Dinnertime with Frankie

Last summer I took several videos of Frankie eating with the intention of sharing them on the blog so we could always remember how mealtimes were when he was 1. When it comes to making messes with food, Frankie takes the cake. It didn't help that he always refused to wear a bib or sit down while eating. 

These are a little dated now, and I'm happy to report that he is much better. Still messy, but not quite so extreme or deliberate. I'll also add that with most of these videos I would have normally intervened sooner, but I wanted to capture how he was uninterrupted and in his natural state.

This first one occurred when I sat him down to eat rice and beans and then quickly ran to use the restroom. When I came back out, this is how I found him. It cuts off at the end, but he was trying to rub refried beans on the bottoms of his feet when I finally reached my limit of tolerance.

Eating yogurt...he dropped his spoon and improvised:

And here he is eating a cup of applesauce:

Charlie quotes of the week

"Sam! You didn't do that on oops. You did that on purpose."

"Oh, I think that I found myself a cheeseburger." (singing Cheerleader)

I normally love it when the kids brush my hair...

Charlie was brushing my hair today - a rare treat for me.

After a bit he stopped brushing and said, "Wait a minute!"
Me: What?
Charlie: Probably you're going to get old soon.
Me: Why do you say that? (I knew full well why he said that)
Charlie: Because some of your hair is turning white.
Me: Yes it is.
Charlie: Probably Dad is going to get old soon, too.
Me: Well at least I won't be alone then.

Costa Rica Part 3: Almost to the beach

Our one mishap of the trip was our decision to stop at a beautiful waterfall on the way to the beach, which also had a great area for swimming right underneath the falls.

After struggling to find it, Seth and I spotted the very small sign pointing the way. Unfortunately we were following our friends who had incorrect directions. We turned off towards the falls thinking they would see us turn off and would pull over to turn around. We thought wrong. They did not see us and had no idea what had happened to us. And we had no cell phone so calling wasn't an option.

Eventually they realized their directions were wrong and also that we were missing so they retraced their steps. I was ready to wave them down on the side of the road. 

We headed down to the waterfall, parked our cars despite much confusion about where we should park. There were men all over to direct parking and collect the $4 parking fee, but every other one told us "You can park right here" then "Don't park here, you need to park in the lot farther down" then "No, don't park in the lot: it's more expensive" then "Your car won't be safe unless you park in the lot." We finally figured out that there were two separate groups collecting the parking fee so half the men worked for the "parking lot" group and the other half worked for the "side of the road" parking. 

We started our walk down the path to the waterfall, and I quickly noticed that it looked quite a bit longer than we had expected. I asked someone how long the walk was, and they said it would take 30 minutes. We hesitated and thought maybe we should skip it (it was very hot and we had 8 children - a few of whom would likely want to be carried). But after asking another couple who was just returning they said it was only 10 minutes. Another said 20, and another 15. So we just went ahead figuring on the 15 minute average.

Seth and Dan went ahead with Frankie and the older kids, Joy and I quickly fell behind with Grace and Charlie. It took Charlie about 3 minutes to decide he was hot and tired and wanted to be carried. I tried carrying him on my back and shoulders, but in the heat and with a backpack full of swimming supplies and a very full bladder with no bathroom in sight, that didn't last long. So for the next 30 minutes Charlie and I walked at a snail's pace while he whined that he wanted Seth to carry him and I could do nothing but remind him that he would have to walk a little faster than 0.0005 miles per hour if he wanted to catch up with Daddy. 

By the time we got to the steps that would lead down to the waterfall, everyone else was coming back up, ready to go. Apparently, it was completely packed with people and there was basically a rave going on. It was Sunday so it appears many locals took advantage of the day off by bringing their very large speakers and stereos down to the beach where they could blast their music, smoke who-knows-what and hang out. I guess the 100 or so cars parked outside the waterfall should have been our first clue that it wouldn't be the peaceful oasis we were expecting.

Needless to say the kids were not happy at having to make the long trek back through the heat after a half hour walk to a waterfall they didn't even get 30 seconds to enjoy. There were a few sunburns acquired as well as I was the one with all the sunblock, and I couldn't catch up to everyone without abandoning Charlie on the side of the road.

I was sure to let the kids know, however, that this is very typical of traveling in another country, and this was a very good lesson in making the best of it when things don't go as expected.

Dan got a little footage of the waterfall. You can see the delight on the kids faces :) You can't really hear the music in this one, but as soon as you got any closer to the swimming area it was so loud you could barely someone talking right next to you .

Costa Rica Trip: Part 2

Zip-lining!!! Having a 2-year-old along on the trip meant someone had to stay and watch him so I let Seth go ahead and do the zip-lining with Sam and Elena. Charlie also stayed back, although in hindsight, we really should have let him go.  So if we ever make it back Charlie, Frankie and I will be sure to finally take our chance to go.

Dan and their oldest 2 went along as well, so Joy and I stayed in the car mostly with the 4 youngest. Initially it was raining so we were stuck. After quite a while, we got stir-crazy and managed to sweet talk our way into seeing the hummingbird garden for free, which was a patio where you could be surrounded by several varieties of hummingbirds who would come there to eat. They were so used to people you could just stick a finger out by the feeders, and they would sit on your hand. We also got a very close up view of a couple of coaties.

Fortunately Dan had his phone handy so he got some pictures and footage of the zip-lining and the Tarzan swing that they got to do at the end. They went on a 2 hour trek through the cloud forest, hiking from one zip line to the next. They got to go on 13 lines total with the longest one being 1 km (over half a mile). I didn't expect Elena to go since she has a slight fear of heights, but she went and loved it.

Here they are getting ready to go:

Here's Elena on a zipline

And Sam on the Tarzan Swing

Our Trip to Costa Rica: Part 1

Friends of ours invited us to go with them on a vacation to someplace warm this winter.  So we stocked up on flyer miles and got free plane tickets for all 12 of us to Costa Rica. Our kids are all about the same ages so each of them had a buddy which worked out perfectly. Given the price of our plane tickets, I suppose we shouldn't complain about the flights....but we were honestly second-guessing ourselves on the way down. The airlines were great, and everything was on time it was just 2 days & 4 planes each way with a very short night's sleep in between and a 2-year-old who HATES long lines and being forced to sit down for plane rides. Once we were there, however, all the stress was well worth it.

There's no way I'll cover everything in one night, but to get started I'll share about the first place we went. After a long, curvy and bumpy ride, we arrived at the University of Georgia Campus in the cloud forest of Monteverde.

I was a little skeptical our first night, as I listened to the wind and rain all night long, imagining how poorly our footwear and clothes would hold up in all the wet and muck. But even though it was unusually windy and misty for what should have been the dry season, it didn't too often flat-out rain. Having come from MN it was still plenty warm for us and the damp never seeped through enough to chill us so we were all happy even if we were smelly and a little soggy. As a silver lining, the mist made for some fantastic rainbows.

Other than the less than perfect weather, the place was fantastic. The older kids' favorites were hiking through all the trails with lots of guided tours. The classes given by the naturalists on insects and plants - plus the kids got lots of vials they could use to catch the insects they found.  Sam especially liked hanging out in the lab, learning about the research they do.
The middle age kids really enjoyed the constant supply of hot tea and hot chocolate (made with super-fresh milk; practically still hot from the cow). The littlest ones really liked getting as wet as possible. Frankie also liked tearing through the lunch hall around all the tables while everyone ate.

The moms enjoyed having 3 authentic Costa Rican & super delicious meals made up for us a day.
Seth actually really enjoyed the adventure of driving on terrible roads all the way up there. I can't say that was his favorite but he really liked it. (We complimented each other well on the trip - my language skills and his driving skills made up where the other was completely incompetent).





I'm not going to lie - before leaving I was a little nervous about poisonous snakes and whatnot -especially given that Frankie's not fantastic about not touching things when we tell him not to, but once we got there of course, I was just fine. Sam found a bunch of army ants once, but a naturalist was right there and told him to just walk away quickly. And we found a tarantula right next to a scorpion on our night hike. That was honestly so cool! They were both too slow-moving for me to get squeamish, but I can't say the same for everyone else there. Charlie was pretty disappointed that the tarantula and scorpion didn't have a battle.

Here's a picture of our last day there. I think Charlie was just mad at being rushed to get ready to go. 

Here's a leaf-cutter ant hill. We should have had someone stand by it to show how huge it is, but I think you can get the picture.

 Out on the nature hikes:

In the lab:

 Some of the insects and butterflies that can be found on campus. And yes, that rhinoceros beetle is as big as it looks. Probably bigger.

Charlie is 5!

I'm posting this a couple of days before his birthday since we will be gone for his actual birthday. I'll fill you in when we get back on how the big day went.

Our pre-birthday celebration at home was a small affair with the Grandmas and Grandpas. Charlie requested a blue raspberry cake this year so I made a jello poke cake. Much like last year, Charlie did not actually like the cake flavor he picked out but he thoroughly enjoyed the frosting (which was just whipped cream). 

Happy Birthday, Charlie!

Can someone please explain the logic behind this?

I don't get how the bathroom ends up looking like this. It's a good thing we have that hamper. Look how useful it is!

Having a talk

Charlie came downstairs tonight and said, very seriously:

"Dad, (deep inhale, deep exhale) we need to talk."

It was so funny, we didn't even care that he followed this up by telling us that Frankie had dumped an entire container of fish flakes on their bedroom carpet and also sprayed an excessive amount of air freshener throughout the room.

Halloween

Frankie was a very cute tiger for Halloween this year, as you can see. He didn't want to stand up normal for the picture.

 And it looks like he's already picked out his costume for next year. As long as his head doesn't grow too much, he can be a popcorn popper. He's been wearing the top to our popcorn popper on his head all night (he calls it his "football hat")