The Wheels on the Bus

Our morning here starts at 5:00 AM, when Landon greets the morning to chase birds. I smirk as I hear his alarm go off and then sleep for another 40 minutes, at which time I turn on the lights and music in hopes that the kids will gradually wake up on their own. This only works for Tristan, however, and then I need to stop getting myself ready to hold him for his 3 minute post-sleep decompression time. Chloe's up next and is sweet-tempered as long as I agree to dress her while she lies down on her bed for an extra few minutes. At 6:15 I'm finally able to coax/bribe/threaten (in that order) Joss out of bed and throw her uniform on her while she insists she's too sick or too cold to leave her bed. At 6:30 we all run to the bus stop, with Logan's bum bouncing in a squishy, over-night diaper in the Baby Bjorn.

After the 15 minutes ride into town, all 5 of us drop Joss off at her school next to the city park. Then we spend 25 minutes playing at the park (and I change Logan's diaper during this time) before we walk to the preschool. At 7:30 they open their doors and I drop off Tristan and Chloe. Logan and I kill 40 minutes and then catch the 8:08 bus back to the CATIE entrance. The final leg of our journey is walking from the main entrance to our apartment, which takes 10 minutes.

After this 2 hour excursion, Logan and I have 2.5 hours all to ourselves before Tristan and Chloe get home at 11:00 (I hired a private student transportation company to bring them home, which is pricey. But who can put a price on sanity?) Then we all walk to the entrance around 1:10 and wait for the 1:30 bus, get off and walk to Joss' school, pick her up and then wait 45 minutes for the bus home.

The good news: we bought a minivan on Monday.
The bad news: we can't get driver's licenses until we get our visas.



The Logan Fan Club



A vendor hustling his wares in the city park. He blows bubbles for the kids until I feel guilted into buying something. It's an effective strategy.



The kids chasing the salesman's bubbles at the park. I had to buy 2 coloring books 10 minutes later.



This is the local health center where I took Chloe after she sprained her wrist falling off the slide. After 3 days of complaining, I took her in to get an X-ray. I won't bore you with details, but just know it took 3 hours of waiting on Wednesday and then going back on Thursday before it was all finished. This involved being sent to the hospital, where we were informed the X-ray machine was broken. When I asked for a drinking fountain, I was given a disposable cup and sent to a bathroom. Amazingly, the water wasn't working in the building I was sent to. I decided on the spot to never become critically ill or injured in Costa Rica without buying private insurance.

The good: comprehensive health coverage (Rx's, vision, and dental included) for the entire family at $60 a month

The bad: long waits and an old hospital

The ugly: my attitude after waiting 3 hours with a baby strapped to my chest and an antsy toddler at my side.



The family at an ice cream shop. I don't normally bring ice cream home from my shopping trips due to the combination of tropical heat and long bus rides, so we all go into town on Saturdays and get a cone.