few other families we know. We all had a great time, and enjoyed seeing a new area of the country. We passed many, many acres of banana fields and pineapple fields, many of which are sent to the US.

I went onto VRBO.com, a great web site to find vacation rentals, and found a wonderful house with a private pool and awesome views. Again we were able to spend time with some of our friends who were also visiting the area. The highlight of our visit was a night walk on the beach where we were able to see a Ridley sea turtle laying her eggs. The turtles are endangered, and are very well protected here so we had to go with a guard to see the turtle. It was a really need experience for us all.

This week we are getting ready to head home for the holiday's. In fact, Dustin and Zoey are already on their way to Arkansas, while the rest of us will fly Thursday. We will be in Missouri and Arkansas for a little over 2 weeks and we are looking forward to seeing all of our family and friends.

I think Dustin has all of the pictures with him, so maybe I can add them later.

Temple Trip

Yesterday we were able to go with Austin to the Temple for his first time. It was a wonderful experience for him and for Dustin and I as parents.

Dustin serves in the Young Men's program and we were both able to go with the YM/YW. Dustin did about 150 baptisms and 80% of them in Spanish, I was quite impressed!

Austin at the Temple
This is a picture of our ward youth group and the leaders.

This is our entire youth group except for 2.

Tag, I'm it!

My sister Vicky tagged me yesterday so here it is.

Here are the rules:
"MY UNSPECTACULAR QUIRKS"
1.Link to the person who tagged you
2.Mention the rules on your blog
3.Tell 6 unspectacular quirks about you
4.Tag 6 bloggers by linking to them
5.Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.
First of all don't expect the links, because I am not that computer literate!

When I first got this I thought, I can't think of any strange quirks that I have. But after brainstorming with the help of my hubby I have come up with a list to share with you all. (I'm pretty sure Dustin came up with most of these. Thanks honey!)

1. I am not an e-mailer. I much prefer a conversation on the phone or in person. When I want to discuss something I don't want it to take a few days, or even hours to make a decision or to hear back from someone. Along with this I'm not a huge fan of e-vites. To me they are very impersonal and how do save that it a scrapbook if you wanted to? No offense to anyone who loves e-vite, that's just me.

2. I love to read! The only problem is that when I am reading a good book I am lost to the world, just ask my family! My husband can't understand how I can be surrounded by 5 noisy kids and not hear a thing when I'm in the middle of a good book. It absolutely drives Dustin crazy!

3. When I am deep in thought or concentrating on something I bite my tongue. Not only that, but when I used to feed my babies I would open my mouth as I fed the baby (unknowingly). It took Dustin a long time to figure out why Austin wouldn't eat for him, he watched me feed him one day and pointed this out to me.

4. I don't know why, but I pass medial tasks, that I could do, to Dustin. It is something I just recently realized, but if, for example, we have a problem with the internet, I will ask Dustin to call them. I don't know why I do this, because I'm sure I have more time and I'm totally capable, I just do. I'm going to have to work on correcting this problem.

5. When I fold laundry everything has to be folded just so (a.k.a. my way). If Dustin volunteers to help I usually turn him down or I let him fold only his own clothes. Now the really strange part of this is that living in Costa Rica I have a maid who does almost all of the laundry and I don't care at all how she fold it (sometimes things are still inside out), I'm just glad I don't have to do it or watch how she fold it!

6. I'm always right! O.K. maybe not always, but at least 99.5% of the time! I can honestly say that I truly believe this when I am discussing something with my husband. In fact one time we were discussing the fact that I think I'm always right and I said "ok, maybe I'm not always right... but really I almost always am!" It made Dustin so mad!

So now I am tagging:
Christine, Kim, Tamara, Crystal, Wendy & Desaray
Have fun!

New York City

A few weeks ago Dustin and I were lucky enough to get away for 6 days with out the kids. I've always wanted to go to New York City and I finally got the chance. We absolutely loved the city! We saw all of the tourist sights and a couple Broadway shows. We absolutely loved Wicked, but weren't crazy about In the Heights. The weather was gorgeous and we walked miles and miles every day. We enjoyed eating American food, walking in Central Park, and of course being together!

The kids stayed in Costa Rica with the maid during the week (I felt a little guilty because she only speaks spanish), and then they went to a couple of my friends houses for the weekend. A Huge THANKS to my friends Jenny and Angela, we couldn't have gone without you both!

Company?

A few weeks ago I walked into our dining area and sitting on our window casing was a parakeet!

The parakeets are always around, sitting right outside our bathroom windows and making all kinds of racket starting at about 5 am.

I hurried to get a picture before he flew away, but apparently he had no plans for leaving. The girls went over to the window to visit and he pecked on the glass while they tapped from the inside. Zoey meanwhile was scared to death of it. We played with it (through the glass) for about 15 minutes, but then had to leave, and he was still there.

I guess it was just one of the amazing things you come across living in Costa Rica!

Independence Day

Some of you may remember our Christmas card last year featuring our "Tico" children (a Costa Rican is refered to as a Tico). Well, Independence Day for Central America is this coming Monday, September 15th, so today they celebrated at school. All of the children come dressed in their typical Costa Rican clothing. The girls get to wear beautiful skirts and blouses, which of course they love!! And the boys dress as caballeros (cowboys) with white shirts, hats and bandannas. Then they all parade around the school grounds carrying lanterns, sing the national anthem, dance and celebrate their independence from Spain. It's fun to see our children dressed up and enjoying this cultural experience.

Braden

ZoeyKayleeIsabellaAustin

All of our little Ticos

Blessings in Costa Rica

I just wanted to share some great news with everyone that we are really excited about.

You may not know it, but Braden has struggled with school pretty much from the beginning. When he was in 1st grade the school did some testing with him and said he had a learning/reading disorder. When I asked what the difference was between that and Dyslexia, they said "we don't like to put a label on the kids". So, he has gone to a reading specialist for about an hour a day during language arts since 1st grade.

When we were deciding to move to Costa Rica we were really concerned as to whether or not he could get the help he needed here. Well, we found a school that we thought would work and we moved here.

Last year the reading specialists worked with Braden, but they weren't having much success. They tried everything they knew to help him, but weren't very successful. They talked to us about getting him further testing to figure out the best way to help him learn. The problem has never been his willingness to learn because his teacher always say he is very attentive and eager to learn. So in May we started testing him and we finally received an actual diagnosis for Dyslexia.

I never knew you could be excited to have your child diagnosed with Dyslexia, but we are very excited. We have found a tutor who specializes in Dyslexia and will be using the Barton System with him. We are so excited about this program and everything it can do for Braden.

We really feel as though this has been the biggest blessing we could ever receive from moving here. I think that if we hadn't come here we never would have gotten a real diagnosis and Braden could have floundered for years.

So I guess...Thank-you Wal-Mart for sending us to Costa Rica!

Beach Boy Braden

Austin and his Prodigy

Last year Austin started band and has been learning to play the drums. Well, lately he has been trying to get Zoey to play too. He thinks she has a lot of potential since she can drum pretty fast. I think she had the potential to be a spoiled rock star, since she throws the sticks when she's done!

Here's a few pictures of Austin and Zoey "practicing". They have to use pillows since we live in an apartment and there's no room for real drums.

Concentrating very hard!

That's a wrap!

No Longer My Baby

Well, I can hardly believe it, but Zoey started preschool yesterday. People here seem to start sending their kids to school when they are only 1. Last year everyone kept asking me when I was going to send Zoey. I didn't really think I would send her, but the problem became that all of her sibling are in school, and so are all of the other kids her age. So in order for her to have any socialization we decided to put her in preschool 2 mornings a week. She was very excited to go and didn't care at all when I left her. When I picked her up they said she was very happy all morning and had a great time. I kind of wondered how she would do, since it is all in spanish, but so far, so good! So I guess she is now a "big girl", and not my baby!

Here she is with her Dora backpack, ready for school.

The Best Day of the Year???

Well, the day has finally come. Just when I thought I might tear my hair out, school started!!! The last week the kids have really been at each other, and I really think everyone needed a break from each other. While I love the fact that I can sleep in a little in the summer and we have no real schedule, I think everyone at our house needs to get back on a schedule.

As is our tradition, we always take pictures of the kids on the first day of school, so without further ado-

Isabella- 1st Grade

Kaylee- 4th Grade

Joe Cool, I mean Braden- 5th Grade

Austin- 7th Grade

Can you believe we have a 7th grader???

1 Year!

I'll keep this short, but I just thought I'd let everyone know that we have officially been "Costa Rican" for 1 year. It's hard to believe, the time has gone so fast. We are kind of feeling the pressure now to make sure we see everything here. I guess this means we will be vacationing a lot this year!!

I also wanted to post this picture. It is a beautiful tree that is right outside my dining room window. I have no idea what kind of tree it is, but I thought I would share it with everyone.

Summer Fun

Well, I guess it's about time I update this blogg! My sister Vicky has been on me for about a month asking when I'm going to make a new post. Well here it is.

We have had a very full summer. The first week of June my cousin Megan came for a 2 week visit. We went zip lining and to the beach and had lots of fun. She was also kind enough to watch the kids over night for our anniversary and we went to the most awesome place ever. It was called Peace Lodge, and that is the perfect name for it. If you ever come to Costa Rica you have to stay there for atleast one night. It's not a family place and is a very romantic place for couples.

Me on the balcony of our room at Peace Lodge

The week after school got out Megan and I took the kids to a beach resort for 4 days. Our friends the Belnaps and Andersons were also there for their last beach trip before moving back to the US. Everyone had a great time and we will miss our friends so much!

Braden in front of a big tree at the resort

The same day Megan left, our whole family flew back to Arkansas. Dustin was able to stay there with us for 2 weeks, unfortunately working most of that time, and the rest of us stayed for 6 weeks. We were able to see lots of friends and family. The kids had a lot of fun with my sister Vicky's kids. It was especially fun to see Zoey and Trista play (and fight) together. They are only 5 weeks apart so they are fun to watch.

Zoey and Trista in matching nightgowns

Austin and Kaylee also got to spend a few days with their best friends, Josh and Katherine Walker, before they moved to Hong Kong.

Isabella, Katherine and Kaylee

Austin and Josh

After Dustin went back to Costa Rica, Vicky and I loaded up the kids (all 9 of them) in our cars and headed to Kentucky to see our sister Rebecca and her family. It was a little crazy with 4 adult and 10 kids in a 3 bedroom house for 4 days, but we had fun. We all went to a water park together and had a blast. My kids and I also stopped by Churchill Downs for a picture and went to the Louisville Slugger Museum, where we got to see them make the bats and all got our own miniature bat to take home.

Zoey listening to the TV in the car

We made a quick stop at the Temple in St. Louis

Trista, Zoey and Jacob at the water park

The Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory

Isabella, Austin, Zoey, Braden and Kaylee in front of the big museum bat

On our way back the kids and I stopped at the St. Louis Arch for a photo op and then continued on to Grandma and Grandpa Lowe's for a visit. We spent a couple days with them and then returned to Arkansas.

Braden, Isabella, Kaylee, Zoey and Austin at the Arch

The St. Louis Arch

We went to Missouri to see my parents the next weekend and Austin and Braden got to go to a Springfield Cadinals game (the minor league). They had a great time with grandpa and Braden caught a hat they threw into the audience and Ausin caught a T-shirt. On Monday we sent Austin to Boy Scout camp for the week. It sounds like he had fun, although he came home with poison ivy and a million bug bites!

Zoey helping with brownies at Grandma's

(she had it all the way to her feet)

Braden and Austin at the game

Last Friday the kids and I flew back home to Dustin and Costa Rica. I am glad to no longer be living out of a suitcase and of course to be sleeping in my own bed. Now I am just counting down the days until school starts! (11 days, yeah!)

Happy Birthday Austin!!!

It's hard to believe it, but my first born is now 12!! He's also 5' 4 1/2", Crazy!! Lucky for me he is a pretty good boy. He still likes his mom enough to go out in public with me and he's not too embarased when I give him a hug in front of his friends. He's actually a very helpful young man, especially with Zoey. So, I just want to say,

Happy 12th Birthday Austin!!!

Austin, around 1 year old.

Helicopter Flight

This blog posting is from Dustin, Austin, and Braden.

On Saturday, May 10 (Zoeys 2nd Birthday) the three of us for the first time had the opportunity to fly in a helicopter! Our Bishop (David Patey) took us for a 1 ½ hour flight!

In Austin and Bradens words, IT WAS AWESOME!!! I totally agreed with them!

We took off from the Pavas airport (town that is part of the San Jose metro area) around 12:30 p.m. Austin was the co-pilot and Braden and I were in the back seats. From the tar-mac we lifted off the ground a few feet and moved to the middle of the runway. We then hovered about 10 feet off of the ground in the middle of the runway for a minute or so until we were cleared for takeoff. Once cleared for takeoff, he pointed the nose of the copter down a bit and accelerated quickly off the ground. It was very neat as the copter glass wrapped all around the pilot/co-pilot so you had a full few of the ground below as you were rising above it.

After takeoff we headed to the Northwest. We first flew over and around the San Jose, Costa Rica temple.

Then we headed West out toward the Pacific Ocean (normally a minimum 2 hour car ride) and we made it in 20 minutes! We flew between 2,000 – 3,000 feet at around 120miles per hour!

We all agreed that this is the best way to go to the beach from San Jose. You avoid all the curvy roads that climb up, down, and around all of the mountains between here and there and best of all your at the beach in 20 minutes!

Along the way to the beach, you normally go over a bridge called the ‘crocodile bridge’. We have posted pictures in the past that we have taken from the bridge. This time instead of being on the bridge we flew along the river bed up to the bridge and could see the crocodiles from the air and then continued on flying over the bridge and along the river bed. What was very funny was Austin said “Look at those people, they are taking pictures of us”. So, at the same time he took a picture of them!

From there within 2 minutes we were at the beach. We flew over a man net fishing with his boys in the Ocean.

Then, we flew along the beach where we saw a large flock of seagulls so we flew down and around them, cutting back and forth, up hard and then sideways and down. We all really loved this. We would fly along the coastline then out a bit over the water flying low and then taking off hard toward the sky, then cut down around sideways! This was awesome!

After playing for several minutes we headed South and flew along the coastline (flying over Punta Leona --- a resort we have stayed at a few times). Then onto the Jaco beach area and over Los Suenos (a Marriott Hotel/Resort).

From there we headed back to the East (back towards San Jose). Along the way, we flew by a waterfall that was spectacular. The waterfall was in a canyon so we were able to drop into the canyon and sit right in front and next to the waterfall. Before leaving we rose up, flew right above it where the water was flowing from and then back around to the front of it again.

After this we continued heading East back toward San Jose. There were some really strong storms moving in to the North of where we were flying as we saw some BIG lightning bolts (in a helicopter you definitely have to fly quickly away and around storms!) About 2/3 of the way back to San Jose we starting getting light rain.

We flew over many interesting things on the way back --- bridges to nowhere (long story but in short about 20 years ago a road was contracted to be built from San Jose to the Pacific coast and the only thing completed were the bridges…after the government/contractor dispute, 20 years later, they are now working on the roadways), water hydroelectric plant, Tu Ru Bari (place where our family had Ziplined a week and a half before, and then into Santa Ana (the town we first lived at when we moved to Costa Rica), and finally into Escazu (city we now live in) and around to the Pavas airport ---just in time before the storms started to move in!

It was a great day and all three of us had loved every minute of it! Hope you enjoyed this awesome adventure…

Happy Birthday Zoey!!

Yesterday was Zoey's 2nd birthay. It's hard to believe that our "baby" is now 2! We didn't do much since there's no family here, but she did enjoy her presents. Her favorite was a talking Dora phone that you can easily program to say her name. So when she pushes the buttons it says different phrases like "Hola Zoey, it's Dora! How are you? Como estas?" We did go over to our Bishops house and have cake and ice cream with them, but that was the extent of our celebrations.

Canopy Adventure

OK, So I've been meaning to do this blog for a week now, but Dustin has been out of town and things have been crazy here.

May 1st here is Labor Day and so of course there was no school or work for Dustin and the kids. We have talked about taking the kids on a canopy tour/zip lining for a while now and decided this would be the perfect day. We found out about a great place about an hour and 20 minutes from here called Turubari.

We left a little later than planned and so we didn't arrive until close to noon. Because Dustin has neck problems the plan was for the older kids and me to zip line while Dustin and Zoey hung out. Isabella and Kaylee were a little nervous, but also very excited. Because Isabella is lighter they had her go with a guide, and Kaylee also opted to ride with a guide. The girls were the first to go and went with smiles on their faces, and much to my surprise, no screams. The boys were also excited to go and had a great time.

Shortly after starting the clouds started to roll in. We were told you can still zip line in the the rain, but of course if it started thunder and lightening we would have to stop. Because the storm was coming they really rushed us through the course and I didn't really get to see Isabella and Kaylee do much because they were already gone by the time I got to the next line. Unfortunately the lightening started and we had to cut our tour short by a couple of lines but we did get to do the last line that was 700 meters long or close to half a mile.

We still had a great time and will definately be back (since we have a credit there now). Here are some pictures of our adventure.

The crew before the big adventure!!

Geared-up and getting our instructions.

First up, Isabella. Is that a nervous look??

Look at her go!

Next up, Miss Kaylee May!

You go girl!

The boys, getting ready for their turns.

Next up, Austin. He thinks he's a pro because it's his 2nd time zip lining!

Show Off!!

And here goes Braden!

Loving every minute!

Last, but not least, Angie.

Last one in, but we beat the storm!