smiling in south carolina

uh oh! at approximately 2 pm this afternoon, we had a hella rainstorm up here complete with huge lightning and thunder. it was pouring hard about the time robin and i got back from tilaran. at 3pm, there was a really good lightning crack right overhead and the power and phones went out. typical. later i found out that was also about the time our local river washed out the road. as in "the road is gone!" all this mountain rain water really crashes through the terrain like crazy! there's water shooting out of the sides of the mountains everywhere. it's like the grand canyon where the road used to be! nobody is getting through....this is the only real road connection from arenal and sabalito to tilaran, so i guess WE will be homeschooling tomorrow (and maybe next week, too). they are gonna have to build a bridge for this gap. thankfully it looks like nobody was hurt (no cars down there thank god). but robin's buddy steven WADED neck deep in the dark through the rush...

well, i picked robin up from school and he said he had a "good" day at school. wow, good, eh? that's a nice change of attitude. i sent with him this morning 2 dozen cupcakes to share with his classmates, in addition to his special birthday snack. after school he picked out ice cream and a toy airplane at the local grocery store. we came home where he opened his gifts: a new baseball mitt (plus balls!), handmade quilt from grandma, a new t-shirt and a large magnifying glass. my big gift to him was earlier last month when i got him the heely's roller shoes he'd been wanting forever. maybe that was a mistake. after he and his best 4 friends enjoyed homemade cake with the ice cream, street baseball catch, popcorn and the transformers movie, robin and i had his special request dinner (fried chicken breast, salad and baked beans) with his bestest bud steven. then they played gameboy for a while. perfect day? almost. robin was having a blast and was in very good spirits ...

WOW! 9 years already....robin- you are my most precious gift and i wish you the happiest of birthdays. i love you, sweetie. xxoo mama

this is a video still from robin and my outing to "africa mia" a few weeks ago. africa mia is a private animal reserve near liberia and they just opened it to the public for tours. we had a good time checking out the watusi cows and zebras. we petted a deer named linda, fed the ostriches and at the end of our visit robin got to pet a giraffe! that was the highlight of the day for him, i think (or quite possibly the hagen daaz ice cream bar following the tour). notsomuch for the giraffe....

last month (july just happened to be national baked beans month, BTW) bob bought a few cans of bush's baked beans at the super mega jumbo mart. later that week, we opened a can and had them i think with hot dogs. well guess who is now LOCO for the baked beans? our favorite little almost-9-years-old chico, that's who! every other day it's "can we have baked beans for lunch? pleeeeeease?" or breakfast or dinner or whenever. geez, kid! for THIS he learned to use a can opener...he even eats the little piece of pork fat off the top. gross.

i love you! have a great birthday day, mel! ...and happy costa rican mother's day, too! love, steph

happy friday...TGIF as robin likes to say. hope you are all planning fun weekends. it seems that robin's day off from school on wednesday was a lucky break for him. being new to the "escuela jardin de ninos", we hadn't received the school memo that the cr government has recently started combining national holidays with weekends (3 day weekends are an u.s. invention i think). good idea, but this holiday change has created little bits of confusion all around-to add to the normal bits of confusion flying here and there on an everyday basis. it turns out robin DID have school wednesday, even though the school calendar stated that it was a school holiday. also, this monday is the NEW 3 day weekend mother's day celebration and it is the real day off! even more confusing is that the public schools had last monday AND this monday off for mother's day. and for good measure, they gave them today off, too! next year i say just take the whole week off... readin...

this is volcano arenal-one of the volcanos near us....the only active one i think! maybe the most active in the world, actually. on days when it's clear and you can see the peak, it's always shooting out little puffs of smoke. very romantic. it's on the OTHER side of the very long lake, so i don't worry about exploding it (too much). robin had Educación Física in school today, which meant lots of running and some soccer. that's about all i could get out of him on that. he says he has a new friend in class, but he can't remember his name (what's new)....more on that later? now he's out getting some after school tuition-free Educación Física with the other neighborhood chicos. wee! as soon as i get my camera, i promise to post pictures of US! until then you'll have to settle for my whimsy from the photo archive. hugs, steph

August 15. Today is a national holiday in costa rica- Dia de las MADRES. robin and i are headed out on this sunny bright morning to enjoy his day off from school. we will probably end up at the hot springs for a soak. it will probably rain hard this afternoon. the photo is from la reserva. robin has been volunteering once a week at our friends' dan and roberta's reforestation project. preparing tree bags with soil, feeding chickens, planting trees, etcetera. once he got to bring his best bud steven along, too. nothing beats fresh air and hard work for boys. after 4 hours, i pick him up hungry and dirty....but not tired! he's like an energizer bunny these days. that's it for now. to my mom: Mamita Querida! I LOVE YOU! xxoo