Hi all,

I know I promised a post on "Luisa" next. But that can wait a little longer. We're trending toward the end of July. School has been out for awhile and now is the time for vacations. As in people vacationing to Costa Rica. :) Some of those people just happened to be our family coming to Costa Rica for the first time.

My husband's parents, my inlaws, just returned from the States this weekend after spending a week with us. It was wonderful to see them. It also gave us a reason to actually do a little vacationing of our own. So off we went out into the wild, blue and green Costa Rica.

Where did we go? Based on recommendations from some of the folks I work with, we headed to Manual Antonio. Yes, it sounds like a guy's name. But it's really the location of one of the best national parks Costa Rica has to offer. Here is the link to the Wikipedia entry about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Antonio_National_Park

We spent 3 days in Manual Antonio. 3 days of family, sun and nature. We had lots of all 3. First family. 3 full days of 6 people driving in one car in a foreign country. James drove. His dad Gerry navigated. I helped to keep the kids entertained while the Nintendo batteries were charging. Judy, James's mom, held on for her life for the bulk of the trip. The roads in Costa Rica are nothing short of an adventure. There are a lot more obstacles (cows, people, pot holes, mountains, roads which wound around the mountains with no guardrail) then one usually encounters along the average highway and biway in Missouri. But besides the joys of a road trip, having our family with us here in Costa Rica was the best. It's hard to describe the happiness of having your close family in the same room for a change instead of only by Skype. The kids missed their grand parents very much. Having them here for a week was the best vacation we could have given.

And then there's sun. We had lots, lots and lots of sun; mostly on the 2nd day. We applied sunscreen liberally, in the first 15 minutes we were on the beach. But then, forgot to do it again for the next several hours. Add the fact we're 2 miles from the sun here in Costa Rica and playing in the water, spells more than too much time without adequate sun protection. Lesson learned for sure. Although, my favorite picture was of the kids after this day of sun and sand.

Finally, there is nature. Lots and lots of nature for sure. We saw grasshoppers 5 times the size of anything I've seen before. Walking stick insects which were as big as real sticks. We saw iguanas and geekos at every turn. Monkeys of 3 different species. There were sloths in 2 different varieties. We actually saw a bona fide tree frog snuggled safely in the crook of a large banana leaf. So small and so close to the same color of the leaf without the expert eyes of our guide we would have missed the little frog totally. We saw tree bats snoozing in the mid afternoon. And, we saw snakes. Joy, slithering reptiles. :) Tree boas were mostly what we saw with the one exception. One of these reptile friends we saw Monday evening right outside our hotel bulding on the path leading from the beach up to the hotel. Here is a picture of our little friend, a black reticulated boa as our nature guide said based on this picture,  as he was quickly trying to escape into the underbrush. Our other reptile friends were curled up high in the tree canopy away from those pesky people.

It was a wonderful 3 days and a great week with our family. We thoroughly enjoyed having them visit us, enjoy Costa Rica and experience our day to day life here.

I think this final picture exemplifies the Pura Vida feeling we all had after enjoying our vacation.

Now, this week, MY parents visit. More family, sun and nature coming up!

JULY 4TH 2010 - Happy Birthday USA!

Happy Birthday USA!

Today we spent our first July 4th in Costa Rica. It was a nostalgic day and very different compared to the last July 4th I spent in a foreign country.

The last 4th of July I spent in a foreign country was 20 years ago as a college student in Guadalajara Mexico. The highlight of our evening was singing the Star Spangled Banner at 10pm in the middle of a residential street with probably 15-20 other study abroad students under the influence of several Tecate beers, the "PBR" of Mexico (translation: the cheapest beer). It was quite a "chorus". (!)

This 4th of July was very different. There were still study abroad students. I saw and talked to many from Missouri and Kansas. But I wasn't in that group. I was in the "family with small children" group. Wore my KU t-shirt and Audrey had on her KU cheerleader outfit none the less. James had on a patriotic shirt with the US flag. Corwin proudly wore the t-shirt from his boy scout troup from KC. We still sang the Star Spangled Banner. But not at 10 pm at night, nor in a residential street. There was still beer involved via an all you can drink beer garden; just not Tecate and I had only one.

This 4th of July we spent the bulk of the day at the annual July 4th Picnic sponsored by the American Embassy and probaby 40 or 50 sponsors. This was the 50th year of the event. It was at a large outdoor private picnic park where for $5 US per person (and it was only for American citizens with US passports and immediate family), we had all the hotdogs, beer, soda, popcorn, kids games, picnic games, volleyball and bounce house time we could stand. But more importantly, we also saw the Stars and Stripes raised by a US Marine Corps color guard, recited the Pledge of Allegiance and then sang the Star Spangled Banner at the top of our lungs with a local outdoor live orchestra. The picture here is the flag as it was being raised on July 4th by the color guard. After the colors were raised high, the US Ambassador to Costa Rica addressed the crowd. Both with her own address and an excerpt from President Obama's July 4th proclamation.

It was both an incredibly wonderful event and bittersweet at the same time. Over the last month or so, the whole family has been more than a little homesick. Things which remind you of "home" can suddently and strongly trigger very intense emotions. When singing the Star Spangled Banner, it was all I could do to hold it together and not just start sobbing half way through it. We were told this would happen. I expected it in the kids. I didn't expect it in myself. It's a difficult thing to describe. It's like "the honeymoon is over". The boxes are unpacked. The car bought. The immigration process complete. The kids enrolled in school. The paths to grocery store, gas station, church, Walmart substitute and work are almost second nature. However, the language is different. The government is different. You can't buy an American flag because you can't find any. The extended family isn't a car ride away. Nothing you know like the fiber of your being is "just a car ride away" anymore. It's all a day's journey by an airplane going 700 miles per hour.

The question is how to manage this incredibly strong pull to things more familiar and comforting? How do we embrace our new home in a foreign country while still keeping our home country with us in our "back pocket" so to speak? It's something we will be working through for quite some time to come I'm sure. In the next several weeks, my in laws and my parents will be traveling south to see us. We've already sent "lists" of what we want them to bring from the States. The top of the list? The first thing which came to mind? Cheeseburger Mac Hamburger Helper and a very large US flag. :) Can't find either one of those things here at all. Why Hamburger Helper? Kids love Hamburger Helper. It's not gourmet. But it's easy to make. It's "American". It's "comfort food". The flag? When you're not in the USA, you're just American. You're not from Missouri or Kansas or New York City. You're not Republican or Democrat. You're just American. You want a big honkin' flag to put up whenever the mood to display your "Americanness" reaches pitch. As such, perhaps with a little "Hamburger Helper" once in awhile, a big honkin' US flag to put up when we feel the urge coupled with the fact I can play the Star Spangled Banner on my piano keyboard while the kids learn to sing it at the top of their lungs, we'll get just the "fix" we need once in awhile to keep the USA close at hand like that comfy sweater you know you'll always have handy when it gets really cold.

Have you ever been homesick? Ever away from "home" for long periods of time? What did you do to help ease those homesick blues? Drop me a comment. Would love to hear about it.

Next post: LUISA!

God Bless the USA!

Jaci