Birthday Fun

Last Monday was my birthday, so we went to INBioparque in Heredia to celebrate. It's sort of a cross between a nature preserve and a zoo, and we enjoyed seeing all the plants and wildlife. Lots of pictures are online here if you're interested, but here are a few highlights:

Claire in a giant tube of bottle caps 

My bugs 

An iguana that walked across our path then climbed this tree - large cat-sized iguanas were all over the place 

Gorgeous butterflies and flowers in the butterfly garden 

Claire and me caught in a tarantula's web (no, we didn't see any)

Later Graham and Claire took me out to dinner - it was a nice, fun, relaxing day. Claire has already decided she wants to do the same for her birthday: INBioparque followed by dinner. (Her favorite food at restaurants lately - edamame. She usually eats two orders all by herself...)

There were actually July 4th celebrations here, but we didn't attend one. We did hear fireworks and celebrating from our condo on Sunday and Monday, which was fun.

Claire was on vacation from school all last week and will be again this week, so we haven't had Spanish classes. We did get a one week membership to the next door Country Club, and Claire enjoyed the playground and pool. Graham got to play tennis a few times and I had fun working out at the gym. Once we're done with our intensive Spanish lessons (mid-August) we hope to join longer-term so we have a nice, nearby place to exercise. The rates are incredibly reasonable - about what a family gym membership would be in the U.S.

Claire's favorite pool activity - shoveling water

Big important note here - if you asked for our address, please do NOT send us anything. We have yet to receive mail in more than two months and we know some things have been sent. We're working on a solution, but until we have that in place, please don't send us anything as we don't know if it will ever arrive. Part of the problem when there's not a formal addressing system.

At the end of next week we'll be driving to Nicaragua and visiting San Juan del Sur for a few days - should be an adventure! Since Claire was off school it seemed a good time to go.

The Spanish Summary:


Para mi cumpleaños lunes pasada, Graham, Claire, y yo fuimos a INBioparque en Heredia. Nosotros vimos muchos animales y muchas plantas diferentes. Entonces, nosotros cenamos en un restaurante y Claire comió dos órdenes de edamame.

Hubo algunas celebraciones para el cuatro de julio, pero nosotros no asistimos.

Claire tenía vacaciones de la escuela pasada semana y próxima semana también, por eso Graham y yo no teníamos clases de español. Nosotros visitamos el Country Club para teníamos ejercicios y queremos unir después nuestros clases de español.

Muy importante – ¡por favor no nos envié nada! Nosotros no teníamos correo por más de dos meses y lo vamos a arreglar pronto.

La próxima semana nosotros vamos viajar a Nicaragua, a San Juan del Sur. ¡Una nueva aventura!