Springtime in Kansas City and heading to Costa Rica

It’s been an incredibly busy last couple of months at the Forman house. Like I said, I finished my master’s degree, then immediately switched gears and began moving us to Costa Rica – no small undertaking.

As we prepared to go, we all had several last minute doctor appointments. Claire had her 4-year well-child visit a few months early, and is healthy and on track. She’s 39.5 inches tall and weighs 29 pounds. Small but healthy. We also took her to the hip doctor a bit early, where Dr. Gupta took x-rays and said her hips look great. Again, he will continue to check her once a year until she’s 14 to make sure the hip dysplasia doesn’t return.

Doctor Claire using her stethoscope on Mommy

Our last Sunday in Kansas City happened to be Easter – quite a final Sunday! Graham and I both sang at church, then we went to Lawrence to spend the afternoon with family. Claire enjoyed hunting for eggs and especially playing with her cousin Hank. They’re exactly three months apart and are incredibly cute together.

Sweet girl collecting eggs. The dress was my Easter dress when I was 4, I think. Fun that she could wear it... (Thanks, Mom!)

Claire with the Bannen boys: Mike, Gus, and Hank - her new best friends.

The last week in April we weren’t exactly sure we would make it in terms of packing and putting things into storage, but we did! Our belongings are down to a 10x15 storage unit and what we brought with us. Everything else was sold or given away. When we return we have a dining room set, a bedroom set, some heirloom pieces, and will have to pretty much buy new furniture other than that. We left the house Thursday afternoon to head to Lawrence for the night and had a nice dinner with family.

Friday morning we left for the airport at 7:30 a.m. with our 6 checked bags, 3 carry-ons, 3 personal items, Claire’s car seat, and Bailey (our cat). People kept looking at us like, “Man, you guys need to learn how to travel – that’s a TON of stuff!” Normally, they would be right, but we didn’t have to ship anything, which was the goal.

Yes, she fits as a carry-on.

Our flights were KC to Denver, Denver to Houston, and Houston to San Jose, Costa Rica. In Denver, Continental made our lives significantly easier by offering to check any wheelie-type carry-ons, so we were able to get rid of three large-ish bags that we were lugging around the airport. Bless them! Claire and Bailey both did really well on the flights. We landed in San Jose around 8:40 p.m. local time (Central Standard, so now we’re basically on Mountain Daylight Time), and actually got all of our luggage! One of Graham’s bags was missing initially, but the man who had mistakenly grabbed his bag realized it before he got too far away and we had it back before we walked out the door.

Sleepy girl between KC and Denver. She hasn't gotten much sleep lately, either...

We’re staying in a furnished condo at the Villas de Cariari, about four blocks from the Doubletree we stayed at last May/June. It’s a great neighborhood, so we may opt to stay if we can find a good school for Claire nearby. We have a fantastic view off our balcony of the Cariari Country Club’s golf course, and I love listening to the birds chirp. The weather is sunny and about 80 at the moment – so nice. We’re spending a lot of time on the balcony, especially since that's where the WiFi is strongest (I type from there now).

The view from our balcony

Our first morning here we went to the local market for some food and met Tim, who writes The Real Costa Rica Web site. His site and blog were tremendously helpful as we were researching our move, so it was kind of a celebrity encounter! He’s very nice, has a larger-than-life personality (“People either think I’m funny or an a$$hole…”), and was very gracious in offering us a bit of advice.

More pictures and information soon! At this point we’re trying to catch up on sleep and enjoying the chance to decompress after a hectic move. Monday we start looking for Claire’s school, our school, and a car… We’re excited to start language immersion classes!

Costa Rica, meet the Formans!

More pictures from the last few months of our fun girl:

Daddy introducing Claire to Ms. Pac-man. When the first game ended she said, “Daddy, I want to play a different game.” In her world, the fact that this big machine could only house one game is almost inconceivable…

It was “Week of the Young Child” at Claire’s school in April… This was for 60’s/Tie Dye Day…

…and this was for Superhero/Disney Day. Super Claire!

Nana came to visit a couple of weeks before we left – always so good to see her!

We do have a temporary 816- number that works when we have a WiFi connection and should hopefully have use of our personal cell numbers within a few weeks. Skype is also a great way to reach us - my username is mindeeforman. We do have a mailing address if anyone would like that (I’m just not posting it). The offer stands to come visit us any time after July – we welcome visitors!