Feliz Cumplianos Morgan

Yesterday was Morgan's 34th birthday.

Myles and I made him brownies- his favorite.


We had our friends Ernesto and Sally as well as our Tican family over for a pequeno fiesta!



After singing Happy Birthday in both languages, our Tican moms insisted Morgan and I kiss. They captured the moments on film. Not sure if this is a cultural tradition, or if they just wanted us to kiss. Either way it was great.
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Happy Birthday Esposo! Myles and I love you dearly!

Día de Acción de Gracias

Doy las gracias a...

I am thankful for many, many things.

This adventure has introduced us to so many cool people. This thanksgiving, I am thankful for all the new people in our lives that have enriched this experience.

Doy las gracias a Sally.

She is on her own travel adventure and our paths crossed 2 weeks into our stay. She traveled with us to Nicaragua and was extremely helpful with Myles. Her official name: Novia numero 2. Myles loves her and we love her for loving and caring for him so well. She's incredibly bright and has entertained us with many world-topic discussions.

Doy las gracias a me compañero de corriendo.

Maria and I met the day of my first 10K race in Costa Rica. She lives two blocks from our house. She's the daughter of Carmen, the Language School Director of Classes. And she's totally cool. She's bilingual so we can have 'real' conversations, but I'm also trying to use some of running time to practice Spanish. She's super patient with me. My only complaint about Maria is that she has a "real" job that keeps her pretty busy, so we don't hang out as much as I'd like. But it makes me cherish the time we have with her.

Doy las gracias a Carmen who has introduced us to Ernesto. Tambien Doy las gracias a Ernesto.

Even as we have finished classes at Mezoamerica, Carmen has been supportive of us doing self-study. She introduced us to one of her English students. Ernesto comes to our house twice a week to practice English, while we practice Spanish. His English is more advanced than our Spanish. He's incredibly bright, well spoken, and I enjoy our time hanging together to hear his perspective of the world and his goals.

Doy las gracias a nuestro vecinos.


As I've posted in earlier blogs, the relationship we're building with our neighbors is priceless. They are kind, patient, caring and a joy to be with. I'm glad we've landed here. It's been a great experience and I look forward to more afternoon chats over coffee and impromptu play-dates.

We also spend time practicing Spanish with Carlos, our neighbor. These practice sessions are valuable and so helpful. I'm thankful for the time he shares with us.


Doy las gracias a la familia de Hannahy el groupo de Mamas!

Hannah, Fabio and Ian are super cool. We enjoy hanging with them too. She also introduced me to a mom's group which is super cool because it's an international group, and all the kiddos are right around Myles' age. Look for a Christmas Party post that is coming soon. We're going to have a party next week for the kids. I'm pretty sure it's going to be great!

Doy las gracias for the time we had with Jonathan and Ramona.


Doy las gracias for my husband and son. We're on this adventure together and it's special.




Thanksgiving in Costa Rica was wonderful. I'm thankful for that too.

Haircut

When we first arrived, we noticed there is a HOT male haircut in stlye. Every young male Tico seems to rock this style.

New take on the mohawk. Long on the top, short on the sides, geld all around.

So we grew out Myles' hair for a few months and finally, today we cut it. Morgan did a great job styling with with the clippers as the toddler moved his head a million different directions. A video of Elmo seemed to help distract the toddler.



I think it turned out great. We styled it with water so the first item on the mercado list: GEL.

Fall Update

We haven't had many updates recently because things have seemed to slow down and mellow out. Life is good. We've finished classes and are continuing with the self-study method. -If you speak Spanish and have time to read some of my writings to make corrections, I'd appreciate and help you can lend.

We continue to grow closer with our neighbors who are phenomenal. Myles has enjoyed many play sessions with Cristiana. He's growing physically, emotionally, verbally and mentally. He LOVES him some Skype. And he's toying with the idea of potty training.

There's not much to add so I leave you with some pictures of the past few days.

The Bright Side

The dark-wet clouds have moved out.


We're seeing the sun more and more each day!


And our dryer problem has been fixed! It seems that it was the heating coil that burned out. -Greg, you were right. And unfortunately it was a part they could not get in this country so the homeowners had to buy a new machine. And that lead to another problem. The machine they bought was WAY to big for the space. So a handyman was brought in, and literally cut a whole in the wall to make the machine fit.


old machine


far left is the space where the old machine was placed
far right you can see the hole created to make room for the new machine


And now we have warm dry clothes.