I am addicted to speaking spanish. I’ve learned a ton, but I have a really really long way to go. Erin is always laughing at my crazy attempts to speak in spanish, especially when I try to explain something complicated or with many layers. Erin and I have been reflecting this week about how differentKeep Reading!
Yet again, we experienced another first this morning, not quite as fun as our other firsts though. This week is Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Latin America. It’s the busiest time in Tamarindo for the entire year, the week leading up to Easter. The entire country shuts down this week and it seems that theKeep Reading!
Yesterday we bid farewell to our last set of friends coming to town for a visit as Brent, Kristine, Aliya and Jaz. We had another wonderful time with them and the kids really enjoyed getting to know their girls better. Our week was filled with surfing, a night out a Bamboo Sushi Club, journeys toKeep Reading!
We have been living in our own little world for months now and have had very little interaction with our friends from “home” other than a few emails, random texts and the occasional skype calls. We’ve talked on facebook and a little through the blog, but for the most part we’ve been completely on ourKeep Reading!
This past week was another week of firsts. First week in the new house, first family friend visitors from Colorado, first emergency trip to the dentist, the list goes on. Many stories to tell, laugh about and share. Theme? Colorado meets Tamarindo. I’ve been sitting here for 30 minutes trying to find a specific topicKeep Reading!
This past week marked another milestone in our adventure. For the first time in 3+ months our 10 feet were joined by the familiarity and comfort of 2 visitors (and 4 more feet) from home, Yaya and Grandpa Buzz. The anticipation of visitors from “home” was enough to make the kids seem drunk with excitement. For theKeep Reading!
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 thisKeep Reading!
Ben has worked very hard to create a project for his class back in Colorado about the tides in Costa Rica (and the world). He has been studying the tides as they are an important part of life while surfing in Costa Rica. Different beaches are better to surf at at high or low tidesKeep Reading!
One of the most distinct memories I have (and will have) of our trip to Nicaragua was no longer than 30 seconds. We were walking back from dinner (in the dark) to our hotel. Erin mentioned this previously, but our hotel, while fairly nice, was just far enough off of the main square that itKeep Reading!
Thus far we have written about some of the more intense elements of our trip to Nicaragua. This post is about a whole different side of Nicaragua. The day we arrived in Nicaragua was quite busy and filled with new experiences. Once we arrived at our hotel (Real Granada) toward the end of the day,Keep Reading!
Once completing our crossing of the border into Nicaragua (story here) we were on the road in Nicaragua. As I mentioned before, we signed up for some sort of “one day tour” as part of our transportation to Nicaragua, but we had absolutely no knowledge of what was included. Berman, our Nicaraguan guide, who weKeep Reading!
Costa Rica grants 90 day visas to visitors and since we are here for a longer period than 90 days, we had to renew our visas. The renewal process is simple. Leave the country for 72 hours and earn another 90 days when you come back. It’s as easy as that. We opted to takeKeep Reading!
I am not a great surfer yet. In fact, chances are, if a wave comes my way, I’ve got a 50/50 chance of catching it, and an even lower chance of actually popping up and riding it. Erin, on the other hand, has (of course) become quite the surfer. It’s quite inspiring. She’s a naturalKeep Reading!
Ben is currently working on a project for school about the tides so I thought it might be cool to shoot a time lapse video of the tides going out over Playa Grande. My experiment didn’t work all that well as the sun went down before the “real” low tide, but the overall result isKeep Reading!
Last week we said goodbye to our home for two and a half months at the Luna Llena and moved into a rental house for the next month. It was with excitement and sorrow that we bid adios to our home at the Luna Llena. Our new house is up on the hill in Tamarindo,Keep Reading!
This past week both Jacob and Abby were able to see and talk with their classes on Skype again! Jacob had a great time as usual speaking with his class and Abby really enjoyed getting to see her class for the first time since we’ve been gone. Abby clammed up a little bit as sheKeep Reading!
You’ve gotta love the GoPro cameras. This is the first video we shot of Jacob after adding the GoPro Surf Mount to their board. Turned out great 🙂 I need to use more RainX to keep the drops off the lens, but it’s a great start. Plus, how fun is it to watch Jacob surf?!Keep Reading!
First quick video of Ben surfing with the GoPro mounted directly on his surfboard. Can’t wait to do more! This is surfing at Playa Tamarindo near the river mouth. Below are some pix from the session as well.Keep Reading!
After a collective 404 hours of spanish classes at the Coastal Spanish Institue in Tamarindo, we have now officially graduated! We have learned quite a bit and feel much more comfortable with the language now. Graduation day’s highlight was the homemade piñata that kids all made with their teachers. Below is a copy of theKeep Reading!
Monte Verde was a cool town. It reminded us of many mountain towns in Colorado . There was a small downtown, restaurants and hotels. The town was very focused on community, cleanliness and the environment. If you are in Costa Rica and have time to visit Monte Verde, I would highly suggest the trip. WeKeep Reading!