Costa Rican Family Adventure: September 2012

Monday, Sept. 29th (oh my gosh, I am sooooo behind....never thought I'd be having too much fun to write in my blog about how much fun we are all having! Bare with me as I catch up...)

Today, Marissa's 4th grade class went on their first field trip of the year....well, they call them "field studies" at La Paz and the kids get to ride in buses to them (Marissa was, I think, most excited about the bus part!). It was an all day trip to Santa Cruz (about 1 hour south east of Playa Flamingo) and we all got to sit in a comfy, air conditioned bus for the trip.....

Inside Marissa's classroom...it's open air!

Marissa awaiting instructions for the trip...

Marissa's class list...19 kids...Mr. Dodge (from Oregon) is her teacher (19 students)

Loading donations into the bus....

First stop.....arriving at the nursing home in Santa Cruz...

Kid's walking into the nursing home (Marissa 2nd from right)

Delivering the donations (mostly canned goods).....

Kid's getting ready for show.....Marissa is there in the middle

Marissa and Grace greeting the residents....

Singing and dancing....Marissa 3rd from left

Marissa's teachers....Ms. Claudia, a nun from the center, Ms. Xenia, and Mr. Dodge

Grace and Marissa (Grace moved here last year from Colorado)

Residents wave good-bye

Bus ride to next stop....Marissa is in the back row with Grace and Siena. Our neighbor and Siena's mom, Lynore is the other mom in the middle there. They moved here 3 years ago from Pennsylvania. They also have a son, Liam in Dominic's grade and a son back in the states in college.

Next stop....hike over a local hanging bridge!

Mr. Dodge takes the kids across....

A little shaky with so many kids!

Mr. Dodge leading the kids on a hike (that is Marissa, Grace and Siena with him)

A hiking we will go....

2nd hanging bridge....much older and with many missing boards!

Hold on! Marissa and Grace are behind Mr. Dodge

Walking thru the neighborhood...

More neighborhood walking....

After the hike and walk thru the neighborhood, we arrive at Ms. Xenia's house! She is Marissa's Spanish teacher....she was so proud to show off her typical Costa Rican home.

One bedroom for 5 people...very typical.

Ms. Xenia's kitchen (Marissa on right)

Next we drove thru downtown Santa Cruz...quite a big town with shopping and a big town feel, but still very "cowboy" in feeling, too.

Typical store....no dressing rooms and usually no mirrors either!

Tech store/Pharmacy all in one!

Next, we gather at a park...Marissa is right in the middle, bottom row

The center of the park....

Sienna (also our neighbor) and Grace (lives in Tamarindo) and Marissa

Marissa's class again...She's on the ground in middle...

This is the oldest tower/structure in Costa Rica...300+ years old and did not fall in the earthquake!

Next, we walked across the street to the church (every town center has a church, park/soccer field)

Marissa and Grace

The kids at a shrine

All the stained glass was of various positions of hands...

Then we went to a local lunch hangout made possible by Ms. Xenia

The looooong dinner table

Sienna, Marissa and Grace

The kitchen! In case you are wondering....you can drink the water and eat all the food in Costa Rica. Even in places like this, we have never gotten sick or had problems. They take great pride.

A "typico" Costa Rican "casado" dish of chicken, rice, beans, plantains, and salad

Fresh homemade tortillas for pushing your food onto your fork and for soaking up the juice

This is a typical dish with meat over rice, noodles, beans

The kids dig in!

One last class photo...Marissa is in the front (between Grace and Siena)

And that was a day well spent! I really enjoying going and getting to know and meet Marissa's teachers and classmates. What a great bunch they are and now I know why she likes it so much!

Many of you have been asking about our regular days and because the kids are in school, we have lots of regular days like we did back home. Days when the kids don't want to go anywhere or do anything and days when they do homework or projects. But, for us an average school week looks like this these days....

First Day of School 2012....Will (1st), Zack (8th), Marissa (4th) and Dominic (10th)....Marissa is holding up the last Harry Potter book as she spent her summer reading this series and was very proud to have finished it!

The South Campus (grades 6-12) open for it's second year with plans for grades K-5 to come over next year with the hopeful addition of a second quad area (I say hopeful because they are still trying to raise the funds)

The courtyard at the South Campus (all native plantings).....

Monday....school from 8:00-3:00...we generally wake up the big boys at 6:30am to hit the showers, get the two little ones up by 7:00am, and leave by 7:45. School is about 5 minutes away by car. I drop off the big boys first at the south campus (grades 6-12) and then double back and drop off Marissa and Will at the north campus (preschool-5th grade). I come back home and have a cup of coffee and get Maria set up. She comes and cleans on Mondays and is included in our rental agreement. Marcos and Michael are also around a lot to fix things, put out fires (literally!), change light bulbs, etc. and are also part of our property management team. Great group at "Precious Places of Paradise" who we rented our house thru. William and Marissa have an all-school Morning Meeting in the outside palapa from 8:30-9:00am each day. I meet Dominic down at school from 12:30-1:50 for his LEEP period and work together on documenting his progress with his LEEP internship. Both Marissa and William have PE this day. After school the big boys take the school bus from the south campus to the north campus and workout in the "Jungle Gym" weight room while William attends gymnastics in the outdoor palapa and Marissa plays indoor soccer in the gymnasium. I pick them all up around 4:00 and they generally head straight home to jump in the pool and cool off from the hot day.

William and Dominic enjoying the swings on the North Campus (grades preschool-5)

Tuesday...school from 8:00-3:00...Dominic is now "working" on the Gamefisher II fishing boat for his internship thru school and goes to the boat that is docked just in front of Brastillio's Restaurant and about 3 minutes away by car from 6:30am-noon. SOON, I hope he will have a bike for this trip. I then walk down to the hotel Bahia del Sol and attend a yoga class from 9-10:30am. Argentina comes on this day and helps around the house and cooks us dinner.....she is amazing and I want to bring her home with us! She does cleaning, laundry, shopping, cooking, etc. all for $20/per day. She also has four kids and rides a bus for 1 hour to get here and then walks from the bus stop to our house for another 30 minutes. I pick her up or drop her off at the bus stop whenever I can. Dominic then comes home from fishing and jumps in the pool, eats lunch, and heads back to school by 12:50 for his last two classes (math and science). Zack and Will both have PE today. After school the big boys take the bus over to the north campus and play basketball in the gym from 3-5:00, William does ballet from 3-4:00 in the outdoor palapa while Marissa assists the ballet teacher, then Marissa does her dance class (part Pilate's, contemporary, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, etc.) from 4-5:00 while Will plays on the playground...and if it rains in the afternoon William is known for running in the rain during this time and many a Tuesday I have taken him home sopping wet and happy as a clam.

William and Marissa in ballet class....

The Gamefisher II is on the right (Dominic is on board doing maintenance)...

Wednesday...school from 8:00-3:00...Zack, Dominic and Marissa all have PE today and I meet with Dominic from 1:30-3:00 for LEEP then the big boys take the bus over after school and work out again while Marissa has her gymnastics class and then BATON twirling class. Can't believe that we came all the way to Costa Rica to find a baton twirling class!!...she is soooo happy about this. The gal who teaches the class was a majorette at Southern Georgia where it is still really big. William has started having play dates on this day as he does not have an after school activity.

Marissa and Sienna practicing tossing and catching their batons

Sienna and Marissa twirling!

Marissa twirling away.....

Thursday...school from 8:00-3:00...on this day Dominic and William have PE. I mention these days cause the kids have to remember to bring their gym shoes (if they don't already have them on) and their PE shirt or uniforms. The two little ones wear a PE shirt only (green t-shirt with school logo) and the big boys also have black shorts with school logo. The south campus (or colegio/high school) has showers for after PE as the kids are generally soaked with sweat from hiking, running in the hills, soccer, etc. The teachers were much appreciative of this addition this year as no one wants to have teenagers in their classroom after PE without showers! I do yoga again this day from 9-10:30am and Argentina comes to help and cook again. She makes the house smell soooo good in the afternoons. After school, the big boys again take the bus over to the north campus where they have indoor soccer from 3-5 in the gym, William has Hip Hop class from 3-4 in the palapa while Marissa attends homework club with her teacher, then her dance class again from 4-5:00.

William (in back in green shirt) hip hopping away....

The gym where the kids have PE or after school activities....

Zack (in green shirt under net second from left), Dominic (with shooting sleeve on) and friends playing basketball....

Friday...On this day Zack and Marissa have PE (each kid has it 3 times per week) and both little kids have library this day (remember to bring library books back!). They both have to check out a Spanish and an English book each week and are asked to alternate between the books each night. Mostly we have been reading Dr. Seuss books in Spanish...kinda fun! Dominic gets out at noon on this day and he is either on the fishing boat making repairs or we work on his blog. He is keeping a blog of his LEEP internship to keep track and document his experiences...

(www.dominicscostaricanleep.blogspot.com)

This helps with his monthly check-in with his advisor and the monthly presentation he makes to his peer LEEP group. LEEP stands for Lifelong Educational Experiential Program. We decided to name his blog "Dominic's LEEP thru the Oceans of Costa Rica". After school, the big boys usually scatter to friends houses while Marissa and William have been attending a fantastic 2 hour art class. They have painted on canvas, done paper mache, painted picture frames and made tissue flowers so far. I am sure that some of you will end up with one of these projects as a holiday or birthday present (that is, if you come down to visit...no bribery intended!).

Saturday and Sunday...I have to say that these two days have become our favorite days because for the first time since we can remember, we have no games, no practices, no recitals, no rehearsals, etc. on the weekends. This is our time to explore, be lazy, go to the beach, go swimming, etc. So incredibly nice to be able to choose what we want to do and not have it chosen for us. I would say that going to Lola's or Tamarindo/Nogui's restaurant are our current favorite things to do on the weekend.