10 AMazing Things We Have Seen in Nosara

...that we wish we had pictures for but don't! 1. A family of 5 on one motorcycle. 2. A frog in the toilet. 3. A coral snake (a poisonous snake seen by Carter and Terry on a school field trip). 4. Foxes and monkeys at our outdoor workouts. 5. Property cleared by machete (no fancy equipment here!) 6. Terry making pita bread from scratch. 7. Waves and views! 8. The visiting orchestra (okay this one was really hearing). 9. Gina cutting the top off a coconut to drink the water. CAn you say new party trick? 10.Thunderstorms and the kids piled in our bed sleeping after them!

My "Crew!"

Our Second Car!

Hi ho, hi ho, its off to school we go!

Here's a pic of the Paseo Del Sol "school bus".  How many kids can you squeeze onto a golf cart? I believe our current record is 9!  Lindsay likes to drive and whenever she hears the sound of the golf cart  she is off and running!  Between the dust, rain and mud days they do sometimes ride their bikes!

Right out of the "Sound of Music"

The other night we had a thunderstorm like you wouldn't believe, it literally shook our house and lit it up like having our very own strobe light! Even we were a little scared, well maybe just Terry!   Made me think of the movie the "Sound of Music", "Rain drops on roses" scene.  First "boom" (hmmm, wonder how long it will take the kids to come to our room), second "boom"(Jorja), third "boom" (Carter).  As for Lindsay, she slept through the whole thing!  Sorry no pictures as you can't take pictures of thunder, silly!

The Garden Masterpiece...In progress!

Here's a few pics of the latest transformation in our back yard.  The owner (a fellow Edmontonian it turns out) is down here this week and luckily he thanked us!  What do we have in there? Papaya, mango, okra, lime tree, cuelantro (jungle cilantro), chia (testing), mint, rosemary, basil, avocado, spinach, garlic, might be some watermelon and of course the pineapple forest!  Did you know it takes two years to grow one pineapple?  You just cut the top off and throw it in but that is a long wait!  There is also an orchid which Carter got from scaling a tree and some tadpoles we are watching turn into frogs.  Not cute frogs, big, gross, poisonous ones which are all over the street at night and occasionally in your toilet (yes, I did say in your toilet)  It really is a jungle out there!

Next up, building a shelter for our lovely garden before it gets washed away by the rain!

How to break into our house!

Need anything from Costa Rica?  Turns out if your head is small enough, iron bars are really not burglar proof.  We were really just testing the theory in case we ever locked ourselves out and a window was open.  Honest!

Sneak Peak at my "Crew"

Since many of you have been asking about my latest gig, here is a little preview. Yes, it is a fitness class with about 50 spanish construction workers.  I get by with a lot of smiling and "aqui", "vamos" and  "rapido".  I will get better pictures as I was hiding under the roof in front.  This was our first class and I only made one guy puke!  The next class only one guy sprained his ankle.  They totally love it or maybe they are just making fun of me as I really can't understand spanish spoken that fast (ha ha)!  We have now had four classes and have done many many "pucharas" (that's pushups).  Did I mention it was from 6-7am in front of a restaurant/beach (hence the roof top photos) which our collective boss (a crazy Israeli) also owns.   Last week he asked them all to make weights.  It was kinda funny as the carpenters came with wood weights, some others with a concrete/rebar combination and those that didn't have any just picked up some random rocks.  This week the boss is away in Israel or London or Disneyland and we had no access to the sound system.  A fitness class with no music, no english, no beach if the tide is high, no equipment (including running shoes for some), no drinking water and no mats (its either sand or gravel baby!) Yup, you could say this class keeps me on my toes!  Me encanta! (I love it!)

Terry's Haircut

After briefly visiting some bad 80's hair experience, Terry decided Carter and I should cut his hair. As you can see, Carter and I are trained professionals already! We took Terry from the bad 80's to some crazed Seinfield-Kramer-like "do" only because he would not let me take any off the top. Once again I could not stop laughing when I talked to him as he looked like he belonged to some bad punk band. Sadly, many people told him they loved it (yes, Nosara is a kindhearted or delusional place, take your pick!) Anyways, a real hairdresser came to the house a week later to cut the kids hair and I made Terry sit down for a little reshaping. He returned to a normal person and I thought very handsome but he got all mad and told me I "ruined his hair" by having the hairdresser fix it (hmmm, we all know who was right right!?! Here's a few shots (remember the "before" is in the previous blog!) and the after "Captain Nosara!"

Family Picture

Family photo at Carter's teacher's wedding on the beach. Shortly after while Terry was "watching her" Lindsay rolled in the sand and surf and then wanted to be held by her momma. Needless to say it was a rather sandy affair (so much for getting dressed up!)

Please note Terry's hair which was the motivation behind the next blog.

Nicaragua: Part 3; Granada

Granada is a super crazy busy colonial style city, I loved it! Reminded me of San Francisco or Prague where the buildings are all built beside each other and they don't waste space with anything green. Add to that a lot of people, cars and horse drawn carriages (as everyone attempts to share the narrow roads) and it is a little chaotic. It was also "Semana Santa" (Easter week) which is the major holiday in Central America. Interesting sights included palm houses being woven outside all the churches, a "mardi gras style parade" complete with band carrying Jesus on the cross (not sure party music really fits the occasion but...) and a human reinactment of the crucifixion. We did a ton of fun and interesting things in Granada and met up with more friends from Nosara. Highlights included: 1. Horse drawn carriage ride: doing the tourist thing and taking a horse drawn carriage around the central part of the city, visiting a 100 (not quite) different churches and heading down to the lake (the biggest lake in Central Americas(19th in the world) bordering the city. I gotta say riding by horse drawn carriage is the way to travel! We also switched hotels via carriage and made quite the spectacle ourselves with a surfboard and stroller piled on while the driver attempted to "parallel park" on the opposite side of the road (no easy feat let me tell you). 2. Making chocolate: Jorja, Carter and I went to a chocolate making class. We learned all about cacao beans and then we took the beans, roasted them on a fire, cracked off the shells, ground them and then added a variety of ingredients to make chocolate drinks popular with the aztecs, mayans, and finally the spanish. At this point we were all hopped up on cacoa and sugar and we moved on to making a chocolate bar. This step requires a bunch more masticating and tempering which was done for us by a few handy machines and then we got to add our own special ingredient. Mine was rum! 3. Open Air Market: We went on a wild goose chase looking for chia seeds and a cacao/nut grinder in the open air market. This was a market like you might see on the Amazing Race Tv show. A true labyrinth of impossibly tiny and very crowded streets, lanes and then I don't even know what to call them. Not easy to negotiate with a stroller and a real sweat fest I gotta tell you! I found my chia seeds but not my grinder, only a meat grinder, which unfortunately sent us in the direction of the meat stalls (I tried not to look as it was rather scary and may have turned me off meat for a lifetime!) 4. Tio Antonio: tucked into the heart of the city was this really cool little shop that is a social project (rare in these parts). They hire the hard to employ and teach them to make hammocks of all sizes. We finally bought one for our backyard, tried out the "World's Largest Hammock" and bought three "stuffy hammocks" (now hanging off the bunk beds at our house). There was also a cafe here completely staffed by the deaf and mute. You ordered by pointing to a picture in the menu and/or signing. Very cool, l-o-v-e-d everything about this visit and a definite highlight of the trip! Well as you can see I tried to "paint a few pictures with words" as we are waiting for friends to send us a few (as you may recall our camera ran out of power. We actually tried to replace/charge our battery by having our horse drawn carriage stop at the Radio Shack but sadly it was not yet open at 830am in the morning. Huh, go figure!) Anyways, stay posted.

Nicaragua: Part 2; Rancho Santana

About a 2 hour drive from the boarder we arrived in Rancho Santana also know to us as "a little slice of heaven". Hands down nicest place we have ever stayed in anywhere (and we have been to a lot of nice places!)
Our room was a 3 bedroom, 3 bath condo with a huge deck overlooking the beach. It was beautiful!

We took that little path/bridge across the river to the restaurant and pool. We had a huge kitchen in our room but the restaurant had the best food we have ever had and the grocery store was about a 45 minute driver away...so we ate out. The food? Breakfast (pina colado french toast), lunch (homemade chicken noodle soup, gazpacho), supper (sesame crusted fish, coconut rice and steamed veggies). Yum, every meal was sooooo gooooood! We ate like kings!
We enjoyed the pool with a fountain in the middle, the "bocchie ball court" and the beaches. Jorja and I got a pedicure for $20, Terry surfed (what else!) and we met a lot of interesting people including a Nico getting rich from selling ice! We also had a tour of their big organic garden run by a Canadian (of course!) Jorja, Carter and I went horseback riding along the beach. We called our ride the "Tour of the Three Little Pigs" as we went by houses made of wood, concrete, plastic and you got it, even straw. We also saw one of the houses featured on House Hunters International (one of our favorite shows back in Canada!)
Sadly this is when our camera battery died so we are relying on others to send us photos of the rest of our trip!

Nicaragua: Part 1; Crossing the Border

We heard all the rumors and many many different stories about crossing this boarder so we were prepared for anything! And really it wasn't that bad, just long. After researching a lot of different options we decided the easiest way to get the 8 of us (we travelled with another family of 3) to our destination was to hire a drive.
So first, we drove to and parked our cars to the airport in Liberia (about a 2 hour drive), then we moved all our stuff into a van. We headed to the border (about an 1 hr and a half drive) and as we got closer we saw mucho, mucho, semis parked on the one lane Pan American highway. This made getting to the actual boarder very exciting as we used the other (wrong) lane and hoped for a break in the semis when another semi came towards us head on. We made it alive and had fun counting the hammocks hung under the semis for the driver to sleep in. Makes you wonder how long they wait!
Upon arriving at the boarder there was a rather long line so we found some "help" which included some cash and the handing over of the husbands passports to be taken to places unknown (scary!) As this child loving country will sometimes let women and children jump the cue, we came in a side door with our new "best friend" got our passports stamped and left Costa Rica. Thankfully, our hubby's passports were then returned to us also stamped and we carried on to step two.
We were able to drive a little farther but then had to empty out of our car to walk across the boarder. Yes, everyone has to "hoof it" with their stuff no matter what. So off we went with one pregnant lady, 4 kids, 2 surfboards, a stroller and some luggage to the Nicaragua passport office (about 800 meters). Here we found our driver on this side and repacked a van where we then waited probably 2 hours to get our passports stamped again. That explains the picture of our very sweaty friend Raynar who took one for the team and waited in a jam packed large cage essentially. I also got in trouble for taking a picture here so thought I better include it!
Did I mention we just happened to run into some other friends? That's Jorja with her friend "Mirabie" at the Nicaragua boarder. She was traveling with her mom and aunt. So we added them to our entourage and gave them a ride about half way as they were going directly to Granada. 11 people in our van good, thing we had air conditioning!
And just like that we were off to Rancho Santana in Nicaragua!

Talent Show

The long anticipated Talent Show has come and gone. We were all stars that evening as you can tell by the pictures. Jorja and Carter performed "If you are Happy and You Know it" (Jorja was the marionetta and Carter the puppeteer in case you haven't figured that out!) Fun evening had by all until Lindsay's "diva" like behavior due to being up past her bedtime (or maybe it was the champagne) required an early exit by some of us. It was quite a show with magic, song and dance, a dog and horses making appearances.

The Long Awaited BBQ picture!

Those are ribs (delicioso!) Yup, gets a little hot by the Barbie!

The "Build-A-Bear" Wedding by Carter

On Sunday, March 18 Rainbow Dolphin Blumes married Candy Sugarblossum Lewis. The happy couple is now lying in bed. I am sorry you all were not invited but it was a very exclusive wedding (my family was not invited either!) Only 3 of my friends with build-a-bears made the list. But I will share the pictures and here is the story...
My friend Katie gave me a build-a-bear "Candy". When I introduced her to Rainbow it was love a first sight. So I decided to make a wedding for them. We put up decorations and made wedding clothes for the bride and groom and we even had a real official "Tex" (that's my other build-a-bear). We also made wedding cupcakes and we were going to have a dance but since we were so hot we decided to go in the pool. Mr. and Mrs. Build-a-Bear rode off into the sunset in their orange ride-on car complete with "Just married" signs and beer/bear cans. They are going to Calgary on their honeymoon in July.

Tom Car rides by Carter and Jorja

Carter and Jorja went for rides in our neighbors Tom Cars (yes, these are our neighbors from Cochrane). This is there new business, driving around in these little dune buggies and surfing. The masks and goggles? That's for the dust (yuck!) I have not gone for my ride yet but one day soon. Terry went on a little surf adventure already.

Shout out to "Howling Monkey Adventures"

Carter's review: 4/5 stars
It was crazy fun. We got all 4 wheels off the ground. We also went up a big jump! I would like to go again.

Jorja's review: 16/5 stars
It was super fun and sort of scary! I came home with a big smile on my face. I want to go again!

Terry's review: 5/5 stars
It's the most "bad ass" way to do a surf trip in Costa Rica ever conceived!

The Cleanse

With the help of our good friend and local raw foodie Beth, Terry and I embarked on our first cleanse. That mound of veggies was 4 days worth! Yup, we eventually drank it all in green juices. One of the most challenging parts of the cleanse was getting all that veg into our fridge! Terry made it 6 days on juice and pipa (young coconut water) and a little bit of pureed raw veggie soup. I made it for 8 with a bit more soup to accommodate the local milk drinker. Once you can wrap your head around not eating its actually not that bad. I did not feel hungry as I got all the nutrients I needed from the juice. I actually liked that green beverage (Terry did not and attempted various downing it techniques including the "3 shot method"!) What was in that concoction you ask? 1 head romaine lettuce, 1 cucumber, 1 bunch kale, handful cilantro, a few stalks of celery, lime and occasionally spinach, bok choy, or ginger. Mmmmmmmmmm! As you can see it gave us nice green mustaches and the kids even tried some and didn't mind it. Lindsay drank the most.
How did we feel after it was over? FAN-TAS-TIC! We also learned a ton about what we eat and how we eat. It has definitely reminded us to eat more quality nutrient dense food and less quantity of processed crap. We are now eating less meat, more salads, have pretty much eliminated dairy (which is evil) and trying to maximize the veggies. We made our own sushi rolls (with cooked tuna) last night which according to Carter "was the best meal ever". Tonight I made my first "ceviche" with some "rico" "pescado(forget actual name of fish)" from the fish guy who pulls up right into our little neighborhood just in time for supper. You should see his tuna, so beautiful, you prairie people would cry! Life is good, comida esta muy bien, pura vida!

Every girl needs to accessorize!

What's the latest fashion trend? Hats and shoes baby, here are a few of my latest looks!