It's Gettin Hot in Here

It's Saturday about noon here. I've been up since about 7am since Boyfriend had to be ready for Bob to pick him up at 7:30 for their one night trip to Queensland. I've been very productive and have called my Mom for our weekly chat, done laundry, and laid out for about 10 minutes. I couldn't stay out there any longer, it was too hot and I was sweating already! Boyfriend sat out for about 30 on Thursday and he got burnt enough so that it is still red two days later.

It has been beautiful summer weather through the day here, but at night it gets cold and it gets cold fast. On Thursday night I went out back to try and see a huge possum that had just jumped between the roof of our house and our laundry room roof and I could see my breath and it was only 6:30!

Tomorrow I've been invited to go 4 Wheel Driving at Stockton (or as we all call it now thanks to Croc's nephew: The Big Sand) with Croc, the Teacher, the Soccer Player and the Hairdresser. We are leaving here before 8 and then will pick Boyfriend up at around 12:30 from one of the parking lots because he is flying in to the Newcastle airport and it is only about a 10 minute drive from there out to the sand dunes. It should be another fun day, but it's supposed to maybe get in to the 80s tomorrow so that sand is going to be hot, hot, hot! I'm bringing hats, sunscreen, and plenty of water. Hopefully going tomorrow will motivate Boyfriend to finally upload those pictures from our last trip there so that I can finally post them for you guys here.

Hope you guys have a great weekend!

As a sidenote: I didn't hear one mention of Sept. 11 here yesterday which seems kind of sad, like the whole world has forgotten already, but I guess life goes on and if it's not your own country that was effected maybe it's easy to forget? Do we, as Americans, do anything to remember the Boxing Day Tsunami? Or China's Earthquake? Or the anniversary of the start of the Genocide in Rwanda? When put in that context, I understand why yesterday was just another day here; there are enough tragedies that have happened in our world that we would probably have to have a rememberance day for some event every day of the year. But as an American yesterday/today home time is one of those days out of the year where I was personally effected in some way by the event so I take time out to remember and reflect on that tragedy. On the anniversary of the tsunami, earthquake, and start of the genocide people in other countries are remembering how they were effected then, and in a sense, even if it's not on the same day, we are all connected by our loss and by our hope for peace.

Last Night I Dreamt You Called...Part 2

Upon waking up, we looked out to a beautiful rainforest area.  We had heard some scratching on our roof and looked up to see iguanas!  We also heard the gorilla noises and went to investigate...turns out there were howler monkeys in the trees- they have one of the loudest calls in the world I think I have read.  We had eggs and toast and fresh juice for breakfast everyday included with the price of the room and a revolving assortment of dinners was also part of the price...I think it was something like $35 a person per day...maybe $45 (http://www.amerisol.com/costarica/lasolas/index.html).  

So after breakfast we went walking through the mangrove forest down to the beach.  It was beautiful and white sand beaches stretching to the left and right of us.  We got out in the water for a surf and it was some of the warmest water I had ever been in.  After paddling for a bit, you'd be sweating.  I made sure to always have sunscreen on and I kept chapstick with sunscreen in my boardie pockets because I've got a big Bubba lower lip that tends to burn and get nasty really easily.  The water was clear, the waves were good, and the only crowd was us. We would surf, then explore, then eat, then surf, then rest, then surf, then have dinner and pretty early to bed.  Some of the boys weren't keeping up with their sunscreen applications and B. King loved the tan he was getting, every night he would come in and ask if I could put aloe on his back so the tan would last longer.

The second night we were there Mr. G said that if we wanted to, for extra money, we could sign up for a boat trip out to Witch's Rock (in the picture), but there could only be about 5 people per trip and it'd be about $50-$60 U.S. to go.  I didn't want to go as I hadn't liked jumping off a boat to surf the year before when we had gone to the Channel Islands, plus I thought the surf was fun enough for free where we were.

Everyday was perfect...weather wise and surf wise.  Photo Larry was getting some great shots of the boys and I was doing a lot of taping for our annual surf team video.  When I wasn't surfing or filming, I was hanging in the hammock or collecting shells on the beach, or bodysurfing, or hanging out with Mom and Sally, or laying out.  One day, as I was sitting in the shade between surfs a huge iguana came and stood on Nae's surf board and we had a bit of a shell near us and it dove towards the shell and we screamed thinking it was coming for us.  It didn't like the shell and ran away after I got some cool photos of it on the board.  The boys decided to have a play with the wildlife...one kept a gecko as his pet for the whole time we were there and there was one day where they caught a tarantula and a scorpion and made them fight to the death...I'm pretty sure the scorpion won after stinging the tarantula repeatedly.  The tarantula wasn't the only thing to be stung repeatedly.  Not once, but twice, B. King got stung in his room, his tongue even went numb for awhile (not a good sign) and one morning while we were out surfing Mom got stung on the bum as she got out of the shower and dried herself off (the scorpion had crawled on to the towel).  Our room was adjoined to B. King's and they found a scorpion nest in their bathroom or something so no wonder people from both rooms were getting stung.  I'm glad I didn't!

One day we did a drive in to the local town called Tamarindo I think it was just me, Mom and Sally or me, Mom, and Nae (+ Sally?  I'm amazed out how awful my memory is) and we got stuck behind guys on horses herding cattle.  It was cool to have them come out of nowhere and surround the car.  The town, I thought, was pretty jankity and for being such a famous surf spot, it was pretty flat while our beach was still pumping out some decent surf.  But we did get an ice cream and a few souvenirs and got to explore for awhile so it was worth it.

Halfway through the trip John Wayne's Grandson was painfully sunburned-the worst I had ever seen and have ever seen to this day.  His face was red and the worst of it was just at the top of his butt crack.  I'm pretty sure he wore a rash guard each day and of course board shorts, but there must have been a gap between the two.  It was so bad it bubbled.  Then the older boys got the brilliant idea to harass the younger boys; they must have been hanging around their rooms or something.  We all had duck tape with us to bubble wrap our boards for the journey home. They decided to duck tape J.W.'s Grandson to a tree!  He was a tough kid so I don't remember him crying as he tried to pry himself loose, but it must have been excruciating.

One or two groups had already been out to Witch's Rock and to another famous spot, Ollie's Point, without a lot of luck.  The next day, the final group would go out:  Bran, his random friend, Dick, the Nice Guy, Overindulged Asshole, and Doug as chaperone and driver.  That night after dinner Bran, friend, and O.A. tell the rest of the group that they don't feel like going anymore, bad luck to the guys who still wanted to go, and that's when the drama started!!