....and just like that.......

.......So after all our sweat, blood, and tears, we are coming home. Zach feels like it is in the best interest of his company for him to be working from the States right now....much more detail to the story, but enough said.

That said, we've had an incredibly fun past couple of weeks, and we will make the most of the next two weeks before we are back in Colorado, fast as lightning thrown back into full speed of LIFE! Zach's parents stayed for a little over a week. The timing was perfect, and everyday (almost) was sunny in the daytime with rain in the afternoon/ evening. During their stay we celebrated Costa Rica's Independence Day. Zach and I and the kids participated in the parade last Tuesday evening. School-aged children from several surrounding countries all march with torches from usually a church, to their schools and back. We bought "torches" (paper ones, but with real candles....yes, we saw several on the side of the road on fire) for each of the kids. However, it's a tradition for many families to make their own torches, and we saw so many interesting themes. We followed a fun band, mostly just some of the older school aged kids playing drums, but we all loved seeing how the Ticos celebrate their day of Independence from Spain. I love that from now on, every Sept 14-15th we will know what's happening in Costa Rica while we are participating in our heres and theres in the States.

The following day, we celebrated the actual Independence Day at the kids' school, and had a big luncheon with all the families. Everyone brought a dish to share, a dish that was supposed to be authentic, if possible. I made a seven layer dip, which I'm sure is not a common dish here, but made with all common ingredients....we brought home an empty dish, so I guess it's fun for them to try some "american" dishes as well. We tried ceviche (a side dish type food make with tomatoes, lemon juice, onions, raw fish etc....more like a cold soup to me), all kinds of soup, different ways to make rice and beans and arroz con leche (a sweet rice made with milk, sugar, and sometimes sweetened condensed milk, similar to our rice pudding). Kaylee gave a speech on what freedom means, and did a great job public speaking in front of all the parents. The kids sang the national anthem (as best they could), and we played a Costa Rican trivia game (don't think we did so well.....). All in all, just great to meet more of the families from school.

The following Saturday, we took a boat ride up the estuary with Zach's parents. Our guide, Cristian told us that for 15 years he swam across the estuary from Tamarindo to Playa Grande, where his father lived, until one day he saw an 18 foot crocodile in the river. Never again! He has also seen a bullshark in the estuary, so now no one crosses unless in a little boat. It's a 40 minute drive from Tamarindo to Playa Grande, so this is the quickest way to get there, unless you are eaten, of course! We saw several crocodiles ranging in size. From 100 yards away, Cristian would say, "look, crocodile, 11 o'clock", and we would look and look in that direction. He would drive closer and closer, until finally (10 feet away) the rest of us would see it. After about the 3rd or 4th time of this, Zach and I were getting suspicious. How in the world could he see these, unless maybe they were planted (plastic), and just part of the scene (kind of like the "jungle tour" at Disney World :). Anyway, Zach and I were making jokes about the "batteries not working" as we watched this one crocodile sitting on the bank. He wouldn't move at all....we were yelling, throwing leaves, etc, and got within about 5 feet, when seriously, out of no where, quick as a flash, he sprang into the water. We all screamed so loud, and then the joke was on us....Cristian had a good laugh!

Up the estuary, we got out of the boat to head into the jungle to see the monkeys. The kids loved making the monkeys growl. Cristian would clap his hands loudly (getting them wound up), and then we'd all make our best monkey imitation and the monkeys would go berserk! Along our trek, we saw so many termite nests, I totally had the willies just thinking about all those disgusting critters. But nature has a way. Turns out that some birds build their nests inside of termite nests, and they can leave there eggs there without them being bothered by other animals. When the eggs hatch, the babies have plenty of termites to eat. Cristian said the termites are full of protein and take like carrots, but Zach's dad was the only one brave enough to eat one along with Cristian. YUCK! I think I'll just stick to carrots (dipped in peanut butter!)

One morning last week, I was out early in the morning for my run. The sun was coming up and it was a beautiful morning. All of a sudden it started to mist, and I, facing the direction of the bright sun, immediately thought, there has to be a rainbow. I turned around quickly to see the most incredible rainbow I've ever seen. It stretched a full 180 degrees from the cape of Langosta out to our neighboring island, bright as I've ever seen. I stood and stared, then looked around to see who else was out to enjoy this, but I was the only one on the beach. Less than a minute later, the mist stopped, and I turned back around, but the rainbow was gone. I feel so blessed to have this little sacred treasure....a view of this sign of peace and hope, over one of the most beautiful beaches that I look out over every morning in awe of my Creator....I will never forget that morning. One of those times when you KNOW Heavenly Father knows and loves you.

Last Sunday we met another family from the States who will be here in our branch for a while. They have 7 children (in addition to the other two large families coming down), and one on the way. I asked Hermana Pina if this was "normal", having American families come down to stay for a while (does this happen year after year??), and she said no, that they'd never had anything like it. We are sad to leave this great place, especially after coming this far, but I think they will have many hands to help, and we will do another adventure when the time is right! Our kids have fallen in love with their small school and the language. This morning, when we broke the news of our return, I truly thought they would be bummed for a moment, and then think of all the exciting things they missed and be thrilled to go home. Quite the opposite...they all cried, and some cried several times during the day. We talked about our favorite parts of CR, and aside from the beach, it was the language and their school. So I do know an impression has been made on them and on us....we plan to work hard to recreate a piece of this tranquility at home.

Our good friends Brian and JoDee made it safely to CR last Tuesday, and after two adventurous days on their own, they drove to our house on Friday afternoon. We went out to dinner, caught up on CO, and got ready for our adventurous Saturday. Our driver picked us up and we drove about 2 hours into the mountains. At first we zip-lined over the jungle, and then geared up to go down the 1200 ft waterslide. JoDee and I decided that since we'd come all the up, we HAD to do the waterslide, but it looked super fast, and dangerously made out of concrete. We all laughed at a sign that said, "women must wear diper on slide"...(yes, spelled diper), a leather loin cloth looking thing that basically protected your bathing suit. We wore tubes on the slide (and helmets), and the operator at the top dammed the water so we could get the "full speed" effect. It truly was just a crack up to see everyone come down!!!! After a super tasty and healthy lunch, we rode horses up to the natural hot springs. We covered ourselves in the mineral mud-bath (we teased the guys asking if it was really horse ca-ca, but they didn't find that too funny), then rinsed in a freezing cold river water shower, and quickly dipped into the hot tubs. With all the rain, the pools were significantly cooler, which we didn't mind since it was warm enough and we felt like staying longer! We made the long trip home to find the kids safe and happy! We grabbed bbque for dinner and while JoDee made pumpkin cookies, Brian imported all our new pics from the day, and Z and I put kids to bed. We visited until late, but didn't struggle too much with our goodbyes since we'll be home in two weeks! We have mourned having to leave, and are now starting to look forward to all the things we miss at home. We are super excited that we have one week with the Gundersons, and then one week to wrap up all the exploring we want to do in CR. We will head to San Jose on the 9th and all fly out the 10th, Zach to CA, and the kids and me to CO. I can be nothing but grateful for even just the short time we've had here! Look forward to seeing many of you.

charlie the crocodile...

a precarious little bridge in the middle of the jungle

waiting for the "plastic" crocodile to move :)

kids singing national anthem on Independence Day!