Costa Rica

Well, I finally made it to Costa Rica and back. Needless to say, the first 1/2 of the trip was amazing. It's every bit jungle-beach-GORGEOUS as it comes. The first full day, we white water rafted - Levels III and IV. It was scary and exhilerating - I loved it. Not so much fun for Kris though, who took a dive with the first level IV rapid and tore up her knee pretty bad. :(

The next day, it was Zip Lining. I can't say enough positive things about the experience. Our guides were the utmost professionals, and really worked for thier tips. The hiking was tough, but the flying through the air part was worth it.

The following day, we repelled down 2 waterfalls. Can't say I would do this again. I equate it with being beat to death in a washing machine. I think repelling down a cliff would be exciting, but not being able to see where your feet need to go, and being beat with thousands of gallons of high powered water kind of sucks. There was a moment where I was pretty sure I was going to die. But I did it. Look at the guy at the bottom - WAYYYYY down at the bottom of the picture. That's where I ended up.

The final day, we toured a vanilla farm, and toured Manuel Antonio National Park. It was all so gorgeous. And it's hard to describe how natural it feels to be out in the open with all the animals - monkeys, bats, lizards, snakes, more monkeys and more monkeys.....

Tina's 3 favorite movies

'...and if you're lucky, they'll love you back.'

'Roll, roll, roll in ze hay..'

'I am the Supreme Being. I'm not entirely dim.'

My boys..

My boys at the grocery store. They ride in this 'racecar' cart. And boy, is Doni mean to his brother. Doni will hit Rudy and stick his fingers in his face, and only drive with Rudy's steering wheel. He's so mean - you can't tell from this picture, can you?

Disturbing - Rudy's "Buddies"

This happened last year too. We have an abundance of 'leaf eating' caterpillars (Gypsy Moth) here, and it's the time of year when they all hatch. For some very disturbing reason, Rudy loves them. I mean, he LOVES them. He calls them his 'buddies', and he is very concerned about how much they love him, and if they are feeling ok. I couldn't make this weirdness up. Here he is spending time with his buddies. And yes, he does cry every night when he has to leave them outside and come in to bed. Can't he find a human friend??

How we love each other....

When ever the 5 of us are in the car together and we drive past someplace stinky (i.e. a farm or a fertilizer plant), someone will yell out "OOOH, it smells like ______'s butt!!" You can insert any one of our names there. It's said with love of course. However, this weekend, Rudy outdid us all. We were parked at the gas station, filling up, all being quiet, UNTIL Rudy exclaimed.............


"Gracie's butt smells like ASSoline!!!"

None of us corrected him because we were all laughing so hard, and now we all use that phrase. I'm so proud.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A BASEBALL PLAYER!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

My little man turned 1 on April 9th. As things were overly hectic around the house, we slyly celebrated his birthday a week later. We all went to Baja Bean and I brought a cupcake for Doni to eat. As any intelligent person would do, he started with the frosting. All was going well until he stuck the frosting in his eye. Then it went quickly downhill.