Shaving

Random Amelia

AMELIA: (Watching a woman pull a wheeled suitcase down the sidewalk) "Where is she going?"

ME: "I don't know, maybe she's going on a trip. "

AMELIA: "Maybe. Or maybe she's going into the forest to pick two watermelons!"

***
AMELIA: (As I'm pulling her out of the bathtub) "Thanks for rescuing me Mr. Owl!!"

***
AMELIA: "Mommy I'm not a little girl anymore. I'm a little boy, and my name is Gino. This -- (referring to the purse which she has taken off her shoulder and slung across her chest -- "is not a purse, it's a satchel!"

Back To The Routine

Monday morning gymnastics!

Hello Kitty Tattoos

Where's The Beef??

I don't know why we bother getting Amelia a hamburger when we go out, this is what she has done two times in a row now...

Date Day With Charlie

Charlie and I had a nice day to ourselves today, with Amelia in school and Mike at work. We sampled Pinkberry's new location at South Station on our way to the Children's Museum, which Charlie enjoyed having the run of, unhampered by his little sister.

Here he is enjoying his Pinkberry at South Station....

Independence

Clipping her own toenails, now that's independence :-)

Valentine's Day...

Mexican style, and with no babysitter :-)

Valentine From Charlie

Charlie came home with a Valentine's Card for me today:
For those of you who can't read Charlie's misspelled chicken scratch it says, "Dear Mom I love you. You make the best dinner ever. Always love Charlie."

Aww thanks honey! But I think you have my dinners confused with someone else's...

And... We're Back!

As you can tell from the mounds of snow :-)

Doesn't Quite Get The Hang Of Her Neck Pillow

(Or as she calls it, her "headphone pillow")

Palo Verde

Here are some pictures from our last adventure in Costa Rica, a river cruise in Palo Verde national park. We saw white faced capuchins, spider monkeys, tons of crocodiles and iguanas and even the elusive red macaw, which we did not get to see the last time we were in Costa Rica. So sad to be going home to the frozen North East tomorrow!!

Beach And Pool Day

This morning we took the kids down to the beach and then spent the afternoon by the pool. Amelia thoroughly enjoyed the beach, giving herself quite a mud bath in the black volcanic sand while Charlie collected shells and played in the water.

Tomorrow -- our last day in Costa Rica!! -- we are going on a boat cruise in search of monkeys, crocodiles, and as Charlie hopes, a few boa constrictors.

Here are some pictures from today:

Happy 70th Birthday Dad!

We had an amazing dinner at the Four Seasons this evening in honor of Dad's 70th birthday; the views driving in were spectacular and the food was delicious.
Charlie ordered the roasted grouper with thyme and garlic from the adult menu, licked his plate clean and told our waiter that it was the best dinner he ever had and the fanciest restaurant he had ever been to. This earned him an invitation to see the kitchen and meet the chef, an honor which none of the rest of us can say we ever had... I of course handed my phone to the waiter as he was leading him out so he could get some pictures ;-)

Here are some pictures from the evening, including some spectacular sunsets as we were driving in, all of us together before dinner, and Charlie with one of the chefs in the kitchen:

Second Fishing Trip

Dad and Mike went fishing today for Dad's birthday; their trip involved a lot of fish that got away at the last minute but they did snag this large barracuda and this tiny tuna! Sure beats shoveling snow at home, anyway!

Costa Rican Petting Zoo

This morning while Mike & Dad were on their fishing trip I took the kids to a petting zoo where the animals were way more interesting than petting zoos at home. The kids got to hold a spider monkey, a turtle, a parrot and a baby boa constrictor and Charlie got to see lots of Costa Rica's native snakes behind glass. Here are some pictures:

Snorkeling

Charlie, Grandma, Grandpa and I had a fantastic time snorkeling today! It was Charlie's first time snorkeling and I was worried that he wouldn't get the hang of breathing through the snorkel apparatus but he caught on just fine and did great.

We saw lots of fish including a sting ray and several types of puffer fish; our guide was super and dove down and retrieved a spiny puffer fish and a blue spotted puffer fish for us to pet. The blue spotted puffer fish he actually brought all the way back to the boat for us so that I could get pictures of Charlie chasing around after the puffer fish in the shallow water, holding it, and generally making its life miserable until we finally let it escape into deeper water.

Here are some pictures from the trip!