Week 32: Baby Shower - Dr. Seuss Style!

Yes, it’s official. I really do have the best friends in the world! I am not sure how I got so lucky, or if I even deserve them, but somehow I have them and I will NEVER let them out of my life!

In all my life I have never had a group of girlfriends. I have always had one or two friends here and there in every stage of my life, but they have come and gone with the years. I never really thought it was possible to have a group of girls that actually get along with each other all the time. Of course I have heard of such groups, but I doubted they could sustain the years and changes in each other’s lives.

Our group is still relatively new, but I do believe we actually have one of those groups. We bonded so quickly and easily, and have already overcome adversity as a group, which only made us stronger. We all fully intend to still be the best of friends in 10-20----50 years. I think if we all outlive our spouses, we would be totally cool living out the last years of our lives “Golden Girls” style. :-)

Going through these last 7 months of my life being pregnant, has made me realize just how important these girls have become to me. They are all so different, but each has the same goals when it comes to our group…. Take care of each other, and make time to be together. They have definitely taken care of me, more than they know. I believe the reason my pregnancy has been so easy and even enjoyable is due to the support and love I have received from my husband, my Mom & Sister, and my girlfriends.

I had the most awesome Baby Shower this weekend! It could not have possibly been more perfect! They went with the Dr. Seuss “theme” to go along with Punkin’s nursery theme (which was the big secret they were keeping from me). Everything was decorated so bright, colorful, and fun! My girlfriends made it perfect right down to the smallest details, and it went off without a hitch. Everyone seemed to have a great time, even the ones who walked in not knowing anyone there. There was a ridiculous amount of food (always is with this group)….all the food was bright and colorful, and there was even green eggs & ham!!! The cake had the “Oh Baby the Places You’ll Go” theme, and it tasted as good as it looked. I got to take home some truly gorgeous flowers decorated up Dr. Seuss style. Probably the biggest perk was having a neighbor friend of G’s take all the pictures so I didn’t have to pose for 10 different cameras. :-) We played several fun games, ate delicious food, laughed and chatted, and I opened a ridiculous amount of baby gifts for Punkin. She is one really lucky girl to be loved so much….and she hasn’t even made her appearance into the world yet!

I went through all the gifts yesterday and tried to organize everything in the nursery. After doing that, I feel like we are now prepared to bring a baby home. I am only saying that we could bring her home anytime, and we would be able to take care of her and meet all her needs….. I am not saying I am ready for her to be here yet. I have actually enjoyed my pregnancy and I know our lives are going to change so much when she arrives. I know it will all change for the better, and will be incredible….but I am not yet ready to give up what “free” time I have left. I fully plan to enjoy these next few weeks and soak up the time I have with my husband, family, and friends before the big change.

BIG THANKS to everyone who made Saturday so special for me! I am so Lucky to have each and every one of you in my life!!!

~~~

Does your dog remind you of.....Yourself?

I recently read an article on PetPlace.com that I found intriguing. It asked the question, "Does your dog remind you of yourself?"
I immediately knew the answer for me was yes, but I had to think about why...
Collectively my husband and I have 4 dogs. But the truth is, I have 2 dogs and he has 2 dogs...and we all live together and make it work like the Brady Bunch.

So my 2 dogs are both Chihuahuas. They have been with me through everything....all the important and not-so-important highs and lows in my adult life. A little history...

FANCY
Fancy is my heart (and the one this blog is named after).
She is 14 years old, and has been the most consistent part of my life for the last 12 years. I picked her up in Midland, TX from a lady who was moving from a house to an apartment that did not allow pets. This lady worked with the mother of a friend of mine, and my friend knew I wanted a small dog that was potty trained, so she connected us.
I remember the day Fancy stole my heart like it was yesterday. After the introductions my friend and I sat down on the lady's sofa. Fancy came into the living room from the hallway and looked around for a minute to see who had come in. The lady called Fancy's name and she went over to the lady then sniffed around at our feet. (Here is the kicker...) Fancy then jumped on my lap and pawed at my hand when my petting her slowed down too much. She stayed on my lap for the duration of our visit. It was like she just knew I was there to take her and love her forever. She had me at Hello.
During the visit the lady told me all about Fancy's 1st two years of life....we all cried.
The lady had been a foster Mom to a little boy from age 2 until age 5 or 6. He was neglected and abused as a baby and toddler, so when she took the boy in, he already had some problems. He first asked her for puppy, which she gave him. But it turned out that when the dog got big, the boy was scared of it. So then he asked for a small dog. This time she made him save up his allowance to pay for the next dog himself. He did so and found a mix Chihuahua puppy in the newspaper. They brought the Chihuahua puppy home and the little boy named her Fancy. I have no idea why he chose that name, but 14 years later it still fits her perfectly.
Soon the foster Mom started realizing that the little boy was abusing Fancy. He would chase her, hit her, swing her by her tail, and more. The foster Mom tried to teach the little boy to respect animals and how they should be treated, but she had a really hard time with this and had to keep a close watch on Fancy whenever the boy was around.
Apparently the boy had several severe episodes that led up to the final straw... One day the boy pulled a knife on the foster Mom and told her he hated her and wanted to kill her. She immediately reported the incident to the case worker and the boy was taken away.
The foster Mom was so upset about losing her foster son that she decided to get rid of everything that reminded her of the boy. That led to her moving to an apartment and giving Fancy to a good home.
The lady told me that Fancy never takes to strangers very well (especially kids) and usually runs and hides after she sees who the visitors are. (Which Fancy still does.) She was completely shocked that Fancy had so easily and quickly taken to my lap and stayed there. She knew I would take excellent care of Fancy and could see the instant connection. I, of course, left her house with a new best friend that day. I wish I had kept her contact information so I could tell her now how Fancy is still with me and has had a nice life.








PENNY
Penny is my soul.
She will be 10 years old this September, and I have had her since the day she was weaned from her Mommy. I decided I needed to get Fancy a "friend". Honestly though, Fancy was totally fine with being my only girl...so it was just my excuse to get another dog. I decided I wanted a blond Chihuahua, so I searched for weeks through the newspapers and finally found a breeder who listed her AKC blond Chihuahua puppies. I called her about the puppies and found out she had decided to only sell one of them, and lived in New Mexico...a few hours from me. We agreed to meet in the middle so I could meet the newborn puppy. It was absolutely love at first sight. There was one sister who almost didn't survive the delivery. The breeder had to revive the sister puppy and there were obvious effects of that trauma. The breeder had grown so attached to her little survivor that she decided not to let her go. So that left the one I had immediately fallen in love with. Since the puppy was from a long line of AKC show dogs, the breeder had already sent in for the puppy's AKC registration.....thus, she wasn't a cheap purchase. I paid my deposit and set up a date we would meet again for me to take the puppy home. The puppy was still very young and not yet weaned from her mother, so I had to wait a few weeks to make her mine.
On the drive home from having my heart stolen that day, I tossed around several puppy names. It was harder than I thought it would be to pick the perfect name. I had dogs all my life, but I never had the opportunity to choose the name....it had to be perfect. PENNY popped in my head and it stuck. It stuck for the next several weeks until I was able to take her home. I tried out the name on her and it just seemed to fit.....still does.
She was the cutest, tiniest puppy and I think that she still is! She has a funny, playful personality and never meets a stranger. She doesn't love children, (I don't think Chihuahuas typically do) but she will tolerate them for a while. She has a few toys that she loves to play fetch with, but she does have a favorite that has been her favorite for her entire life....a squeaky carrot. When she was younger she would wear the things completely out, so I bought all the carrots I could find and kept a stockpile. Penny would visit friends and family we would inadvertently forget the carrot. So she has left a trail of carrots behind her that other dogs have claimed as their own.
As Penny has gotten older I have tried to broaden her horizons and bring out different toys to play with. She learns the names of her favorite toys quickly and is always up for a game of fetch. Some of her favorite toys have been her purse, ducky, puppy, Tigger. But even still to this day, when I bring her carrot out of hiding, she forgets all else and that is the complete focus of all her endless energy.



Before Bobby came over to my apartment for the first time, I told him about the personalities of my 2 girls. I told him that Penny would take to him immediately, and if he threw her toys for her she would be his friend for life. I explained that Fancy was quite the opposite. She would come out of her cozy bed in the dark closet, look around to see who was home, then after she realized there was a stranger in the house she would run back to her bed and stay for the rest of the stranger's visit. That is how it always went, even when I tried to get her to socialize, she would take off back to her bed at her first chance.
So Bobby came over for a visit and Penny did exactly as I said she would, but Fancy surprised me. Fancy came all the way out to see and smell this new person. Bobby pet both the dogs and Fancy stayed near him. Bobby threw Penny's carrot for her and as I suspected, won her over immediately. When Fancy didn't run away, Bobby picked her up, petted her, and put her in his lap.....and she stayed with him the entire visit. I was shocked! I had never seen Fancy do anything like that....other than the day I met her for the first time when she took to me immediately.
I guess that is when I knew that Bobby was the man for me (and my girls).

Sometime later, the girls & I made the big move in with Bobby and his two big dogs. It was a huge adjustment for all of us. As a family we have been through some rough times just trying to get the "pack" figured out over the last few years. We have a system figured out now that seems to work for us. It will be VERY interesting to see how the new addition fits into this already too big pack.

Wow, I got really sidetracked. So back to the original question....."Does your dog remind you of yourself?" To answer this question I had to lay out my dogs attributes....

Fancy is, above all else, loyal. To her I am #1 and that never waivers. She always knows where I am and even if someone else is holding her, she demands to have her eyes on me. She is low-maintenance, sweet, and caring. She knows if I am hurting or upset, the best thing she can do is snuggle up with me and hope it will make me feel better. Fancy is a fighter, and even as a small dog, will stand her ground and not take crap from bigger dogs. She can be independent, but always prefers to be with the one she loves. She has a big heart and it has a direct connection to mine.

Penny is crazy and likes to have fun. She wants to be where the fun is and loves to be the center of attention. She makes friends easily and remembers the ones who really know how to make her happy. She loves to make her friends happy too. She is not a multi-tasker....once she gets focused on something, she gets tunnel vision on that one thing. She can fit in with any "pack" and she quickly realizes her place and accepts it. She is happy with what she has, but is always looking for ways to get more. Her soul is lively and sunny and complements mine perfectly.

So in answer to the question.....YES, ABSOLUTELY YES! Both my dogs remind me of myself in an uncanny way.

~~~

Sympathy-Pregnancy Dream

In all my pregnancy books, blogs and websites I have read that wacked-out dreams are just a normal side effect of being prego. It's true; I have had some strange, vivid dreams that mostly don't make any sense. But some of them make total sense and are even a little steamy!!!

This morning Bobby told me about a dream he had last night that I found humorous. He dreamed that he he was planning out all the summer camps our daughter would attend through the age of 12.
He listed a few of them:

• Fun, swimming camp
• Music camp
• Outdoorsy camp
  
• Money camp - he explained that at this camp she would learn how to balance a checkbook and understand the ins and outs of compound interest.

So not only is Bobby doing the sympathy weight gain with me, he's also having the sympathy prego dreams with me. What a guy! :-)

I'm gonna have a Mini-Me!!!

April 28, 2009 - WEEK 16 (almost 17) - Ultrasound appointment

I can't believe we're gonna have a GIRL!!! We have been talking so much about it being a boy, that we are both still trying to wrap our heads around the fact that its a Girl and not a Boy.
The craziest thing is that now its not just a fetus (alien) inside me, now its more like a person...a little girl. And that fact has both Bobby & I floored. Now we are calling it "Her" and "She" and discussing girlie names. It's definitely making it more real for both of us.

We had an appointment with the nurse Tuesday...on our 2 year Anniversary. The morning started off a little rocky when I got a voice mail from the doctor's office. The message said that the doctor was out of the office, but that I could still have my appointment with the nurse. I immediately panicked as I called and left a message on the nurse line asking for a call back. I waited by my phone all morning for the call back. Finally at about 11:30am the nurse called me and made me feel better. She said that even without the Doctor, the nurse would still do the ultrasound and we would still be able to find out the sex of the baby.

Bobby & I both worked 1/2 day and met for lunch at Santa Rita near the doctor's office. After lunch we went to a nearby jewelry store where we picked out a new charm for my pandora bracelet. I chose a 2-tone one with 2 diamonds to signify our 2 year anniversary. :-)
After that we were off to the doctor's office. We waited eagerly in the waiting room for 30 minutes before the nurse called us in. The long anticipated ultrasound was finally underway. The nurse looked and looked around but did not seem sure enough of herself to declare a gender. She finally said she thought it was a girl. (I could see the color drain from Bobby's face out of the corner of my eye.) I was still skeptical because she didn't seem absolutely positive. The nurse went out and came back with our favorite nurse and she started looking around. She was much quicker and more decisive. She said that we were definitely having a girl....and they had all girls that day so far.
The nurse also informed me that I was at 16 weeks, 5 days...and the baby measured at 17 weeks, 5 days.....1 week ahead. She said that was a good thing because that means the baby is healthy.

Before the nurse could finish wiping the goop off my belly, Bobby was already on his Blackberry composing a message about the news. As we walked out of the office (in a haze) Bobby asked me who all he should send the message to. I could not even think straight so I told him he was going to have to give me a few minutes. I was feeling like I was in a dream...so many things in my life had just changed, and a new direction of my life had been set in motion with the words "It's A Girl!"
Bobby & I called our family and sent messages to our friends. After a flurry of congratulatory replies, we began the process of letting it all soak in...
We were both freaking out for our own reasons.
Bobby's first question was "What am I going to do with a girl?"
Bobby's 1st concern: "You and your girlfriends are going to spoil her rotten!"
My freak out: "Oh No! Now I'm gonna have to be the 'role model'.....great." (my tattoos were the 1st thing that came to mind.)

We talked and freaked out all the way to the movie theater. We watched Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D....just because nothing else really jumped out at us. I did find humor in the fact that we chose a "kids" movie...since we're going to have plenty of time to watch "kid" movies in the future. The movie wasn't great, but it did manage to get us out of our spinning heads for a little while.

After the movie we went to Eddie V's downtown for our anniversary dinner. Since the menu at EVs mostly has fish on it, I had a lot of questions for the waiter. I could tell he was getting a little annoyed so I explained that I am pregnant and can't eat some things. He immediately understood and his annoyance seemed to lessen. Bobby told him that we just found out the sex of the baby so our stomachs were a little twisted....thus not sure how hungry we were. The waiter congratulated us and asked about the baby's gender. Bobby told him we are having a girl. (The first time he said those words out loud, other than on the phone to his Mom.) The waiter smiled and called her a princess. (I was thinking to myself, "oh no, don't say that word to Bobby yet!") But surprisingly Bobby didn't cringe at the princess reference and just smiled. Sharing our news turned out to be a good move...at the end of our meal the waiter brought us an awesome huge chocolate dessert with "Congratulations" written in chocolate....on the house. :-)

Bobby and I ended the overwhelming day watching our Wedding Day DVD and reminiscing about the events. I think we both dreamed of pink things and sweet smiles that night.
~~~

*New* Truck

Bobby has been driving the same SUV for about 10 years...and it was used when he bought it, so it's time to retire the poor thing.

So Bobby did get a "new truck" this weekend. At least it's "new" to him.
It was my Grandpa's truck...at a very young age I gave my Grandpa the name "Appa" that stuck with him. Appa passed away in 2005.
A few months after my Appa's passing, my Grandma (Amma) gave the truck to my sister. Her and her husband were in need of a second vehicle and the timing worked out great for them.
Recently my sister decided they were tired of paying insurance on a vehicle that they no longer use. So my Dad had planned to come get the truck and take it back to my Grandma for her to sell.

Lately Bobby's SUV has been having some transmission problems, and he found out that it would cost about $3K to fix. Besides the transmission problems, there are other things wrong with it...such as the A/C. (an A/C that doesn't work in Texas is never a good thing.) The estimated value online was lower than the cost to fix the transmission, so Bobby was weighing the options. We aren't really wanting to add an additional car payment right now with all the home improvements we've been doing along with prepping for a a new member of the family. However....with 4 dogs, we really NEED a "dog car".

So my Appa's truck was the solution. Bobby went over to take a look at the pickup on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised. He had never really paid attention to the pickup before, so when he went to look at it as a possible vehicle for himself, he got excited. He cleaned up the old battery that was covered in acid and put in the battery from his car...just to make sure a new battery would make the truck run. It did, so he took the truck home and we later went back with the battery to pick up the SUV. He washed off the top layer of dirt and gunk so he could see what the truck looked like (and what color it was). It still needs a major cleaning both inside & out.
Bobby couldn't wait to go "show it off". So last night he went over to help a friend haul away some trash from his house after moving to a new house. He was actually pretty giddy about putting his new pickup to use.
I can't help but find this terribly cute and endearing. :-)
~~~

Uber-Awesome Wife

Finally...... I won the UBER-AWESOME WIFE Award....at least my husband says so.

I always fret about what to do or get my hubby for birthdays and holidays because he is so hard to buy for. Seriously. If there is something that he wants, he just goes and gets it. He doesn't really have many hobbies; for the few hobbies that he does have, he already has all the gear he needs or wants.
So this year I went out on a limb and created a day for him to do something that he had mentioned on occasion that he thought would be fun, but never took the time to do anything about it.

Before we headed out for Bobby's birthday dinner on Friday night, I gave him his gift. He unwrapped the box with intense curiousity. Inside the box was a jersey, goggles, and a pair of gloves.... He looked strangly at the items and said, "this is stuff for a dirt bike right?"
I just smiled.
With a confused expression he asked, "Did you get me a motorcycle?"
I replied, "Now that would be a silly thing for me to do, wouldn't it?"
He quickly agreed.
So as I explained to him that I had rented him a dirt bike at a trail park near Marble Falls, his eyes lit up and he was smiling from ear to ear.
He exclaimed, "So that's what I'm doing all day tomorrow!!!"
I went on to tell him the best part was that a few of his friends would be going with him. Two guys who already have dirt bikes, and two more who had rented as well. He was just like a little boy on Christmas morning who had just got exactly what he wanted. He then opened up the big box that I had hidden. He pulled out the full set of dirt bike gear and could not make himself stop smiling.
That smile lasted through dinner and for the rest of the evening......

For his birthday dinner Bobby chose a French place in downtown Austin that has been around for many years, but neither of us had ever tried. Chez Nous is very cute and cozy (read small) so if you want to try it for dinner, get there by 7:00. We did and got right in, but it is known to have a wait most nights. Oddly enough, it is very popular with the grey-headed crowd. First of all, I can't believe that many older people put up with the ridiculous, non-existent parking in that area. Second, this restaurant is located next door to a sex shop, and across the street from the infamous Coyote Ugly. Just one of those factors alone would be enough to deter any grandparents I know from frequenting that restaurant on Friday and Saturday nights, no matter how magnificent the food.
The food does deserve to be mentioned. For apps we had a salad and some salmon pate, both tasty. I had the delicious salmon special....I gobbled down the large serving with no problem. Bobby had a tenderloin steak, and even though he said it was a bit overcooked for his taste, he cleaned his plate. For dessert we shared a chocolate mouse....YUM!

After dinner, we stopped at the Thirsty Nickel for a drink and reminisced about his big milestone birthday party just one year before.... (good times!)
Then we headed home. Honestly, I think Bobby was just excited to get home and try on all his dirt bike gear. :-)

Saturday morning Bobby bounced out of bed and jumped in the shower. I was nearby brushing my teeth and I heard him giggle. I looked at him and asked, "Did you just giggle?"
He smiled and said, "I'm going dirt bike riding today."
I replied, "So that was a giggle."
He just kept smiling.

One of his friends came to pick him up and drive him out to meet the group. They had venison breakfast tacos and headed out for their day of adventure. About 8 hours later they made it back to our friends house where all the wives had been happily hanging out for the day.
We heard all their stories about the cold, the wrecks, the races...they laughed at each other all night. Bobby's smile had apparently been contagious because they all had grins from ear to ear all evening.
We had a feast of wild game, all kinds of dips, and birthday cake. We got competitive playing couple games and ended the night with missing drunk husband (thankfully not mine). The husband was eventually found and we all headed home to crash after a long day.

Sunday morning Bobby got up at 5:00am and headed out to go hog hunting with another group of friends. For which he caught no crap from me, because I met some friends for brunch to celebrate one of our girls completing her first 1/2 marathon. Then we spent some girl time at the mall, and somehow I managed to leave with just one item: the Twilight soundtrack :-)

When Bobby got home from his Sunday adventure he told me that I win the Uber-Awesome Wife award. I am so happy I was able to both surprise him and make him so utterly happy.

Well Crap.....now how the heck am I ever going to top that?!?!?!
~~~

Costa Rica Part 2: ! PURA VIDA !

HA! I totally forgot to mention that before our trip I had packed a few snack foods in our luggage: Twizzlers, peppered beef jerky, and my favorite kind of trail mix (the kind with the peanuts and M&Ms).So those items were our dinner our first night in Costa Rica…during our 9 hours of travel. We didn’t stop anywhere because we kept thinking we’d get to our hotel in time for dinner. By the time we realized that was just not going to happen, everything was either closed or too scary to go inside. Besides, my stomach was excessively queasy from the twisty, bumpy roads to even think about eating much of anything. Crazy thing is, I typically have a very strong stomach…but I had to take Dramamine for the first time in my life on this trip.

Day 3 – Tuesday 12/9/2008 (…continued)

After about an hour on the road to Manuel Antonio, we decided to look for a place to grab some lunch. This proved to be more difficult than you would think. The road we were on was not a highly traveled road between popular touristy destinations. I had some trail mix to tie me over until we found a place to eat, and I offered Bobby some. He informed me that he was “over” the trail mix and beef jerky, he wanted real food.
We happened upon a place that looked decent, clean, and there were several cars parked in front…all very good signs in CR. It was called Café Macadamia. We walked into the smells of coffee and sweets baking. The first thing I noticed were all the pies, cookies, and cakes cooling on a ledge between the kitchen and the dining room. YUM! We sat at a small table with a window view over beautiful Lake Arenal with a windmill farm in the background. Bobby immediately noticed the man at the table next to us was wearing a Texas Longhorn shirt. Bobby struck up a conversation with this extremely wealthy couple from Houston, and I went off to find el bano.

I have to tell the story about this crazy “unisex” bathroom….

I walked around the corner into an open-air hallway and noticed the separate sink first. Then I noticed the outside wall of the restaurant was lined with outhouse-looking stalls. The latch to get into a stall was a sliding mechanism that could be locked on the outside. I went to the middle of the line of stalls and slid a few of the latches in and out to try to find an open one. I finally did find an available one and went inside this tiny stall. You know…the kind that is so tiny you barely have any room between your knees and the stall door. I had not been in there a minute when I hear someone sliding the latch on my stall door. I said aloud, “just a minute” and the chick on the other side said, “oh, sorry”.

I immediately thought it was odd that she also went to the middle of the line of stalls and picked the one I occupied, but whatever. When I tried to leave I couldn’t get out. Shit. She freaking locked me in that tiny-ass stall. I didn’t hear anyone around and I wondered how long it would take Bobby to come looking for me. I started weighing my options…If I screamed how long would it take for anyone to hear? I was basically outside of the restaurant. There was no way I could crawl out…the door was almost all the way to the floor, and there was no turning radius between the door and the toilet anyway.

Feeling a tinge of claustrophobia coming on, I yelled out “HELLO….I think I’ve been locked in the bathroom!” The stupid girl was still there waiting on the stall I was in. She laughed and said “oh sorry” and unlocked my door. I glared at her when I opened the door and walked out….then I let out a huge sigh of relief. I found it peculiar that she waited on the one stall I was in with an entire line of empty ones. Whatever….at least she was still there to let me out after she freaking locked me in.

I got back to the table feeling pretty pissy. I told Bobby about being locked in and asked him how long it would have taken him to come looking for me. He said he was about to do just that, because he was already starting to wonder where I was. But somehow I kinda doubted he was about to start looking for me…he was way too engrossed in his conversation with the Houston guy, he probably didn’t even realize how long it had been. Anyway,……I digress.

For lunch I had a yummy veggie sandwich and about the time I finished my lunch, Bobby finally got his mahi mahi. Funny how it works…if you ask the server if the dish is quick to prepare, that is always when it takes the longest.

We knew we were in for another long drive, and still paranoid from the events of our first night….so we rushed through lunch and the owner noticed. He came over and asked us where we were going. He told us he had a short-cut that would knock off 30 minutes from our drive. 30 mins? Hellz Yeah – I’m in. He drew us a map and listed directions for the turns in perfect English. Nice.

We followed his directions that took us on a long, hilly, BUMPY dirt road through ranches and the earlier mentioned windmill farm. We were nearing the end of the dirt road, where it met the highway we wanted to be on. As we topped the last hill, we almost plowed right over two “birders” and their telescopes…all hanging out in the middle of this narrow dirt road. Stupid Birders.


We drove for about 4 more hours to our destination of Manuel Antonio. Along the way we drove along the Pacific coastline, through traffic heavy construction zones, and across one-way bridges. Yes, the lines of cars had to take turns crossing these old rickety one-way bridges. Sometimes we had to wait in these lines for 20-30 minutes.

We FINALLY made it to our hotel: Costa Verde. Thankfully, we got there well before the office closed and with plenty of time to clean up before dinner.

We had a room with a magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean….but it was too dark to enjoy the view by the time we checked-in. Oh well, something to look forward to in the morning.

We cleaned up and headed to dinner at El Avion…referred to us by some friends who had been to CR the year before. Technically, they didn’t refer us to eat there, but just to go check it out and enjoy the bar inside of Oliver North’s airplane during the Iran-Contra Affair.

They were right, this place was pretty cool. The entire restaurant was built around the airplane with the bar inside the fuselage. Dinner was a bust. Bobby & I got into our only argument of the entire trip. We survived some serious testing of our relationship through finding our way in an unknown country with non-existent signs, and no GPS, but we had had a spat about cigars at our nice dinner out. Go figure.

We moved past our argument in time for the main course….
Would you like to have a little pasta with that hair? There is nothing that will turn my stomach from starving to not hungry faster than finding a foreign hair in the food in front of me. Perfect.

We got through the terrible dinner and decided that it would be best to call it a day. Back at our huge hotel room, we washed some stanky clothes in the sink and then settled in on the balcony to do some reading while we listened to the waves crashing below.


Day 4 – Wednesday 12/10/2008

We woke up early to a gorgeous sunny morning. The view from our balcony was magnificent. The sun’s rays reflected on the ocean and made it glisten in the morning light. We rushed through breakfast at our hotel (beans & rice of course), and loaded up on the tour bus that picked us and our small group up at our hotel. We road about 10 minutes to the Manuel Antonio National Park.

For some strange reason, our tour guide was an expert on trees. So we got the full run-down on all the different types of trees and what they are good for in our 3+ hour tour. I didn’t pay attention to the stupid tree talk at all. I was way too interested in the wildlife. We saw birds, butterflies, snakes, iguanas, lizards, bats, anteaters, raccoons, sloths, and some awesome howler monkeys.


We admired the amazing picturesque beaches that are part of the national park, and decided that we would come back for some beach time after lunch.

The tour concluded and dropped us off at our hotel. We got our beach gear together and headed back to the same area we had just left. We had seen a variety of open-air restaurants promising the freshest mahi and tuna, and we were craving some good seafood.

We parked near the beach area. As we paid the guy to watch our car, he asked if I liked Monkeys and pointed to a tree area where a whole group of white-face monkeys were frolicking, chasing each other, and swinging from tree to tree….just feet away from me. I took TONS of pictures and video and just stood there watching them in utter amazement for about 20 minutes.

The hunger finally got the best of Bobby and he forced me to leave the monkeys, so we could search for the freshest seafood. We found it…at The Marlin Restaurant. Yummy Maihi and Shrimp! This place was a really cool, laid-back place that really embraced the Costa Rica “Pura-Vida” way of life.

!Pura Vida! = Pure Life OR Everything’s great!

We made friends with a stray dog who looked at us with those puppy dog eyes like only a hungry stray dog knows how to do. Only, this one didn’t seem to have missed many meals. Apparently, touristy open-air restaurants in Costa Rica are a good place for stray dogs to live. He was a sweetheart and followed us down the street when we left the restaurant. I think was finally sidetracked by another cutie female dog.

We headed straight for the beach after lunch. I was so excited to get some sand between my toes ~~ that is one of my favorite feelings in the world! We soaked up some tropical rays…the best kind, and took the opportunity to relax. Bobby went out to play in the waves; I stayed on the beach to watch the funny monkeys. They were devising sneaky plans to steal stuff from the people who were playing in the ocean, and not paying attention to their stuff as it got lost in the trees above.

After a few hours we decided to take a break from the sun for a bit and head back to our hotel. We saw some people we had met earlier in the day at hotel pool and decided to join them for while and have a few drinks.

We had a really nice dinner at a Costa Rican/Asian Fusion place called Kapi Kapi. As soon as we sat down we had a dinner guest join us. A cute kitty jumped up on the chair next to me and started playing with the tablecloth. That kitty was too cute!

After dinner, we retired once again on our balcony to reflect on the days fun events and listen to the waves crash nearby.





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Costa Rica Part 1: It's an adVENture!

Day 1 - Sunday 12/7/2008

We arrived early at the airport for our flight out of Austin…plenty of time to grab some breakfast. We love us some Maudie's migas so the choice was obvious. OMG! Yuck – they were nothing like the yummy migas at the real Maudie's. It was like scrambled eggs cooked for an hour with some mushy canned peppers. It's really too bad since that may be the first Tex-Mex thing people new to Austin/Texas might try. If that was my first impression, I wouldn't be too excited about trying Tex-Mex again after that….

9:15a – 10:15a Short flight: Austin to Houston *First-Class* Nice! :-)

10:30a – 11:15a Hanging out in the Continental Airlines President's Club…..I was trying really hard to fit in with this smug crowd, but Bobby didn't seem phased one bit by it. He was just happy to get some internet access. (Boy is this going to be a long week…..)

11:22a – 3:00p 3.5 hour flight: Houston to San Jose, Costa Rica *First Class*

WOW! Do those first class people know how to travel or what!?!? Hot wash cloths for face and hands – a nice touch. The food was amazing and the wine was free-flowing. They even provide tiny salt-n-pepper shakers with every meal. Cute. I even made Bobby take a picture of me sitting in First Class. :-)

3:00p – 3:30p Immigration & Customs lines….and of course Bobby making friends with the people in line with us.

3:30p – 4:30p Hertz Car Rental - We had reserved a Daihatsu Terios – a 4x4 compact SUV, but they were out and since we were Texans, put us in their biggest 4x4 – a Hyundai Terracan Turbo. The car reservation itself was $185 for the week, not so bad…but after you add all the fees and service charges, the total for the reservation was $580. OK fine, but now we had a bigger question: Should pay more $$ to rent a GPS? After the car reservation total jumped about $400 in a matter of minutes, and after a few minutes debate about the $15/day GPS rental, we decided not to rent the GPS. We validated our decision with the plan to make this trip our "Adventure"!

And yes, I kept annoyingly saying "It's an AdVENture!" (with stress on the 2nd syllable) for many miles down the road… That phrase would come back to bite me in the ass for the next few days.

4:30p – 1:30a Driving from San Jose to Arenal Volcano Observatory Lodge.

Yes, that comes to 9 hours driving after 4.5 hours of flying…not to mention the few hours in the airport and car rental place…

So this is the run down….

Obviously, we left the Juan Santamaria Airport feeling cocky without a GPS. We headed west on the Pan-American Highway 1. Due to no signs anywhere, we missed our exit by about 1.5 hours. When we finally realized that we were nowhere near where we needed to be, we stopped to ask some locals for directions….truly testing my espanol skills for the 1^st of many times to come.

They pointed us in the direction that we had just come from so we turned around to backtrack. After feeling that we had missed our exit yet again, we pulled over to ask a hitchhiker where we were. He spoke no English, so I had to use my Espanol penqueno and my Costa Rica map to figure out where we were and how we needed to get to our destination. He confirmed what we guessed…that we had missed our turn (again) by about 45 minutes, and he told us how to get to the correct road….I think. I know he kept saying “BIG SIGN” …ha! In return he asked to be dropped off about 10 minutes away…in the direction we were heading. What the hell do we have to lose at this point anyway???

So yes, we picked up a non-English-speaking-Costa-Rican hitch-hiker in the dark in a foreign country. Brilliant.

Luckily, he didn't pull out a knife and stick it to my throat, and demand all our money. He probably just felt sorry for us. I think he may have been more scared of the crazy-ass, stupid Americans than we were of him. He did help us find the road and the BIG SIGN we were looking for, and we were now on our way….only running about 2.5 hours later than planned at this point. Oh, and by the way, the BIG SIGN was the size of a street size, barley on the road, and with no light.

Now on the correct road and heading in the right direction we chalked the wasted 2.5 hours up to being part of the adVENture. No biggie….(that will come later)

Now let me explain something, Costa Rica is known for its terrible road conditions. What is not as well-known (for some crazy reason) is the complete lack of signage along their major roads…that would be the paved ones. The roads rarely connect. If you take the wrong road, you don’t just find a connecting road to get you over to the correct one……you turn around and go back to where you started when you took the wrong road.

So here we are heading north on the CORRECT road towards the popular tourist destination: Arenal Volcano next to the town of La Fortuna…at least I THINK it’s La Fortuna. I notice on the 3 different maps that I am navigating between that there is another town called Fortuna. However, on some maps it’s called La Fortuna, and the one we are heading to is also called both Fortuna and La Fortuna…depending on the map. Great! This makes the adVENture even more challenging. When we are actually blessed with a sign, it says Fortuna…..now if we only knew which freaking Fortuna it was referring to!?!?!?!?

There are two other signs that we were blessed with about two hours into the twisting, turning, foggy, rainy drive. These two signs are both in the middle of the road, written in Spanish of course. Using my pequeno Espanol skills, I determine the signs say “road closed”. Using the context of the signs being in the middle of the road of course doesn’t hurt. Nevertheless, we have a choice to make….keep going or turn around?

Side Note: Before the trip, my husband & I separately researched travel in Costa Rica. We both had read that roads are sometimes closed due to construction, high water, mud, or whatever else. But most of the time you can get through the road with a 4-wheel drive vehicle. Since we did have a big 4x4, we decided we would probably be ok on this “closed road.” Besides, wouldn’t the hotel we had reservations at warn us about the main road from the airport being closed???

On we went….about another hour further on this twisting, turning, dark, foggy, rainy drive…that is until we found where/why the road was closed. The bridge had collapsed. There was no bridge or road at all. Shit. Now officially annoyed and completely avoiding the “adVENture” word, we turned around and backtracked…3 hours.

Back at the fork in the road where we started on the closed road, we are completely exhausted, drained, and paranoid about messing up any more. Did I forget to mention we have not had phone/internet service since we exited off the Pan-American Highway hours ago?!?!?

Before starting up the other road, we find a “roll your own” cigar shop, the only thing open anywhere around, and stopped in for directions. Again, no English spoken here. So here I go again with my pathetic Spanish. The kid working the cigar shop draws me a map and promises that the other road is not closed. Bobby asks about the price of a cigar to say thanks, but when he calculates the cigar is over 80 bucks, he changes his mind. Besides, we may need all our money to get to where we need to be….who knows!?!?!?

So here we go again….now taking the long road to get to the hotel that we should have been at hours ago. This road is just as twisty and bumpy and now it’s even darker and more rainy and foggy. Fun Stuff. We are exhausted and sleepy so we aren’t talking much at that point, we are just keeping our eyes peeled for signs and potholes and motorists who have decided to simply stop in the middle of the highway.

YES, for all sorts of reasons drivers just stop right on the highway – all over Costa Rica. We assumed they got cell phone service and stopped to make calls, or they were lost like us, but mostly we realized they were just sleeping. There were no shoulders on the roads, or rest areas, so people just stop wherever they are when they get tired….or bored.

Three hours later we FINALLY arrived at the town of La Fortuna…or just Fortuna….whatever. We know we are at the correct town, whatever the name….due to the volcano signs we are now able to follow. I have held my bladder for HOURS now and I can’t take it anymore. There are no places open after midnight in town…except for the places I have no business walking into this late. So just outside of town we both desperately get out in the rain and marked our territory in Costa Rica.

Our hotel is 10 minutes past town and 15 minutes up, up, up the volcano on the bumpiest road in the entire world! Thank goodness we peed before we started up that road….I would have surely lost it.

It’s about 1:30am when we get to what must be the entrance to the hotel…”What the hell?!?!?” There is a gate at the entrance that was dark and chained and locked. Neither of us was all that surprised really….with the way the rest of our day had gone. So we got some towels and clothes out of the suitcases to use as pillows and blankets, and got as comfortable as we could as we called it a night.

After driving 9 hours, Bobby was completely exhausted and went to sleep quickly but woke up many times through the night. I was tired, yet fidgety so I had a much harder time falling and staying asleep. It was truly the longest night ever.

(Yes, this was the painful part of the trip that I am just now ok talking about.)

Day 2 – Monday 12/8/2008

I woke to sounds of birds, looked at the clock to see that it was only 5:30 am, but the gate was open. So I woke Bobby and we drove through the gate and up to the front office of the hotel. It was still closed and no one was around, so we tried again for another snooze. About an hour later we woke to cars driving by so we stiffly made our way to the reservation area and found the Pure Trek Canyoning tour guides there waiting to whisk us away for four fun-filled hours of Waterfall Rappelling and Hiking through the rain forest. I explained to them that we drove in late, had not even been in our hotel room yet, and were in no shape for any activity…much less a highly active one such as rappelling. I didn’t even have to mention to them that we were in dire need of showers….I’m sure they could smell us. The guys were super nice and asked that I call the main office to see about changing our tour time. I called and the guy on the other end was very compassionate about our ordeal and said there was no problem to move us to the 12:30 tour time. Since we had already paid for this activity, this was the best news I had heard in a while.

We wolfed down some breakfast (yum, black beans & rice with eggs), then we headed straight to our room for showers and a nap…in a bed. Glorious.

We woke up four hours later feeling so much better and ready for some adVENture! So we headed to the Pure Trek Canyoning office for some lunch (more black beans & rice), then we jumped on a bus that took us to a 4x4 truck.

The group of five tourists and five tour guides transferred to the bed of the truck, which drove us about 20 minutes down a bumpy ranch road to their gear-up spot.

They loaded us down with rappelling equipment, and then we walked about five minutes to the first waterfall. At the top of the waterfall, we got our short course on how to rappel, and then it was our turn. We actually rappelled on the side of the first waterfall. Complete and Total Adrenaline Rush!

There were five rappels in all. Some were long and others were really long. Some were straight down with your face in the waterfall. On others we were able to jump to the outsides of the waterfall to at least keep our faces out of the waterfalls. (Can you tell I have an aversion to getting water in my eyes?)

When I was all drenched and cold, and walking to the next drenching I realized how glad I was that we had not done this at 7am that morning. The afternoon was much warmer, thus a much better experience.

After the five exhilarating waterfall rappels we hiked about 20 minutes up a mountain and back to the starting location where the truck was waiting to take us back to the bus. Overall, an amazing experience that I would absolutely do again. In fact, Bobby has a friend who does rappelling in the area, and we plan to join him as soon as the weather warms up in the spring.

After a rough days drive and an active afternoon of rappelling and hiking, we were already feeling that we deserved some relax time. So we headed to the hot springs at Tabacon resort. This place was amazing – so peaceful and relaxing, exactly what we needed. We started at (of course) the swim up bar where I had a few lava flows. YUM! Then when we decided to wander around and check out the rest of the hot springs. As we were closing our tab the bartender informed us that “Happy Hour” was about to start at the bar on the other end of the park. 2 for 1 -- Hellz Yeah!!!

Along the way to the other bar, we tested the warm temps of a few more hot springs and waited for HH to begin. After a few too many lava flows and too long in the hot pools I started feeling a little dizzy and, well….drunk. So we got out and cooled off and headed for the dinner buffet. Need Food. Los frijoles y el arroz más negros por favor.

After dinner we tried out the last three hot springs that we had not been in yet. After a little more of this relaxation, exhaustion of the two previous days events hit us again. We headed back to our hotel to pass out…in a real bed.

Day 3 – Tuesday 12/9/2008

After a full night’s deep sleep we woke up ready to truly turn this vacation into what it should be….a FUN adVENture.

As we packed up our suitcases, we noticed a funky smell in our clothes. Bobby recognized it as sulpher so we traced the funky smell back to the swimsuits we wore at the hot springs the night before. We packed those separate and tried to wash the sulpher stink out of those suits many times in the next several days…eventually we gave up and threw the stinky sulpher-saturated swimsuits away.

We headed down the volcano road to the zip line place. It was only supposed to be a 20 minute drive from our hotel. So why in the hell have we been driving 45 minutes?!?!?! I bring out my Espanol skills once again and ask a cute runner chick where the Sky Tram place is. She pointed back the way we came and told us dos bridges and then a BIG SIGN. Oh Hell…freakin’ big signs.

So backtracking we go….back to the BIG SIGN. Not sure how we both missed that. Whatev. So we get there just in time to miss our 7:30 zip line group. We had to wait around there and go with the 9:30 group. Ok, we can deal with this….at least we are not still in the car. Bobby is especially happy because he is getting crackberry service…something that he has not had for a couple of days. I noticed that the twitching subsided as soon as he heard the beeps for incoming emails.

The Sky Trek place was first-rate and the ziplines were a blast! The tour included 8 cross-sectional cables that together have a total length of 2.8 Km with a distance from 30 to 760 meters, and from 20 to 200 meters of height. The cables go above and through trees, where if the weather permits it, you might see the gorgeous Arenal Volcano. Due to clouds, we only saw the bottom half of the volcano.

We only got down the road about 5 minutes from the zip line place when we see a couple of cars stopped on the road and people taking pictures of something high in the trees. So of course, we got out to see. Howler Monkeys! So freakin’ cool! And, they were howling at each other!! I took tons of pictures and we watched them chase each other and swing from branch to branch.

Then we got back “on the road again” and headed down a different highway to our next destination: Manuel Antonio.

To Be Continued……

Coming up next…….more MONKEYS!!!

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