Vermont visitis Costa Rica
We blew through our one year mark without really even noticing. Our bungalows were totally full the entire week and we were too busy to pay attention to the fact that a year had crept up on us. Looking back at our books, the first week we came down we had one bungalow occupied (luckily by a sweet and excited couple from VT). A year later during the same week, not a room to spare. This is encouraging!
We were not sure if our friends and family would keep rolling in at such speed and numbers after the first 6 months but indeed they did, more than we could imagine. The time has come to give thanks to the wonderful people who have traveled far to give their support and be a part of our adventure. Where did we leave off??? Oh yes, September….
college reunion in Playa Chiquita
Piotr, Brendan’s old roommate from a summer in Burlington, came with his sister Margo and her boyfriend Jacob all the way from Poland and Ireland. It was great fun! Three Polish people who had never been to the tropics, need I say more? Andy, who just finished our awesome new website, came with Brooke and chased their two year old son Jack around the jungle for a week. Adam Lukens entertained us with stories of the film industry in NYC, our favorite being the one about Steven Segal kicking his stunt-man in the balls to see if he’s wearing a cup. Dotty, Evan and Molly, friends from the Cape, came in search of “the most beautiful beach in the world”, and found it. Charlie and Caitlin brought stories of life on the Obama campaign trail in Nebraska and we celebrated the new winner. Good work Charlie!!
The Hammer hammin it up
The insane November rains started and my step cousin Christine and husband, Ted, newlyweds on their honeymoon, barely made it through the flooding roads to reach Tierra de Sueños where they spent the week in torrential rain. Brendan’s entire family reached us a couple of days later under similar circumstances. We celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas in the same week and managed to have a good time even though it never stopped raining. One day was spent getting drunk on chocolate, a highly recommended activity. My sister Samantha and cousin Becca almost got us arrested and Sammie braved dental surgery in San Jose, quite an experience in itself.
bathing beauties
Adrienne and Peter came from DC with their friend Kevin and were exposed to some of the wacky members of the community at a wild Manzanillo party. The old, long white-bearded man who we usually see bathing his white horse in the ocean in his underwear was there showing off his moves on the dance floor. Pete carried an ipod karaoke machine along with him to the beach everyday, just a side note.
drying out after snorkeling in Manzanillo
Also coming from DC, Evan Smith a childhood friend of Brendan’s, shortly followed with two work friends, Jeff and Kate. Evan may have won the award for most sunburned but we couldn’t give him too much grief because he did go to Best Buy at 10pm the night before his early morning departure to purchase an emergency laptop to quickly replace our stolen one. What a friend! Then came the impromptu college reunion which couldn’t have been more fun. My old roommate from all of the college years, Jess and her dear friend Suzanne came with their boyfriends Nate and Mike, Adam for the second time around, Sean and Nick also friends from the very beginning of freshman year and a new-comer friend of Sean, Erin. Rum Punch is all I can say about that. Sarah and Mary happily came in the middle of Februrary all the way from South Dakota and Etta from the Cape as well. We just said goodbye to Jess, Melissa, Gabe and Chris from Vermont and the week was nothing less than hysterical. Friends from DC, Fareha and Chris, are riding bikes into town right now and the day they leave, Andew Baxt arrives, shortly followed by Abigail with her boyfriend Ted who I am just dying to meet and so on and so forth. There is no sign of it letting up!
modeling the new t's
The steady flow of friends and family has completely blown our minds. When deciding to embark on this journey never in our wildest dreams did we think we would be graced by the presence of so many people we love. Thank you all for coming and sharing our dream with us. Keep coming!