Did I mention…
last update: 01/31 @ 20:03

…that Robert had a good time on our trip?

More photos coming soon. Since we didn’t have a crib on the trip and Robert did pretty well in regular beds, we’ve been working on some updates to his room including a new big boy bed!

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Ribbet, Ribbet
last update: 01/30 @ 22:59
We saw this little guy at the Butterfly and Frog farm outside of Arenal. While it was cloudy over the volcano most of the time we were staying at the Arenal Observatory, the clouds did clear the morning we left.

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Centro Panamericano de Idiomas
last update: 01/30 @ 13:08

When I studied Spanish at CPI, there was Romy, Carlos and one hired teacher in a smallish building with 5 or 6 small class rooms. Now Centro Panamericano de Idioma’s main campus in Heredia has moved twice into larger buildings (on the same street). The current building is 3 stories and has about 25 classrooms plus administrative offices.

While the Monteverde campus is not quite as large, it has about the same number of classrooms — they have a maximum student teacher ration of 4 to 1 — but does not have as much administrative space. I’ll post some photos of that soon.

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It’s colorful in the tropics…
last update: 01/28 @ 23:14
One of the flowers outside our Montezuma cabin.

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First Monkey closeup…
last update: 01/28 @ 19:36

We had several close encounters of the monkey kind while at Montezuma (Ylang Ylang, the much fancier incarnation of the Sano Banano cabins, still run by the same Dutch family). The real action of the afternoon was going on at our cabin while I was taking this photo a little ways away from the cabin.

These guys are white-faced (I’ve also heard them called spider) monkeys. They are quieter but more “playful” than the howler monkeys we also ran into in Montezuma.

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I like this shot…
last update: 01/28 @ 13:32

Robert on Elesa’s lap riding around a farm outside Monteverde. Stay tuned for more photos….

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We’re Back…
last update: 01/28 @ 09:47
We had a great time in Costa Rica and will be adding some more photos over the next couple of days. Here is Robert (riding in the lap of Elesa) and Sarah on our horseback trip just outside the cloud forest of Monteverde. (Just outside the cloud forest is a great place for rainbows.)

We were in Monteverde staying with Carlos, Jonle and their family — friends I made on my first trip to Costa Rica. 15 years ago, Carlos, his mom and one other teacher were just getting CPI (Centro Panamericano de Idiomas) off the ground. Since those days of the 6 classroom school house in Heredia, it’s grown to a large, very professional organization with campuses is Heredia, Flamingo and Monteverde.

If you’d like an intensive Spanish language course in a great setting, I highly recommend them.

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Short-term positive from global warming…
last update: 01/06 @ 13:25

Robert gets to enjoy a balmy 70 degree January day in the back yard playing with his sand table and his new bulldozer (courtesy of Evan’s birthday party — thank you Evan). I know we’ll pay for this, but we’re going to pay for it anyway; might as well enjoy it.

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More interesting Christmas presents
last update: 01/02 @ 17:09

One of the interesting presents David received this year was flowering tea. Numi
Teas has this cool thing.

Well, to start with, it looks kind of disgusting. But after you put the gray tea button in your cup (a clear cup is best for this) and pour on hot water, it opens up into a flower. Very cool…

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2007 Begins Much Like 2006
last update: 01/02 @ 14:57

Robert doing his favorite things, reading books and knocking down towers. Sarah having fun reading to Robert. And David having fun building towers for Robert to knock down.

We anticipate being able to get lots of both of those in this new year. Along with trips to museums, and carousels and beaches and other fun stuff.

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