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!

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…

more to come …

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 …

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).

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!

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

• A typical Day Guide – a schedule overview
• Going out checklist – What to pack in the diaper bag
• Food Guide – What food is in the freezer
• Troubleshooting – tips and tricks if you encounter a bump
• Extras – looking for a binky, bloanket or wipes…
• Fun things to practice Here are two sample pages.

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!

and here are some photos of Elsie Lane (also wearing her new Puma’s in honor of Sarah Herman)

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.

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.

NY Times Obituary

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)!!