Archive for August, 2011

29
Aug

Sunday Funday Costa Rica style— Piscina Party!

Our last full day before take off— Sunday Funday in full force. Breakfast of beans, rice, eggs, and bread.

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We drove 45 minutes to the piscinas— very cute place. A handful of different sized pools and lots of room to run around. Kiera and Isaac happy to be at the pools!

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All the kiddos

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Isaac full of sunscreen and ready to go!

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Kiera’s first attempt down the slide—

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A beautiful mountain view and futbol field

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Full of character

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A playground and eating area. We ordered some chifrijo— beans, rice, chicaronnes, and pico de gallo

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Little kiddies pool

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Big kiddies pool

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BIG water slide. Ceramic tiles and cement = water slide Costa Rica style. Mega FUN!

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Pri watching Naomi coming down the slide.

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Wahooo!

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The more the merrier

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Sully a bit apprehensive about coming to the end— pooled water is what stops you at the bottom with a big splash

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The reason we bought a water proof camera!

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Sully a bit under the weather looking on from the sidelines

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Lightning McQueen

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The Mamas

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Sharing pina juice boxes and wafer cookies

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“No splash me Dit”

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Light at the end of the tunnel take two

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Climbing up

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Sliding down

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Go Kiera, go!

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Heading to the rio

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Cafe ready to be harvested

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Sully hopping off the “dinofore”

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When did she get old enough to do this????

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Even with parts of rain- it was a great time. We headed back to the house to prepare for the party at Kassia’s.

 

 

 

 

27
Aug

A purdy time in Puriscal

Our time is winding down quickly. We had two things that we still wanted to do— visit Edgar and Naty in Puriscal and visit the aquas termales. Puriscal was a hit and if tomorrow pans out as desired we will hit the aguas AND a barbeque at Kassia’s with everyone. Going out in style— yes!

Here is Sully Thursday before I left to get my tattoo. Playing with Issac’s guitar with his “skirt” (shirt pulled through his shoulders onto his waist), Walter’s “mow-tow-cycle” in the background.

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Sully following Martin to show him the “cu-tar”.

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Friday am we were off to Puriscal. One hour bus ride to San Jose, 15 minute taxi ride to Puriscal parada, and one hour curvy bus ride to Puriscal. Somewhere in between then Sully passed out.

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Again some “really random blurry and not centered from the view of the taxi” photos.

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Some buses are super new and stylish— others are, well, not as new and stylish:)

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One of the first questions Kiera asked me was why everything has bars on it.

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In the city there is stuff to by on every corner. People hollering out their goods and prices— you can find anything from pirated movies to food to personal hygiene- the list goes on forever. These people are real sales folk.

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Clothing is cheap here while shoe prices have skyrocketed

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We made it to the Puriscal parada. There wasn’t enough space on the bus so we got the kids (Naomi came with) some juice boxes and awaited the next one. The kids and I paid 200 colones to use the bathroom and then we were off!

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We made it! Naty and Edgar met us at the parada. We walked back to their house and had some yummy beans, rice, tomato salad, and pork. Super rico!

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Making our way back to their house

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Stuffed and chilling out

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Wahoooo!

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Sully loved this car that was left on the side of the road. “Me look for garbage, garbage man take it?”

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beautiful— hand made

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love birds

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Drooling…

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fresh as fresh gets!

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“Take a picture of me and my friend the frog.”

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Not sure how many family pictures we have taken on this trip that eyes are shut or heads aren’t looking at the camera:) We climbed the structure in the city park— open for all to climb up (you wouldn’t EVER see that in the states!)

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This beautiful church was left unused in 1990 by a big earthquake. It has sat vacant since then.

 

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Being monkeys on top in the park

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She was thrilled that she could

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“Do dat too!”

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Sully had one thing on his mind— getting “ipe beam lado” (ice cream helado)

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Rainy central park— where we were taking pictures earlier. All the students crowded under to stay dry.

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There are other random pictures at flickr.com/thesawinskis- check them out of you want.

We stayed in for the night- watching tv and shows with Edgar and Naty. Sully was a bit under the weather but awoke a bit better. Beans, rice, and bread for breakfast and we were off. We got to the parada with 5 spots left in the bus. Score. We walked on and off we went. Puriscal –> San Jose –> taxi ride –> Aserri.

Quick pose in the taxi— pretty girls!

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We scored some fresh fruit before getting on the bus to Aserri. Sully finished first out of all of us.

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a true beauty

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Sully chowing down

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Kiera continuing her feast on the bus

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That’s what we’ve got right now. Enjoying some beverages and good convo with Vilma and Pri right now. Tomorrow is our last full day:(

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

25
Aug

Arte primitivo

I couldn’t do it before beach time. I couldn’t do it before pool time. I couldn’t do it before sweat like heck time. But, I could do it today… get a tattoo that is. I had made an appointment a while back intending on having the design set so I could get comfortable with it. Neh, having Martin finish it this morning was way better- you know, the whole adrenaline rush thing associated with getting a tattoo. Pri, Martin and I went to the place just before my one o’clock appointment time. I was in the need for a liquado so ran to grab a 2X1 pina. When I returned I saw a guy drawing a tattoo out, perfect, my guy I thought. When I walked in he didn’t lift his head. No problem I thought, he is deep in concentration. 20 minutes went by and I tried to stay cool. Martin and Pri weren’t getting their undies in a bundle so why should I? I did however wonder why the heck this guy A. Didn’t say hi to me and B. Why it was taking so long to draw a few swirls. Come 1:25 I was really confused. Things don’t ever start on time anyway I muttered in the back of my head. Around 1:30 a guy casually walks in and looks at us and asks who his next victima is going to be. Wait… very confused now. The guy that has been ignoring me isn’t the guy that is going to do my tattoo? OK— now I get it! I felt much more relaxed and ready to get the show on the road! Charlie was very personable and professional (albeit on Tico Time). All in all a good experience! Gracias Arte Primitivo.

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25
Aug

Parque fun and a bit around town

We keep this blog for two reasons. One is to have this as a remembrance of our lives and the other is for “you” out there. Maybe you haven’t been out of the country to see another world or maybe you are just curious about how life works in another place other than your own. Either way, I try to cover both bases with my posts. I took out my camera quickly while on the taxi ride from the Grecia bus stop to the Aserri bus stop. Here are a few pictures of San Jose from a speeding taxi.

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San Jose may be a great capital, but it is anything BUT handicap friendly.

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We headed to the park once we got back to Aserri.

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Swinging at the park, wahoo!

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Sully saw that Kiera had her “hooz” off so he attempted to do the same. A split second after this picture he was falling backwards off the swing and onto the ground. Ouch. He fell rather gracefully however and managed to land on his bum instead of his head.

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With the rain coming we made it a pretty quick trip.

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Spaghetti and a rainy nap time followed:)

 

25
Aug

To Grecia and back

Sitting here in Aserri this morning, listening to the rain and watching Sully ride his “motorcycle” and eat his “hooker” (sucker— s’s usually get left of out Sully’s current vocabulary.) Here is a quick glimpse of our special time in Grecia visiting with two families, both of whom we visited last time we were here.

Sully, Kiera, and Marianna (9) enjoying an afternoon treat. We had seafood rice and beans for lunch. YUM. Translation from Sully: “Huddy eat lado” (Sully eat ice cream).

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Kiera was in love with Marianna– she is such an incredibly sweet girl!

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Kiera, Sebastian (13), Marianna, and Sully along with Nico.

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Thought I took other pictures of Sully “riding” an antique bike, but alas I didn’t. It was hilarious to watch him squat and waddle his legs to make it work. ‘Biking on the drass, Nico.”

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“Huddy pony in mine hair.”

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Good morning beautiful girl! (with Pulga, translation: flees) ha!

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View from their home in Grecia

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Cool

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Walking through the park to get to the grandparent’s house

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Made it across town. This is the home we stayed in the last time we came to visit.

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Kiera photographing the Grandma (Laura’s mom)

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Kiera photographing the Grandpa (Laura’s dad)

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Kiera photographing, om… her mom?

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A portion of the fresh produce waiting to get consumed— I LOVE MN but I love fresh produce year round even more…

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Sully and Sebastian enjoying some beans and rice

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“Huddy just rice, no beans”

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Working hard

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Lucia arrived (6)!!!

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Bestias- wished we had more time to spend playing. We will keep pestering them until they come and visit though (wink, wink)

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Dinner was taking longer than desired for the little tummies so they helped themselves to cereal. I wish I took a picture of dinner when it was ready. Bacon and seafood stuffed potatoes, lettuce salad, and fresh coconut milk tilapia. I am not much of a fish person but this made me change my mind!

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After “dinner” was tattoo time!

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Kid photo take one

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take two

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take three

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take four

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adult photo take one (somewhere in the mix is Melissa and Edgar, Dianora, Eric and Laura)

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take two

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take three

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take four

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Morning sunrise— the sun was radiant. If only we had the sun to wake us up like that year round… A beautiful space.

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Guanabana— tart and delicious. I have taken full advantage of the freshness this land has to offer!

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Getting ready to say goodbye— we are so grateful for our quick visit. THANK YOU!

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Goodbye hug. When we got on the bus to go back Kiera asked when she could see her new friends again:)

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Shutting the gate

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Lots of fun toys for the kids to play with and open space to use them— awesome.

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A beautiful property!

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We headed back to San Jose via bus, a quick 45 minute ride. Hopped a taxi and then another bus to Aserri (another 45 minutes). We made in back before the rain and headed to the park (next post).