Hard to believe, but exactly 6 months ago (well, when I started writing this it was 2 weeks ago), we moved out of our house in Yardley and our adventure started. What were we thinking? I’d quit my job, we’d pulled the kids out of school and were headed to Costa Rica. We’d never been there before, we didn’t have a place to live. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Now that I look back at it, it seems a little crazy. But, hey, you only live once. Anyway, so far so good - no regrets. Now we are [View Full Entry]

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First, before I get started, let me apologize to friends back in the Yardley area - I’m sorry if we didn’t get to see you. It was a bit of a last minute, whirlwind trip to the area (we actually made last minute changes to plane tickets that had been bought months before only about a week before coming up) and the main purpose of the trip was to see Dara’s parents. We are glad we got to see who we did - we needed to make the most out of the short time we were there. We would have really [View Full Entry]

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As I mentioned in our last blog, after we spent a few days visiting family and friends up north, we ended our trip to the States with a few days in Orlando. We were there with Dara’s sister, Marcy, and her family. In case I haven’t mentioned it before (or if I mentioned it so long ago that everyone has forgotten), they have two little girls - Jenna, who is about 8 months younger than Eliana, and Jordanna, who is almost 2. The cousins have a great time together. I don’t really have a lot to say about this part of [View Full Entry]

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Yes, yes, I know it’s been a looooonnnng time between blogs. My humblest apologies. A combination of writer’s block, busy schedule and laziness. Mostly laziness, I’d say. I do have a half written blog from a month ago, but, with your indulgences, I think I’ll skip ahead a little and work backward. We have some great adventures. This past Sunday we returned from a fun, but busy, trip to the United States - a quick visit with my sister in south Florida, a couple days with Dara’s family in NJ with visits to friends and schools in Yardley, then to Orlando [View Full Entry]

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I realize it has been a long time between blogs. Sorry - we just get caught up in the daily routine, enjoy life in this new culture (well, new to us), and the time flies by. We are having a great time. We really like the “city” living - being able to walk to the stores, restaurants and park. It is a nice change from drive-everywhere suburbia. Of course, I think we would enjoy the change of pace of living in a more city-like environment in the U.S., but it wouldn’t be quite the same. Heredia is a great little city [View Full Entry]

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La Paz Waterfalls and Gardens High off the tremendous views of the volcano and the terrific luck we had with the weather (as written in the last blog, “Our Volcano Adventure” - I was thinking we should title this one our waterfall adventure. Although people may believe our lives are one big adventure, most days are just the regular routine - wake up, hustle the kids off to school, worry about what to make for dinner and so on. Then, of course, rainforests, mountains and beaches are all not far away.), we hopped in the car for the quick trip over [View Full Entry]

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The central mountain range of Costa Rica is made up of a line of volcanoes. Not far from our house is Volcano Poas, a 6,500 foot high cone with one of the world’s largest active craters - a must see. Since early January, we had made plans to make a day trip to the volcano and nearby La Paz Waterfalls. Unlike the tourists here on a quick vacation, we had the luxury of selecting the right day for the excursion. If the weather isn’t just right, the top of the volcano is swathed in clouds and the view consists of only [View Full Entry]

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By all accounts, it seems that Ellie had a successful first week of school. A few of the mornings she was anxious/nervous/reluctant/downright stubborn about not going to school. Once we got to the school, however, her teacher would come to the door, take her hand and say, “Come on, Ellie.” Ellie would smile and go right in. At noontime, when we would come to pick her up, she’d still be smiling and tell us about “the new friends” she made that day. Overall, I am not too impressed with the school - I think Dara’s first impression of Yendry, the director, [View Full Entry]

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So, the next installment of our busy week… As I mentioned in a caption of a picture of the last blog, we did have an impromptu Super Bowl Party - complete with nachos, pizza and beer - and we were lucky to have beer. This is something I should have included in our Election Day Episode: For 3 days leading up to and including Election Day, alcohol sales are not permitted anywhere in the country. That’s right - from Friday morning (well, really from midnight Thursday night) to midnight Sunday night, no alcohol sales. At the supermarkets the liquor shelves are [View Full Entry]

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Boy, have we had a busy week! It is now 8:45 Friday night and everyone is in bed but me, poor, old blogger. (I know, I know - when you were young, you used to have to stay up to midnight writing your blogs, and in the snow, and barefoot, oy vey… kids these days.) By the time I am done with this and I upload pictures over our slow connection, it probably will be midnight. And I’ll be the guest picture putter-inner and captioner since I don’t want to bother Dara. I know I said in the past that I [View Full Entry]

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