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P365 – Day 38 (Last Full Day)

I have all sorts of pictures from the day. Thank goodness I haven’t felt constrained or limited by the whole “Take One Picture” aspect of the Project 365. Lol! This certainly is going to be a well documented year if I keep this up. I have always used my e-mails as a point of reference when I need to look up an event or special family occasion – now I have this blog as a tool as well (complete with pictures).

This was our last full day with my parents. All three of the boys spent the night at the hotel so they swam away the morning while we slept in. Sarah didn’t get up until after 9:30 am. She was a tired little camper.

Dad was very gracious and worked on several home projects for me. He took down our screen door and fixed it – repaired the screen (which broke the FIRST day we put it up), added a grill on the inside so the screen will last at least a week this time, shaved the side a bit so the door would fit properly, and added a pneumatic closer so the door won’t slam shut (although most of the family has become very trained at catching the door before it slams).

grandad and the door

Sarah happened to walk by when I had the camera so she made it into the pictures. She didn’t really “help” but she poses so nicely it looks like she was a helper. We won’t tell if you don’t.

sarah helping almost done with the door

Mom did laundry while we worked on her Costa Rica blog. She washed loads and loads of dirty clothes and even went through the entire sock basket, trying to match up socks. Thank you, Mom!!

mom and the socks

David is crazy about these new goggles. I had to get a picture of him wearing them around the house. Too funny.

david's goggles

As soon as he arrived home from the morning’s swim, David came and told me he had some thoughts about the day. “Since this is our last day with Mamie and Grandad, I’ve been thinking we should do something special,” he said. “I thought we should probably go to McDonald’s Playland for lunch. What do you think, Mommy?” How could I resist? A “fun outing” at McDonald’s – do we live right or what? Lol!!

Playland kiddos

Of course, if ice cream is involved, that does make it pretty special.

ice cream 1ice cream 2 Joshua

Joshua is too old to play on the equipment so he brought along a book. He manages to enjoy his ice cream cone while reading – a multitasker if ever I saw one!

ice cream 3

Back at home, full of hamburgers and ice cream, Grandad went to work putting the molding up around our large white board. Thanks, Erica, for this great idea! We love the whiteboard and use it all the time. It’s nice because the size fits all – everyone can reach a spot upon which to write.

filling in the cracksdaniel, sarah and g'dad

The rest of us played Apples to Apples (Bible version) while Grandad worked.

game time

We canceled our Wednesday night outings in favor of family time. We went out for a yummy meal at Applebee’s and then came home to play Citadels. I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed their dinner choices. Some even had a repeat of their lunch menu – hamburgers and fries.

We had a little wait for a table but eventually got a nice spot, big enough for the 9 of us.

waiting for a tablewaiting for a table - group

dinner table

Back at home, David and Sarah played on the floor (an elaborate game involving Playmobil people, a Imaginext jeep, and several warriors) while we played Citadels. Rachel decided not to play the game. She did some e-mailing and then came to consult Mamie on her game choices. Citadels is lots of fun. I like it – it still takes us a little while (as we’re figuring things out) but isn’t a very complicated game. There is strategy and competition but it’s also a building game. Fun.

David and Sarah play

Thank you for the wonderful visit, Mom and Dad! Come back any time. Fly safely! We love you.

Kathy

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Costa Rica Part 2

More thoughts on Costa Rica from Cindy:

One day we rode a canopy over the rain forest and saw gorgeous vegetation from above.

Canopy ride

We were intrigued by all the secondary plants that are able to grow on the primary tree; each one seeking the sun while at the same time firing long, arrow-like roots to the distant ground.

Another time our bus stopped to observe a native banana-harvesting operation, as they readied the bananas for export. It was fascinating to see how each bunch was conveyed to the plant where they were washed, sorted and boxed for shipping.

We drove to the Pacific coast (across the continental divide). Bill was tickled to be able to jog along the beach on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts in the same week.

We stayed at Jaco Beach and spent the morning at the shore, surrounded by monkeys and beautiful birds.

On the way to the beach, we took a hike that included crossing a suspended bridge. It wasn’t as scary as some of us feared. It was 30 or so feet off the ground.

entrance to bridge

The entrance to the bridge.

grandad on the bridge

crossing bridge

below the bridge

iguana

We spotted many iguana during our trip to Costa Rica.

One of the highlights of our trip was eating meals and playing cards each evening with Bill’s brothers and their wives.

dinner together

another dinner

playing cards

Along the trip we enjoyed the many beautiful plants and flowers.

dad and the plants

steve and flowers

hotel flowers

All of the hotels had pools – some days we were too busy to enjoy swimming but when we had a free moment we went down to the water.

dad at the pool

mom and the pool

pool time

pretty pool

The highlight for shopping was in the town of Sarchi, home of the famous Costa Rican ox carts. Painting ox carts is their specialty and we saw many beautiful examples of their work.

painting

traditional ox cart

You can buy one of their painted ox carts and have them disassembled and shipped home. Kate – wouldn’t one of these look beautiful in your Fort Clark sunroom!

dad's cart

painted cart

Finally it was time to go home. We flew on the same plane with Steve and Debby to Charlotte, NC.

leaving san jose for charlotte

This was an amazing sunset that Bill captured with his camera.

sunset flying home

When we left Costa Rica, the temperature was 85 degrees and the sun was shining brightly. When we arrived in Michigan it was 10 degrees. We left the next day for Seattle where it was 50 degrees with nary a sunbeam in sight. Isn’t this an amazing world God has created.

Cindy

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Costa Rica

I thought it would be fun to include some pictures from Mom and Dad’s trip to Costa Rica. They traveled with my father’s siblings and their wives. They joined 38 other people on Caravan Tours and had a wonderful time exploring the country (at a very reasonable
price). I’ll hand the computer over to Mom.

The best part about the trip was being together with Bill’s two brothers and their wives. We talked and laughed, played cards, shared childhood stories, and just generally enjoyed each other. This is our third time traveling together. Here we are on our last night. Standing–Steve and Debby; Sitting–Charlie and Debbie, Bill and Cindy.

final dinner

Coffee is the main export of Costa Rica. We toured a coffee beanery, brought home bags of coffee beans, saw coffee plantations everywhere we drove, and drank many cups of locally grown coffee. Here is a statue of a coffee bean in the capital, San Jose.

coffee bean statue

coffee britt

Coffee anyone?

We took a hike to the rim of an active volcano, Poas, it was cloudy and foggy but still beautiful.

dad volcano

top volcano

The vegetation and flowers were amazing throughout the entire country. Everything was lush and blooming.

beautiful flower

plants

Bill kept saying, “I know I have this plant in my office–it’s only 6 inches tall.” Something about the Costa Rica rain and warm weather must give them an advantage!

flower

One afternoon our bus stopped at a butterfly farm. The beautiful Morfo butterfly is unique to Costa Rica. When its wings open the color is florescent blue.

dad and the morfo

morfo butterfly

The butterflies feed on plantains.

butterfly

more butterflies

We left San Jose and drove to the east coast, the Caribbean/Atlantic Ocean. We boarded a boat – the only way to get to Tortuguero Rain Forest. It rained hard each night but cleared up in time for us to get on a small boat and cruise the canals, observing wildlife. “Keep your hands inside the boat” – we saw many caiman along the riverbanks.

caiman

caimans

Spectacled caimans are small relatives of alligators and crocodiles. The body length (not including tail) of a full-grown spectacled caiman is about three and a half feet.

We saw three types of monkeys. The howler monkeys travel in groups of 40 or 50 and make a loud howling call that is very distinctive. We could hear them at 5:30 am every morning – who needs an alarm clock! The white face monkey is smaller and are friendly. They told us to be careful not to leave things out as the monkeys will come up and snatch “treats” for themselves. The spider monkey is even smaller than the other two and harder to see. This reddish monkey is a distinct type of howler monkey whom our guide calls “Blondie.”

blondie

We were constantly amazed by the beautiful plant life.

Tortuguero hotel grounds

more flowersorchid

All the plants reach for the sun, so many of them will attach themselves to a tree and climb high. This is an orchid that is growing on the side of a tree.

On our cruise we drove to the edge of the Costa Rican border and viewed Nicaragua from our boat. There is much turmoil between the two countries and we did not go any closer.

viewing Nicaragua

We had fun using my mother and daddy’s binoculars from Texas, looking at the many birds found in Costa Rica. They were avid bird watchers – we have a long way to go to catch up to Nana and Grandaddy. In Costa Rica, we wanted to see a scarlet Macaw, but didn’t. We did, however, manage to see toucans, rose spoonbills, anhingas, Pied-billed Grebes, many pelicans, Neotropical Cormorants, Tiger-Herons, and many other exotic birds. Beautiful. Costa Rica has something like 850 different species of birds.

More to follow.
Cindy

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P365 – Day 37 (Late)

I lost connectivity last night and couldn’t post my blog. I had the pictures uploaded but couldn’t connect to edgren.com. Ah well, that’s fine. I went to bed early. Looking around at my messy house this morning, perhaps I should have done a little tidying up instead of sleeping. What is that Proverb about sleeping too much?

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-
and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man. Proverbs 6:10-11

In my case, it’s a messy house and lots of dishes that will arrive in no time. Lol!

grandad and rachel

Grandad takes a break from a little computer work to hug Rachel.

The weather is grey and rainy these days. It is not, however, very cold so Mom and Dad are content. In Michigan yesterday ALL the schools in the area were closed due to extreme cold temperatures. Brrrrr!! That does NOT sound fun.

My parents brought goodie bags for all of us (a tradition whenever they visit – they spoil us). The boys (including Tim) all got a toy from Target made by my cousins company, Monkey Business Sports. We are all very excited that his company has a contract with Target and the toys are being sold nationwide.

daniel's rocket

Daniel gets ready to shoot his rocket.

Of course, the day wouldn’t be complete without some more pool time at the hotel. This time the boys went off with Grandad while the girls went to the library and shopping with Mamie. We all met up back at the pool so the girls could swim a little bit before dinner.

Daniel and David

Not sure why this is such a fun spot but there you have it.

Joshua

Sarah at the pool

Thankfully Tim was home to put a ham and some Yukon potatoes in the oven. All we had to do was add a big salad, some toasted bread, sweet potatoes and we had a delicious dinner. The children were STARVING (poor dears) and thoroughly enjoyed every bite.

After dinner Daniel wanted to serve everyone dessert. We had ice cream Monday night so it was time for something different. He decided to serve graham cracker treats. He fixed some for everybody – even delivering them – and served himself last. Thank you, Daniel! That was a yummy dessert.

Daniel's dessert

Another fun day with the Michigan grandparents.

Kathy

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P365 – Day 36 (Games & Swimming)

It’s the close of a lovely day. The house is quiet (except for the hum of the washing machine and dryer and music playing in the kitchen), the boys (including Tim) are in bed, and the girls are off with Mamie and G’Dad at the hotel. I cleaned the kitchen this afternoon so that work is all completed. I need to pack a lunch for Tim, finish this blog and then go to bed myself.

We had a very relaxing day. No one seemed interested in heading out on an adventure or field trip so we stayed home and played games for most of the day. We started the morning off with Citadels which was lots of fun. I can see why Tim and the three older children have all been begging to play it again. [They played it for the first time on Saturday while I was gone.] Dad worked on his laptop while we played. Sarah and David busied themselves, coloring in the dining room. It was a contented crowd all around.

CitadelsSarah and David coloring

David and Sarah managed to convince Grandad to come and play Rat a Tat Cat with them in the living room. I think they played several rounds. Sarah sat by them, watching everything and cheering them on.

david and grandad

sarah sweetie pie

While we were busy finishing up our game, the little ones decided Grandad was bored (since he wasn’t playing with us) and should come out to the garage (brrr, it’s cold!!) and watch a movie with them. It was probably too chilly for him to sneak in a nap so he was forced to watch at least 30 minutes of Duck Tales. Now there’s some real movie substance. Lol!

garage time

They look like a snuggly group!

After lunch we decided to squeeze in one more game. Joshua and I really wanted to teach Mamie and Grandad Bang so we begged and pleaded and fussed until they gave in. Or something like that – I think everyone was sitting around waiting until Tim said, “Okay let’s play” and we all gathered around the table. Bang is a favorite with our crowd and the children have taught several of their friends how to play. It helps if most of the group already knows how to play – things move along fairly quickly.

Tina – this is one you should definitely think about for your group. It’s fun – Western theme (maybe we can get Tom and Casey to play), card based, doesn’t take too long, etc. Come home and we’ll teach you. Sniff, sniff.

Rachel and Mamie

Tim was incredibly kind and said he would take the children swimming at the hotel while Mom and Dad snuck in a quick nap. I stayed home and worked on things around the house. It was lovely having a little time to myself. The kids were still going strong when I joined them at the pool (except for Daniel who was out, taking a break).

danieldavid poolsarah poolRachel pool

We decided to go to East and West Cafe for some Thai food. It was absolutely delicious!!! Thank you, Michelle, for the recommendation. I think I oohed and aahhhed over my food with almost every bite. The meals are reasonably priced and the atmosphere is pleasant. The parking lot looked full but the restaurant did not feel crowded. I will DEFINITELY go again. Tim loved his entree until he accidentally added in some chili paste sauce that he thought was sweet. Oops! He does NOT like things spicy. Gotta watch those unmarked sauces in Asian restaurants!

We returned to our house for some Rocky Road ice cream and a showing of Nanny McPhee. We didn’t finish the movie – time for bed, especially for those on Michigan time. Tomorrow Tim heads back to work. Not sure what the rest of us will do – some school, more relaxing and game playing, and maybe a few work projects.

I’m trying not to think about how short this visit is. We’ll see everyone in June so I’m clinging to that – always important to have the NEXT visit planned.

Kathy

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