Videos from Costa Rica

My camera has a video feature, but I couldn't get any of the videos onto the computer. I've figured out what I was doing wrong, so here are some videos of our trip. I don't say anything through most of them, because I quickly discovered that I don't film and do (anything) at the same time very successfully. Talking in addition ruined most of the videos. :)

These two are of the waterfall hike, my favorite activity.

The next two videos are from the rainforest. I had one going across one of the hanging bridges, but I tried talking through it and I was completely distracted. You mostly only see the railing around me. Needless to say, it's not worth putting on here. I love this waterfall because it's like its being hammocked by the rocks.

Wouldn't you like to slide down it?

Like I said before, in each city, a church occupies the very center of the town. It's the church everyone goes to. All around the church, there is a park or garden. This is where everyone hangs out during their free time. The downtown forms a square around this park, and then the houses form along the outside of the downtown area. So the church is at the heart of the town. It's so different from here, and it was refreshing. I don't know what town we're in, but we stopped when we saw the gardens. Here's a shaky clip:

Going to a place like Costa Rica, we were surrounded by beauty everywhere. It was humbling to sit in the midst of God's creation. We watched nature and saw the hand of God. We followed a trail of leafcutters, we looked to the movement of clouds, the cut of water through rock, the web of a spider, the climbing cow at the top of a mountain, the eruption of a volcano, the colors of a macaw...all put in place by God, for God. Sinless creation. I am but a mist.

Our friends, Chad and Sarabeth, took care of Berkley. (Yes, he got to spend another week with Miss Ella and was thrilled about it.) This video is of us coming to pick him up. :) My only regret is stopping the camera too early, but check out the huge butt wiggle! I love it!

Pura Vida!

We've just gotten back from Costa Rica, I've only got three days of summer left, and have no time to be blogging about our trip. So...here's a summary and a selection of some favorite pictures.

Day 1: tour San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica
Day 2: lounge around the house (laying out, reading, eating, talking, etc.) Two Can Jam party
Day 3: waterfall hike with Andy and one hour massages on the 2nd floor balcony with the cool breeze and the tapping of rain (this was my favorite day of the trip!)
Day 4: Arenal volcano, hanging bridges tour through the rainforest

If you'd like to view all the pictures, click here to go to my web album.


The hike down to the waterfall: my very favorite thing we did.


After this we went to the top of the waterfall. Now, the day before Andy and I visited this place. I told him I wanted to get a picture from the very edge, and he agreed to let me. That night we both had dreams of falling off the edge of the waterfall. So, this next picture is the one I got crawling on all fours to the very edge, practically hanging off of the edge of the waterfall, while Andy is pulling me back so hard I could hardly breathe. We both agreed afterward: totally worth it.
These are from our day trip to Mt. Arenal, one of the top ten most active volcanoes on the Earth.

Top 5 favorite things about the rainy season or Costa Rica in general:

5. I could be a green thumb here: everything grows.

4. The fresh fruit.

3. Being within a few hours of mountains, the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean Ocean, volcanoes, grasslands, rolling hills, etc. Adventure is never far away.

2. The year round weather varying from 60 - 85 degrees. Year round!

1. The clouds.

Top 5 things I missed while gone:

5. Sidewalks and streetlamps

4. Paved roads

3. Rules and codes (and things like time)

2. Getting anything I could ever want at the grocery store.

1. Berkley

Great trip, glad to be home, wishing I had more of my summer left! Now I'm heading to Mardel and Teacher Tools for some bulletin board border.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

I have been criticized for writing "reviews" that are always good. I am taking this opportunity to correct this and appease my husband. :)

On preparing for our trip to Costa Rica, we have a list of "American items" to bring with us for Andy's parents. We planned last night to go to Wal-Mart to get all of these items. Ever since poor month (March) we have been trying to shop at Wal-Mart for some of our things. Usually we do this on the way home from the Village on Sunday mornings. I was trying to weasel out of cooking dinner, so I let Andy pick where we could pick up food on the way. We left our house at 6:45 p.m. Andy picked the fast food joint, Krystal's. He said he was 100% positive I wouldn't like it. I assured him that I am not that picky with fast food, and how bad can you screw up a cheeseburger? But I made him promise that if I didn't like the fries that we would proceed to McDonald's next door to get me some. He agreed.

We were on our way, and I was putting on a happy face. I was excited to try a new place. There were pictures up on the wall of the food and the burgers looked great! We sit down, I'm smiling to reassure Andy that I am going to love it, being upbeat and funny. The lady comes over to bring us the food. As soon as she sets the food down in front of me, the smile disappears from my face, my shoulders droop, and I look at Andy in confusion. Why is the burger that color? Why is it so thin? Why is it shaped like a square? I look over at the enormous pictures of the burger on the wall and back to the ones sitting in front of me. "False advertising!" I vehemently whisper/shout to Andy. Nonetheless, I put this behind me, pick up my slider, and take a bite. Oh no, gag reflex! I manage to plug my nose, chew, and swallow. I look at Andy and give him a weak smile. I continue. A burger and a half later, I announce, "This is the worst burger I have ever had in my entire life. We are NEVER coming back here!" Andy, finding this very humorous, bursts out laughing, "I KNEW you wouldn't like this place! I knew you would hate it!" (Are all husbands like this?)

Each of the tiny burgers comes in its own individual box (irresponsible packaging, if you ask me). On each box is a picture of someone, the date they became a "Krystal's lover" and a quote from them. This is when I come across the box below:

Let me write for you the quote by this man, John Hires from Jacksonville, Florida: "I'm a youth pastor and I know how to get kids' attention: Preach a sermon about Krystal Lovers, then have a Krystal eating contest!" Now, when thinking about how to address this filth on my blog, I decided to not say a word. The exploding expletives in my mind would be offensive to some, funny to others, and don't quite do Mr. Hires justice. So, in order to keep my cool, I'm done talking about him.

We leave Krystal's after Andy finished his disgusting sliders. The rest of the time I let him know what I thought of Krystal and John. We headed straight for McDonald's. Andy was surprised to find that I was ordering an entire meal. One look and he recanted, but was still grinning with the hilarity of the event. We get my food and park at Wal-Mart. Here's where detail becomes important.

All of the spots around us are filled. Andy and I are sitting in the car so that I can eat my food before going into Wal-Mart. A woman comes up to the car directly in front of us. The trunk of the car is facing us. She puts all of her groceries in her trunk, and she notices that we are watching her. Not wanting her to think we're creepy, I make a show of eating my food, so she knows why we're just sitting there. When she's done, she walks around her car and gets in. But the cart is just sitting there next to her trunk! I say to Andy, "No way! Surely she's coming back for it!" She shuts the door, the engine turns, she looks back at us in her rear view mirror- I give her a shocked face with my hands in the air asking, "What are you doing? Go put your cart away!" Then she speeds off. I couldn't believe it.

Not one minute goes by, and another woman comes to the vehicle to the left of the one that just left. Again, she sees us watching her, so again, I make a show of my bag of fast food. When she's done, she brings her shopping cart around to the now empty space in front of us, balances in on the steep decline, and gets in her car. This lucky woman was facing towards us, so I stare her down like my eyes can shoot fire! She definitely sees me and knows exactly why I'm giving her this look. A flash of guilt crosses over her features. I continue to bore into her until she's out of sight. I am utterly in shock. All of the cart drop-offs must be full. That explains it! Andy gets out of the car, because he can't stand the smell of my meal. He collects the carts, and when he comes back by, he's picked up three more stranded carts to bring to the drop-off.

I've finished my meal, and we start walking through the parking lot toward Wal-Mart. On the way we pass six more stranded carts scattered throughout the parking lot, leaning on cars, tossed under trees, straddling curbs. We also pass three cart drop-offs, each one of them completely empty. "The nerve!" I keep saying over and over. We get inside only to find that no carts are available. Probably because the drop offs are all empty! We go searching for a cart and begin getting items from the list.

Two hours later we find the shortest check-out line available. During the last two hours, we have picked isles for their lack of screaming children. The place was swarming. It felt like the inside of a free-for-all ant hill without a queen. I was going insane. We wait in line for 30 minutes to check out. We get back home at 10:30 to unpack the groceries, swearing to boycott Krystal's and Wal-Mart, and being gratefully lacking in nerve.

Michelle is home!

I flew to Austin last Wednesday to help celebrate the homecoming of my cousin Michelle. Michelle has spent the last two years on mission in Tanzania teaching second grade. We have been so proud of all that she accomplished for the Kingdom there, but missed her terribly. We all waited at the airport for her to arrive- it was so great to see her and hear her voice after two years apart! I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want to miss being there, and also because I was all tears. I get really blotchy when I'm like that.

On Friday, my little bro turned 23! We celebrated by going to Fogo de Chao- what a meal! Being my unabashed self, I indulged in 4 cheesy rolls, skipped the salad bar, and ate to my heart's content (long after everyone else's plates were cleared away.) This time the rankings stood: #1 the fillet; #2 ribeye; #3: top sirloin. Usually, picana, the house special, is on this list. Fogo didn't do it as well as TDB and it didn't even make the top three. I tried the lamb (again) and took one bite, grimaced, and moved on (again). I am determined to like lamb and I've no idea why.

I only got one good bite of this cake because everyone indulged while I was trying to take pictures. Poor Dustin got about as much of it as I did. Who's birthday was it anyway? He's such a sport. Happy Birthday Bud- I love you!

Throughout the weekend, I got to spend some time with Michelle. She has quite a lot of different restaurants on her list of places to eat as soon as possible. I consider eating a hobby these days, so I was more than willing to tag along.

On our last day, we headed to Austin Stone for a wrap-up of 1 Corinthians by Matt Carter. Then we had a family get together at Sandy's house. Lindsey wanted to play "parachute" so this is us playing Duck, Duck, Goose with the parachute. That little girl has us all wrapped around her finger.

Michelle, we are so glad to have you home! I love you!
All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. Psalm 25.10

Birthday Weekend continued...

I want to draw your attention to the girl behind me in this picture. The Six Flags people let us in and everyone is scrambling to get to the horse they want. I wanted this grey one, because I love grey horses! So naturally, Andy goes to the brown one beside it, and as he's climbing up the horse, this little girl jumps up onto the horse out of nowhere! Andy of course gets down and goes to the horse on the other side of me. We thought this was hilarious and somewhat awkward for the rest of the ride. She didn't seem to think anything of it...

By 8:00 we could hardly move. On our way out of the park we took a quick picture with Elmer Fudd. Exhausted, aching, and on the verge of heat stroke, we called it a day. We ended up doing Mr. Freeze three times, and I think it was my favorite ride. Andy's favorite was the Titan, but we also had a lot of fun on Superman. It was a day full of memories!

It is tradition for my mom to call me at 8:45 a.m. on my birthday. That's the time I was born. So this morning, I woke up to my phone ringing, and my mom's voice on the other end. Then I tried on my birthday presents from Andy. He got me these TCU nike shorts (I could wear them every day) and polka dot wellies for our trip to Costa Rica. My mother-in-law said it will be raining anywhere from 1-12 hours a day, so we thought I'd need some of these.

My cousin Michelle is coming home after spending two years in Dar es Salam, Tanzania. Andy and I have been using her second bedroom furniture, and needed to get it back to her in preparation of her coming home. My brother was so great- he rented a trailer and brought me some of my furniture from when I was a kid and took away Michelle's furniture for us. We also go to grab some lunch on my birthday! The last time we actually saw each other on my actual birthday was when I turned 19, so it was a real treat! Our birthdays are only 5 days apart, so I will be wishing him a happy 23rd in no time. We went to Fuzzy's and I'm ready to boycott them all over again...intestinal disagreement.

My friends, and the leaders of our Village Home Group, Chris and Jen, came over to wish me a happy birthday. They are so sweet! It was a fun surprise to get to see them and put the cherry on my sundae! What a great birthday weekend- I'm 26 now!

My Birthday Weekend!

I had a great weekend celebrating my 26th birthday with friends and family! This past week, my friend Sawyer took me out to lunch at Lily's on Magnolia (which I've been wanting to try for a very long time)! There I had the best burger of my life!! It was a 1/2 pounder with gorgonzola dressing, bacon, and tomato. It was delicious!

Friday night Andy and I went to Central Market on the strict policy: "If you want it, grab it!" Yum! We left with most of the things you see above: bread, our favorite cheese, crab cake, apples, kiwi, oranges, wine, peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies, etc. We rented Australia from the red box, made a picnic on the floor, and enjoyed!

While we were at Central Market, we made trail mix for our trip to Six Flags! Andy picked one of the pre-made trail mixes, but I wanted to make my own. It included peanuts, sunflower seeds, pecan pieces, pistachios, raisins, and vanilla almond granola. I would have liked to also include m&ms and pretzels, but I couldn't find them, plus the chocolate would have melted. Anyway, this is us at the entrance to Six Flags!

When we first arrived we headed strait for Mr. Freeze, found no line, and took front row seats. It was a blast! 45 seconds later we headed right back in line for another go. In the first three hours of the day we hit 1/2 of the park. Then two things happened all at once: it became unbearably hot and all the rides had hour long waits. This is a picture of Andy in line for some lemonade. We bought one of the souvenir bottles so you can get free refills. We probably spent over one entire hour in line for drinks- at one point I thought I was melting.

We stopped to get on the carousel simply because my feet ached and it was in the shade. Notice our shimmering faces. While I took this picture Andy informed me that I had the biggest pit stains (or as my friend Chris calls them, "puddles,") he's ever seen. It was true. I can't deny it.

My new camera!

I've recently gotten a new digital camera for my birthday. I love it! I mentioned before that I planted some hibiscus in front of the house. I had a new art project all planned out. I was going to take a picture of the flower blooming and then dying. The blooms only last a day, so I planned a day when I would be home the entire time. I set my watch to go off every hour, when I would go outside and take a new shot of the flower. This is a project I will never complete. Since that day, I have discovered that hibiscus only bloom at night. I'm just not that dedicated. Nonetheless, here are a few of the pictures I got of the bud (which remained a bud every hour of the day).

I thought I should also update on my reading. I know I have three books listed, and it's a little deceiving. I have OCD tendencies. I'm waiting to read Feminine Appeal until my mom can get a copy, because we plan to read it together. I have read the first few chapters of The Goose Girl but haven't been hooked yet. I plan on The Brothers Karamazov taking a few years to complete, though I've set a tentative deadline for this Christmas. It took me four years to read Crime and Punishment, another book by Fyodor Dostoevsky. One thing I learned in the last book: draw a character tree as you go. The Russian names are so confusing, and each character is called a number of different names by different people. The edition that I am reading has a list of characters and a brief description, so I have made a character web on the inside cover of the book and have read about 30 pages. It's wonderful so far! Here's where things get a little obsessive. I went with my HG to dinner and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince this last Friday! It was my favorite movie in the HP series so far, but it was also my favorite book. All day Saturday I kept trying to think of the things that were left out- all the little details. I found myself forgetting. Unacceptable. So, though I've read it three times before, I decided Sunday afternoon that I should reread it again. When I finished it on Tuesday, I decided I needed to go ahead and read book seven as well. I finished it Wednesday night. Whew...now that that's over, I'm back to my normal reading, but you won't see a post for a while, because I'm attempting to tackle The Brothers Karamazov. If I can actually do it by Christmas, I just might attempt the improbable: Les Miserables.