Witch’s Rock/Ollie’s Point – and turning 8!
May 2012Jacob wanted to spend his 8th birthday surfing, so we took a boat from Tamarindo to the legendary Witch’s Rock and Ollie’s Point. Big waves, small boys.… Read the story
Goodbye’s… and hello’s
April 2012Friends visited, Uncle John flew in and we finally took a river trip in Palo Verde. Then we said goodbye to Frank and Elsy, the first people we met here.… Read the story
Colorado Boys in a Surf Competition
April 2012Ben and Jacob said yes to their first surf competition at a kids’ Earth Day festival in Tamarindo. Ben even learned to duck dive in his first heat.… Read the story
Jeffry’s House
April 2012Jeffry, who looks after our house in Tamarindo, invited us to his family’s home near Huacas for Easter. Nerves, broken Spanish and a warm welcome.… Read the story
Semana Santa
April 2012Everyone told us to just wait for Semana Santa. What Easter week looks like in Tamarindo, with packed beaches, family crowds and soccer on the sand.… Read the story
Fish with Jackets
April 2012Trying to explain Matt’s shellfish allergy in Spanish, we came up with fish with jackets. All the laughter learning Spanish has brought our family.… Read the story
Life in Spanish is Complicatedly Simple
April 2012How a language barrier shrinks conversations to the basics, and the morning it took us four tries to understand some very happy news. Poco a poco.… Read the story
Getting Pulled over in Vino
April 2012Back in 2012 a Semana Santa police checkpoint caught us driving without a passport. How it played out, plus a 2026 update on driving with a US license.… Read the story
Another Chapter is Completed
April 2012Saying goodbye to our last visiting friends after a week of surfing, beach days and pool time at Casa Colorado. Seeing Costa Rica through fresh eyes.… Read the story
Two Worlds Converge
April 2012One sunset photo and a joke about shoveling our driveway turned into plane tickets. What it was like to share Tamarindo with close friends from home.… Read the story
Vino is put to the test. And passed. Mostly.
March 2012Our old van packed with three families, four surfboards and no AC, on a hot drive to Avellanas. Then we found out Lola’s is closed on Mondays.… Read the story
14 feet for a week
March 2012After weeks of countdowns, YaYa and Grandpa Buzz finally arrived. How our kids showed off their surfing, tide pools and our first drive to Avellanas.… Read the story
YaYa and Grandpa Buzz
March 2012Our first visitors from home. Showing YaYa and Grandpa Buzz our new life in Tamarindo, from the kids’ favorite surf spots to dusty drives to Avellanas.… Read the story
24 hours a day – 7 days a week
March 2012Three months into life in Tamarindo, we spend every hour of every day together as a family. Why we never have to ask our kids how their day was.… Read the story
Ben’s Video Project on the Tides
March 2012Ben made a video for his class in Colorado about how the tides work in Costa Rica and why they matter for surfing, with a time lapse of the tide coming in.… Read the story
ChocoMuseo
March 2012We roasted, cracked and ground cacao beans with our kids at the ChocoMuseo in Granada, Nicaragua, then made our very own chocolate bars to take home.… Read the story
It’s all good Ben. I promise. Just keep walking.
March 2012A homeless man followed us on the walk back to our hotel in Nicaragua, and our worrier Ben kept looking back. Thirty seconds none of us will forget.… Read the story
Education
March 2012Our trip to Nicaragua was about exposure as much as visas. Erin on teaching the kids without words, and the work of Love, Light and Melody in Managua.… Read the story
Power Outages, Waffles, Monkeys and Zopango
March 2012The lighter side of our Nicaragua trip: dinner by candlelight when Granada lost power, a tour office that found us a boat, and a day on Isla Zopango.… Read the story
Isla Zopango
March 2012A short boat ride from Granada to a private island on Lake Nicaragua: swimming, kayaking, grilled fish, and my first try at eating whole fried sardines.… Read the story