BOAT OR CAR?

We have lived here in Costa Rica for almost three years without a car. I have not had the desire to get one, but the baby is making a fuss. Of course that changes everything verdad? The other day we got ready to ride the bus to her sisters house and she threw a fit. She wanted to get a taxi! Then she asked me when we were going to get a car. I told her we don't need a car, it is just a lot of trouble and I like having someone else drive me around. She did not buy this and is still determined that it is time for us to buy a car.

Now my question is should we really buy a car or should we think about a boat? My hubby loves to go to the beach and fish with the son in law. They would spend many happy hours fishing and maybe even bring home some food, if they got really lucky.

That would make much more sense to me than a car. We can take a taxi or bus anywhere, with a relatively small amount of inconvenience. Having sold four cars when we left the states I am in no hurry to go and purchase another one. If we feel a real need for a car we can rent one for a few days and get our fix of driving around. In fact we will be renting a car next week to go celebrate our 30th anniversary at Arenal.

Without a car we have no worries, except of course getting to the bus in time! Baby drew a picture for school a couple of weeks ago. It was a bus with people on it. In the background was us running to try and catch the bus! Pretty common site to be sure.

THERE ARE NO ACCIDENTS

I just love it when we meet people and I try to figure out the reason for meeting that particular person. This happened to us a few weeks ago. My daughter and her hubby had left our house late one night to get the bus for home with the babies. They were waiting and waiting. There was one other girl at the bus stop who looked Chinese. Rebekah asked her if she was Chinese and found out she spoke English. They hit it off well and have been talking and visiting since then.

Tonight they invited her family over when we were there. It was so wonderful to see this girl, who by the way is Taiwanese not Chinese, hit if off with our daughter. We are always concerned that she will not feel like there is anyone else in the world who looks like her. Now that she is becoming aware of the fact that she looks different it was great to see her connect with someone who looks like her.

We took a great picture of Maleah sitting with her family looking much more like them than she does like us! Now that I have spent a couple of years being a minority myself I can certainly relate to the great feeling when I see another blue eyed person walking around. Kind of takes the heat off, if you know what I mean.

Next week we will be going to their house for sushi, I will make sure to take lots of pictures and include them.

TRANSPORTER

One of my favorite action movies is "Transporter". That guy is so hot and he did an awesome job in the fight scenes. Anyway the reason it comes to mind is because I have done a really bad job of transporting people the past couple of days.

Yesterday I had the idea to have Rick get a buddy pass from my brother the pilot so that he could go to a seminar for his business, Liberty League. I felt bad that he has ended up spending about 20 hrs. in airports the past two days.

The best part of course was the earthquake while being at the airport, but that just kind of broke up the monotony for him. I still thought it would of been great since he was at the counter being told he could not get a seat when it hit if he had acted like he was putting a voodoo spell on them or something, would of been a scream.

At any rate after two days he is half way there and if he makes it will be late for his seminar. Oh well live an learn. In the meantime I am trying to get our student here from Guatamala. He has been there studying spanish and was bussing it here for classes to begin on Monday. When I talked to him I asked him to tell the bus driver to drop him off at the airport instead of taking him all the way into the city.

He told the bus driver that as they left Nicaragua and the bus driver dropped him in Liberia, which is about 4 hrs. from us. In all fairness there is a small airport there also. He called us and said he was there and would take a taxi to the school. We told him yeah for 200.00 he would. About 8 hours later he finally arrived on what he called the slowest bus on the planet. Poor guy!

Needless to say I have been fired as the transporter and we will just hire my son-in-law to do this job. He is the hero who went and fetched everyone anyway.

MORE THANKS

Today was a beautiful Pura Vida day in Costa Rica. The closer we get to summer the more I remember why we moved here. Maleah was able to get in some good practise on her bike and should have it down by the end of the week.

On the bus to Alajuela today a guy was trying to sell hi5 cd's to help kids learn english. Rick and I were alone as we were going out to eat at my favorite mexican restaurant. He just walked right by us and did not even try and sell us one. I told Rick it is because we look too old to be parents of a youngster. That was painful.

We have been asked at the grocery store if she is our grand daughter before. That is kind of weird because it is not like she would look anymore like one of our kids. She gets a kick out of it when people ask if we are her grandparents. It all goes back to the age old question of which is better old parents or young parents.

I believe both have their advantages and disadvantages. I love to hang out and just read and write with Maleah. Now teaching her to ride her bike is quite another matter. Makes my back hurt pushing that thing all over the neighborhood. With my older kids it was the opposite. I took them on all kinds of grueling hikes, bikes and runs. We did spend time reading and writing, but I took more enjoyment out of the outdoor things. The ongoing debate for sure.