Merry Christmas!

We awoke bright and early for presents. Keagan was awake at 0600, but held off coming downstairs until 0700. Wes misses the wonder and excitement that came with Santa's anticipated arrival, so he asked the boys to run downstairs and jump on the bed like they did ten years ago. Keagan didn't disappoint.

 Santa's present this year was the PS4, and the grandparents sent a few games to go with it.

 

 

 

 

 

After church, we will have a traditional meal with ham, watch some football, and play in the spring like weather.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Christmas is supposed to be a time of family, food, and quality time together. This year we get to throw in a homicide investigation. Nothing says ho, ho, ho like a crime scene. Three more years. Three more years I keep telling myself and this will no longer be our norm.

We began with Christmas tree sugar cookies. I bake. Keagan decorates. Evan eats. It's a tradition ten or more years strong.

 

Christmas Eve Service. This year's sermon was the best I've heard given on Christmas Eve. I hope we get to hear part 2 tomorrow. 

 

Christmas lights.

 

And of course a present or two. This year's big hit was VR headsets. We rode roller coasters in our living room. So much fun!

Now we await Santa! Merry Christmas Eve!

Farewell Costa Rica

Now vemos, Costa Rica. We will forever have fond memories of beautiful beaches, big waves, sangria, wildlife, wonderful people, stunning sunsets, Tico Sours, and Keagan's favorite, fresh pineapple.

 

 

 

 

 

Final Day in Paradise

Keagan singing in the shower:

 "La Pura Vida....Si....Bueno...these are all the Spanish words I know." He's had his fair share of sleep this week, but when he isn't sleeping, he's keeping us in stitches. 

The waves at the beach this morning were huge! We spent the morning boogey boarding and jumping waves.

 

 

 

We spent the afternoon at the pool with an iguana and a macaw. 

 

We are sun-kissed, relaxed, and out of money. I guess that means it's time to return home. But first, one more meal fresh from the sea.

Adventure of a Lifetime

Today's adventure took us white water rafting down the Savegre River. The scenery was stunning. 

The water was a gorgeous clear green reflecting the colors of the trees from Manuel Antonio Park.

 

We took class 2 and 3 rapids down the river to a waterfall. 

 

Keagan was in his element. 

It was thrilling and not anything we will likely forget any time soon.  In fact, we saw the bus awaiting us at the end of the trip and we all groaned. We could have stayed for hours more. 

 

We have mastered living La Pura Vida!

Nature Hike

Our morning was spent in Manuel Antonio Nature Preserve. We hired a naturalist to help us locate animals and to explain the significance of what we saw. 

 

Otherwise, it's just a park with a bunch of trees to us.

 

We saw several sloths, monkeys, raccoons, insects, and lizards. All of the raccoons we saw wore collars. Biologists are studying their behaviors because in the last three years the animals have become non-nocturnal. Surely humans are responsible for the change in behavior. Interestingly, there was not one mosquito. One species of bats can eat up to 1,000 a night!

 

 

 

We ended our hike at the beaches. My favorite was Las Gemelas. 

 

But we also visited the south side beach where there were beautiful trees with low lying branches and monkeys. The boys were done at this point and needed naps, as evident in Evan's expression. Late night FaceTime dates with the girlfriend make 6:30 wake ups hard and hiking even harder. 

 

 

We bribed the boys with a promise of food for this last shot.

While waiting for dinner at a local restaurant, the boys were laughing about an inside joke they had from many moons back at after school daycare. Keagan mentioned that one boy carried his Playboy with him. Before he could finish his sentence, Wes and I stopped him. Which kid has a nudie magazine at a Christian based daycare? It appears Keagan meant gameboy instead of playboy. Just a minor mixup, but it created a lot of laughs!

La Pura Vida Take 3

I woke up today to monkeys scampering across our roof. I can't tell you how much better that is than waking up to construction crews. Our adventure today took us to the waterfall Santa Juana. 

 

However, we can't just hike up to waterfalls with the boys and expect them to have any fun. So we took ATVs up the mountain, across the river, and through the mud. 

 

 

We came back filthy! However, both boys got to drive through the "playground" kicking up mud and spraying water in all directions. They will remember this adventure forever! I will remember clutching Evan's waist yelling "slow down" and "hug the high side." To be the mom of boys is not for the faint of heart. 

We came back to the resort for a quick dip in the pool and squirrel monkeys joined us. This is the third species we have heard; the second we have seen.

 

La Pura Vida

We woke up this morning to monkeys squawking and looked out our windows to see this.

 

After watching monkeys for hours, we hit the beach for a couple of hours. 

 

We took a hike to the water and at the end of the trail, we found a two toe sloth. The boys went kayaking and I soaked up the sun!

 

 

We had dinner in a plane shot down in Nicaragua during the Iran-Contra Scandal, or something like that. I'm not much for details when choosing restaurants. I stopped listening at killer sangrias. The sunset from our table was stunning, though.

 

 

Day two in Manuel Antonio has been perfect!

Repeat Trip

Some places are so beautiful, so perfect, you have to return. We are kicking off our Christmas week vacation in Costa Rica.

 

Top: Arenal, Costa Rica April 2008

Bottom: Quepos, Costa Rica December 2016

Day one was spent with a traditional breakfast of tamales and beans and rice (Wes was in heaven) and then a cross country van ride. We made a quick stop at a Crocodile Sanctionary; if watching from afar wasn't disturbing enough, a Tico tried to scare me by coming up behind me with a toy crocodile tickling my legs. That wasn't very funny, to me anyway. The boys got a big kick out of my screams of terror.

 

Our resort is beautiful with a breathtaking view. I could get used to this.

 

8th Grade Night

Last night the eighth graders were recognized at their last home game of the regular season. 

Look at the attitude! Love it! L-O-V-E it!

 

Wes and I escorted Evan on the court. By the looks on our faces we are one step from torture. I have no idea why we look so shell shocked. 

 

Meanwhile, Keagan was living it up in the stands. Coach found him sitting with a gaggle of girls - eighth grade girls at that - and all eyes were on him. Coach asked him what he was doing with girls two years older, and Keagan replied, "That's what I do, Coach." 

When I asked him about it, he said, "Those older girls love me, Mom."

We won the basketball game by a landslide. Evan had an amazing spin move under the basket that almost made me pee my pants. It was that good!

Don't Ask to Open an Early Christmas Present Again

Every year.

Every year Keagan asks to open an early Christmas gift. I always say no, and he still asks. Today he asked me again and I acquiesced. 

While he napped today, I wrapped a very important "gift" for our Christmas trip to Costa Rica. Keagan was hoping to open a set of clues that would lead him to a PS4 game system.

He opened Bonine, his air sickness medication, instead.
I think I've solved the problem of his asking to open an early Christmas present. 

First Love

"Mom, Evan has never had a girl over."

"Yes, he has. Campbell used to come over when he was five to play Ben10."

"Mom, this is serious."

 

I guess so. Look at that smile!

Saint Nicholas Day

Some traditions are just too perfect to break. Fourteen years later and St. Nicholas still visits my American boys on December 6.

 

Today's big hit were the Nike Elite custom socks. Keagan got the Oreo design and Evan got the Hot Cheetos. 

 

Keagan was so excited, he rolled his pants up to his knees so everyone could see his socks. He said, "I'm so glad I'm German because if I was just American, today would just be another Tuesday. But I got socks and candy!"

He's 12 and still believes he is German. 

Some traditions are hard to break. 

No Rest for the Weary

 

I didn't realize expressing interest in playing indoor soccer this winter put Keagan on a roster, but one email later, I found he was playing for the season. He played in his first tournament today. And he came home with first! I'm glad he had a positive experience because I'm pretty sure he is rostered every weekend between now and Valentines Day. 

Turkey Day

I was pretty impressed with Wes's fried turkey, our nine sides, and four desserts on Thanksgiving Day, but Keagan said our meal was just "normal with nothing exciting." That didn't seem to bother him, though, when he went back for thirds. We watched a marathon of football on TV and played "remote controlled football" on XBox Thursday afternoon. 

 

On Friday we took a trolley tour of Nashville, had Tennessee barbecue, and introduced the fam to Goo Goo Clusters.

 

 

 

 

Today we said good-bye to everyone, so we begin preparations for Christmas. A little shopping, gift wrapping, and decorating all taking place today!