The second trimester was very busy. I picked up a few more tutoring jobs, Cara was coaching ultimate, and the girls are still finding their way with extracurricular activities. We still found our pura vida, but we didn't get out of town as much as we strive to on the weekends. What we missed in out-of-town adventure, we made up for with in-town gravel bike rides, snorkeling, trail running, and surfing.
Although we lack bike lanes, Matapalo has plenty of gravel roads. Dry season rides are great as long as you remember your buff or bandana to combat the dust kicked up by passing cars and motos.
P at her favorite place in Costa Rica, Purr Vida - the Cat Cafe.
A pumped P after a school swim meet
Fun with nature during one of our gravel rides
One of our favorite Saturday morning activities while S is at swim practice is to pick up a couple empanadas and a fresco (fresh juice of the day) from our awesome local Empanada Lady and ride out on a gravel road. The goals are to see animals and find a good spot to enjoy our breakfast.
Trying out Mike's Hanukkah present, an awesome shade tent, at the beach with neighbors.
Because we were super hosts during our first break, we did not have time to leave the country and our month visa was expiring. We decided to push it to one of the final weekends in the hopes that we could just leave the country once before heading back to the US over summer break. So we headed back to the Nicaragua border with the plan on doing the "Revuelta" which means we would just exit the country, enter Nicaragua and turn right back around to return to Costa Rica.
We left super early on a Saturday morning to arrive just after the immigration offices opened and about 5 hours later made it out of and back into Costa Rica. While it went about as smoothly as it could have, we hope to not have to do this again any time soon.
S's bday party had it all! Lego building station, a unicorn kiddie pool turned floaty which was immediately popped and repaired, and a mountain of arroz con pollo. We even had to shut it down early after "the cops"/condo manager was called with a noise complaint...rock n' roll! It was great to have so many friends come and celebrate S.
S looking strong on the blocks at a La Paz swim meet. We are so proud of her dedication and hard work this year. The early mornings have not always been easy, but she persists!
S showing off a group project about the layer's of the earth at "el museo", their end of trimester celebration of knowledge.
Cara was able to sneak away again during President's Day weekend to spend time with her friends in Colorado. Although it was a pretty bad snow year, there was enough for her to enjoy being outside and skiing.
Every year, they try to do something nice for Jenna, and this year was an album of awkward "family" photos. A lot of time and thought was spent throughout the weekend taking funny photos for the album.
Cousin Ema! Ema loves to travel and is just starting her career as a nurse. She also studied Spanish, so visiting us in CR was perfect. She spent a few days on her own exploring Fortuna before returning to us to enjoy more beach time.
Atardecer a Granda did not dissapoint
Cara and I snuck away on a date to La Paz's Full Moon Party! We love these girls, but it was nice having an uninterrupted night together. More of these to come!