Black Friday!

So after scouring the ads on Thursday, Tom and I headed out at 6 this morning. Okay, not really. The alarm went off at 6 and we debated for about two snooze pushes and then we rolled out of bed.

After two quick returns for forgotten items, we made our way to Sears. The store had opened at 4! For the truly crazy ones I guess!!

We then purchased this--


Pretty cool, huh?

While Tom and a friend installed it...I took a nap. Go Hubby!!

Oh...and we did make it to Fred Meyer for socks...of course!

Home

So that last blog just posted because for some reason it wouldn't load earlier. I am at the Portland airport right now waiting for my wonderful wife.


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Still in Chicago

Well my trip is coming to an end. I am excited to see my wife tomorrow. I have had a lot of fun in part to our friend Bret whose house I stayed at and who took me around the city. Thank you Bret. Below are some pictures of the stuff we say and did.


















So below is the reason I came here. Some pictures of the glass install but also because it was amazing the view from the house.



















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Chicago

Here I am in Chicago for an art install. But I came a little early so I could hang out with my friend Bret. We went out last night to see a view of the city check it out.


Today we went to the museum of contemporary art. Mostly wasn't to impressed. But there were a few cool pieces.



I will write more as it happens.

Have you missed us?

We could take a few minutes and give lots of excuses for not having posted for a while, but they all would be lame.

So, instead we thought we would post some pictures of what we have been up to. Enjoy!!

This is the old shed at the back of our house. It held important things like the lawn mower, but the floor was less than satisfactory (read: non-existent in parts) and it was honestly not large enough for what we needed.

So, Tom had a plan...notice that there is no longer a shed attached to the house...

And this is the new shed in progress...

Please note the MUCH larger size of the new shed...and here it is...almost completely done...

Pretty amazing, huh? My husband is incredible!!! Thanks to loads of help from fantastic friends and Tom's parents, it is awesome! It is so great...we are now able to store many more things (like the camping gear) out there which means that the back bedroom is now available for cool things like the treadmill we recently moved in. Now, we just need to conquer the office space so we aren't climbing over boxes just to get an envelope off the desk. Hmmm...we will keep you posted.

Tom's friend, Mafalda, and her husband, Claudio, came and visited us from Italy.

Here we are sampling fine American cuisine -- wings and tater tots!

We had the chance to go to the county fair with my parents, my nieces, and my nephew.

This is Nate finding out that this is the animal that the turkey you eat is made of. Wow!

This is our new vehicle! We had been having a bit of car trouble, so we decided to act now.

We love it! 2008 Toyota Highlander!

So long since we had purchased a car -- amazing what comes standard now --

Remote Entry Rocks!

My husband loves me!

Tom tried his hand at gardening this summer, and the tomatoes have been the most successful. He does not like fresh tomatoes so I get to eat them all. YUM!

The corn was finally looking good, and a raccoon ate it all over 2 nights.

Guess he thought it was ready. :-)

Tom wants to make sure you know that this is at least a $20 tomato.

That's all for now. We are very blessed and very grateful for all we have. Love you all!

Out and About!

Hey Everyone!

Sorry about the lack of postings.

We got home safe and sound (with no ear problems) on Friday, the 9th.

Costa Rica was truly amazing! I would definitely go back there!!

I am currently in Independence, Missiouri, at the Truman Presidential Library taking a class on America at War. It has been awesome! So many amazing guest speakers, etc! And today is only 95 degrees plus humidity! HA!

Tom is back home doing exciting things like going to work, mowing the lawn, etc. Please don't hesitate to offer to feed him...I worry about him!

I return on Friday night...and then leave again on Saturday night for Washington DC for another teacher training so you can continue to look out for Tom!

The Doctor was in!

We tried calling the advice nurse back home at 17 cents a minute. Do not ask Tom how long he was on hold!! She basically agreed with the plan from the pharmacy here. Another tourist recommended a different doctor here. We hunted him down and he was great!

He stArted by flushing toms ear with water and then hydrogen peroxide. Toms ear was completely plugged which is why the drops were not working. They couldn't even get in!

Then the doctor used the tool in the middle to pick out some cotton pieces. Dang Q-tips!!




It looked like he was going to pierce my husbands brain!

He found some infection so Tom got a shot...in his butt...and we got some pills to take with us. The plan is to be feeling good enough to fly on Friday.

Here is the patient flushing his ear with air and just basically feeling miserable.



We had to cancel our snorkeling adventure but it is raining today anyway. So off to wAtch the world cup!

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More pictures!

Enjoy the beautiful pictures of last nights sunset. It was awesome!!
Also, Tom's ear has been bugging him so we went to the clinica but the dr was at the other clinic for the day. The guys at the surf shop suggested we go to the pharmacy where they gave him some ear drops. Here he is...



Hope something didn't get lost in the translation!!

Samara Pics

Ouch! This is with 30 SPF and applied twice in the 4 hours we were out. You should see my wife--


Here are some of the beautiful things we get to look at daily.





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Morning on the Beach!

We are here in Samara! It is so beautiful!

We are staying in a condo about a 10 minute walk to the beach and about 15 minutes from town.
It started to rain as we arrived here on Thursday in the late afternoon. By the time we ventured out for dinner, it was pouring. We were in our full raingear, and it was still soaking. By the time we left dinner, the streets were ankle deep in water and the very large drain ditch things on the side of the road were rushing rivers. It was crazy.

But by morning, it was beautiful again!

Yesterday morning, we swam in the pool while we washed clothes. We timed our underwear allotment with our arrival here knowing that the condo had a washer and dryer available. We spent a lazy time walking around town yesterday exploring and checking things out. We ate lunch at a place with chairs facing the beach so we could properly enjoy the view and people watch.

Today we spent the morning at the beach alternating our time with jumping in the waves and reading. Yes, Tom has been reading. He finished Harry Potter earlier, and is now almost done with Ender´s Game. I have read a couple of books, too, including my book for the conference at the Truman Library when I get back.

One fun thing about the condo is that we have been cooking for ourselves. We are off to the grocery store now to decide on our next culinary adventure...

Love you all!

On to Samara!

This morning we took a hike through the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. It is supposed to be a great place to see the wildlife -- but it must have all been sleeping or away on vacation this morning. We saw some some small stuff and our guide knew a ton about plants that he was able to show off to us, but alas, nothing larger than a hummingbird. Although, we did enjoy the hummingbirds!

We leave soon for the Pacific side -- to a town called Samara. We were saying it like "se-mare-a" until someone recently corrected us and let us know it is pronounced more like "sam-uh-rah." Kind of like a samurai soldier, sort of...

We are staying in a condo there so we will have to walk into town and PAY for our internet access so no promises on when and how often we will be posting.

Our plan is to relax and enjoy the beach!

Adventures!!

Monteverde is the place of excitement! We have been super busy with all of the cool things that there are to do here!!

Yesterday morning, we woke up and after a good breakfast, we headed to Selvatura, which is a big park here that includes a lot of the good things to do. We started out with the zip lines. Tom did great...but I struggled a bit on the 2nd one . I stopped a bit short and one of the guides had to come out a few feet and get me. After that, they had me ride "taxi" style with one of the guides each time. It was kind of embarrassing, but actually, I really enjoyed it. It took the stress off for me, and I got to just lean back and enjoy the rides. The guides were really great about it. I often went first or last depending on when my "taxi" needed to go on to the next platform. They would yell, "Taxi!" and I would just go join them.

It is kind of a crazy feeling to be flying over the trees at that height and that speed. The last cable was a full kilometer long...that's over .6 miles for us Americans. Here's a picture of someone else on that last cable...


The zip lines took about 2 and a half hours in the morning. We then headed out on the hanging bridges tour that was on the same property. It was a hike just over 3 kilometers where we got to see a lot of the beautiful flowers that grow here in the Cloud Forest. The bridges were really cool, too. As you can see from the pictures below, I did just fine on the bridges, but Tom struggled a bit.

After that hike, we headed up to the restaurant for our lunch. During lunch, we watched an armadillo out the window. Those things can really dig!!

We then headed to the Butterfly Garden...my husband let me choose...he was more interested in the reptile land, but I think he enjoyed the butterflies, too. The pictures below show some of the fun things we saw. There were lots of different kinds of butterflies and our guide pointed out their eggs and the catapillars, too. The workers at the garden also collect all the cocoons and put them in this box to control the temperature. Look at all the different varieties!!

Last night, we also headed out on a night tour throught the cloud forest. We saw tarantualas, glow worms, walking sticks, and many other cool things that come out at night.

We slept very well last night as you can imagine. Tom is now headed out on an ATV tour while I am choosing to stay at the hotel and get a massage. Then, this afternoon, we head out to the Cheese Factory here in Monteverde. It was begun by Quakers in the 1950's when they moved here to avoid military service in the Korean War. We will let you know how it compares to Tillamook.

Rocky Road!

We have made it to Monteverde! Our hotel is nice...we are here now for 3 nights.

The road here was extremely rocky, twisty and turny. We are still recovering.

Tomorrow is our first zip line adventure...

We will write again then!
Love you all!

Lava!

Yesterday we went on our adventure with the volcano. We drove up to the observatory (with some yucky roads!) and then sat and watched the volcano for a while. We learned that lava is not liquid at this volcano, but instead shoots out in large chunks that then break apart as they fall down the mountain. It gives it kind of a different look than you expect. During the daytime, you can see the smoke rising up from where it falls, but with the sun, you can´t see the redness of the lava.

We then hiked to a waterfall where we got to go swimming and experience the cosmetic effects of the volcanic mud. (Good pictures there!)

The observatory has a lot of native plants and animals around so our guide helped us recognize them and their importance.

We then watched the volcano again in the dark so we could see the red of the lava flow. Once it looked like fireworks on the mountain as it fell down the mountain in all sorts of directions. Very cool...

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at some hot springs so we could enjoy another benefit of the mountain. Nice and relaxing...

Today we head out on ATV´s and then on to the next city -- Monteverde! We travel there by jeep-boat-jeep or as our vendor just brought us back to reality -- we travel by minibus-boat-minibus. Doesn´t quite sound the same, does it??

Volcano!

Here´s the volcano...this is a picture Tom took this morning from our balcony. Super cool, huh?

We have booked a volcano hike adventure for this evening...it starts at 2 and is 6-7 hours long.

They said we might want to bring a snack. You think??

La Fortuna!

We left Tortuguero this morning and headed away from the Caribbean coast to more of the center...we are now in Fortuna, which is most famous for having a volcano super close by. The volcano´s name is Arenal.

A Dutch woman we met in Tortuguero told us she stayed here for 3 days and never actually saw the volcano. It was covered in clouds. But, our amazing luck continues and we had a beautiful clear view of the volcano as we drove here. And, our hotel (at a special price) has an amazing view of the volcano as well. It is gorgeous! We are going to try to get a picture of it for you here.

We have been exploring the town for a bit...it is a tourist town with every other store selling tours or souvineers or both.

The plan for tomorrow is to pack it full. Possibly, ATV tour in the morning and then a hike near the volcano and/or waterfalls in the afternoon. Guess which one Tom is most excited about??

We will keep you posted.

Also, we did go turtle seeking last night, and we found one. It was a Green Turtle (an endangered species) and she was laying her eggs on the sand. There were about 100 tourists there (more than we had seen the whole time in that village) and it was a bit nutty, but the guides did a fairly good job of keeping things in control so the turtle could have a positive experience. She laid about 100-150 eggs (think Ping Pong balls for shape and size) and then she covered them up. That´s when our guide had us leave so she could have some peace -- although we were the only ones leaving at that time. That beach by late July-ish will have thousands of turtles laying eggs on it. Amazing! (To find her, we did hike a couple of miles each way in the sand -- speed walking in sand kinda sucks!)

So, we get to do laundry tonight. Living large in Fortuna! I think I have convinced Tom to get some ice cream. ;-)

Love you all!

Our canoe adventure!

So, today we went and explored the Tortuguero canals by ourselves.

We (meaning Tom) spotted lots of cool wildlife --- like an igauna, a monkey, lots of birds, and a cayman. I noticed the bright white birds...once I noticed something more subtle.

It was a lot of fun in our canoe. Sometimes, it felt like we were the only people left on earth as we went around these amazing areas. Other times, we could still hear motorboats so we knew the apocolypse hadn´t happened yet. :-)

It truly made us appreciate our guide from yesterday -- our arms are killing us!! 3 hours of rowing is a bit more than our usual routine.

When we returned, we ate our Tico (meaning Costa Rican) breakfast...see below...

Okay, so are not too sure how authentic the fantas are, but the beans and rice (pico gallo) are served with everything. We are at 4 meals running now...

I think we are going to go look at turtles tonight...or try...they may not be there, but we will be!!

Love you all!!

Tortuguero!

We made it to Tortuguero yesterday! It was a 3 hour van ride from Alajuela and then a 40 minute boat ride because there are no roads to Tortuguero. No cars around here...just bikes, lots of walking, and a couple of ATV´s.

Our room is nice as long as the fan is directly on you at all times, but the bed is comfortable enough. From our room, we can see the Caribbean Sea, and the view is amazing! The roosters didn´t start this morning until 5 AM, but we had to wake up around then anyway for our canoe tour.

It was awesome! We saw howler monkeys, spider monkeys, toucans, blue herons, tiger herons, caymens (sp?) and more! One of the spider monkeys was less than 10 feet away as it went foraging for food.

It is absolutely beautiful here. Check out the greenness up above.

We are off to take a nap!
Love you all!

PS The toe is doing great --- strong enough to put on the Keens today!

We are here!

We landed in San Jose this morning at 5:30 AM.

We hailed a taxi to our bed and breakfast where we easily agreed on the first activity of the day -- a nap! After a couple of hours snoozing, we woke to go find the breakfast part of the place. This wonderful lady, Sylvia, was waiting for us in the kitchen. (She was watching the World Cup -- as was everyone else in Costa Rica today!) Sylvia made us a wonderful breakfast with rice and beans as well as eggs and fresh fruit (banana, watermelon, papaya, and pineapple!). From what we have read in the guide books, rice and beans can be a part of every meal and we will be seeing it again!

We then decided to venture into the city of Alajuela and see what could be seen. Armed with a map from the hotel and a vague interest in hunting down the LDS temple in a nearby town, we set off.

It was fun to wander the streets and observe the differences from home, but also the many similarities.

We ended up finding a bus station and jumped on a bus for the town we knew the temple was on. Honestly, that was as far as our planning went...is this adventure or just stupidity?

We met a new friend on the bus, Abraham, a nice Mormon returned missionary who was able to point us in the right direction (and knew of bus transfers we needed to take).

The temple was gorgeous! We got to walk around the grounds -- it was just us and some workers because it is only open Wed-Saturday. It is one of the "little temples."

We then got it in our heads that we could then find Gustavo, a friend of a friend, who works at a major hotel around here. So, off we went -- again, relying on the kindness of new friends, we made our way to the hotel.

Gustavo was fantastic -- he treated us with great kindness and we appreciate him a lot.

We returned to our hotel -- and took another nap until dinner. We went with a fellow traveler who has visited 49 countries. Ahhhh...someday!

And now we blog...we just learned that tomorrow's destination may be blocked by a rained out road. But, I am sure, we will find our way...

PS The toe is feeling fine...

OUCH!

Today is the day!

We leave for our honeymoon in a very short amount of time!

We are super excited!

We have been preparing for weeks!

We have packed our clothes!

We have gotten our shots!

We have booked our hotels!

We have our passports!

We have our ride to the airport!

And I got to spend the morning at the doctor's office!

Wait!! That isn't supposed to be part of the plan...but alas, it happened.

Here's the story --

Many months ago, I bruised the big toe on my right foot under the nail. So, I had a nice dark purple bruise thing going under my toe nail since, well, a long time.

The nail began to separate from the toe over the past few weeks, and this morning, I caught the nail on the sheets causing me to scream in anguish. Pure anguish!

The advice nurse was able to get me an appointment with my doctor this morning (Fantastic surprise, Kaiser!) and off I went.

She chose to remove the nail completely and then informed me that crutches would be needed for the next 2-3 days.

I politely declined stating that by tomorrow afternoon, I plan on hiking through the rainforest and checking out the wildlife.

She then politely informed me that I was wrong.

So, maybe a compromise is in order?

Anyway, I now have some painkillers, an antibiotic, and an anti-inflammatory all packed in my carry-on along with a fresh supply of gauze and antiseptic.

Thank goodness for an Eagle Scout husband!!

And we are off! The adventure has obviously already begun...

Getting Ready To Go!

So getting ready for Costa Rica has been pretty fun so far -- booking hotels, looking at fun things to do once there, talking to people who have been, and a few more things that we have pictures of below.

So Yesterday we went and got some shots. Janell wasn't to pleased to see that I chose to mock her in my photo. But I will admit that after my four shots (including a tetanus) my arms are fairly sore.

The last couple of weeks we have been buying some new clothing that we thought we could use in Costa Rica. Below we show you our modeling skills....

I know I look like I am coming to snatch your children away but I promise I am a harmless overenthusiastic tourist to be. In preparation for our trip and the landscape we are expecting we have decided to turn our backyard into a mini jungle... and by decided I mean haven't mowed in long enough that now we cant even get to the lawn mower.

Thanks to our wonderful friends and family we are feeling more prepared for our Honeymoon. the gifts and gift cards are really coming in handy. Thank you.