Pura Vida (life is good)

almost 3 weeks now and we've settled into life in CR......kid's are on track with schoolwork and I'm learning to "be" and not "do" which is hard for someone like myself!  Surfing was fun!!  except Landon has had to take a week out of the sun to recover from his sunburned lips, poor kid.....they blistered and now the blisters are drying up so let's just say he's not too kissable at the moment.

It should read 200mt straight up a very steep hill

The GUMBO LIMBO tree

Tianna & I walked down to the soccer field (below our house) and showed the CR boys how the Canadian girls play....we rocked!  well actually we didn't score at all but they were impressed by our talent I'm sure!  I did place a nice high shot to the far right corner of the net which hit the cross bar and then went in (the goalie didn't have a chance).   Unfortunately this was after the game was over and we were all just taking turns shooting.  Oh well, I feel I've redeemed myself and all the Canadian women soccer players.  On the walk home, in the dark, up the hill Tianna & I saw what appeared to be someone with a torch in the forest when all of a sudden the torch was floating and heading straight towards us.....it was the biggest firefly I've ever seen and we're not exaggerating when we say it was like a big ball of fire flying by.  It went right over us and disappeared into the jungle on the other side of the road.  Spectacular!!  On the way down we saw the family of monkeys in the trees above us and the firefly on the way up,  add soccer and ice cream.....what a great mother/daughter date!

We all went snorkeling yesterday (Landon will share this experience in his own post).

After spending the morning snorkeling JC and I took the bus to Cabano up and through a very windy and of course dusty road.  Then another bus to Montezuma where JC had a swim and we just walked around.  At the right place at the right time and we got to share a taxi ride back to Santa Teresa with 2 guys from the States (Boston area) who just arrived here to surf.

Last Sunday we walked along the beach to Rocamar beachside restaurant and the spot where the locals go to hang out with their families on Sundays.  Tianna impressed everyone with her famous head stands (the owner went first, he's pretty strong doing all kinds of core strength moves while standing on his hands).  Landon played a his guitar for a bit and got a tatoo of a turtle, Tianna's tatoo was of a frog and the artist was Cocoa from Nova Scotia.  After the sun went down they set up an outdoor movie screen (a white sheet) and all the kids got to enjoy watching Astro Boy.  Thankfully Michele was there too so we all piled into the back of his truck for the ride home in the dark up our steep, dusty road....I wonder if I will ever get used to this?!!?

Tianna LOVES her tatoo!

Cocoa, the tattoo artist is from Nova Scotia

Tianna & Dad performing at the beachside family picnic

Great balance Tianna!

Landon's turtle tatoo

This morning we had a war with an army of ants!  Our latest challenge is how to keep the ants from getting into our food.  Tianna and I spent the morning removing and then cleaning an area that an army of ants had taken over in our house, under the fridge......in line across the floor.....up the wall.....onto the table where our food is......and oh look someone forgot to close the bag of peanuts!!!!

Good learning lesson for the kids except that Landon took off (wimp!) and Luis slept while Tianna & I scrubbed the area clean.  We officially HATE ants!!  I keep telling myself it could be worse..mice or cockroaches would send me home!
The family meeting went something like this.....YOU HAVE TO CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELVES, NOT LEAVE FOOD AROUND ANYWHERE, WASH YOUR DISHES RIGHT AWAY.......hope they got the message:-)

Oh yes, ant's are plentiful....but at least we've only seen ONE of these!!

SCORPION!!!!!!!!

This was on our back wall next to the outdoor shower,  JC managed to catch it in a cereal box and threw it back into the jungle where it belongs!
I was fine until today during my skype call with Dave & Deb Poggemoeller when he told me "there's never just one"   SAY WHAT?!?!?   thanks alot Dave!

The "STICK BUG"

Three new bugs today, ones we have yet to see.  The first one JC thought was a stick on the counter so he grabbed it and then it moved in his hand.  Even he jumped!!  It was the most interesting insect, looks identical to a twig.  The body, the legs, the head, the antenna’s all look like twigs joined together.  Landon let it walk all over him, even his head and his face!    Introducing ……The ‘stick bug’

Then when I took the towels in from hanging outside to dry, out popped a little white spider................  A WHITE spider, have you ever heard of such a thing?!?  It looked very dangerous…..well at least in my opinion which has likely been tainted by seeing so many different types of insects in such a short time.  No pictures though, no time messing with something so suspicious.

Lastly, but equally interesting is the “Leaf bug” which Landon claimed as yet another pet.  He let it crawl on him and 'Leaf Garrett' liked drinking the water off his stomach!!  My brother Terry was nicknamed ‘nature boy’ when we were kids and I think Landon has inherited this fascination and attraction to insects and animals from his Uncle Terry.

  

The "LEAF BUG"