Day 3 continued

So after our zip line adventure we went back to the hostel and put our suits on and headed to this waterfall park where we could go swimming. But to get there we had to hike down a pretty steep mountain side. Hear we are at the beginning, still smiling and not all hot and sweaty.
The view at the top where we start the hike down to the waterfall.

It was so fun, and for those who know me, this was very hard. Since I'm not a big swimmer and only swim in pools, not in "nature", April is there encouraging, and cheering me on. As you can see the water is pretty rough. This is a big deal for me, so I am proud of this moment.
Exploring the river along the shore was really peaceful and quiet, a get-away from the roar of the waterfall. The water was not too cold, just a little chilly when you first got in, probably as warm as a cool pool in WA. After our adventure in the falls we were not looking forward to the GIANT climb we would be making back up.
Back at the hostel, we went straight to the pool and relaxed. . . .It was getting late but Carrie and I were up for one more adventure. . . . to the live volcano. .
Here we are on our way. . .
The mountain is active all day and night. What you see in this picture is the rolling of boulders, which you can hear rumble and roll throughout the day. You can see the dust in the middle of the mountain and how it is covered in ash till it hits the tree line.
This is what it looks like at night. This isn't lava, but hot rocks and embers rolling down the side. It was SO cool. This is another adventure we discovered while talking to other travelers and finding out what was worth seeing. We would have paid $40-$60 to get a ride to this place, but once again our rental car saved us a lot of money. We came and went as we pleased, AND didn't have to pay a cent to see the "show"! We met a biologist and his driver/photographer who took us to pizza later. Don't worry, it was completely safe, since the biologist was 60 something. He just loved telling us all kinds of interesting things. We enjoyed talking to the locals and seeing how they view the people of the USA.

When we weren't in the pool, napping or reading we were playing cards. Wearing head lights was a common occurrence for us but, Carrie rarely took her forehead fixture off. The lighting wasn't good in CR. The next day was our traveling day. We had two choices, to take a bit of a longer drive around the lake, or a shorter one and go the way we came and continue from there. We chose the longer way, thinking it would be interesting to get a chance to see some more of the country. Our biologist friend suggested a wonderful German bakery on the route around. . . . . . Alice

Day 3 ZIP LINE!

So the very next day after the canyon we went on a Zip-line tour. We got there pretty early so we took the opportunity to take some pictures of the great view! The mountain behind us is constantly rumbling and you can see and hear the boulders rolling down the ashy sides. These pictures are "pre-equipment."

And here we are sporting yet another very attractive helmet and utility belt that is the link between life and death. (L to R, Annie, April, Carrie and Alice) Carrie's new shirt style was the only place she could have her camera ready with one hand and not fall out of a pocket.
When Cory saw this picture I believe he said "You guys look dorky in your Jurassic Park helmets." We felt like we were in Jurassic Park! We kept saying how we were expecting to see a dinosaur at any minute. So we are on the tram headed to the top, which was really cool. It was a nice time to accustom ourselves to the height and look around, and to see the trees from a slower pace than what we were going to have later.
This is us after our first real "run". The lake behind us is Lake Arenal the largest lake in Costa Rica.
Our practice run, this is the position you had to have on the line. Arms straight, ankles crossed, except my knees needed to be higher and good to go. To stop you put your knees down and straighten your legs. You knew when to do this when the guide wiggled the line. My biggest fear was I did not want to slow down in the middle or anywhere. If that happened you had to grab the line and go hand over hand till you reached the other side. So I was staying pretty tight, besides this ended up being one of the scariest things for me and in the beginning I wasn't looking around too much, just praying, moning through my nose(you know how you do that?) and getting through it.
This is what the take off and landing platforms looked like. We had pretty much a personal tour since it was just the four of us. Our guides were so great!
Carrie taking off!
Me, praying, and looking side to side a little with my eyes. Annie and April were loving it. Annie had done it once before and April was going for the gusto. Carrie and I were a little more reserved. :)
Do you see the end? These are the tops of very tall trees you see in this picture.
I am coming in for a landing. Carrie and I relaxed by the end and it was really VERY FUN. Again I would do it again in a heart beat. On the last line we didn't even hold on to the handles. (It was a shorter run.)

These are some crazy "raccoon family" animals that were on the side of the road. I don't remember their names but they kill animals that attack them by having the enemy chase them and then they fall, turn on their back and slice the attackers neck and kill them. We learned later that they are not the best animal to be too close to. A lady started to feed them and they kind of swarmed the car. Annie and April were freaked out and Carrie and I got out and took pictures, we even have a video. One thing we learned about each other was we all had our strengths and weaknesses and we reacted to things differently. This was a good thing because when one was weak the other was strong. It was so GREAT! This is the first half of day 3 . . . . Alice

Costa Rica

So my great Blog idea didn't quite work out as I had planned so here I am to tell the tale after the fact. As you can see the internet only worked at the first place we stayed so there is a little repeat but now I have pictures to send. I will try and send something every few days but I am now trying to catch up on all that I have missed and keep up with life. I hope all are well. Blessings, Alice

We have arrived! Alice, Carrie, Annie and April have been in Costa Rica for only a couple of hours and have made ourselves comfortable in the only "man made" hot tub we will see on this trip. Early in the morning we head off to a hostel in Arenal by ways of our rental car.
The landscape on the way.
More landscape. We thought it was very interesting that these "tree fences" were all over the country, even in the most remote areas and in the middle of nowhere.
We made it to town and we are enjoying our second meal in Costa Rica (first was breakfast). We explored the town this day and prepared for our first excursion the next day, REPELLING DOWN A CANYON WITH WATERFALLS!
Here we are smiling away, ignorance is bliss. This is the truck that we had to ride to the top of where ever we were repelling down. It took us on a very steep, bumpy and dusty road. There was also another couple that we met there who went on the excursion with us. They were from England and were so nice! They were laughing at/with us the whole time.
This is our first practice rappel, this is Annie in the harness and I am standing by in the turquoise shirt, wondering what have I got myself into. Carrie is on the far left.
We are all so proud, we made the first rappel and apparently I am sending "peace" to the world, I seemed to have missed the mountaineer pose opportunity. We did around 6 or 7 rappels and they were all amazing! Some we "walked down a waterfall cliff and some we just dangled. The last one for me was the scariest because we had to have a rope guide and my helmet kind-of got stuck on it, and it freaked me out just a tad, because I started swinging to much for my comfort level. All-in-all I would do it again in a heart beat! That's ME!
On this excursion not only did we rappel, but we had to do a lot of maneuvering through crevices and down the river. It was the guides goal to get us very wet and some of our landings were in a puddle. April was caught "on film" but we all landed in this pool and pretty much had the same reaction. (sorry April I had to put this one in, get a close up on her face!)

This was at the end, and after this picture we hiked up a step hill and they provided a lunch and we got to change into some dry clothes. It was GREAT!
What does our next adventure entail? . . . . . . .

To be continued Alice

Day two/three? CR

Well today was a GRAND adventure day. We went repelling down some waterfalls and walked through a river, and saw some really big bugs too. Don´t worry all of you worriers, we made it saftley down and we had saftey gear on! I CAN´T WAIT to show you the pictures so you can see what we did. After the adventure part they fed us a good lunch, and we headed back to our hostel. (When they drove us to our destination we rode in the back of a truck pickup with some seats on the edges and bars on the sides.) Later we went to a place where we found where the locals went to the hotsprings for free. Y esterday we had checked all the fancey hotels and it would have cost us $60 each but we found the spot to get to the river and so we did that! I was way cooler too. It was an actuall river that runs non stop and is over or around 100 degrees. It was heated by the volcano and it was so HOT. This day was a very fun one and it will go down in the history book of Alice. The weather has been warm but cloudy, we only need to wear tanks and sun dresses. Talk to you all later. Alice

First Costa Rica blog

Hi everyone!! I can´t believe I am acctully here! Yesterday was a long day in the airplane, the first half of the flight was a bit squishy, the airplane was packed. I couldn´t sleep very well on that flight but they did have a medeoker movie on that I tried to watch and I listened to my Ipod. We landed in New York and I got to see the Statue of Liberty from very far away but it was still really cool. I was amazing to me to see New York from the sky. I know this will sound silly but I never thought of New York having trees and rivers and things. I only associated with the big city. I looks a lot like Seattle from the sky. The conecting flight wasn´t packed and I was lucky enough to get a whole row to myself and so I laid down and slept most of the second half. Well our hotel the first night was amazingly beautiful, we got there about 10:30 pm and we took a quick R&R in the hottub before bed. Today was a travel day again, but by car. So imagin the windiest road you have ever driven on and then imagin going on it for a couple of hours. That was our drive for today. Even the hardiest passangers got a bit car sick. The hostel we are staying in is quite nice, clean and has a pool. We explored the city we are in, La Fortuna, had lunch, did a little window shopping and checked out somethings we want to do tomorrow. We have a grand adventure tomorrow, Cannyoniering down some waterfalls. I will have to tell you about it maybe tomorrow.



It is a little tricky to e-mail/blog because some of the keys are different (like the shift key is in a different spot, and you use that one a lot) and all the instructions are in spanish so I have to keep guessing till I got the right one. I havent figured out the picture thing yet, these computers have a wooden box around it so I am not sure if I can plug my cord in it or what? I shall e-mail again. Pray for sunshine it has been very cloudy today but very warm. Love you all, Alice

Carter's first day of 4th grade

Well Carter was feeling much better yesterday so we started his first day with some school work, but he was having a bit of trouble concentrating. When he started asking questions about school I realized we needed to sit and talk about it a little more before we left. If you didn't know Carter is going to the same public school as Lacey on Monday's, Wednesday's and every other Friday to go to Music, PE, Lunch and Recess. And today was HIS first day there. When we got there we signed in at the office. As I was doing so, I noticed he had a petrified look on his face. I was worried more about him than Lacey because Lacey wanted to go to school and Carter does NOT. The first ten minutes for Carter was pretty rough for him, he started in PE and they all sat on the floor and Carter thought the teacher was going to ask him something he wouldn't know but he didn't and he was FINE. By the time I picked him up two hours later he had a huge smile on his face and said it was AWESOME and he made TWO NEW FRIENDS! I felt such relief. So you say to yourself, what did Mommy do with the first two school hours she has ever had to herself? I planed Carter's school work, for the next two weeks for him to do while I am gone in COSTA RICA!

Lacey's second day wasn't as great as the first. It started OK, she got to ride the bus to school while mom followed it. But when I picked her up after school (For her post op apt for her surgery which went good. They took out stitches and prescribed physical therapy hmmmm) she was very upset and said she had to tell me something. Uh oh, so we walked to the car and she tearfully told me she got scolded from the teacher (which is still a little unclear why, she doesn't know for sure) and then she started to cry in class which immensely embarrassed her even more. I believe it ended well in class and then she said she had trouble at recess too which she tried to work out very maturely. My Lacey was completely exhausted by the end of the day. (Do you notice the horse poo at the bus stop? NICE!)

Tonight I start the CR journey. I will spend the night at Carrie's because we leave bright and early to the airport Friday. I still have so much to do! Thank you to all who are helping Cory and the kids while I am away. Adios, Alice

First day of Lacey's Second Grade

The first day of school in second grade was....great! Lacey was a bit nervous and wanted me to come in the class with her when we got there but she did just fine and sat right down and waited. . . .She said her head was spinning with all the stuff they learned. They did a tour of the school first thing but she didn't seem to remember where the bathrooms were because when I picked her up she said she never went at school. The teacher had explained that if you went too many times during class you would have to put your name on the "Name board" so she held it all day. I explained that she had to go and it was OK. She has three recesses and so she said the first one she just walked around to check things out. The second she and her cousin Symantha did some playing and buy the third recess she and Symantha found some jump ropes and played that with some new friends! In class Lacey told me that she was the first one to turn in her math paper when she was done, and her teacher told me when I picked her up she was shocked at how fast Lacey got it done. Lacey liked it all in all and said she made a new friend who sits across from her.(but she doesn't know her name yet) Mommy had a little break down of tears when the door closed(sobs), but I was soon joined by other mommies (Aunt Amy too.) A few spells of tears throughout the day but we made it. And I already signed up to do somethings for school at the PTA tables and sent in my fingerprints.

Carter was not feeling well today and had a fever so he had a day of rest and will start his school year tomorrow. The advantages of homeschooling!

Keep all our children in prayer, Alice

Lacey the next morning

Last night Lacey was getting sick whenever she took the Dr.'s pain meds so we switched to Motrin and decided we were going to try to sleep through the night and not wake up every 4 hrs. And so this morning she is feeling GOOD! Thank you Thank you Thank you Lord for answering our prayers and giving us a good night sleep and I foresee a pretty good day too. Alice

Lacey surgery

This morning I woke up bright and early to take Lacey to get her Ganglion Cyst removed from her left wrist. The poor little thing was a nervous wreck and I think she was having a panic attack before the surgery. As she was waiting in the chair (pictured), she was saying she was having chest and heart pain. Of course this made me concerned but the nurse said she was fine after checking her out. The actual surgery was quick and easy. When the nurse brought me back to see Lacey in the recovering room, Lacey was crying again and the nurses were saying she was just nervous, but I could tell something was upsetting her. As soon as I got to her side she said, "My hand is YELLOW!" With big tears falling down her her cheek. It was the pre surgery prep that made it look quite yellow and I assured her it wasn't permanent and would be her normal color soon. It took us a long time to get home, she is very nauseous so we had to take a lot of stops on the side of the road, and her wrist is hurting her more than I expected. We are home now, and mother and daughter are exhausted from the emotional day. Lacey is watching movies with her hand raised and iced. We have to give her meds every four hours even through the night but hopefully our healing proses will be quick and painless as possible. The pictures show her smiling but she was quite clear with her feelings when she was in the recovery room that she HATES anything to do with hospital experiences and she just wanted to scream her frustrations. But of course she stayed composed with the exception of the tears going down her cheeks. We are very proud of our girl for being brave in her fearful time.

This is our new blog space so keep checking to be updated on our new school experiences and my Costa Rica trip Sep 5th -20th. Alice

Our First Blog!

This will be my blog to update all of you on my trip to Costa Rica! I will try to update it when I can while on the trip with pictures, stories and news. Check back often! ~Alice