Early 2012

Cousins

The boys' cousin came for a visit in January and she wrapped them around her little finger. They were fighting for her attention!

New school, new uniforms.

School started in February. The days are long, ten hours including transportation 40 km one way. It is academically more challenging, but the boys love it! And the grounds are perfect for basketball and football.

Costa Rica is all about animals. We have spotted amazing species just next to our house, like the anteater sleeping high up in the tree. Tuomas was appalled by the scorpion mother carrying its young. Apparently the babies end up eating the mother! I have been to Monteverde again and saw 32 different species of birds in 2.5 days. My friend almost stepped on the tarantula.

Anteater in the yard of our old house.

Orange-kneed tarantula in Monteverde

Three-wattled bellbird  in Monteverde

Purple-throated mountain gem, female.

Pit viper in Monteverde

Perfect roundness of a jelly fish.

The red tide hit the shores in March and killed a lot of sea life. There were a lot of dead or half dead animals on the beach every morning and the smell was really bad. We tried putting the sea snakes back into the ocean since they were still alive.

Sea snake

Frozen smile of a parrot fish

Tuomas jumping from about 5 m!

Back in February we did a weekend trip to Tambor because Risto played in his first tournament. While he was playing I took Tuomas and Jaakko to a waterfall in Montezuma. Tuomas really enjoyed jumping from the high rocks, I didn't.

During the weekends we spend a lot of time in the park. All four boys play basketball and the three younger ones find old and new friends there to play with.

Playing hide and seek in the park

Risto playing baloncesto in Coco Beach.

The beach right next to the basket ball court.

I am addicted to cacao beans. These sprinkled on my orange juice-banana-ginger-cayenne pepper-cinnamon smoothie, yummy!

Roasted, unpeeled cacao beans, about $4/kg.

During the Easter break we decided to go to Rincon de la Vieja for a short hike to the La Cangreja waterfall. Well, not so short. It was 5 km to the waterfall. We had walked maybe 4 km when Jaakko had a total meltdown. He was not happy, but we thought it was because he had forgotten to take his swimming shorts. "There is no waterfall there! I don't want to go!!". When we finally got there, he did not want to swim. He ate a bit, drank his juice, was unhappy. It was a beautiful place, the rest of us enjoyed swimming in the cool water. Tranquil. When we started walking back Jaakko threw up after walking 3 m. Only 4997 m to go back to the parking lot. And there were a lot of hills going up and down. DH ended up carrying him for at least 2 km, I carried him maybe for 500 m.  Either he had a sunstroke or a migraine. He slept all the way driving back home, had a little bit to eat and drink while demanding that all the lights be turned off and slept 12 hours. And he said that he won't go back to Rincon before he turns 12.

Jaakko not happy.

La Cangreja waterfall

The long way back.

When we moved into our new house in February the dishwasher didn't work. A repair guy came over two or three times to look at it until he finally took the washer with him. "The spare part will arrive mañana." Last week he brought a temporary dishwasher. Such is his expertise in this field that he used the wrong kind of a hose to connect the washer to the hot water causing a nice flood on our floor. Yesterday another guy came to attach a more suitable hose. He and his helper tipped the washer on its side causing another flood. I gave them a bucket and some rags. First one of them left to buy some parts that they needed, after half an hour the other guy disappeared, too. I was left with this scene, water and tools on the floor, bucket full of dirty water and no knowledge if/when they'd be back. And I was supposed to cook dinner.  Eventually, to my huge surprise, they did come back and the washer does work.... mas o menos.

Will it ever work?

I have spent some of my free time doing photography. I know two photographers here and have been able to practice my skills photographing nature and people. It is a lot of fun and hopefully I have learned something, too.

Waves in Coco Beach

Por que?

Happy!

Art

I took the boys to an art class Saturday morning a week ago. They weren't too excited, especially Tuomas who is hyper-critical about his work and usually refuses to do anything since he knows that it will never look perfect or at least the way he wants it to look. But they don't do much art at school nor at home, and I want them to try to do something artsy and creative.

A wonderful couple take turns in teaching the kids and this time the theme was to make musical instruments of colored paper. Once Tuomas got the hang of it he said he enjoyed it.

This week's Saturday I took the very reluctant two younger boys to class again to paint a picture of penguins. Again a very difficult start for Tuomas, but again he said that he quite enjoyed it. Go figure!! We left the penguins there to dry, so I'll post a picture later.


Jaakko's guitar and drums.
Tuomas' electric guitar.

Cars

Yesterday we went to a sports car show. The boys were in heaven, all four! I have to admit that it wasn't boring for me either. I tried to take some photos, but had just one lens, no tripod and I don't have a decent flash. I didn't like the fluorescent lights reflecting from the cars. And of course the boys wanted to use the camera, too.

I like keeping the pictures simple.
The red paint was chipped.
I don't know the make nor model, but it's an old green car that makes my heart throb.
This one's orange, the only thing I like about it. I prefer the older ones.

Yeah, this is what I like.So where does the airbag pop out from?

My list of "I want" includes a house in the country, a loom, apiary and llamas (alpacas will do, too). I'll just add to it a nice red sports car. I don't ask for much, do I?
I try to find the time to do some girly stuff, too. I knit these socks this spring. Took me about a month, but had to have a break between the two socks since I got RSI. My hands really hurt for almost a week.

Perfect weekend

Ascencion Day weekend took us to Saviaho, DH's aunt. Four days in heaven for me and the boys, too. Total relaxation in excellent company in the country side. The boys took the dogs for walks. On a field about 300 m from the house was a huge boulder. The first night we headed there.Jaakko with Aino-Inkeri.Tuomas with Hex.Risto with Alli Manninen.And how do I know that the distance was about 300m? Because DH has a range-finder, and Risto measured it. 274m as the crow flies, so approximately 300 for the boys. We had a lovely evening sitting on the patio sipping bubbly watching the boys run around with Alli. Tuomas decided to run to the boulder and back three times. A nice 1800 m run to end the day.The itsy-bitsy spider also thought that it was a perfect time for an evening walk and took a stroll on the birch. The black speck about half way up is the spider.
There is plenty of space for the boys to run around. They're old enough that I can trust them not to fall face down into the pond or get run over by the occasional car. They love going to the ghost forest for walks on their own.
Then there was fire! Aunty P's husband burned the dry grass on the surrounding fields and the boys could join in. Well, it was fun for me, too.It wasn't easy to drag the boys to bed from the burning field.
It is only in Saviaho that I go riding. 2 hours in the forest on a horse, that's what I call therapy. The boys want to ride, too, but they're too inexperienced to go riding in the forest. And these horses hadn't been ridden for quite a while, so they were full of energy.After the ride in the forest the boys could have their turn on the field.
It's a lot of excercise for me: "Mom, run faster!!!"
Tuomas' turn. I let him go by himself. I was too tired to run in the +23C weather. And Risto. By this time Gloui was so tired (i.e. fed up) that every time Risto turned him towards the stables he started to tölt (Icelandic pony trot) faster and it was difficult for Risto to stop him. I was getting anxious.
DH doesn't want to try. He says because he's allergic, but I think he's just a big sissy. He was surprised to see me ride, tölt and gallop and to have the horse in control. What did he think I had been doing in the forest with the horse?