Sunday, January 31, 2010

Costa Rica in a Nutshell

The cast of characters:
Lori, Nigel, Jeremy (Jerm), Nicole (Cole), Byron
Brandi, Skip (Pappy), Kingston
Da-da slept on the plane with the choo-choo binket!

Kingston watched a movie. While eating snacks and drinking a juice cup. Tough life!



Waiting for our rental car. We got upgraded to a sweet truck.


Kingston and me in our sweet truck!



Breakfast at the Jungle Cafe in Hermosa. The best breakfast ever! Banana pancakes. . . yum!





I didn't even have time to take his shirt off before he jumped in!




























On the ferry.



Relaxing, reading a good book on our porch in Santa Teresa.



Watching a movie on Dad's iTouch at breakfast. Oops. Add that to the list of things we have to un-do now that we are home.


Cafe con leche. So good! (It's just coffee with milk, really. Nothing too crazy! Just really good.)




A big, big iguana in front of our place.


Riding like a big boy!


Our spot. Pacifica Surf Studios.





My sweet boys.






My favorite picture.



Our last night out in Santa Teresa.


Hanging out the window, hooting at the ladies.




Waiting for the ferry. Eating crackers since he lost his lunch after riding through the mountains at a high rate of speed while trying to catch the ferry. . . that we missed by 2 cars.










The plane ride home to the coldness.



Successful first trip out of the country for our little guy. He always amazes us by what a good little traveller he is. We'll do it again, for sure.


Saturday, January 23, 2010

Out of the Country=Out of the Loop

So since being out of the country for nearly 2 weeks, I have been a bit out of the loop with my friends at home. I just checked my email to find out that a friend of mine, Michelle Meredith, has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. Now try not to get confused here-this is not my friend Michelle who is Riley's mom, but is my friend Michelle that I have known since middle school and who has a little girl, Willa, who is a month younger than Kingston and another little girl, Maddison, who is 5 (or close to it!). The two Michelle's, Sherry and I went Christmas shopping together in Virginia this year. She is a great, great girl. Please visit her blog and pass along some of the good vibes you always leave for me. She is surrounded by tons of love and support but who can't use a little more?

It's so hard to get your head around a cancer diagnosis in your peers. Especially one who is your age, with 2 young children. Please keep Michelle and her family in your prayers. Heavy.

On a more positive cancer note, my dad just had surgery to remove his 3rd cancerous tumor in his bladder and is recovering very, very wells with no other treatment necessary aside from routine exams. I missed his surgery the day we flew out (which also happens to be the same day Michelle was diagnosed) and was very worried about him. He is doing great and the Haynes family can't wait to get home to give him a big squeeze. Way to go, Dad!

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We leave Santa Teresa tomorrow morning and head to San Jose for the night before flying out on Monday afternoon. Bitter sweet to say the least.

Pictures when we get back, I promise!



Thursday, January 21, 2010

Uh-Oh! Un-do!

There are quite a few things we are going to have to un-do when we get home. Vacation is great but the cold (literally) reality of home is coming too soon. Kingston's routine has been kept fairly the same as far as timing goes, but as far as what happens between waking up, nap time and bed time. . . Uh-oh!

1. Kingston is going to have to go back to wearing a diaper all the time and not pee-peeing off of the patio at random. Don't get me wrong, he is nowhere near potty-trained, and we are not even trying to make that happen. But lots of time spent in wet bathing suits calls for some time to air out and dry out and let it all hang out!

2. Kingston is not going to be able to have cookies for snacks any time he wants them. There are cookies everywhere and since we don't always eat at the regular times, I find myself giving him cookies just to tide him over until breakfast, lunch or dinner. And Pappy likes to gift him with cookies every now and then. He's had the occasional lolly pop and popsicle, too. Sugar.

3. And on the same sugar note, Kingston is going to have to go back to drinking juice cups that are mostly water and very little juice. Here, he has had more than his share of Coke (I know, I know), Fresca, Fanta de Naraja and various other soda pops. They are convenient and they are so tasty since they mostly come out of a glass bottle. Since you have to purchase a beverage at every meal (don't drink the water!) I find it difficult to always order a bottled water since the sodas cost just as much and are so good! I save the Coke Lights for just me but I share the other drinks with Kingston.

4. Nicole showed me how to download movies onto Nigel's iTouch. At home, Kingston is not going to sit at the dinner table in a restaurant and watch Monsters, Inc. over and over again like a crackhead. I've created a monster of my own!

5. Not sure what we are going to do every day when we don't have a beautiful warm beach out front and a sparkling pool 4 yards from our front deck. Gonna have to get seriously creative when we get home!

Uh-oh! We've got some work to do. For now we will just enjoy the rest of our trip. And worry about the trouble when we get home.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Hola Again!

Here we are, still in Santa Teresa. Looks like the plan is to move on tomorrow, but you never know around here! The waves could change, the guys could come up with a different idea or something else could happen. Nicole and I were asked how we could sit back and let the boys make all of the decisions about when and where we go. We looked at each other and smiled and I said, "Well, we know they will choose somewhere that has a beach and a decent place to stay, so we don't really care!" If you like to go to the beach on vacation, the perfect people to go with are surfers. The beach is a given.

So since being here, Nicole has started a blog of her own. She has done a better job of writing every day. Check her out! I'll leave the daily updates to her and I will read another book when I have kid-free time!!! She is a great writer and I look forward to reading her posts.

Now, off to get breakfast with Nicole. It's our daily routine.

Adios!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Hola!

From sunny Costa Rica!!

We are here and we are having a great time! Kingston has been a great little traveller. I couldn't ask him to be any better, really. He has his moments, of course, but that's to be expected.

Currently we are in Santa Teresa. The beach is perfect and the waves are good. Works for all of us! We think Kingston has a bit of a cold, complete with a cough and a runny nose, but all things considered, he is doing great. We plan to spend a few more days here and then move on. Nigel went to the pharmacia and got some cough medicine so we will see how things work out tonight.

I'll try to be back in touch but I make no promises! There will be a full write-up when we return, for sure!!

Adios!


Monday, January 4, 2010

Oh, Yeah! Christmas.

We've kinda been busy since Christmas. Nana, Kingston and I went to Charlotte to visit Aunt Freda and my cousins. We got to meet Jason's new little daughter, Kori. She was precious. There was New Years, a visit to Nigel's mom's family in Virginia, my last day of work until late January, shopping with my friend Nicole, and on and on. And it will only get more busy as I will soon be soaking up the sun in Costa Rica in a little more than a week. But I won't bore you with the sordid details. I'll wait til I get back and rub it in!

And now, without further ado. . .


Christmas morning!

Kingston's trampoline was a big hit. I'll bet you thought it was just for jumping. Wrong. It is also for playing with choo-choos. And pretending to nap. And diaper changes.
But it's especially fun to jump on. With Dad. Preferably while Dad is holding Kingston and doing all the work. But sometimes jumping on his own.
After Christmas morning at our house, we went to Nana and Grandpa's house for more Santa Claus and more presents. You saw those pictures. After brunch there we headed to Virginia to visit Nigel's family. The highlight of the trip was climbing the big magnolia tree with Pappy.
We got home just at bedtime, had a quick jump on the trampoline and went to bed. It was a great day for the Haynes family. Kingston still doesn't quite get the whole Christmas, Santa Claus thing, but he did figure out presents and wanted to open every one he came across!
Happy New Year everyone! We expect a fun and exciting 2010!