Date Night or Lack of

I love my husband.  He's my favorite person in the world, being with him is like breathing.  Whether we're cracking each other up or working through heavy issues, I just want to be where he is.  He is home.
We used to be pretty good at prioritizing date nights together.  But babysitting has gotten expensive and our life has gotten incredibly busy.  There doesn't seem to be enough time or money for going out alone together.  We always feel like it's fine, we can make do.  But small compromises like that can sometimes fester into bigger problems later.  We love our marriage, we want to protect it and keep it healthy.  Our trip last month reminded us of that.  It's worth the time and the money.  We're committed to dating in 2011.  It's gonna be good.  

Going Gray

My kids pick up on everything Trav and I do and say as parents.  They are always watching and taking notes.  For this reason, I'm very self conscious about how I carry myself in regards to appearances and body image.  I've made a point to never discuss dieting or a wish to lose weight whether I was content with myself or hoping to lose a few pounds b/c I don't ever want to plant the idea that my kids should be doing the same.  When they ask why I'm exercising  I tell them it's b/c I don't get to run and climb at recess like they do, this is how I keep healthy.  If they ask why I don't drink soda or pass on sugar, I tell them it's b/c I want to put good things in my body.
Payton came home one day and started jump roping madly outside and then claimed she was going to go on a diet.  It was worse than if she had just dropped the dirtiest swear word in front of me.  I asked her to come inside and explain why she felt like she needed to diet.  She looked at me confused and said she overheard some girls saying that and thought it was a good thing to do.  We had a conversation about how strong and healthy she was and how some girls become so worried about their weight they make themselves sick and hurt their bodies trying to look a certain way.  I told her that as long as her body could run and climb trees the way she liked, than her body was perfect the way it was.
Somewhere along the way I have not been as careful with how I talk about aging and my rapidly graying hair.  I know I've fussed a bit about it, and I didn't even think about what kind of message it was sending to my kids.  Of course they showed me through a conversation I overheard the other day.  My kids never fail to reflect back exactly what I'm putting out.  Thanks dudes!

Stolen Moment

There's something extra special about missing a day of school or work unexpectedly. You feel a bit naughty shrugging responsibility, but it's just so fun.  I'm not promoting truancy as a way of life, but every once in awhile I think it's ok to claim some time back for ourselves.  Even better is when you have to because someone is "sick".  Jonah had such a day a few weeks ago, and we had a lovely time.

Speaking Love

Trav and I had a very interesting first few years of marriage.  Some people sail through their newlywed stage, but not us.  We had to work through a bunch of lessons to get to the good stuff.  I read this book first on the advice of a friend, and a few months later Trav picked it up.  It changed our marriage.  It helped us love with our eyes open and to see how we were each unique and different from each other.
We crack up now when we remember how we used to plan birthdays.  I took Trav to the Wild Animal Park in San Diego with his family for his birthday.  Trav didn't want to be at the Wild Animal Park, I did.  Travis got me a tent for my birthday one year too.  I didn't want camping equipment for my birthday, I wanted to GO camping.  We just weren't quite hitting the mark.  
We have always loved each other, but this book helped us love each other better, and we have a lot more fun in the process.  Thank you Gary Chapman.

Pura Vida

I have always loved the Amazing Race, I've applied five times, but alas they won't have me. So I've had to seek my own adventure. Trav and I just celebrated 15 years last month and decided to visit Costa Rica which boasts adventure travel in a paradise setting, pretty much perfect.

We just had our backpacks and decided to take public transportation around instead of renting a car. I think we spent $76 on bus/taxi rides for the whole week. A rental car would've been $35/day. We decided to split our time between Cahuita, a coastal town on the Caribbean and La Fortuna by the Arenal Volcano in the North.

We arrived in after a red eye flight, super tired, and a little disoriented. We hopped on the public bus for a $1 each for the ride into San Jose instead of a $25 taxi ride. We needed to find the Caribe terminal to catch our bus to Cahuita. This very lovely couple from Portugal overheard us trying to figure out where to go and kindly offered to show us the way. They were going on the exact same bus we were trying to catch and spoke the language fluently. Sergio and Susana were a gift:) Everybody should meet people like them when they first arrive in a foreign country.
We easily chatted over the next couple hours, and we're hoping our travel paths would cross later throughout the week so we could hang together more. We didn't get to meet up again, but we have a place to stay now if we ever visit Lisbon!
We quickly learned that when you arrive in town looking like this the locals come out of the woodwork to "help" you find a place to stay. Crazy George found us and yelled at every hotel owner to come out and show us their place as we passed them. It was embarrassing and stressful b/c we had to keep telling everyone thanks anyway... We saw George several times throughout the week, and he was faithful to offer us marijuana every time. We passed on grass.
After looking at several "mid-range" recommendations in our Lonely Planet and not feeling like we wanted to shower in them, we started looking at the "top end" places. That is when we happily stumbled upon Alby Lodge. We were home.
We had this little bungalow to ourselves for $50/night, wood floors, mosquito net over the bed, hammock on the porch, just gorgeous.
After 28 hours of travel, we were very happy to put our feet up here.
This friendly sand crab was in our front yard. As you walk down the path they all scatter underground. Their eyes are so crazy!
Ahhh, the jugos. I'm telling you, this was my absolute favorite thing about our trip, the fresh fruit juices. I had papaya, mango, soursop, pineapple, coconut, watermelon, I tried a new one every visit. SO good! I almost made us miss our bus back to the airport over trying to get one last jugos. I got the jugos, but we had to stand for the first hour of the bus ride b/c we missed getting seats... Sorry Trav
Lonely Planet never let us down with recommended places to eat. I had fresh fruit crepes that were amazing.
We went on a snorkel tour and saw lots of pretty, colorful fish. Of course I wore my sun protective swim shirt. I gained no color whatsoever from our tropical vacation. The water was so warm. Trav and I had face masks full of snot when we were done. Yummy.
We took a lovely walk through the national park in town and saw sloths and lots of monkeys.
They were all over the place, these howler monkeys. We woke up to them howling like apes every morning. You had to watch where you walked b/c they'd toss their banana peels and fruit pits down at you as they were eating. Very entertaining, the kids would've loved seeing them.
We moved on to La Fortuna by the volcano Arenal. Here is Lake Arenal. I was ready to dip my toes in it after our five mile hike when we noticed a crocodile warning sign. Yikes.
We ventured to the Hanging Bridges of Arenal to walk among the tree tops.

Everything is lush, so green, it's overwhelming.

Our big splurge for the week was to go canyoning where you rappel down waterfalls. I thought you'd rappel beside them, but no, we were IN them. It was incredibly fun.
I was a bit nervous looking over the edge of this first waterfall, my legs wouldn't stop shaking for several minutes after I got down. Of course, I was a pro by the end of it:)
We love to rest, read, and really do nothing on vacation. This path led us down to Eco-Termales hot springs, and it was a secluded paradise all to ourselves.
We easily passed four hours here and could've stayed longer if the public bus taking us back to town ran later. We soaked and read, soaked and read. We had the best night of sleep that night.


Arenal was always hidden in the clouds. She'd peek out every once in awhile. It's one of the top ten most active volcanoes in the world. No action when we were there unfortunately.
More reading... Our balcony looked out on Arenal.
Our last day we hiked out of town to this hidden swimming hole. It didn't rain the whole time we were there, but did this day, so we had the place to ourselves.
It was the only day we wore a jacket, the weather was so amazing the whole time we were there.
We took the bus back to Alajuela for our last night which was five minutes from the airport. This hotel looked like a closed warehouse from the outside, but it was stunning inside.
I loved our week together. We met the most amazing people through taking the bus around. Sergio and Susana, a family from Denmark, Suzanne from Switzerland, a ton of people all over the US, a retired couple traveling for seven weeks throughout Central America using the buses, a retired woman traveling alone to visit her son and daughter-in-law, another woman who started crying when she tried to tell us about her favorite bird she saw nesting in the rain forest:) And then of course, sweet George in Cahuita. It was a colorful week to be sure.

So good to have this time with my husband, to play and laugh, and not have any responsibilities for a short week. Of course, it just makes me hungry for more adventures... who knows where the next one will be.

Responsibility

Payton is growing up so fast, ten years old already. She's such a good kid, she has her moments, but honestly, she's a thoughtful, sharp, balanced young lady if I do say so myself. We had a very teachable moment the other day at the library. It wasn't an easy one for her or for me, but ultimately, I think we both handled it well and made the right decisions. I'm so proud of how she's growing up, I can only hope her teen years are just as much fun.

Grocery Shopping

I used to dread grocery shopping when my three were little. It was a task only to get through, never really to enjoy. I'm only recently coming out of the clouds with this now that my kids are all in school.

Don't get me wrong, we still have our moments. On one of our last Trader Joe's visits I heard screaming from across the store. I recognized the shrill voices of my two boys and raced over to find them at blows over who was next in line at the restroom. I don't know what's more embarrassing, having a potty training two year old have a major accident on aisle five, or having my six and eight year old in a fist fight over a bathroom. All humbling.

I had an interesting shopping visit the other day, this time alone. I try to go alone as much as possible these days:)