Funderstorms, an earthquake, y mas

The last two days we've had some really impressive thunderstorms. (Or as Claire calls them, "Funderstorms." They ARE more fun that way.) I got a little video of the one yesterday:

About an hour after taking this video, we had an earthquake, too! Graham and I hadn't felt one since living in Los Angeles, and it was Claire's first. There was sort of a boom, then some shaking - it took us a second to realize what it was so we all ran outside. Nothing even fell down - it was a 6.0 magnitude quake that shook most of the country. Not particularly common, actually... We're glad no one was hurt and nothing was damaged.

Graham and I also started our official Spanish studies yesterday. We're currently taking private lessons at Lisa Tec Spanish School from a lovely gentleman named José-Luis. We really enjoyed our first lesson and feel like we learned a ton in two hours. Our tentative plan is to take private lessons here for two weeks, do the intensive group classes at Intercultura for two months, then return to Lisa Tec for a few days of week to continue strengthening our Spanish. (Their rates are incredibly reasonable - we recommend Lisa Tec to any guests coming for a week+ who would like to learn or improve upon their Spanish...)

I forgot to take pictures of our school, but this is me with a REALLY cool tree on our walk there. It looks painted, but the colors go to the end of every branch.

Graham has been talking for awhile about shaving his goatee and mustache, and we thought it would be appropriate once we got to Costa Rica. He hasn't been clean-shaven in more than 10 years! I've never seen him that way, nor has Claire. She was very excited about the idea of making Daddy's face smooth...

Snuggles with Daddy before... 

...and after. ¡Que hermoso!

Claire was absolutely exhausted after her first week at school (three days, really). Naps are optional there, and while she took one her first day, she didn't on Thursday or Friday. She was a little zombie girl when we picked her up yesterday... Having too much fun to sleep, Mommy and Daddy! Her class made a lovely little welcome sign for her with all the kids' names on them.

We did finally see "Rio" this afternoon - VERY cute. We all loved it (even dubbed in Spanish) and highly recommend it. As Claire said, "There weren't even any scary parts!"

Pictures of our condo and school soon... Meanwhile, another cute random girl shot:

(Standing on my bathroom scale.) "Look, Mommy! I'm four years old!"

P.S. Apologies to those who subscribe to the e-mail feed of this blog - it's been acting up lately and sent a couple of duplicate e-mails. Sorry about that!