For our last big adventure before heading back to the US, we zipped through the canopy suspended from steel cables strung between 8-foot-square platforms in the rainforest. Sound crazy? We were pleasantly surprised by the well-maintained facility, the professional and thorough staff, and the safety procedures followed. And we had a great time.... read more

Just when you’d thought we’d given up on the blog… (key suspenseful theme music, crash of thunder… but no ear-piercing shreiks, please.) First of all, Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Costa Rica, except by ex-pats and a handful of gringo-ized Ticos (Tico is the affectionate term for Costa Rican). We are going to have Thanksgiving dinner at a Tico friend's house -- the lady that Dara works with at the Inbioparque. She did her graduate school in the US and has kept the Thanksgiving tradition since. Although she was going to serve chicken (stuffed, of course) her daughter told her she had to have turkey. Turkey is not common here, but if you look hard enough, you can find it -- I even heard one store was importing Butterballs. Dara is making sweet ... read more

With a thunder-like rumble, a spurt of bright orange broke the velvet darkness of the cool night. Mesmerized, oblivious to the pesky mosquitoes, we couldn’t take our eyes off the incredible sight of red-hot rocks being hurled out of the top of the nearby mountain and tumbling and breaking up down the steep slopes. This was Volcano Arenal, one of the most active volcanoes in the world and we were lucky enough to catch it on a clear night. After basking in the luxuriousness of jungle hot-springs during the day, it was the perfect way to spend the evening. Thus we spent a few days of Nana and Pop-pop’s visit. Since I haven’t written for a while, I figured I needed a dramatic beginning. At the end of July, for the last week of the summer ... read more

Now that summer vacation is upon us, we have a chance to look back at the school year that was. (Last Friday, June 30, was Ellie’s last day of school and Ari’s was the week before that.) It is hard to believe that the whole school year has gone. In some ways it flew by so quickly it hardly seems like a blink. In other ways, the beginning of the school year seems like it was a very long time ago. It is quite a paradox and I can’t seem to put it into words - but I’m sure you know what I mean. In the works of the Grate philosophers, “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” The year started off normally enough -- Ari started the second grade at Quarry Hill in Mrs. Lowe’s ... read more

I had written most of this blog in March, but never got around to finishing it off and posting it. Recently, however, there was a news story that, unfortunately, gave me the impetus to get this out there. If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you probably heard about the tragedy a few weeks ago in Costa Rica. I’m not talking about Costa Rica’s embarrassing performance in the World Cup -- I’m talking about the high school kids (and their teacher who tried to rescue them) who got caught in a rip tide on a beach on the Pacific coast, and were washed out to sea and drowned. Many beaches here are notorious for their surf - both for surfing and for their dangerous currents. Whenever we plan to go to the beach, the first ... read more