Christmas Letter 2012 With Love from Costa Rica

As I sit down to reflect back on 2012...I see LOTS of hills and valleys, laughing and crying, and lots of traveling, celebrating and reminiscing.  But, mostly I see many, many reasons to be thankful.  Thankful that this year was given to us....because at the start of 2012 I don't think that any of us could have dreamed about the journey we would go on.  So, I'd like to reflect a little on the year to remember where we came from, and where we are now....living in Costa Rica!

In January.... We always start the year snow skiing at the cabin and this year, even with the lack of snow, it was no exception.  In fact, it was one of our favorite and most skied seasons...mostly because on any given day, we could arrive at Bear Valley at 11:00am or so and be the 12th car from the lodge, ski up and down for 2 or 3 hours and be fully exhausted.  With Zack learning to snow board and William off and running (literally, he skies faster than anyone!)...it was a really fun year.  We also begin each year with a series of birthdays....Dominic's was first with his 16th birthday on the 26th and William quickly followed on Jan. 30th with his 6th birthday.

In February... Next came Marissa's birthday on February 15th...she turned 9, had a double celebration with her great friend Anais, and they had their first sleepover party.  It was lots of fun with Anais's twin brother Milan and Marissa's brothers joining the fun for a bit.  For ski week we again head up to the cabin for more great skiing....just love being able to get a full day of skiing in by noon! 

In March... Some of you will remember that 3 years ago we spent the summer in Costa Rica and have always talked about maybe going back....Kurt and I begin having conversations that this could be the year and we begin doing covert research.  Zack takes a step-up and tries out for the Marin FC soccer league and makes the team.

In April....Spring Break was spent at the cabin skiing some more and loved that the rumored lack of snow kept everyone away.  We had a blast and skied almost every day.  Then on April 21st, I flew for 25 hours from SF to Hong Kong to Singapore to Chaing Mai, Thailand with 6 amazing, adventurous girlfriends to celebrate my 50th birthday (and Jenny's, too!).  I remember when I went to Maui for a week with girlfriends for my 40th and I was so rejuvenated...so an almost yearly tradition of traveling with girlfriends began.  We got to spend time in the northern hills above Chaing Mai and travel all the way down to Bangkok visiting all the markets, ruins, and sites along the way.  We ate bugs, visited hill tribes, rode bikes thru ruins, kayaked on a mountain lake, and hiked the heck out of those mountains....which of course, warranted a 2 hour Thai massage every single day (no joke...for $10!).  But, right before I leave, we begin to talk about going to Costa Rica again....could this be the year?  We lay the ground work and apply to an amazing bilingual community school in Playa Flamingo, Guanacaste....then we just keep our fingers crossed and wait.

In May... After returning from my 2 week trek to Thailand, my mom visited for Mother's day and we began the end-of-the-year wind-down.  My good friend Kara and I helped produce a special middle school performance of "Grease" and Marissa, Will and Zack all had dance recitals this month.  Dominic's AAU basketball team attends the largest basketball tournament in the US in Reno, Nevada (over 900 teams!) over the Labor Day weekend.  We hear from La Paz school and find out that they do not have room in all the grades for the kids.  So, we sit tight and begin to think that maybe this was not the year for us to go after all.

In June.... The highlight of this month was Zack's graduation from 8th grade...both sets of grandparents came to watch him be honored and bake in the sun (it was a hot, hot day!) as we all shed some tears and smiles remembering these amazing kids from kindergarten thru 8th grade...what a transformation all of them have made and such a great group of kids.  School ends with a bang and we embrace the summer with end of the year dance recitals and sports camps.

In July..... We go to the Marin County Fair for 4th of July and attend our favorite Silver Lake Family Camp in mid-July with highlights including lots of fish caught by the fishermen (Dominic, Jim and Papa, etc.), a huge all-day hike to the top of Thunder Mountain with 13 kids and 6 adults (we did it!), lots of margaritas with the Flamingo Girls, and of course, talent show night, s'mores and campfires.  About mid-week at camp we receive the call that the school in Costa Rica now does have room for all 4 kids!  Oh my gosh...what do we do?....well, as you all know... we went for it, and packed and visited friends in 4 weeks before heading out.  My back is still recovering! 

We would be remiss here if we did not take a moment to say an extra special thank you to several of our wonderful local friends who helped us with the herculean effort to move all our belongings into storage in 3 weeks....Julie Siler and Elizabeth Bradburn for all the late nights and early mornings helping us pack, sort, dump, and load (not to mention all the meals they brought us), to the Wolkom family for literally taking our 2 youngest kids so we could pack and then putting all 6 of us up at their house for a week as we finished getting out of the house, and Valerie Salvetti for helping pack and take the big boys while we worked.  And all of you, our dearest and closest of friends who took our kids on playdates and stopped by with bottles so wine, well-wishes and hugs....we could not have done it without all your love and support.  We will be eternally grateful.  OH!  And to Lydia Grossman for caring and babysitting for Zack's guinea pig Daisy and giving her the happiest of life up to the very end (yes, Daisy has gone to guinea pig heaven), and to the Creyghton family and Daan who are still babysitting Marissa's hamster, Hammy.  Leaving our pets behind was so very hard, but made so much easier knowing they had such loving, happy step-homes.

In August..... We spend a week visiting both sets of Grandparents with visits to Stockton and the mountain cabin.  We spend time at the lake with the Cushman's doing our usual frog hunting, inner-tube water polo, wacky water games and hula-hoop races.  Then on August 12th we board a plane with 2 suit cases each for our year in Costa Rica!  We move into Casa Potrero in Surfside, Potrero.  A little local beach side community with neighbors, cows and horses wandering the roads, iguanas and variegated squirrels running across our fence, wonderfully loud birds & howler monkeys waking us up each morning at first light and dirt roads all around.  We settle in and begin enjoying family weekend trips to go surfing in Tamarindo, Lola's, etc.....not having sports teams tugging at our schedules has been so very nice and such a great feeling to wake up and say, "what are we gonna do this weekend?"

In September... On Sept. 3rd (Labor Day!), the kids wake up and put on their new school uniforms and begin their year at La Paz Community School.  Immediately, the kids fall in love with the school, their new routine, the trips to the beach, the new surroundings, animals, weather, sunsets and embrace learning Spanish.  Dominic begins a LEEP (Lifelong Experiential Education Program) on the #1 deep sea fishing boat with Captain Richard Chellemi on the Gamefisher II.  We all just keep pinching ourselves.

In October... We are just about at the end of our tourist visa (which only lasts 90 days), so we fly to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and stay with college friends Gregg and Jackie Bartlett and their 3 kids.  What fun we have getting Dunkin Donuts, going to Target, a pumpkin patch and then Disney world.  It is funny the little things we miss from the U.S. and while we yearn for shopping malls and fast food we also love living without these luxuries and living with fewer options.  It is amazing how creative the kids have gotten with their projects for school.  So great to see so much recycling going on!  Oh, and the homework is almost all art based.  I just love having extra evening time with the kids and not being ruled by homework.  La Paz has longer class periods and the kids do almost all their work in the classroom....as it should be!  Florida highlights include getting slimmed at our Nickelodeon Hotel, trick-or-treating at the Magic Kingdom, and visiting Hogwarts in the Adventures of Harry Potter section at Universal (our unanimous favorite).  After returning back to Costa Rica after our week vacation, we celebrate Halloween with other local expat families and even get in some more trick-or-treating!

In November.... We begin to realize that being Thankful is how we have been feeling each and every day.  Thankful for this experience, the journeys, the new friends, the new sights, sounds and tastes of Costa Rica.....our new home-away-from-home.  Kurt flies in just before Thanksgiving and we celebrate yet another American holiday with expats at our favorite little neighborhood restaurant, Maxwell's where Kelly cooks us up a traditional American Thanksgiving just like home.  While we all reminisced about missing our tradition of going to my parents in Palm Springs for Thanksgiving, we find that being together is what the holiday is all about.

In December... We have our first visitors...my parents!  First, Marissa plays the narrator in the all-school Christmas performance of the "The Quitmaker's Gift" and school gets out on Dec. 7th for a month.  Next, Marissa and William perform with their gymnastics classes and Marissa with her baton class...another great show and off we move out of Casa Potrero and to our Dec. rental in the mountains between Arenal and Poas Volcano 2 hours north of the capital city of San Jose.  We arrive at night and are delighted in the morning to find ourselves in a beautiful mountain town facing Poas Volcano.  It may be remote, but we have been having lots of fun exploring the local villages of Sarchi, Zarachi, Santa Clara, La Fortuna, Arenal Volcano, etc.

So, in a nutshell, our year has not been what it started out to be, but oh how happy we are that it has ended up this way!....half the year in CA and half the year in CR...with an adventurous year that will be with us all our lives.  An adventure we are still so very much enjoying and relishing.  In fact, yes, the rumors are true....the kids are asking to stay at least another year so that they can be fully bilingual and we are considering....but, with not even half of our time in CR passed, we plan to revisit the idea in the spring and see if we are all still madly in love with this country (how can we not be!).  And frankly, between just you and me....I can't imagine that we would ever tire of this new, slower pace, sun filled, fewer expectations lifestyle.  It suits us well.

Now....for the part that does not suit us...missing our friends.....we miss you all terribly and we hope that in 2013 we see at least some of you down here staying in our new guest house.....yep!  Our next rental starting in January has a 2 bedroom guesthouse and 5 bedroom main house....so come on down!  Seriously!!!

Well, better sign off for today.  With Christmas in a day....I had better get going cause I have a volcano to visit, birds to listen to and kids to play with.

Much love to all of you this holiday season and we wish for you to also experience great adventures in 2013.

Pura Vida!
Tanya, Kurt, Dominic, Zackary, Marissa and William