Paradise

I had no idea that the beach in Costa Rica would be so amazing. It has been like a slice of heaven. I'll post pictures soon, but right now I'm just enjoying the joy. We went to two beaches four times today before finishing with a dip in the pool. One more wave-chase & maybe another dip in the pool before we leave tomorrow morning. Wow. So beautiful. Wow.

Museo de los Ninos

The children's museum in San Jose is A-maz-ing! I have visited versions all over the United States & this one is by far the best I've ever seen. It's a penitentary that was abandoned & falling apart. It has since been renovated into a HUGE, beautiful facility. The before/after photos in the entrance were so interesting! A few of the favorite attractions of the day: full-size train, helicopter & plane; simulation earthquake, radio station, t.v. station; larger-than-life mouth you can brush; cuerpo humano (human body exhibit); and a banana farm complete with conveyor. All for kids to touch/climb. A-mazing. We didn't have the camera (Jonathan had it while visiting a field station in the tropics), but I found some images online to share tidbits. Wow.

Zoo

After searching for something to do Monday morning, we finally located a zoo in town. Fabulous! It was so fun to see native animals in their mostly naturally habitat. It was a very intimate setting, especially the lion & lioness who were at eyelevel only about 5 feet away (behind bars, of course). My favorite was the sloth. I've always wanted to see one! While we were walking in the rain, we stopped under some cool, big leaves only to find butterflies who had found the same refuge from the storm. Jackson tells me that they were a combination of owl butterfly on the top half and blue morpho on the bottom half. Amazing. I've discovered that I'm quite fond of frogs, especially the teeny, tiny ones; many of them are almost fluorescent. So cute -- although poisonous. The walkways were so authentically Costa Rican, that I almost forgot I was in the city!

Apartment Anxiety

The apartment we booked for the week is not quite the Doubletree, but I'm still grateful to be settled. We have a 400 sf one bedroom apartment for our crew of 4. Jackson has kindly offered to sleep on the couch & Tyler's in his pack-n-play. In the 200 sf kitchen/dining/living space, there are THREE chandeliers, see photo. I was the cranky American mother who complained to the owner about the apt. when we first moved in. The first room looked like a frat house living room complete with holes in the furniture, CMU block walls, wood paneling & a squeaky bed. Thankfully the 2nd offering was a serious improvement, but still quirky. In addition to the lighting & pink bathroom fixtures, it has a blue, plastic kitchen sink. Seriously.

Doubletree Paradise

Not even lack of sleep could keep me down in a hotel like this! Our breakfast was included. See photo. Afterwards, we all played in the pools before checking out at noon. So 10 hours of luxury!

Grateful Guests

After a 15 minute drive to the hotel, we squabbled amongst ourselves briefly before giving the driver a ridiculously large tip. Since we had gotten money from the ATM at the airport, we only had large-ish bills in colones (Costa Rican currency). More on their crazy money later.

Anyway, it was a joyous surprise to speak in English to a Jonathan behind the Doubletree desk who had all of our paperwork ready for us. We had a friendly banter with him before being led to our room. For some reason the place has the longest walkways ever, so the smell of my recent experience lingered.

Eventually we dropped each of the students off at their rooms before heading to our spacious world of luxury. Once we got mostly settled & Tyler was scrubbed/stripped down, I was eternally grateful to bathe myself in heavenly water pressure BEFORE the kids. Then they were properly washed before tucking sweet Jackson into his own bed. He had not slept any more than I had & was asleep instantly. Such joy a parent feels knowing their child is happily asleep!

And then there was Tyler. He was a little keyed up, so I stuck him in the stroller & walked laps around the hotel complex for more than an hour. He would fall asleep as we listened to the fountain & felt the wonderful breeze by the pool only to wake up as we neared the room. At 4am in some time zone, when even the casino was closed, I convinced him to sleep in my bed while I held him.

Costa Rica & Chunks

As soon as we had hailed a bus taxi (answered prayer!) at the airport, Tyler started throwing up. The good news is that he was in the Ergo baby carrier facing me so he was safe. The bad news is that he was in the Ergo so I had chunks all the way down my shirt, bra & pants. We were in such a rush to follow the driver & our cascading bags to his fabulously large vehicle that I wiped & walked. Oh, and I was really cranky, so there was some yelling.

Despite his condition, Tyler seemed to feel better after the ordeal which was a consolation. But why is someone always throwing up on our trips?! Usually it’s Jackson so I was a bit surprised. Kids just trying to keep the parents on their toes, I guess. Yeah, I also left the wipes container in the van.

Chicago to Costa Rica

The flight was about 3.5 hours from Chicago to Mexico City. It took all of our traveling tricks to get us there in one piece. And then there was Mexico City. The airport itself was actually fine. It could use a signage expert, but we navigated easily...even with a last minute change in gates.

We had to go through immigration, despite the fact that it was just a through-flight. Imagine paperwork, passports & waiting in line. The officials were nice & quickly let our family of four go to the front of the line, but the students with whom we were traveling went the long way. Not that there was a big rush since the flight from Mexico City to Costa Rica was ALSO delayed by an indefinite period of time. Something about a storm with no crew & no plane for hours. No cool kids' play area here. We just walked & waited. It was about 5 hours past the kids' bedtimes by then so it was a serious energy drain.

Tyler was a ball of activity until the plane took off, at which point he put his head down on my chest & immediately fell asleep. I held him while the others got a bit of rest. My watch was on the wrong time zone, which was probably just as well, but I think we arrived about 2 hours late at 2 a.m. Michigan time. Costa Rica is on Mountain Time.

Home to O'Hare

(Jonathan getting the car carrier ready.)
Well it felt like the longest travel day ever…and I’ve done some long ones. It started Friday morning at 5 a.m. for Jonathan & me, ending at about 3 a.m. on Saturday morning. First event out of the gate, Emily (student traveling with us) couldn’t find her passport & didn’t realize it until she was already supposed to meet us at our house to leave. Insert phone calls & backup plans. Her parents helped her locate it & we finally left 45 minutes later expected. The drive felt like 100 hours+ since there was only time for one 10 minute food stop on the 3+ hour drive to the airport. Even with constant attention & a portable dvd player, Tyler was a fussy grouch. Jackson was anxious to just get there, but a trooper – always the excited traveler.

Thankfully, Jonathan was the one coordinating times (not me!), so we still arrived at the airport on schedule where we were able to meet the other student waiting for us there. Not that it mattered since our flight was delayed an hour. I am incredibly grateful to the Chicago Children’s Museum & the local firefighters for providing a wonderful, gated play area at O’Hare for my children to roam free. What a blessing.

Me time is in the toilet

No this is not a story about my BEING on the toilet.

So I decided that I would actually do something for myself while watching the kids today -- multi-task a little reading time into my child-watching time. I have promised to let two friends borrow my copy of the bookclub book before our meeting next week. It's taken me three weeks to get most of the way through a book that I would have finished in a few hours in my pre-kids days. Why can't I finish it?

Selfishly, I let myself finish reading the last half of one page while Jackson went into the bathroom. He's a big boy, no worries. Tyler innocently followed him 30 seconds later. When I went to check on them 30 seconds after that, an entire roll of toilet paper was on the bathroom floor & Tyler was splashing his hand in Jackson's pee water.

Me time? Bad idea.

At this rate, my friends are never going to get that book.

We're Home!!

I am sitting in the dining room of my cozy house with a grateful heart, thanking God for His protection. It was a very long journey, but we are happily home filled with wonderful memories.