Watch Out For Fire Ants

...cause if they get you, you'll be feeling like this little man.

He was being tough, but wanted to help me help all of you get a good idea of the sting he was feeling, so winced up his face really well for the camera. Poor little Wes, he was just running around trying to get the ants off of his ankles (Wes! You gotta stop drop and roll!) I didn't know if he was just playing, but finally when the noise outside didn't end, went to find him and hurried and took off his flip flops, brushed of his legs and feet, and dunked his legs in the pool.

In happier news, this same day (10/25) we saw more monkeys in the trees north of our home. There were like 5 of them. Now seeing them closer, we realized they are pretty small monkeys, We were standing near the bottom of the tree close to them. My zoom was temporarily not working when we went out, so I didn't get closer, but we'll try to spot them again and get a closer picture.

A little while after the monkeys, we found another big grasshopper...

I found it on the street, it was dead but in perfect condition, I thought this was my chance to get a picture myself holding it up close... I gave it to Ethan to hold while I went back in to get my camera so we could get a picture, I came back out, and he had dropped it and one of it's legs broke off and both of it's antennas, now a close up picture wouldn't look as cool and we couldn't fool all of you into thinking I was brave. Oh well. So we just did this one above with Ethan and the hopper on his pants. (I'm not sure what Ethan's doing.) :)

More American's in Costa Rica

When we first got here in Costa Rica, some of the church members we met asked us if we were the family with 7 kids that was driving down. We weren't, and were surprised to know there might be another family of 9 from Utah coming to Costa Rica. Well, there was another family, actually two, and on Tuesday evening we met them and all got together for a little stop at the beach then dinner and swimming at our house. Meet la familia Royal y la familia Meyers!


I told them I'd take lots of pictures of them, cause they haven't been able to send or post any photos for their family and friends to see. One camera of theirs got stolen while crossing the Mexico/Guatemala border, the other one is broken I think? Anyway, for all of their family and friends that have been waiting to see some photos, here are a few from our time together Tuesday.


This is Melanie and her cute little kid nicknamed "Tuna"

We moms and kids and Corey went over to Playa Conchal for the kids to play. It was really funny for Corey to be walking along the beach with 3 women and 19 kids. He felt very conspicuous and did have some people pass and ask with a smile "Are these all yours?!" He'd answer with a twinkle in his eye "Estan prestados" (They're on loan) :)


The mother's main job - keep kids from killing themselves by getting in over their head!



Rachael with her cute twin boys Andrew and Joseph. All three of our families have a Joseph.

The waves at Conchal when the tide is in are short and strong, they really pushed and pulled you in the water, the kids had fun being tossed around.

(Sorry, there were so many little people that I can't tell or don't know who the kids are in these pics - hopefully you can find the ones you love!)

As we walked from Brasilito to Conchal we could see the rain clouds coming. We stayed for an hour and then a light rain started and some lightening. I was praying as we walked back that we wouldn't get zapped, and am grateful to report we all made it back alive. Corey hurried off to AutoMercado for pizza, roasted chicken, french bread, apples, and other stuff for dinner and we headed back home where the kids all played in the pool till the food was ready.

Wesley, I know that one on the left, not sure the name of kid 2, but he's from the Meyers clan.

Some action jumping shots - Michael and Joseph (not my Joseph) but my Joseph was happy to have some boys his age to play with.

Corey arrived and we got dinner ready, the kids ate for a while, then Jacob and Dannan came and joined in the fun.

19 kids around the dinner table, well, the 3 babies weren't there I guess, so only 16 kids.

19 Kids watching Cartoon Network. Hmm, actually only 12. Can you see them all?
(Hint: Abi was well hidden, but you can see a bit of her blonde hair and her little feet...)

After we ate, we cleaned up and the kids swam some more or watched TV, and the adults visited...

Jacob on the left, Dannan on the right.

Well, so I didn't get a picture of all 19 kids at the dinner table or in the pool, but there were 19 kids in the house, and let me tell you that's a lot o-kids. Oh, and a dog too. Hyrum was a little freaked out. Guess he's not totally cured of his phobia, he's been away from Chloe too long.

Look at those angels sweeping my floor... Wish I could get my kids to do that!


Our new friends have an open invitation to come and take nice warm baths in our tub - since their place has neither hot water nor a tub, and we remember what that is like from our 4 month stay in Brazil. So yea, whenever you guys want to, come on over! We only have 6 more weeks here, so we're gonna pack the weeks with fun and I'm sure we'll be getting together with them again, so check back for updates (I'll try to post it to their facebook walls too so you can see more pictures)

Hey, wait don't tell me.. I know who's who! Okay... that's Joseph on the left and Andrew on the right, right? Cause that cutie on the right is sucking his thumb, no? And Andrew sucks his thumb, Joseph sucks his finger. Rachael said that difference came in handy on the plane ride down. Melanie and Rachael flew down with all the kids and luggage (I think their story puts my pity party of flying without my man to shame) while the men drove down with vans and trailers full of food storage, furniture, and stuff to help their families get settled. They are renting a home together in Nicoya on 12 acres. We're definitely going to go play at their house and let the kids run around in their jungle. :) See you guys again soon!

Noche De Hogar

It's Monday night! That means it's time for Family Home Evening. Before we had started, we had a surprise visit from Hermana and Hermano Pina.


They had been meaning to come by sometime over the past few weeks, and finally made it today. She brought over a children's song book in Spanish which will help us greatly with our Spanish lessons, then said they'd like to stay and do a FHE together, cause they get kinda bored with just the two of them :) So our kids were glad to show them how exciting FHE is with 7 kids. Here they are on their chairs


with their cookies for being good waiting for them across the room. That's something Corey does - they each have cookies, if they start being noisy or goofing off, he takes a bite of their cookie. It's very effective.


Except with toddlers around - they go for the goods. As you can see by Lily's messy face, she got her Oreo's early to keep her quiet. She loves Hermana Pina! Hermana Pina is in Primary with us on Sundays and is so nice to take Lily when I'm helping with music.

We sang "Hazme O Padre Saber Perdonar" as our opening song - its' one of the 3 songs the kids know in Spanish, we're going to work on 2 new song this week. After a lesson by Corey about Nephi breaking his bow and being a good example to his father by still honoring him when he had started to complain against the Lord, we had a closing prayer and decided to play Uno. Hermana Pina said she is la Reina de Uno.

It was cute to see Abi and Wes play. We added in the extra rules like 0 means everyone switch hands, adding draw twos on top of draw twos - someone got a draw 12 that way, and stuff like that. I didn't catch too much of the game cause I was keeping Lily happy. We were very glad for their visit. They are two very strong members of this branch in Santa Cruz.

McDonalds in Liberia

So after having fun at the Parque Nacional Rincon de la Vieja, we decided we just had to go to McDonald's, seeing as it's a special treat to go there, plus 2 hours away.

Corey pulling in... going to park the car of course, and I kinda roll my eyes cause I forgot again there'd be one of these:

Corey's got a soft spot in his heart for these budding entrepreneurs. Here's this guy - puts on some vest to make himself feel official, goes down and hangs around the McDonald's parking lot to help people not hit lampposts and keep an eye on their cars while they eat. Cause everyone knows the McD's parking lot is where all the high crime takes place, and that goodness gracious people just don't know how to park. These guys are at the beach too, giving us little tickets that say "Parking" that you can tell they made themselves for us to put in our windshields. Corey's good and knows they'll be waiting for him, so he always leaves home with a few extra bucks in his pocket for "parking". I don't remember. Sorry guys!


As we got out of the car, I looked at Corey who had streaks of dirt and mud all over him, and commented "You're the dirtiest one!" to which he quickly and smartly replied "...and I didn't even do anything... (then correcting himself...) I carried kids and shoes." 5 points Gryffindor for making me laugh again, Corey. Yes, carrying the kids and taking care of the logistics are usually the dirtiest jobs. Thanks again for letting me play, sweetheart


The kids gobbled up all their fries and burgers. We're still under-buying the amount of food we think we'll need. But they're starting to get better at eating all their food at restaurants, so we might start to up the level.

I had a bite of hamburger. It was pretty good! It was a very nice McD's. It was well taken care of. It's at the northwest corner of the only stop light intersection in Liberia (I realized today that there are hardly any stoplights here in the country side of Costa Rica. There's one in Santa Cruz where we go to for church (half hour away) and then this one in Liberia, and that's all we've seen so far. None in Villareal, Tamarindo, Huacas, Belen, Filadelfia, I hadn't realized it these past 6 weeks and found it interesting.

Corey was really enjoying eating his McNifico burger and saying "Es McNifico!" (Magnifico means magnificent in Spanish) Cute name for the burger, good job McD's Espanol marketing person.


And our parking attendant giving us the clear to go. I thought this was great pic. And you can see behind him the Liberia stop light. Thanks McD's, maybe we'll see you again! If not, in the US for sure.

Perfect Day - Part 2: Waterfall

A contender for the letter W in Lily's ABC book... W is for Waterfall. Or wafer, since she was holding one the whole hike.

Ok, so where were we... walk into the jungle... climbed down the hill to the river, ah yes, and when we reached the bottom we weren't sure how to cross without getting wet. I took off one sock and shoe and used that foot on the wet stones, the kids all kept their shoes on. Corey still had Abi, and I was really grateful that Ofi's friend took Lily. I would have lost my balance or dropped her in the river, so she's grateful too. He was a pro at crossing with shoes and not getting wet, no sweat.


Ofi helping Melodie, Joe is ahead


We crossed the river... Wesley was a little freaked out. Nice to see kids sober up and realize their own mortality.

So after going up those stairs you see there above, we went down stairs on the other side, and Ofi was glad he'd gotten our little family to the final destination without incident :)

and we saw this:

It was beautiful. I've already booked in my mind a family road trip to visit Silver Falls State Park in Oregon. We went there for a Bahr family reunion in 1995 and I still remember it and am glad that now I've finally got the commitment in my head to make that happen for us. It will be a blast! So as for the waterfall here, it was beautiful and we were sad we didn't know really what we were doing when we left this morning or we would have brought along our swimsuits. Ethan piped up "I don't care, I'll go in my shorts!" and he did. He is a little adventure man!

The mist on the lense made this one not focus, but I kept it cause I liked Corey's smile and Ethan's victory flex. Joe followed Ethan's lead, just like Laman and Lemuel ;) ...


and they just stood there on the rocks for a while, but then went swimming.


It looked so fun, I decided I had to join them.


Thanks to my sweetheart and the men for watching the little ones. Abi and Wes were a little concerned when I said "Can I go in?" "No, MOM! Don't GO!!" thinking it meant sure death. But we all survived. Joe told me in the pool "It's fresh water!" After catching my breath from my body's shock to the crisp temperature, I replied "It feels fresh!" It felt great, I loved it. After a few more jumps from the rocks, Corey and I gave each other the nod which means we're done, time to head back. We got out

Ethan showing his "muscles" and me ringing out my shirt. The boys asked if they could float downstream instead of climb the stairs. Great idea! It took some bribing (I owe her a $5 Lego set from Auto Mercado), but we convinced Melodie to get in the water too even though she didn't want to get her clothes wet... "Come on Mel, it will be a memory... You won't regret it!"


And we floated downstream. I floated and swam in the current for a bit before I had to help Mel launch off, that was my favorite part.

Hyrum and Wes made it across the river with no help from their mother, who is glad they are alive since I'd dismissed my responsibilities for a romp in the fresh water. They played Tarzan and led the group back up the trail through the jungle and to the car. That was where Lily had the highlight of her trip - putting little rocks into the circles of the dirty tires.

"Oh yeah! This is awesome!" And after that (remember we still hadn't officially entered the park yet) we decided the kids were done, we've had fun, we were done. "We just do little adventures." 2 hour drive, 2 hours at the park, after a stop at McDonald's in Liberia for a late lunch, we headed home and all went swimming - usually Corey and I both don't join, but since I'd already gotten my hair wet and was feeling like a kid I got suited up and did a cannonball into the pool. We had a "biggest splash" contest (Corey won) and Corey kept saying "Isn't this paradise?" and my heart was just filled with peace and contentment of living in the moment. Costa Rica, Pura Vida! We had a simple dinner and after brushing and flossing I read Narnia to the kids,


and for the first time they all came in (meaning the little kids too) and listened, or at least were quiet and they all fell asleep as I read, and I just thought it was so cute to see all these little bodies in slumber on the bed


(Hyrum was sleeping on the floor -he was a gracious host seeing as it's his and Mel's bed). Have you read "The Horse and His Boy"? Chapters 10 and 11 both had several golden nuggets of wisdom that I just loved. I read it to Corey this afternoon and highlighted them in the book - the Narnia tales have lead to precious gospel discussion with our kids. There are things we're learning through those stories that will help us all improve and develop better our character. I'm glad we're making time to read together. As President Hinckley said in this article:

"The observance of four simple things on the part of parents would in a generation or two turn our societies around in terms of their moral values. They are simply these: Let parents and children (1) teach and learn goodness together, (2) work together, (3) read good books together, and (4) pray together." - President Gordon B. Hinckley

See that #3 thing? I'm finally doing it! It's been great to get a taste of this slower paced life style and to enjoy more time together. So that was our perfect day. I love all these little kids and love Corey and am loving being on this adventure. It was a perfect day.