The Move to Costa Rica

"When things are bad, make them good. When things are good, make them great. When things are great, mix it up." 

We heard the quote above from Scott Price during our ski trip last spring break. While we love it's message, we also recognize and are so thankful that our education and financial situation allow us to "mix it up." So mix it up we have. 

Why make the move?...

We love Austin. We have an amazing community that we have built over the last 20+ years, but in some ways this community served me and Cara more than it did our girls. Our neighborhood is not set up for freeplay and roaming. Furthermore, the Austin school system encourages and allows families to have school choice, which means friends may not be conveniently located just down the street or a block over. Play dates had to be scheduled rather than occur organically on S&P's whimsy.

Our condo and La Paz, the school the girls will attend, will hopefully provide communities and environments where the girls can play, learn, and grow independently.

Y por supuesto porque del idioma y la naturaleza. Cara and I have been eager to improve our Spanish speaking, and it has been a goal of ours from the beginning of our journey as a family to raise the girls bilingual and aware of the wider world. It is why we enrolled them in Zavala's dual language program, and why we primarily looked at schools in Spanish speaking countries. Costa Rica provides a soft landing for learning Spanish because Tik@s pride themselves on education and their ability to speak English. While the girls will get plenty of exposure at school, Cara and I will have to be a bit more deliberate about our study and seeking out interactions in Spanish. We also visited CR in 2022 and were gobsmacked by the natural beauty and access to incredible animals, forests, mountains, and beaches. Nearly 25% of the land and coast are protected as national parks or other protected areas, and we are so excited to explore many of those places. 

                                                 

Our one bathroom home seemed to be getting a bit smaller as the girls are growing, so it was either move to Costa Rica or renovate the house to add another bathroom. Costa Rica seemed like a lot more fun than a bathroom renovation.

Hudson was pretty nervous as we were packing and cleaning throughout the final two months. Many times we didn't have floor space for his bed so he had to improvise in some luggage.

                                                   

Shelby and her amazing family came by with a perfectly timed gift of new Costa Rican themed stuffies in the final days leading up to our move. The girls really didn't start to show their big feelings until we began selling their furniture and packing up their toys. Slothy and Parroty helped soothe those worries. 

HERE WE GO!

Summer - Part 1 (Texas)

Summer - Part 1  

We spent the first part of summer preparing for our big move to Costa Rica, so we stayed close to home bouncing between Austin and Houston. There was a lot of work to do on the house in terms of getting it ready for rental, packing our lives away, and getting rid of the rest. We spent most days trying to balance all that work with doing fun things around Austin. 

Our Kealing family threw an amazing going away party for us. After 16 (C) and 10 (M) years at Kealing, it was a bittersweet goodbye and we're going to miss our friends there so much. 

Sadly, the Natenberg's are selling their almost-by-the-lake house in Canyon Lake. That house provided lots of comfort and fun for our family and friends over the years. We used it as a jumping off point for trips to West Texas, a place to hunker down during COVID, a quick weekend vacation spot, and a reunion spot. Above the cousins are bravely holding a tarantula they found in the yard.

Tubing! We rented a pontoon boat and got stuck in the middle of the lake and had to be towed back, but they gave us a new boat and extended our rental so we got to stay out the whole day. 

Cousin fun on Canyon Lake

We sure will miss this place and are grateful to the Natenbergs for all the good times we had there. 

One of our favorite Canyon Lake activities was floating down the empty part of the Guadalupe River from the damn to Hwy 306. The water is always cold and the cypress trees along the bank are beautiful. 

Move over baby Reid! We welcomed another cousin to the family in May, baby Russell! 

A favorite pastime at Nana's house, TV time with cousins! 

Syb is very sad to be leaving her school friends so she made sure to get some good swim and play sessions in. Here are two of her besties, I & H. 

I had an Austin bucket list, and one of them was running the whole Greenbelt. It was awesome to get one last trail run in with my trail besties (missing Tina). I'm really going to miss trail running with them and our annual trail race where we pretend that we are laid back about it but end up being try-hards.

Parker and I went to see Frozen the Musical, it was awesome!! 

Syb and I did a DIY Austin summer camp and went to a museum and outdoor activity each day. Here she is on Lady Bird Lake with the Austin skyline behind her.

We made sure to spend lots of quality time with Hudson since we knew his time was short (see post). 

Hud got lots of cuddles and treats the last few weeks. 

We spent a week in Sugar Land with family and celebrated Fourth of July with a neighborhood bike parade and BBQ. 

Bonus that I got to see Kris and Scott! 

We went back to Austin to wrap up some house things and for a few appointments. While we were there Mike and his friends did a crazy relay to try and beat the 2 hour marathon. It was touch and go at times but they did it in 1:59:49!! Very impressive for a bunch of middle aged dads.

Remembering Hudson

On July 11th, we said goodbye to Hudson. His back legs were giving out multiple times a day, his walk had turned to a crawl, and he was showing signs of pain and doggy dementia. When I told our vet we were having a hard time trying to find a way to get him down to Costa Rica, she advised against it and also advised against us rehoming him since he was so old. In our hearts, I think we knew the most humane option was to euthanize him, but it took us weeks to come around to finally accepting it.  

Hudson was our perfect dog, and came into our lives at the perfect time. We were both ready to retire from ultimate and eager to get a dog to take on adventures and join our family. I remember beginning our search on the Austin Animal Shelter website from a couch in Italy where I was sidelined with a broken fibula during Worlds in 2014. The prospect of a dog gave me hope and joy during that sad and frustrating time. We were specific in our needs and wants in an adopted dog so even after a few visits to the shelter, a drive to Bastrop with 4 of my high school best friends to check out another dog, and some insider intel from the shelter we still hadn't found the one. 

We got an email from our inside connection that there was a dog that she thought we would love, so we went up again to visit it. After meeting that dog and running it through the rigorous tests that the book about adopting an adult dog told me to do, we both decided that dog wasn't for us. As we begrudgingly walked around the shelter "just in case", Mike got excited about a very hyper black lab that we passed and wanted to walk him. I said "no way,"  knowing that a black lab would be way too much energy, but thankfully he ignored my negativity and decided to try to walk him anyway. A minute later Mike came out of the enclosure sans dog because he couldn't get the leash on the lab because it was jumping up and down so excitedly. While he was in there trying to lasso the lab, I watched the other dog in the enclosure sit calmly looking up at Mike with a stoic confidence. I suggested we take that dog out for a walk, and that was the first time we met Hudson. He had heart worms, which was a big 3 month treatment commitment, and we weren't sure we were prepared to take that on so didn't take him home right away. Instead I came back to the shelter days later and brought along my aforementioned high school friends (all excellent judges of canine character) to get their opinions. It was then that he imprinted on me in the gravel off leash area. With a single look in his caramel brown eyes I feel like I could see into his soul and felt him radiating his kind, wise, intelligent, playful, and loving character.  

I'll miss his beautiful eyes, but luckily S & P also have beautiful brown eyes that remind me of Hud's.

The first picture we took after Hudson came home with us

Hudson was a well traveled dog. Mike wrote that he was an amazing road trip buddy and trusted us to take him all over this corner of the world with us. Below are pics of some of our many adventures and travels together. 

Hudson on the Llano River

Hudson on a segment of the Appalachian Trail in Vermont

Hudson and Mike on a hike in Maine

Un cherre tres elegante in Quebec City

Hudson on a beach in Oregon

Hudson in the bluebonnets, a rite of passage for any Texan canine.

Hudson on a tributary of the Snake River in Idaho

He was happiest and most himself when off leash on a trail.

Hudson in adventure mode, ready to take on a trail. We soon realized that he needed a backpack to make him feel like he was working and less likely to go rouge chasing deer.

Hudson's best friend was Patsy, Fran and Leslie's dog. He rarely (almost never) wanted to play with other dogs. But Patsy brought out a side of Hudson that no other dog ever managed to bring out. They played like puppies for hours running, play fighting, tackling each other, and cuddling afterwards. 

Patsy and Hudson at the SNIT in Long Lake, Wisconsin.

Patsy and Hudson always shared a bed even when two separate ones were available.

Hudson taught us all so many important life lessons: how to love unconditionally, how to forgive, how to manage our tempers, how to take care of and provide for someone you love when it runs counter to your own wants or needs at times, and that love is a verb. He wasn't happy about the girls arriving, but he was always gentle with them, and tolerated their noise and shenanigans. He especially liked Parker for dropping lots of food and Sybil and him definitely built a connection based on cuddles, tricks, and treats.  

I used to lay down with Hudson when I was pregnant with the girls. This pic was Sybil.

Hudson gently tolerating Parker trying to eat him

Bat ears! We all loved it when his ears would do this.

Sybil and Hudson in New Mexico on one of our crazy summer camping adventures.

One day I walked outside and found Sybil just laying in the sun in the driveway next to Hudson, which was one of his favorite places to lay.

Sybil took on many of the Hudson responsibilities as she got older, and loved walking him the last year. This is them walking together on a beach of Lake Huron on our Upper Peninsula road trip.

Road trips with the Bug. He was so great in the car, except when you hit the rumble strips!

Hudson and the girls at Turkey Creek, our favorite place in Austin to go hiking off leash together. 

We had a memorial for Hud at Red Bluff (below), another one of his favorite places to hike and go off leash. We decorated rocks, collected flowers, said a few words, and ended with a jingle we would often sing, "Who's the bestest doggy in the worrrrrld?? Hud-son dog!" 

Hudson at Red Bluff recently with the Austin skyline in the background

Our memorial rocks and flowers for Hud

We're grateful for the time we had with Hudson, and for how he made us all better humans. 

Hudson 

A.K.A. "Hud", "Hudson the Wonderdog", "Legs McGruff", "Hud-bug", "Bug", "Huddy Buddy", "Hoodson Boodson"

 adopted in 2014 - died 2024 - loved forever