Surfing in Costa Rica

These next few post will be videos for the boys Grandma from our recent trip!

One of Gage's goals while in Costa Rica was to take a surf lesson. I was kinda of unsure if he would go through with it once we go there and he saw the size of the waves. We found a great local guy to give both he and Ward a lesson one afternoon. We were able to surf at an amazing low key beach, Playa Avellanas. There were only about 25 - 30 surfers at best vs 100 or more on some of the more public beaches. It is a beautiful 8k drive down a dirt road. The trees along the road held holler monkeys and gave us some of the best sights of our vacation. Brian our surfer instructor has surfed since he was about 4 - or "all is life" as he said. To say he was amazing is an understatement. He rocked. He had Gage up after about 10 minutes. No kidding. Now, Ward on the other hand was a different story. Don't get me wrong. Ward did well, he was up 2 or 3 times. I am sorry, I really didn't get a chance to get it on the Flip. (And I promise it wasn't because the moment he got up he fell!!). Gage enjoyed it so much that he did not want his lesson to end. We were able to get the next afternoon with Brian as well. Gage loved it. He has been researching to top 10 places in the world to surf after his Dad told him Costa Rica was in the top 10. I have tried to explain to him that Myrtle Beach is really one of them, even though it's not on any of the list. So far he isn't buying it! Davis was more interested in watching the other surfers on the beach and looking for Loyla the pig rather than take a lesson. It was a great place to people watch!!

Pinewood Derby

As usual I am way behind on blogging. I think Facebook is to blame. It is so much easier to just post pictures there. Many times I go to update and I either 1. get called away by a little bit or 2. I find myself holding back on what I really want to say and getting frustrated. If you could see my non-published stories/opinions you'd laugh. Maybe one day ---.

Anyway. Pinewood Derby. Gage's scout pack held their 1st Annual Pinewood Derby last month. Because Ward has so much spare time (yeah, right!!) he agreed to lead the derby. Lucky for us our back door neighbor is an award winning pwd man! Mr. Gene has written many an article for Scouts Life on the topic and has built many state winning cars. All apparently really cool details if you are into that kinda stuff. Ward is what I would call a perfectionist - so he managed every detail of this derby for 1-4th graders like it was the superbowl of pinewood derbies! He spent many of his nights working late on how he would run the double elimination tournament (see the photo below!) and let me just say, the NCAA basketball bracket had nothing on him! But enough on the that!

The morning of I had 4 boys waking up early eager to race. Check in was huge, we had 34 of our 40 boys participated (then a few parents as well!) I laugh because a good friend of mine said she brought a magazine because she thought it would be "really boring". She later told me she never sat down! It was wild, it was crazy, parents were cheering and children were screaming. We had the best time ever! It was crazy! Gage was outed in the 3rd round. He was beaten by the car that went on to win so he was pleased with his results.

There were trophies for first place, runner up and best car design. Then the Den Leader gave out 2 very special awards for Sportsmanship. For the scouts the main of focus of the Derby is to promote sportsmanship. These 2 awards were special because the cub scouts had no clue it would be given. Their leader listened to the boys interaction as she started and ended each race. Ward and I were very proud that Gage was the recipient of one of these awards. Scouts has been a very rewarding experience for Gage. He has learned that hard work pays off. And that people are paying attention to what you are doing and saying when you might not think they are.

Greetings From Centre America!

It never fails to amaze me how long it takes to prepare for a trip and then it's over in a blink. We decided last year to spend a week with the boys in Costa Rica. They are getting to the age where they really enjoy researching the area prior to our trips. Gage and Davis spent many hours looking online to see what we might find. Animals, type of land, climate etc... They each had their list of things to do and see. Monkeys for all of them, then fishing for Gage and zip-lines for Davis. Truman just wanted to swim and skip naps. Most of our trips we just relax and enjoy the beach or the pool. This one has been a little different. We rented a car and have been able to travel around (down many dirty roads) which has been very rewarding. We have seen monkeys, beautifully loud birds, tons of various lizards, and Davis even spied an Anteater with our neighbor. It is the near the end of the dry season so everything is brown and crunchy off the property. (Our property does water some so there is a tad bit of lush trees and grass). Our villa sits on the ocean and we have spent many evenings on the porch watching the sun "fall into the ocean". It happens each day at 5:30 and you can actually see the sun fall off - it takes less than 10 minutes to set. It is about the only time of day that the boys truly stop talking.

I think everyone has accomplished their vacation goals while we have been here.
Gage caught his first beautiful tuna, and learned the basics of surfing during his different lessons.

Davis and his need for extreme sports went on 2 canopy tours.
Truman swam swam and swam some more and skipped many of his naps.
I took Gage and Davis on one of the canopy tours and completed my goal of letting go and riding upside down and managed to keep my eyes open both times. I have a huge fear of heights but the views and the rush is so amazing, I just try not to look down!

Ward caught a few fish of his own during their charter and even attempted a surf lesson. I think he did a great job! There were a lot of times that his feet managed to stay on the board rather than over his head!!

We all managed to learn a little more Spanish.

I am only sad that after the 2nd day here Ward too a long swim with my waterproof camera in his swim trunks. Needless to say - while it is waterproof - it is not meant for long period of submersion. Thankfully we had our Flip for a few videos and my phone stepped in to help with a few pictures. But as Gage said - the pictures would never be as good as what he has in his head.

We end out trip with an afternoon sail where we return as sunset to see the sun drop into the ocean one more time.

2011 Saying goodbye to Pampers!

 
In November of 2002 we introduced our home to Pampers for just over 8 years they were a constant staple to my weekly Target list! With Gage I changed them every hour on the hour his first year of life. Even at night (maybe not every hour but if they even looked wet). Davis came along while Gage was still in Pampers so for a period of time in 2005 we had 2 sizes of Pampers to love. I still changed them often, just not as often! Fast forward to 2007, Truman came along just as the Pampers were about to make their way off our list. I will admit I saved more on pampers with Truman. I changed him a lot less. Some days only 1 time. It is not that he didn't go...he did...I just figured out how much those expensive little burgers would hold!!
But in December of 2010 we said goodbye to our friend Pamper --- 8 years of pampers. Ward keeps saying that he wants to have a diaper free party. Maybe we will soon. But before New Years we celebrated with cupcakes. Did I shed a tear? No not really, sure T is my last baby but honestly I am looking forward to a little extra change in my pocket each week. I figured in we had 8 years of diapers with a rough estimate of $12 a week on diapers (give or take with sales and years we had 2 sizes) that is 416 weeks of purchases @ $12 which puts us right around $5000 on diapers!! And for Truman he said goodbye pampers hello mickey mouse! We told him if he would go in the potty he would visit Mickey - he had been going in the potty off on and on since summer but Mickey helped it click! He is thrilled to go meet his friend, while I am thrilled to be diaper bag free! (For those of you that know me well know I haven't carried a diaper bag in over a year, but now I will have more room in my purse!!

Purple, Orange Tailgating

 

I have many fond memories as a child, and there are a few of these memories that I want to try to re-create for my kiddos. One of which is college football. Way back in the 1980's my parents and I would spend Saturdays in the fall watching Danny Ford coach Clemson to a Championship. Of course he did it with the help of a little guy known as "Refrigerator" Perry! I loved going to Clemson home games where the highlight was having one of the cheerleaders paint a tiger-paw on my face with orange poster paint. Now that the boys are getting a little older and enjoying football we thought it would be fun to head to a Clemson game.

We decide to see Clemson take on Wake Forest. Mainly because they were pretty much assured a win, but also because it was at Wake Forest in the town where Ward grew up and a little closer drive than Clemson. So early on Saturday am we packed the entire family in the mini-van...dog, corn hole game and grill. And set off to see the tigers!

We tailgated in the parking lot of a mall. Kinda funny, I know, but it was full of orange and purple and the boys had a blast!! Truman got down and dirty and took off his shirt while heckling the Deacon fans that passed by. The boys played a little asphalt football and Ward grilled up some burgers.

Clemson rolled over Wake in a less than exciting game! But we had a blast and the boys enjoyed seeing the football game and hopefully they came away with some new memories of their own!

Snow Babies!

Yep, we had a WhItE ChRisTmAS!!

The North Carolina Polar Express

 

It had been two long years since we last ventured to the mountains to ride the Polar Express to the North Pole. (Yes, you can get from Bryson City to the NP and back in 2 hours). This year we rented a cabin and ventured north with a few other families. I am not absolutely sure if the boys were more excited about the train ride or spending the weekend with 9 other kids. I am guessing it was a mixture of both. They could not contain themselves in the days leading up to leaving. So it was either excitement or they had gotten into the catnip again.


We had a house full of little ones ages 1-8. The kids could not have been better behaved. Sure, at times they were loud. Yes, there was a lot of running and jumping. And yes maybe a time or two sawdust sprinkled down from the kitchen ceiling. But they all played amazingly well together. They set a nice example for the adults that fought, tattled, cheated at cards, and threw snow balls at one another. Just kidding.... maybe!

The train ride was just part of the fun. We enjoyed a great pizza dinner Friday night at a little hole in the wall joint in Bryson City and an even better hole in a hole of a wall Mexican place for lunch on Saturday. Dr. Dan made yummy melt in your mouth chocolate chip pancakes Saturday am.

A special treat was a horse that lived in the pasture across the road. He was sweet and very friendly. The children enjoyed feeding him and petting him each time they ventured outside.

We stuffed ours mouths full of yummy lasagna prior to dressing in our matching pjs and heading to the pole. (Because you know vacations are really about the food!). Aboard the Polar Express we enjoyed cookies, hot chocolate and a chance to sing Christmas carols. (My rapping partner aka Shannon and I were great at the Christmas carol part, wink wink!!) Once we hit the "Pole" someone shouted out "look there is Santa's double wide" (a statement you can only appreciate if you have been to this particular North Pole). And sure enough Santa and his 6 foot 5 inch elf boarded the train with us for the ride back to Bryson City. Truman quickly requested a new DS while Davis requested a portable DVD player and Gage shyly mentioned he would like a Red Ryder BB gun. While Santa passed out the bells our group attacked him for a group picture. Santa took it all in stride and just kept mumbling "Oh, boy" - which was true, the boys out numbered the girls 3 to 1. But I am not convinced that is what he meant!!

Once we arrived back to the city and headed back to our cabin "Bear Pause" the children were snug in their beds, bells safely in hands within minutes. Gage woke up the next morning asking when if we could come back next year. I have to agree I am looking forward to it as well!

Mustang Sally or rather Mustang Tru!

We celebrated Truman's 3rd birthday last week. Poor guy, a birthday so close to Christmas you almost always get slighted. The last 2 years he really had no clue it was his birthday. But this year it hit him. He started to talk about his birthday a week or so before hand. His favorite song, aside from Boom Boom Pow is Happy Birthday. Seriously, we have it on a CD from a friend's party and he ask to hear it over and over. The closer we got to his birthday he began signing "Happy Birthday Truman". Downright adorable to his parents, and rather annoying to his middle brother.

Truman is obsessed with cars. Anything and everything cars. He almost always carries one in his hand, sometimes 2 or 4. (which means he is always dropping one somewhere) But he can also pick our corvettes and mustangs while driving down the road. His favorite being the convertible mustang, like his daddy's. He was quite surprised to receive his own. And spent most of the afternoon driving his brothers around.



To celebrate his birthday, we headed to the local botanical gardens to see the Christmas lights and take a carriage ride. It was a beautiful night. The boys enjoyed acting like gangsters for the evening. Why? I am not really sure, but then why do boys do half the things they do???