Suitcase Stuffin Sue

These are all the pictures from the trip.... read more

Friday is usually my most favorite and least favorite day of our vacations. Since I am the resident over-planner, we've usually spent all of our money, gone on lots of adventures and started thinking about the trip home by then. That's why MY tradition (which has become the de facto family tradition) is to leave Friday as a wide-open day. We can chill, do something we've missed or forgotten or repeat a truly remarkable experience, depending on the weather and our mood. This trip was no exception. After everyone crashed and burned on Thursday night, we were all up fairly early. The only thing on tap were massages for the girls later in the day--we earned them! And, Freddy had tipped us off that there was really good jet-skiing at Playa Panama, the next beach over ... read more

I'm a couple of days behind on updating...Wednesday was "Mike's Choice." He wanted to go fishing and we were lucky enough to find a boat that would take us out for a half-day of fishing AND snorkeling, which usually don't go together. I've never been trolling, and it was really nice. The boat was fairly small (26 feet?) but very nicely maintained. Neither the captain nor the first mate spoke much English, but they knew what they were doing with fishing. Within the first hour, we caught five dorado/mahi and the big prize: a tuna! I was very proud of both girls for holding down their breakfast as the fish were hauled overboard and quickly put out of their misery and consigned to the cooler. They didn't even really flinch much at the cleaning process. In ... read more

So after reading about all the crazy animals, reptiles and birds that are down here, I had two major goals for sightings: monkeys and a Jesus Christ lizard (so-named because it walks on water). Success on both counts--on our official river cruise and also back here at the house. The river trip was very tame, but in a way it was very relaxing. After an hour and a half tour bus ride (air conditioned, thank God), we were delivered into the capable hands of Walter, our keen-eyed captain, we started down the river. One of the first things he/we spotted was a JC lizard on a fallen branch in the water. That little sucker, once he saw us, truly DID scurry across the water to shore. Amazing...and I was sad I couldn't possibly capture it on ... read more

We have survived the usual 9 hours of travel, all still speaking to each other, and are settled into the house. Picking up the rental car at the airport was quite an experience...no bus, just the rental car guy in the parking lot with Mike trying to communicate that we needed to use his cell phone to call the people at our rental house agency. I finally pulled Kate out of the car to try to use her Spanish to explain that NO, we didn't want his cell phone, we just needed to make a call. It worked. After making sure he wrote down each and every ding and scratch on the sheet, and authorizing a $750 hold for the car, we were on our way. The house is gorgeous, it's air-conditioned, the pool is great ... read more