Pros and Cons of Costa Rica

 Hola!

Tonight I took T to the beach while Scott did some work at home.  As usual, T stared down the lady sun-bathing beside us, insisting that she return the admiration.  It sometimes gets embarrassing as T will not let up!!  On the bus, at the beach, in line at the grocery store... she just stares, waves, lurches forward... whatever it takes to get the strangers' attention.  ANYWAY

Lots of you have been asking how my Spanish is coming.  The thought of teaching a lesson in church terrifies me, so I'm definitely not fluent, but I would say I am "conversant."

Tonight at the beach, I was on my own as far as Spanish goes.  

I was able to ask and answer:

Where are you from?

How long are you here?

Only 45 minutes away?  My husband grew up 45 minutes from the beach as well!  Do you work during the week and then come here to Samara on the weekends?

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Your daughter and husband are very cute out in the waves.

Yes, T can walk, she just started this week.

Here, lay out your towel and see if she will walk to you!

She does better on the harder, more even sand.

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We are staying here in Samara for about 1 month.

Before this, we stayed in La Fortuna for 1.5 months.

We really love Costa Rica

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I don't really wear sunscreen too much, but for her, YES!  We re-apply very often!

She has red hair like her dad.

My husband usually comes to the beach with us, but today he needs a break from the baby so he can get some work done.  She is very needy!

She is 10 months old.

(p.s. 2 weeks ago, people guessed T was 8 months, now that she's walking people start guessing 1 year old.)

Sometimes I get typing and then think, "Wow.  I'm about 99.8% sure none of my readers care what I said to the lady next to me."  But, oh well, you don't have to read if you don't want to ;)  

Let's cut to the pictures, always the best part!

 If you follow me on Instagram, there's a few repeats here!  Our fam loves an evening walk on the beach!  This was a few nights ago, now that we are in the week of Semana Santa the beach is much busier with lots of Ticos!

My little lady.  We really have a lot of fun together.

And this is simply too funny not to share.  We have a lot of fun most of the time.  As long as she isn't ripping my hair out :)

T is the queen of finding and eating rocks.  (Although it sounds like her cousin Autumn rivals her...)  She has taken a special liking to coral and swirled, pointy shells.

I call this her "china man" pose. She would do really well in Asia. 

 We have a really great life here.  

 But, I must say, before you all just get really jealous... it's not all sunsets and sandy beaches. 

We live in a red-ant riddled house where we have all been getting bitten this week.  Doing laundry and dishes without hot water is a challenge.  It is so hot during the day that we generally don't leave the house between 10am-3pm.  Our internet only works intermittently which prevents us from calling family and friends in America (via Google) and prevents us from accomplishing some of the internet-based goals we had for our time in Costa Rica.  

I don't say these things to complain, but just to bust the myth that we have a perfect, dreamy life.  Yes, we do our best each day to be positive and recognize the perfect moments and amazing lifestyle we are living.  Each day we are doing better at focusing on our most important priorities and spending our time becoming the people we want to be.

T and I head out to the beach for walking practice almost every day.  She has the best laugh and is always so eager to jump up again when she falls.  Look at that wrist... she kills me!

This dad loves his little girl.  

P.S. Church on Sunday was so so awesome.  The members were so friendly and made us feel really welcome.  And... I'm teaching primary next week.  Everybody fast and pray.