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!

Trip to Miami

I'll start this off with a little background for any one who didn't already know. Right about the time Isabella turned 1 we started noticing that her right eye was turning in or "crossing". We took her to a Pediatric Ophthalmologist and she was diagnosed with Ambliopio and accommodative esotrophia. Most commonly referred to as a lazy eye. We started patching the good eye a few hours a day and when she was about 2 we tried glasses. Of course trying to get a 2 year old old to wear glasses is a near impossible feat! We also tried Atropine in her good eye to blur the vision and strengthen her other eye. All along we have known that there was a strong possibility that she would one day need surgery to correct the crossing in her eye. So we did everything we could to strengthen her eye on its own as much as possible and of course as she got older she got better at actually wearing her glasses.

Well... Last summer, about the end of July, I took Isabella for her regular check up and guess what her doctor said??? That's right, he said "It looks like Isabella's eyes have improved as much as they are going to and it is time to do the surgery". That would have been great except we were moving to Costa Rica in less than 2 weeks! So I talked to the doctor about the possibility of doing the surgery when we came home for Christmas, and that was the plan. Well Unfortunately Isabella's doctor got cancer last fall and was undergoing Chemo and was of course unable to do the surgery. He did however recommend that we go to Miami, to the Bascomb-Palmer Eye Institute. They are the #1 eye clinic in the world and he said his parents had taken him there when he was a child.

So in February Dustin and I decided that we would indeed take Isabella to Miami to have her eye surgery. Well, actually, Dustin stayed home to work and be with the other kids and i took Isabella to Miami. We flew out Tuesday April 15. She was scheduled to see the doctor and have a bunch of tests done on Wednesday and then have the surgery on Thursday. We went to the doctor as scheduled on Wednesday and the started doing the different tests on her eyes. After about 3 hours we saw the doctor, along with a "fellow" doctor from China, a 4th year resident and a couple other student doctors whose ranks I don't know. Isabella was a little hesitant about being looked at by all these people, but I explained it to her like this: Remember a couple of weeks ago when we went on a field trip at school to Zoo Ave to study the birds? Well instead of studying birds these guys are here to study you and your eye. She seemed to accept this and we continued with the testing. Well in the end all of the doctor's agreed that Isabella's eye had improved and that right now there was no need for surgery! There is still a possibility she could need it in the future, but right now, with the glasses, her eye is doing great. As a parent, of course this was a relief. On the way out of the clinic I asked Isabella if she was glad she didn't have to have surgery. She quite angrily replied: No, because that means we came all this way for nothing!

So we ended up staying in Miami until Friday and then went to Carley's for a few days, back to Miami and home on Wednesday. Of course I shopped like a mad woman after being out of the United States for 4 months. I think Isabella has had enough shopping to last her a good long time.

Thankfully everything went well at home. We were gone for Kaylee's Birthday, but friends of ours invited the family over and had a small party for her.

Here are a couple of pictures Isabella and I took at the beach in Florida.

Happy Birthday Kaylee!!

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday Kaylee! It's hard to believe Kaylee is 9 tomorrow! Even though Isabella and I (mom) can't be there we hope she has a marvelous and very happy Birthday!

Manuel Antonio

The Beach

Last weekend was a three day weekend and so we decided to head for the beach. We decided to go back to Manuel Antonio because it seems to be the favorite of everyone in the family. The beach is really big and the waves are perfect for bodyboarding without too much of an undertow.

Manuel Antonio is actually a national park, but we have never really been inside the park area. We had been told that it was a bit of a hike into the beaches in the park, but we decided to go for it this time. The hike actually turned out to be quite short and we were able to see monkeys on our way in and a sloth on the way out. The sloth was right next to the path and was just finishing climbing down this tree. I was literally 4-5 feet from the sloth when I took its picture. Unfortunately the kids didn't like the beach in the park as much as the one outside of the park. The waves weren't as good and the beach was much smaller and crowded.

We ended up having a great weekend. We rented a 3 bedroom condo from a guy who just happens to be from Calgary. There was a great pool and plenty of space for everyone. And the best part was we didn't even hit any really bad traffic all weekend!