Costa Rica: Part 4

Well, it's 2020 and I just realized I never finished writing this last post about Costa Rica back in 2018. I uploaded these pictures and then forgot. So here you are. The pictures pretty much say it all. Amazing beach house on Playa Hermosa! Perfect spot for families with kids. 

In no particular order, here are some memorable moments and pictures:

Our host, Isabel, couldn't have been more helpful. She drove us to the grocery store, lent us her GPS when we needed it and offered to babysit all 8 kids (we did not put her through that). 

Grace referred to the place as "Teresa's house" the entire time and for awhile afterwards. If only that were true....

The kids got along amazingly well. Except for that fight over a bag of chips, which you can see in one of the pictures below. And Frankie ruining Toby's sandcastle (also somewhere below).

Each adult brought a special talent to the table - we made a great traveling team. I was the translator, Dan was the super-prepared planner, Seth was in the ocean whenever kids were around keeping them safe and playing hard, Joy was the laundress as no one else could figure out the washing machine.

When Seth and I left a day earlier than the Wambekes. Isabel was confused because she thought we had left one child behind. Turns out Claire looks more like a Myhre than a Wambeke to outsiders. Well, we did discover that Dan is my 4th cousin so there is a minute amount of shared lineage.

Exploring tide pools

St. Ed's Concert

The kids had their xmas concert last week, and it was a joy to see all but one of our kids in it. The remaining child (Frankie) was thoroughly entertained throughout the show. I think this was the first year one of us didn't have to chase him around.

Charlie,  by far our loudest child who spends a good 3 hours a day belting out songs at the top of his voice, apparently quiets down in front of a crowd. It also didn't seem to help that the concert was so close to bedtime. He was must have yawned 20 times during his 2 songs.

It was Sam's first time singing in the choir during the nativity story reenactment. He was flanked by his two cousins, Ian and RJ, and the three of them sounded great together!

After a bit of convincing, Elena agreed to sing a solo. She did a beautiful job. She then got to enjoy having Olivia up on stage with her when Olivia played the baby Jesus. She played the part well, and didn't fuss until near the end when Elena was right there to calm her down. Ever the big sister, Elena was also at the ready to make sure her brother was standing in the right place - specifically not right in front of her.

Here are some highlights on video along with a few more pictures.

Charlie the Knight

Last time Elena was sick, she came up with a pretty creative way of getting the boys to be her servants at her beck and call. She decided that her "sick chair" was a throne, and she was the queen. Then she knighted Charlie and Frank and told them that when she had a job for them, she would sound the alarm (a soup pan lid) and they would come running to see what she needed. Charlie in particular took this duty very seriously. His sound effects were my favorite....and the time he said, "Sir, yes sir!....I mean Ma'am!"

Frankie wasn't o easily convinced to help.

Here are a couple of clips:

A glimpse inside the mind of a 4-year-old

Today Seth and I were saying that we should get to the children's museum again soon. I said something to the effect that time was running out and we should go before our membership expires.

Frankie overheard us and, I tell you, what went through his head was pretty different from the reality. I suppose "membership expiration" is a rather abstract thought for a 4-year-old to grasp.

So a few minutes later (after I had completely put this conversation out of my mind), this was our conversation.

Frankie: "Is our house going to start on fire?"

Me: "No, why? Is something on fire?"

Frankie: "No. Will it be on fire when we go to the science museum."

Me: "Why would our house start on fire when we go to the museum?"

Frankie: "Because the timer will go off and then it will explode."

Six Months and Sick

Olivia turned 6 months on Sam's 11th birthday. Unfortunately for her, she was pretty sick and spent the day sleeping in our arms with very goopy eyes that we kept having to wipe. Her super long lashes were not great for this as they captured a lot of goop and kept sticking shut.

The upside was her timing. She started getting sick on Thanksgiving and also at the start of a winter storm. This meant we had 3 full days after Thanksgiving for her to rest and get better. We had to skip a wedding on Saturday (we wouldn't have made it with the storm anyway), but Sam was happy to have us all home to celebrate his birthday with his friends here.And I don't think Seth minded the watching all the football games that were on when while he took his shifts holding the sleeping baby.

No large family birthday picture is complete without an unsuspecting sibling lurking in the background. 

She's still recuperating, but I'm hopeful we're on the tail end of this. In other news, she successfully made her first big mess when we sat her down too close to a bag of pretzels:

Gearing up for Thanksgiving!

"I"m thankful for my mom and dad and my toys. What are you thankful for?"

This is what Frankie said to a few people we came across today in the grocery store and on the sidewalk. My guess is they all shared what they were thankful for at daycare today :)

By the way, The drawers are in and the bunk beds are officially done!

5 months old!

Best assignment ever!

Elena is studying percents and fractions in math class. Her teacher is super creative and often gives unique assignments.

Yesterday's assignment has been my favorite so far. Elena came home and said, "Mom! I have to clean out the fridge." Her homework was to clean the fridge and, in doing so, count every item in the fridge. She then had to count how many items were rotten and throw those out.

I assume they will use this information to calculate what percent of food in the fridge was good...probably finding out in the process which family has the grossest fridge. It took an hour, but she cleaned the whole thing, wiping down shelves and drawers in the process without even complaining! I think our total was somewhere around 120 items with 11 rotten (or past-their-prime) foods.

Normally I dread homework. Homework never bothered me growing up, but it turns out marrying a man who is not academically inclined has resulted in children who likewise hate reading, writing and doing math problems at home.

I have drastically changed the amount and type of homework I assign in my own classes after seeing how much stress one little worksheet can create in a student's (and subsequently his or her entire family's) daily life.

That being said, I will take homework like this again anytime :)

Mr. Bourbon

Frankie tonight as we were driving home:" This is our Mr. Bourbon."

My best guess is that he mistook "Suburban" for "Sir Burban" and later confused the "Sir" for "Mister."  At any rate, our vehicle has an official name now.

Here he is singing a song he learned at daycare.

And a few recent selfies. 

Costume season!

Between trunk-or-treat,  trick-or-treating, and the saints day contest at school, we went through quite a few costumes this last week. Here are some of them.

Sam as St. John the Baptist. He took 1st place in his grade and was given a Gatorade by one of the teachers who said his costume was her favorite of all the years they've had the contest. 

This was Frankie's costume for daycare.  He was a giraffe in the evening,  but not a very happy one. He got tired of trick-or-treating pretty quickly, but kept trucking along anyway. The result was a sobbing giraffe walking up to every door getting extra pieces of candy because people felt bad for him.  Not exactly what this sugar-tooth with no self-control needs!

Charlie was Padre Pio for his saint. Elena was st. Apollonia, but we didn't get a picture of her (once again).

Toothless the dragon for the evening! I dropped the ball and did not get Charlie's dinosaur costume in time. To be fair, he wasn't real clear about what he wanted.  At any rate, we found this for $1 at the local thrift store on Halloween. Just in time!