It’s been 8 days since the kids and I drove to Playa Negra to drop Erin off at her Advanced Yoga Teacher Training. We’ve seen her a few short times since she’s been gone (for a total of about an hour) and we’ve connected via text and FaceTime when she has a break during the day, but for the most part, we’ve been flying solo all week. I really wasn’t sure what to expect while she was gone, this is a pretty unusual break, neither of us ever really travel alone or go on work trips, so it was kind of a mystery for us. The good news is that it’s been a great week. The kids have been fantastic. Everyone is helping out around the house, they’re doing homework (mostly) without gripe, they’re eating the food I cook them and they’re not battling and fighting at all. I think they know that I can handle only “so much” alone and they’ve really responded!

5 years ago, I would have laughed if Erin told me she was going to leave me alone with the kids for 2 weeks in Costa Rica, but my how things have changed, this town is like home to us, we’re surrounded by friends that have become family. I’m feeling very grateful for the life that has found us here.

The first 3 days that Erin was gone, we were invited to go to a beautiful home in Playa Negra with some dear friends of ours. It was perfect. The boys got to surf one of the best breaks in the area multiple times a day, Abby got to swim and color and play and I got to relax and connect with some very dear friends. I couldn’t have asked for a better transition into Erin being gone.

By the time the weekend arrived, we drove back to Tamarindo and all three kids competed in a surf competition. This was the very first time that Abby competed along with the boys, I was so proud of her. It was a long day, but worth every second. Abby ended up coming in 2nd in her age division, Jacob came in 4th and Ben came in 6th. It was a huge day for the kids.

We stayed in Tamarindo that evening and the next morning we drove back to Playa Negra to spend one final morning with our friends down there.  We even got to sneak in 30 minutes with Erin while she was on a break from her teacher training. I think we were all feeling grounded driving home Sunday afternoon after seeing Erin and getting ready for the week ahead.

The week was smooth as silk pie. Everyone made it to school on time, lunches were packed the night before, homework was completed without discussion, the boys surfed almost every day, Abby and I played games together, we all watched a few shows, made some home cooked meals, got carry out a few times and really connected.

Erin came home for the weekend from her journey. It was so great to see her, we missed her and were so happy about the experience she’s been having. We spent the weekend connecting as a family, socializing with friends (oh it was Halloween weekend but that was a non-factor in our little world) and this morning (Tuesday) I dropped Erin back in Negra to finish out her training. We’ll pick her up on Friday evening and we’re all extremely exited to see her again.