It’s been a little over three months now since we moved to Tamarindo. We have experienced more as a family than I ever could have hoped for and still I feel we have so much to look forward to.

If someone were to ask me how my life as a father has changed during this journey, I have a very clear and definite answer. And it’s an answer that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I have been able to spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with my family. For the first time ever.

We do EVERYTHING together. Trips to the beach, trips to the store, trips to the doctor, every single meal, visits with friends, drives to the gas station, trip to the laundromat. You name it and we do it together. All 5 of us. All the time.

Yes, I am still working while we are here, but while I’m working the kids are either sleeping, playing in the pool in front of me or doing their own school work at the table with me. I’m never isolated from the family, never away running errands, never locked in my office, never begging for much needed space. We work as a whole now.

I can not even begin to describe how fantastic it feels to know every single thing that has gone on with all of my kids on a daily basis. I have watched them grow and develop before my eyes. This is a once in a lifetime experience. I know that eventually this will have to end. The kids will go back to school, friends will start to come back into the mix and my own social life with Erin will start to call. That is the nature of life. I am so grateful for the time that I have been given though.

I hope that when we return to Colorado and to Costa Rica in the future, we will be able to maintain some of this magic, some of this connection. I feel like a changed person. A changed family. I don’t feel like we’re living in a different place, I feel like we’re living differently. And I love it.

Not once since we have arrived in Costa Rica have I asked any of the kids “How was your day?” I know the answer. I lived it with them. I couldn’t be happier about that as a father.