Vaca - Austin Day 1

Yesterday was our first real day in Austin which is always a good time. I can't believe it's been 10 years since I lived with the Latimers. When I moved to VA in May of 1999, I had spent very little time in the east coast and was completely astonished when I walked into a burger king and the lady just looked at me, no hello, no can I help you, just looked at me...after an awkward pause she oh so annoyingly asked me, "What do you want?"... it was at that moment I realized I was far far from home. However being with the Latimers I was an instant part of the family. Jim and Ellyn were an instant support system, advisers and great friends, the girls were so adorable at ages 4, 8 & 9 and a baby was on the way. They welcomed me with open arms and we have been family since. Today Casie is a sophomore in college, Emily a freshman, Julie, who was just a squeeky little four year old, is in 9th grade and James, the brand new baby, my first, is 10 and it boggles my mind every day that the time has gone so fast.

I was very very lucky to have been placed (the nanny agency) with such an incredible family and am so super excited to be visiting them. The last time I was here Jaxon was 11 months old, thats almost 3 years ago and way too long. Okay enough reminiscing...here are some pics of Jax on a trampoline bungee type thing at the mall we went to yesterday then some of the boys from a restaurant we went to before departing Houston on Wednesday.

Vaca Day 2

Yesterday was a great day in Houston. Aaron and JJ went to play golf and disc golf so the boys and I headed to the mall. The mall had a Children's Museum which was so fun. They had train tables, arts and crafts, a construction equipment area, play kitchens, and much more...we had a blast!! After dinner we woke Riley up and took the boys to play in the fountains which is always a great time! Since you are probably wondering, Aaron and JJ tied golfing. Aaron hasn't had the opportunity to golf much in CR and the Wii just isn't the same...needless to say he was very happy to get back out there.

Today we are headed to Austin to see the Latimer's whom I haven't seen in nearly 2 years:(:(:( We are very excited to check out Austin and hit the hot sauce festival on Sunday!!!

Here are some pics from our day yesterday...for the full album check HERE.
For a cute video look HERE.

The Visiting Monkeys

From time to time the monkey's stop by to chat with the dogs...or yell at each other for hours... They are totally unfazed and just sit there and watch. Couple days ago we had a family of about 9 or 10 come in the late afternoon and spend the night, howling again around 5:30 am, then left mid-morning, we enjoyed chatting with them, aside from the wake up call of course... Here are some shots of the visit...

Trip to USA - Day 1 - Traveling

I haven't been to the states since December... the 5th to be exact, so I was more than ready for our trip. We flew into Houston yesterday and are staying with JJ (one of our awesome interns in CR) and his family who are so awesome. Our flight went well considering Riley only slept 2 of the 4 hours, and we had to fly around an extra 1/2 hour due to storms.

Here are some pics from the beginning of our journey... stay tuned, we are on the move...

Roxy REALLY wanted to come too...

Pretty...

New Curtains

I am NOT crafty, I have made very little with my sewing machine other than a dog bed and a table cloth thingy... but I needed curtains, and you can't just run to the store and buy curtains in Costa Rica, at least not where I live... so I had to get crafty and make them myself... which as it turns out I totally rock at making curtains. Okay that's a push but I didn't do too bad. Here is what I ended up with...

Bedroom - This was a tablecloth that I cut in half and wa-la...curtains.

Another table cloth - Kitchen

This isn't a curtain at all - this is the fabric for my new sofa and chair being made now...

Living room - this is like a linen fabric...and far to white so I
dressed it up with a funky wrap as a tie back...hey it works and I like it!

Riley's new discovery

Riley likes being naked...like REALLY likes it... but guess what he found? He is totally amazed with it and enjoys taking a peek from time to time, playing with his toys, returning to his new found treasure, back and forth, back and forth...

When live gives you lemons...

Okay so life didn't give us lemons, my father in law did...and the things needed a good squeeze. Jax had a blast squeezing them, then we lost water and things were quite sticky for a while.

Aaron is going to use the juice for some hot sauce recipes he is working on, and we also put it in with some fruit in our smoothies, and in our beers of course:)