Jaco

Life is good.

We arrived in Jaco last weekend to met up with our old friend Harmony, with whom we used to teach at Carbondale Elementary School a long while back.  She lives in Jaco with her husband, Randall, and two kids, Kalana (8) and Dakota (3).  We’ve had a great time reconnecting with Harmony and getting to know their kids.  Harper adores Kalana and spends most of their time together studying her every move!  Last night Kalana gave Harper some of her old doll clothes and a couple little outfits that she has outgrown and Harper was thrilled.  Cal and Dakota have played together some but due to all the time Cal has spent with Harper this year and Harper's calm nature of play, when met with another three-year old boy’s crazy energy Cal has been kind of shy and uptight.  Cal will have his work cut out for him next year at preschool getting used to playing with kids his own age.

Cal can't get enough of being thrown onto this raft!

We are staying at Harmony and Randall’s condo association and it feels like we are on vacation from our vacation.  Harper and Cal have logged many an hour swimming and Cal was really happy to find that one of the pools is shallow enough for him to stand in.  He has been practicing swimming on his own and he is up to 6 seconds before he needs to put his feet back on the bottom (Harper's been timing him with Danny's watch.)  This summer is going to be a great time at the Carbondale Pool.  Harper is 100% fish.  It is practically impossible to even carry on a conversation with her when she is in the water because she is under so much!
We’ve shared dinners with Harmony and family most nights, twice going out once next grilling fresh-caught tuna for tacos, and another night Harmony spoiled us with homemade lasagna.  Having some other adults to cook and chat with has been fun for me and Danny and the kids have had fun night as well (especially one of the nights when they found a new hatching of baby toads hopping around just outside our front door.  Harper, Cal, Kalana and Dakota spent a while catching and releasing them and squealing with both delight and fear.)

Cal is brave enough to catch toads, too!  Who would have guessed? 

Cal, Harper and Kalana enjoy an ice cream cone.

 We haven’t spent any time in the ocean because earlier in the week there was a big bloom of algae.  The “Red Tide” can cause stomach problems if you ingest any water so we haven’t taken the risk.  Thankfully we got some good wave playing last weekend so the kids are happy as clams to be in the pool.  We’ve walked the shore, collecting shells and playing in the river that empties there, and we’ve watched some incredible sunsets.

Jaco beach- we wish we could swim!

 

Every other country we’ve visited we have taken Cal to a doctor and in Costa Rica we’ve continued the pattern.  Within an hour of arriving to Jaco on Sunday Cal had fallen off a bar stool backwards to bitten open his lip.  It was really swollen and bleeding a lot so Harmony took us to a clinic in town to check if he needed to be stitched up.  Thankfully she felt like it would heal up on its own.  Cal looked pretty beat up the next couple days but it didn’t stop him from swimming in the pool, eating fish tacos, or horsing around on the bar stool again.  He also got the bonus of extra ice cream and smoothies on doctor’s orders.

a fat lip, (but no stitches, phew!)