A New Home

WE'RE BACK!!!  You have no idea how nice it is to be able to say that!  Their are many things about America that we are coming to have an appreciation for and internet is at the top of that list.  During November we stayed at a beautiful home on the side of a mountain in rural southern Costa Rica.  It's been incredible!  There were only two downsides.  First and foremost, no internet.  We've discovered that the internet here is spotty and even when you do get connected speeds are about 1/3 to 1/4 of what we enjoy in the US.  Second, it was the rainy season and we were told that you could most likely make do without four wheel drive.  We found this not to be the case, but more on that adventure later.  First we catch up a little.  

November 1, 2015  Tessa's journal entry:

"Today we went to church and I only counted 136 people in the room.  I felt confused because everyone was speaking Spanish.  Next we went to the car and went on the LONG 3 hour drive.  I LOVED our new house, it is epic!"

The beautiful grounds at Hotel la Rosa de America where we spent
our first week in Costa Rica.

We are completely fascinated by all the leaf cutter ants.  We first
spotted some on our drive from the airport to our rental car when we
noticed giant hunks of leaves marching down the curb.  Amazing!
When we encountered a flower seemingly traveling down the sidewalk
all on its own at the hotel, we couldn't help but snag a video.

We found an abundance of wildlife at our new home.  In addition to these toucans we found a disturbing amount of enormous bugs, and other creepy crawlies, giant toads, and even a coatimundi and a giant rodent that reminded us of a capybara but wasn't.  It looked and moved like a giant rabbit with a square head and very short ears.  I watched it hold a whole unhusked coconut in it's mouth and run/hop away.

The first morning we were awed to find a couple
of toucans in the tree just outside our new place.

All the kids climbed on top of the van for a bird's
eye view, or for a better view of the birds. ;)

Not a bad place, or dress code, for school.  We sure wish that
meant they didn't complain!

The view off the big open porch where we spent most of our time.
That shiny thing in the distance is the Pacific Ocean.

Our new neighbor, Alex, knocked down some pipas (coconuts) for us to try.  Tessa loved the water inside.

Max - Novemeber 4, 2015
      "Today was jinxed!  I got up, made myself an egg sandwich, and that was about all the good I got.  A friend of ours showed us how the Costa Ricans schuck coconuts.  I wanted to try so I took my pocket knife and tried to shuck it.  There was only one problem with this, I used a knife, they use a machete!  About halfway through I accidentally put a deep cut in my finger.  It hurt!
      "We couldn't go to the ocean then because of the salt water, so we decided to go to a waterfall.  There was a pool of water under a rope swing.  It was a huge swing!  Since I was too afraid to do it I got the rope.  When I did a giant hornet the size of two normal ones put together stung me.  Again it hurt!"

The day after we arrived we found this fabulous beach only about 20 minutes away.  Maggie and Max took to the ocean waves with their boogie boards like they'd always lived near the sea. Tessa and Jonah discovered an army of hermit crabs and started creating a " hermit crab zoo."  In the photo below you can see them all trying to climb up the sand walls of their pit of despair.  Eli was hesitant at first but after watching things for a while he decided to give the waves a try and LOVED it!  He wrote in his journal on November 2, "We like the ocean."

King Hermit Crab!