Time for Pretzels!

Lent is upon us once again. Did you know that if it weren't for lent, we wouldn't have pretzels? In the very early Church, it was common for Christians to abstain from all animal products throughout the season of lent, and so the need for very simple meals and snacks arose. The story goes that in the early 7th century, a monk made Lenten bread of water, flour and salt, then rolled it into a pretzel shape to look like the prayer position of folding one's arms across the chest.
Growing up, I loved making pretzels during lent with my family. Unfortunately, the last time I made them was over 4 years ago. It's a time-consuming project that requires undivided attention at times....I can't imagine why that might have been difficult for me during the last few years :) This year, I was finally able to make them during Sam's nap with Elena's help. She did a very good job of folding all the pretzels - I was impressed with how quickly she was able to make them into the correct shape.

Here she is, showing off the goods. And then we quickly gobbled them all up.

Costa Rica

I just realize that I started this post awhile back and never finished it.

We had a full day in Costa Rica, and we all had a great time. I lived there for a summer in high school, and it was good to be back. the kids spent the morning at a local playground and played with a little girl from town while I talked with her Grandpa. He recommended we see an animal rescue center just outside of town (and even escorted us to the bus stop down the street to make sure we knew how to get there), so after lunch we headed there with the kids.


The kids had a lot of fun at the rescue center. It was kind of like a zoo only all the animals there had been abused, injured or orphaned. The center nursed them back to help and released them back into the wild when possible. A few of the monkeys, after spending their entire lives on leashes, would not allow their leashes to be removed. They would frantically try to put the leash back on if it was taken off.

The kids enjoyed seeing the animals and petting the monkeys. My favorite part was being able to walk through the rainforest.


At one point I asked Sam if he wanted to hold my hand. He said, "No!" and ran ahead to the girl giving us the tour and grabbed her hand.

It was especially nice for me to be back in Costa Rica - even if it was only half a day. I studied there for a summer when I was 17, and I remember how friendly everyone was. Our visit was no exception - we had several people go out of their way to help us. The telephone line was down at the animal rescue center and they weren't able to take our credit card. We didn't have enough cash on us to cover the tour, and they let us go through for less than half price.
We tried to get cash later and weren't able to get money from an ATM. A local woman walking down the street saw we were having trouble, walked us into the bank and asked around at several desks until they were able to tell her the problem (they only accepted VISA, which we didn't have). She then gave found out the closest bank that would accept our card and gave us directions there.
I'm thinking I would like to return to Costa Rica for a longer trip in the future....

Look who's 4!

"Is it my birthday today?" Those were the first words out of Elena's mouth yesterday morning. She was pretty excited when I said yes. We spent the day preparing for her birthday party - just our 2 local families total 30 people so our birthday parties are big even without inviting friends. It was a very full house, but we all had a great time. Plus, it was warm enough that the kids could play outside for awhile.

In the evening, after most of the guests had gone, Sam played his first April Fool's joke on Seth (Elena was too tired to pitch in). I went into the bathroom with Sam and told him to yell out "Daddy, I pooped on the floor!!" I was holding Sam to make sure he wouldn't run out, so when Seth came toward the bathroom and saw Sam's head up about 2 feet higher than it should be, he thought Sam was covered in poop and had also climbed up the door. He came in and looked at us with a very confused face until Sam yelled, "April Fools!" Good job, Sam.