More Random Pic’s
By Shaun | July 17, 2008
We had Tracy’s sister and nephews here for a visit. It started out pretty well. We hung out by the pool for a while, went to the beach, and the boy’s and I took a surf lesson.
Arrival at the airport.
The boy’s immediately go for the pool.
The ocean always makes for a good back drop.
Surfing safari.
Hang ten baby!!!
The kids are really getting into the beach scene.
McKenna loves her aunt Dawny.
Topics: Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
Who Let The Dogs Out?
By Shaun | July 12, 2008
Our dogs are finally here. What a big pain in the ass it was to arrange everything, not just for me but a lot of people at home too. I never expected it to take this long. Most airlines won’t even take dogs at this time because of the summer temperatures. Continental has a air conditioned cargo area so they will fly them in higher temps, but only if the passenger load isn’t too full. They will only book a flight for the dogs three days in advanced. I had to call every day for a month.
Finally they had an opening, for one dog. Bosco went first, he had to stay overnight in Houston then fly into San Jose. (We happened to be there so it worked out good) Then two days later Clancy did the same accept he fly into Liberia, 20 minutes from our house. They were tired but very happy to see us. We are really glad to have them here with us.
Bosco’s first run on the beach, he really liked running in the waves.
Throw it again!!!!!
Topics: Beach | 2 Comments »
Caleb’s first horse ride
By Tracy | July 7, 2008
Caleb went for his first horse ride! We went to a church picnic on Sunday and there was some kind of horse riding competition going on for all ages. Caleb really only sat on the horse, and you can tell by his face that he wasn’t that thrilled. Takes after his mama, I am terrified on a horse.
It was a huge party with loud blasting music, food, drinks and lots of people. We didn’t really know what the horses were there for, but it was some sort of competition. When we payed for our tickets, they put competition numbers on our backs. I looked at Shaun and said, ” I am not riding in a competition!” We left before it all got rolling anyway. It was really nice to mingle with the ticos.
McKenna was a real trooper. I brought the wrong stroller. She would have been a lot more comfortable in the baby jogger since the big wheels glide over ruts and smooth the ride for her. There were a LOT of ruts in the ground. Poor girl. Live and learn right?More later,Tracy
Topics: Guanacaste | 1 Comment »
Busy, busy, busy!
By Tracy | July 5, 2008
Greetings!
We have a really busy week or two ahead of us. Yesterday was the 4th of July so we got invited to a 4th of July party with a bunch of fellow expats. It was a really nice party and the kids were great. Tomorrow, I am taking the kids to a church fund raiser with games, food and drinks. Shaun is going to be working in the office so I am going with the kids. It should be a great time.
Tuesday we leave for San Jose to pick up our cedula’s (residency cards), and the best news of all….. our dogs are arriving this week!! Although not together, but they will both be here by Friday. Bosco is arriving in San Jose on Wednesday and Clancy is arriving in Liberia on Friday. Liberia is the airport closest to us. It will be so good to finally have them with us again.
More good news, my sister Dawn and our 2 nephews, Drew and T.J. will be our very first visitors in Costa Rica!! They are arriving on Thurdsay, July 10th. I can’t wait for them to get here. We have a whole slew of activities planned for them including surf lessons, zip lines and a trip to a volcano to name a few. We will do our best to give them the time of their lives!
Shaun and I have started running again and the hills are KILLERS! I have to stop and catch my breath about 3 or 4 times walking up the hill to our house because it is soooo steep! I have never encountered a hill so steep before. I don’t even like driving up or down it, but we gotta get in shape for our Dances with Dirt relay race in September.
Hope all is well with everyone! Happy 4th of July!!
Topics: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
The Real Estate Game
By Shaun | July 4, 2008
The real estate market in
I have been spending most of my time learning about the inventory of properties that are available for sale in Playa Hermosa and the surrounding areas. Re/max Tres Amigos is the company that I am now a sales agent for. It was the top selling international Re/max office for sales (excluding the
These guys really kick butt in this area. I’m really glad to be learning the real estate business from them. Now I need to start developing a client base, which is done mostly through networking. I am working on a website now that will feature some of the better deals that I run across. So if anyone out there reading this blog knows of someone looking for a second home, or a good investment opportunity. Please send them my way and I will payout a portion of my commission to you for the referral! You could just email me at shaunl669@gmail.com for more information. Thanks, Shaun.
Topics: Playa Hermosa, Real estate | 1 Comment »
Hola!
By Tracy | June 30, 2008
We had a nice early evening walk on Playa Panama, a beach which is next to ours. It was our first time on this beach and boy was it ever private! There were a few families here and there, but there weren’t any buildings anywhere. It was hard packed sand and great to push the stroller on. Caleb ran around and found some great shells he wants to give his Aunt Dawny when she comes to visit next week. As usual, we forgot the camera (sorry Brent) but we have some other great photos to add.
I don’t know if we mentioned to you before, but we are dog sitting for a co worker of Shaun’s, and his name is Dude. Well, Dude just decided to mess with a huge spider and threw it on my foot!! I HATE spiders, so you can imagine my reaction! Dude went running!Well, it’s been a long day and we will add pics and write more later. Hasta luego.
My sister Debbie is having surgery tomorrow so please say a prayer for her.
Hope all is well with everyone,More soon, sorry so short,Tracy
Topics: Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
I’m Not Complaining
By Shaun | June 26, 2008
They say that living in Costa Rica is different than being here on vacation, I knew it was going to be true, I just didn’t think it would be apparent so soon. It’s just that when you sell your home, pack all of your stuff in a box and step off a plane in a new country your attitude is different. Its different because I have a job to go to, we have a house to take care of, we have daily living chores that need doing that you don’t normally worry about when your just visiting. The house we rented for 2 months is beautiful, the view is awesome, the pool is great, but it does not have internet or cable TV. 
You just don’t how much you enjoy those things until you don’t have them. Tracy is feeling very isolated without the ability to easily communicate with her family and friends. Also she is used to jumping in her car and going out whenever she wants to. We are living at the top of a very steep hill, its a challenge to walk up, impossible to move two small children on.We have secured our next house for a long term rental. It has three bedrooms, a small pool, great view of the ocean, in the same area as we are in now. It does have cable and high speed internet, so the grandparents will be able to have a video conversation with their grand kids! We will be there with all of our stuff from the states starting in August.We are meeting more people everyday, we had Joseph (another agent in my office) and his wife Pam over for cocktail hour last night. It was really nice. Tracy really enjoyed talking with other adults for a change. Our circle of friends here will grow and we will be more comfortable as time goes on, but it is much different then being on vacation.
We are here to stay, Tracy and I have committed to each other to give it our best shot for a year. If we both hate it after being here that long then we will look for other options. We know it is going to take that long to get through the culture shock of leaving our familiar territory back home. We know we will have our ups and downs, but we are ready for the challenges ahead. Please stay tuned as our adventure continues.
Topics: Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Just Random Pic’s
By Shaun | June 20, 2008
We had a request from one of our loyal readers for more picture’s…………. so here you go Brent!
Tracy’s home office.
Hollywood here we come!
Caleb’s night swim.
Topics: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Costa Rica Wildlife
By Shaun | June 20, 2008
I was perched on my chair next to the pool (the only place we can pick up a wireless signal) minding my own business the other night when something made a loud splash into the pool. The pool lights were on, I looked over and saw the biggest frog I have ever seen swimming across the pool. I couldn’t believe it’s size, it was huge! I ran and grabbed the camera and snapped a pic.
The picture looked like any other frog, I needed something to compare it’s size to. All I could think of was a beer can, so in the pool it went. Here is the before and after pic’s. Keep in mind the size of the step it is sitting on is about 10 inches! I think you could feed a family of 4 a nice frog leg dinner from this guy.
Topics: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Piss and moan from Costa Rica!
By Tracy | June 15, 2008
Hi everyone!
I know we said we would write posts in our blog more often now that we are finally here, but we are so limited on internet access. We can only pick up a signal if the computer is in a certain spot outside to pick up a wireless internet signal down the hill from us. I can’t begin to tell you how much that sucks! My laptop won’t even pick up the signal so I am stuck without internet access all day until late at night. I am going bonkers! I pictured me emailing and talking on our skype phone whenever I wanted. Now, here is the kicker. We don’t even have cable TV or a DVD player. For those of you that know how much Caleb loves his DVD’s you can understand what I am going through here!! This kid never sits still unless he is watching a DVD. I only hope I have some hair left by the time we get our next place. I know what your thinking, wahh, wahh, wahh!
Don’t get me wrong, I love spending this much time with my kids and Caleb is adjusting much better than I thought. He is so much happier when his whole family is together. We really needed to spend some quality time with our kids considering how busy we’ve been for the last 6 weeks.
Our shipping container (everything we own) should be here in about 5-6 weeks. It will be like Christmas morning when we start opening our boxes! Having our own things here will help us feel a little more at home, especially for Caleb.
More later, we promise!
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »