Field Day at Del Mar Academy, 2012

We missed attending this year but I snaked these photos off of DMA's Facebook page and I must say- we missed some fun times! Celeste was on the yellow team: "Starlights" and Francini on the Iguanas/Green team. I love that you see lots of team spirit and the bigger kids helping out the littler kids in so many of the photos.

Labels: Chiquitas, Costa Rica Life

Surfer Girlies

Last week the girls had their VERY FIRST surf lesson/surf club session (sponsored by their school: Del Mar Academy). Both girls had body boarded just a little bit and body surfed as well, a little prior to this. We swim a lot and they are good swimmers. But the previous two years we just didn't think they were ready for surfing and waves. This year they both wanted to do the club very badly, and Rick agreed to help as each kid needs a parent to be there. They were ready!

Last week was low tide at the beach and the girls learned how to "pop up", where their "sweet spot" was, and how to stand. This week they learned about rotating and using the feet placement to facilitate turning. Due to the high tide this week, I think the lesson may need to be repeated...

This week was high tide. Suffice to say last week at low tide Celeste must have ridden about 8-10 waves (standing up) in an hour, and Francini definitely got into the double digits... But this week at high tide Celeste gave up after 15 minutes of being pounded.

Francini kept at it though! This week and last (including Celeste last week) she did NOT want to come in. She just kept going and going and still must have caught about a dozen waves.

However, I do wish that I took photos last week as there were so many more opportunities to see both girls up, even a video would have been easy to get. As you can see below, the photos are so-so...and because the waves were almost breaking on shore, it was hard to get the camera ready in time to capture them catching anything.

Trust me though: Surf Club is super fun and both girls are quite into it. Francini, in particular, is a natural and has said she now wants to be both a teacher and surfer girl when she grows up.

Rick and I have been really enjoying the Surf Club too: it's fun to see all the kids take to surfing and see how quickly they learn. It's an exciting environment- everyone's cheering (adults and kids alike) the surfers on and it's a real rush when kids catch waves and improve their skills.

Labels: Chiquitas, Costa Rica Life, Leisure

The 45 Places to Go in 2012-NYT We're #41!

Taken Xmas day at the Boca Nosara (Nosara River mouth): 2011

The 45 Places to Go in 2012

NYT article today in the travel section: full article available on this link

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/travel/45-places-to-go-in-2012.html?pagewanted=all

41. Nosara, Costa Rica
Surfing geeks have descended on a remote little town.

With sandy beaches, warm, jade-green waters and rolling waves that rarely get too big, the remote jungle community of Nosara on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica has become the ideal spot to learn to surf. The crescent-shaped Guiones beach is a good jumping-off point to go hiking or visit the nearby turtle refuge, and there are small, charming hotels and local bars with live music. But in a place that sees sunny, rainless weather from December to May, surfing’s the thing.

Surf schools have popped up all over town, including Surf Simply, which focuses on a technical, sports-coach philosophy and has a new guided trip option along the coast for its 2012 surf programs, and Safari Surf School , an official Billabong-certified surf camp. Nosara Surf Cam offers a real-time Web feed of the waves. Take a look and get your stoke on. BONNIE TSUI

Might we add: contact www.nosaratravel.com for all your travel needs while visiting us down here!

Labels: Costa Rica Life, Costa Rica Travel

Christmas with Padrinos

Photos above: Girlies modeling some holiday presents including their very own cooking aprons; some river scenes from late Christmas day; Padrinos/Godparents/Cousins visiting over the holidays- super nice and they even found a driftwood Xmas Tree on Playa Pelada!

It was a very hectic time for our business but we are very grateful nonetheless for having had family and friends visit during December. Their visits were enjoyable and also gave us much needed balance.

We love having visitors... just so you know....

!Feliz Ano!
Happy New Year and may 2012 bring us all health and prosperity.

Labels: Family, Leisure, Visitors to CR

'Tis the Season!

The girls participated in the winter holiday show at their school: Del Mar Academy. The theme this year was giving the gift of values. Francini was "originality" and wore her "peace" shirt and some fun props while Celeste embodied "respect".

The show was really touching, especially when the upper elementary children described which values they were giving to the world this year, and why. Rick and I got really teared up. We so appreciate their school and cannot say enough good things about the faculty, staff, students and families there- what a privilege it is to be able to send the girls to this wonderful place where they learn to be smart guardians of our future!

We are also, when we have time (it's a busy time of year for our business- more so this year than in the last few years- yay!), have been thoroughly enjoying visitors to the area from San Diego, CA. The Scuba family is here 3 months (only 6 weeks left though!) and two other San Diegans just joined us this week visiting at our home.

Lots o' fun and plenty of reasons to be grateful this holiday season.

`Peace and Prosperity in 2012`

Labels: Friends, Leisure

Sushi Sunday

Yum! Had some yummy Japanese food we made this past Sunday with our new wonderful friends, the Scuba family. In town from San Diego visiting for 3 months- how lucky are we? We have known the Scubas actually for years with many many friends in common. But we never knew each other well and are now making up for lost time. We are planning weekly get-togethers so far, and moving through some yummy cuisines. I'll get a photo of everyone at some point. Here are the sushi-eating kids. Rolling your own maki rolls was a hit. That and the tempura- anything fried, right?

Labels: Leisure

Costa Rica VS Spain en Futbol/Soccer: Nosara Travel Gets Their Game On!

We'd been discussing getting our office staff at www.nosaratravel.com /Nosara Travel and Rentals to a soccer match at the new stadium in San Jose for the last year or two. Always too busy....

Well finally we just squeezed it in! Costa Rica was playing Spain on November 15th (a formidable opponent) and Rick, our top guys Gerardo and Roberto, and our accountant, Luis and his son- all went to see the match.

Apparently it was a super tight game and CR almost won! CR is not really in the same league as Spain (consistently) so this was a very exciting game to go to. Our employees really appreciated the experience and Rick said it was a blast. We are now going to make it a yearly tradition.

Below: an employee appreciation dinner we had recently, thanking our office staff for making our US trip possible by taking care of the Biz for us while we were gone. Thank you!

Labels: Costa Rica Life, Leisure, Work

Halloween in the Tropics- Boo!

My inspiration (above) vs. my creation (below)

Dorothy and her cowardly lion!
Notice Francini's "fire" for her fire-breathing breath...be scared, be very very scared.

My favorite photo. All night I showed her off going "Francini, show them what you are" and she would happily make her scary face. The girls decided last Spring their halloween costumes and I worked on putting together what would work, given our tropical climate down here.
Hint: face painting in the tropical October humidity has its challenges!