we headed up to Rob and Kieuly’s new house in the Boulder Foothills for Brunch a few Sunday’s ago – the house was amazing.
here are a few pics
my favorite part of the house was the master bathroom
hello infinity bath tub
But we had to admit the cutest part of the house … Elsie and Kai in the modern lounger!
We have been having great weather in Costa Rica … we expected some showers and some weather from the hurricane’s but we seemed to have come in at the right time. Our house is on a fantastic (secluded) beach so the first morning we woke up and decided to take a walk down before breakfast.
Here is Elsie walking in the water for her first time …
She was a bit hesitant, but Niko wasn’t
Both kids were extremely impressed with the stamina of the waves … we hear over and over “WOW, here comes another one, here come another one”
Elsie got some courage up to venture into the water herself …
Eventually all of the clothes were wet and Niko did what any smart kid would do, strip down and streak the beach …
After breakfast we spent the rest of the day napping, and playing in the pool. The sound of waves, airconditioning and pool exhaustion make for some loooong naps.
We have a couple of new Costa Rican pals…
We had a great night in San Jose and enjoyed the breakfast at the Hampton Inn before heading to the airport.
We arrived at 12:00 for a 1:30 flight – they told us we couldn’t check in until 1:00 (we were in a tiny cessna to Tambur) and there was talk of a weather delay (outside it was pouring rain). Elsie and Niko pulled out their toys and made the best of it …
First we played with Niko’s bugs …
We chatted with the desk agents …
Niko ran in circles and Elsie tried to catch him…
Niko took a cat nap…
then Scott invented the most fun game ever … try to get past the security ropes.
After much yelling and running we pulled out Finding Neee-mo. This was elsie’s first time to see it and she was in awe (Niko just wished she would be quiet)
There was finally a break in the weather and we jumped on the plane, Elsie took the window seat on dad’s lap so she could get a great view…
We arrived to the airport and were greeted by Hansel our tour guide/house manager. He loaded up the luggage and we headed to the houseo. We ut did ourselves this year … this place is amazing.
Elsie was so tired she headed right for a nap, but Mark jumped into the pool …
the house is amazing (love the bed complete with towel sculpture!)
So we made it to Casa Pacifico … now we are ready to relax.
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P.S. I am actually only on a dial-up modem, so my post schedule and photos may be a bit delayed. We also found out that our Mac Laptops don’t even have a modem, so I am stuck using the house PC which makes uploading photos extremely slow and painful …
Well we are off for our annual tropical anniversary vacation with the Johnstons! This year we headed to Costa Rica for a week in Tambor. We often use Luxury Link to search our locations we want to travel to and this year we tried out the luxury link auction – success! (you know mark, just like Ebay he watches the auction and bids at the last possible time!).
We will be enjoying Casa Pacifico in Tango Mar for the week!
Yesterday we headed out to the airport with what we considered to be a light load (we would soon find out that scott and julie packed everything into just one suitcase making us again look like overpackers!). We flew to Houston Texas where we met with great excitement Niko (cuco), Julie (JuJu) and Scott (cott). Niko immediately gave us hugs and kisses and shared his bugs with “baby elsie”.
We all boarded the flight to San Jose (funny johnstons were able to fly from San Jose, CA to San Jose, CR!) sitting next to each other. (Good Job Mark and Julie!). The flight was great – we had a nap, some snacks, videos, dad had a margarita, mom had some wine – by the way Continental was amazing, we had snacks and dinner provided on the flights!. Just as we started our descent, we got some news that there was fog in San Jose, we would hold for a bit and if it didn’t clear we would need to divert to Nicaragua for more fuel. A few minutes later the pilot said it looked clear and we went in for a landing … just as I could see the blue lights on the run way … acceleration and we aborted the landing. Back up to the holding pattern. Twenty minutes later we tried again and as we came through the thick fog, the pilot went for it … the ground seemed to come a bit earlier than he expected and he slammed on the breaks (I squeezed Elsie, stomach in my throat and mark reached over to me and said breath!) – the plane broke into applause!! We were here!
We entered the terminal to find a maze of people standing in line for immigration – with two tired and somewhat irritable kids, the line seemed daunting. This was the disneyland line from hell … Niko kept saying “all the people, all the people”. After about 15 minutes in line a Costa Rican man came up to us and escorted us to another area. Once we gathered with a few other people, he escorted us to the front of immigration (past the loooong maze) to the special needs line – along the way he grabbed any families with small children. First Experience in Costa Rica SUCCESS! In the end it benefited all – as both kids were on the brink of meltdowns.
We had a van waiting to shuttle us to the Hampton Inn where Julie had secured us rooms with cribs. We were off to bed! This morning we take a small plane over to Tambor where we can settle in for the week (and you will be overloaded with Costa Rica photos! 
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Interesting notes: We are in the Mountain Time zone and like clockwork Elsie slept until 7:00 am, we woke up turned on the TV and it has our Denver News Channel. I am writing this while elsie takes her re-rack (morning nap).
Ok the final batch of photos… On Sunday we did more of the same, hanging out, having drinks and enjoying the backyard. Niko quickly found the three little pigs house (aka doghouse) which was a huge hit.
Perfect size for a little boy. After our naps we got dressed up again in some cute outfits …
and hunted for golf balls
Niko found a green sand strainer which was the perfect size for a golf ball
And Elsie practiced putting the ball in the strainer (a new form of carry the egg on a spoon and don’t drop it – much cleaner!)
Later we used the strainer as a lollypop
The next game was for Niko to run around with the lifelike stuffed rabbit and Elsie to try and catch him
Its hard to run as fast as Niko! Fortunately Sumo was there to rescue elsie if she fell…
Later in the afternoon, Saffie, Josh and Amy came over for some grass time (more cute outfits!!)
I was happy to see that Saffie also did not like Julie to hold her (I was beginning to take it personally – but now realize that Saffie is a momma’s girl)
Niko had more fun in the house
We all had a lovely dinner (cooked entirely by Me – which is amazing because I totally suck at cooking!)
We had such a fabulous time with Niko and crew (yes, Scott, Jul and Sumo you are now just Crew and Niko is the main attraction! ) – we loved seeing the kids start to really interact with each other.
Cheers to great friends!
Tonight we are off to Vegas to celebrate many things … the launch of Google Sites, Julie being cancer free for 2 years and my 30th birthday (actually I am re-turning 30 this year since I was preggers last year and pretty lame). Joining us on the trip Scott, Julie, Drew, Vivian, Josh, Amy, Heidi and Jason.
This is a adults only trip so we are leaving the chillin’s behind … we are flying grammie and grampa down to watch Elsie and Saffron and Pat Johnston is coming down to watch Niko. I am a nervous wreck – why? Because I am me – a nervous wreck about anything!
Even though it is clear that my parents have successfully (well at least with me) raised 2 children I still felt necessary to over arm them with information about Elsie.
I created the Elsie User Guide …
the user guide is complete with 8 pages of information including special “Mom says” notes. In the guide you will find information on
Cheers to Grammie and Grampa who will be caring for my prized possession while we are out on our first adults only vegas extravaganza! I am sure they will do great!
I am sure many of you know about my addiction to Etsy … so when a blog pointed to these cute little hats from PDX Beanies I had to get them for Nicholas and Elsie for our trip to California (sadly I didn’t get any photo of the chillin’s together … but here is how cute they look)
and here are some photos of Elsie Lane (also wearing her new Puma’s in honor of Sarah Herman)
This weekend we had Emma and Sophie Spruill’s joint birthday party. Elsie decided that she wanted to wear her Paris Party dress from Mart and Lew – we took a few photos before we headed out.
The best part of dresses – is pulling them up and chewing on them …
Here we are at the party with our new puj baby sling
The party was lots of fun – we are still to young to socialize, so we had fun playing with toys on our own … more things to put into our mouth
Jessica purchased a “kid friendly” Dora the Explorer pinata – just pull the strings and out come the goodies …
Elsie picked out a disguise … I don’t even know who the little bean is?
Of course there was cake, here’s Emma getting ready …
Sophie’s first cake
It was a great birthday – Emma made a great princess.
It is with great sadness that we learned of Brooke’s passing on September 7th. Brooke was a lifelong mentor for me, an aunt of sorts, and a truly remarkable woman. She loved to travel the world, and we found ourselves in Italy, France, New Zealand and other spots with Brooke and her trusty chinese checkers set which would inevitably have to come out at any family gathering for the “mano a mano” contest for world domination.
I remember many weekends with her at her and Norman’s place on Fire Island, at retreats on Shelter Island, and lunches at the Harvard club (with bouts of Chinese checkers at all of them). Brooke loved champagne, Ouzo and ice with almost everything. Poor waiters would puzzle at her request for a glass of ice to go along with her beer – she was a woman who knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to ask for it. (See Norman)
Brooke, we’ll all miss you.
Here’s Brooke with Greg D in New Zealand last year during the Nelson boy’s school reunion (where Michael went to school). That night we not only had a great deal of fun but also learned about the tragic toll being taken on New Zealand’s male population – the silent epidemic of suicide. Not a funny subject, but enough to make us all wonder what sort of reunion we had walked in on.
We arrived back to colorado this morning and headed up to meet our newest family member, Saffron Eileen Richau. She is to die for! She has a full head of dark hair – and I think she is a perfect combination of her mom and dad!
Here she is snuggled in her double swaddle – good work dad!
Elsie wasn’t too sure about meeting her new cousin – she definitely gave Josh the stare down wondering who this new little bundle was
Amy was in great spirits and looking fabulous after such a long labor – here is the New Richau family
Here’s the little smudgekin out of her swaddle
being cold makes her mad
a little finger from dad will help
As mark and I walked into the hospital I squealed in delight – I am a new auntie!!
She is absolutely perfect! Great Job Josh and Amy (especially Amy for doing all the hard work)!!
