Happy Birthday Samantha!

Hooray! I'm 2!

Welcome to Samantha's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Birthday Party at the Park! Sam invited her closest 16 friends & their mommies to enjoy a day of food, games and fun. With the help of Grandma and Grandpa we survived an afternoon
outnumbered by toddlers.

Come inside,
it's fun inside!

Treat bags are always
the key to a great party!

Mouse ears and tails, what a great idea...
too bad toddlers don't agree.

Tee Time @ 11am.

We started the afternoon off with a quick round of golf.

Ate hot dogs, hot dogs, hot diggity dogs!

Played a game of chasing each other and pulling off their tails.

Fed the ducks. Quack, Quack!

The ducks outnumbered the toddlers!

Happy Birthday Dear Sammie!
Happy Birthday To You!

My attempt at a group shot...

BACK AT HOME WITH FAMILY

Another round

of hotdogs, pasta & cheetos.

Before...

During...

After.

I think we sang the Happy Birthday song about 50 times. Sam was "singing" along with us...she was actually just mouthing the words...HILARIOUS!

And her favorite present of all...

a car!

Thanks to everyone

for celebrating with us!

Yes, We Missed Sammie!

It pains me to not have the Costa Rica blog on top anymore...but we must move on! Sam has gotten really big and says just about everything we ask her to. Tomorrow is her birthday and when asked, she will say she is turning "2." Here are a couple of videos for all the cousins to enjoy.

The rooster and alligator are our favorites.

Sam's favorite word is "juice." I think she likes the way her mouth forms to say it, cuz she also loves to say, "shoes."

Sorry for the nudity, but she wouldn't stop screaming, "I DID IT!"

Costa Rica Did Us Right

Ahhhhhhh.......

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Now that's a vacation!

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I really do not know where to start. As a reminder, our vacation is better than the pictures. We planned everything just right and got lucky with the weather. September is at the heart of rainy season for Costa Rica. Before we left, we checked

the 10 day forecast and it was 60% chance of thunderstorms, everday! We only got caught in it once at the wrong time. Our trip was planned for 9 days, which may seem like a lot, but traveling is a beast to get to where we were going.

Direct flight from Houston to San Jose. 4+ hour drive plus a 1 hour ferry...not to mention, the last hour is along a narrow, bumpy, dirt road. We lost 2 days for traveling right at the get-go.

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We stayed at Sandy Lane Estate...

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which is located in Santa Teresa on the Nicoya Pennisula just North of Mal Pais.

Santa Teresa is a small surfing town that is just awesome.

The town was consistently out of cash, gas & food! What more could you ask for?

We were in true vacation mode, enjoying the beach & pool with books and music.

We planned an activity every other day, so we could really appreciate doing absolutely nothing the next day.

We rented quads...

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to drive an hour to Montezuma...

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to hike to the waterfalls.

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Definitely worth the hike!

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The Costa Rican countryside is best appreciated on a 4 wheeler!
Fishing tour...

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off the coast of Santa Teresa & Mal Pais.

Blake and Nate each caught a Durado (Mahi Mahi), enough to feed us for days!

Ray caught a Baracuda. With all the fresh fish, he created gourmet meals for days!

Canopy Tour...

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Zip-Lining over the tropical forest of Mal Pais.

By far, the most I've ever seen Ray smile!

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And yes, he is upside-down in this picture!

We spent time on the beach, every morning and every night...

surfing and boogie-board'n...

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Really, we just got a lot of pictures that help us appear to be surfing.

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No one ever got up.

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In fact, the only thing we have to show for our surfing is my crazy ear infection & after Ray's nasty spill,

his MRI is TBD.

No, I'm not kidding.

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Michelle and I spent an afternoon at a yoga class and getting a massage at the Flor Blanca (a small boutique 'hotel' just down the beach).

Is there any doubt?

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Nope! This is the perfect vacation.

The Best Vacation Ever

Costa Rica cannot be beat.

We dare not try.

UNAVAILABLE

We regret to inform all family & friends that we will be completely unavailable for the next 9 days.

NO work, NO errands, NO cleaning, NO kids!

If you're curious as to where we are going,

click on the link below.

http://www.sandylaneestate.com/

Yes, we are really going there!

And YES, I'm going to miss Samantha :(

even though she peed on me...yesterday AND today! Geez!

Shake Your Sillies Out

This is why we LOVE library storytime!

Afterwards, we wander through the books

and play with the toys.

Mom, I'm ready for my closeup!

Hurricane IKE

We have survived Ike. We were prepared for the worst and luckily the Katy area did not get hit too hard. Ike came through in the middle of the night. The winds and rain were loud, but if it had been during the day, it would have been a bit scarier to see. My family all came over to stay the night, so we were up late eating and watching movies and the 24 hour news. There are parts of town that look worse than others, but we can't complain. The power was out from about 3am-12noon on Saturday. Sammie got to sleep with us.

We have a lot of friends and coworkers that are still without power and water, so we feel really fortunate. My Dad and Michelle work downtown, which has been closed to the public...so they were off work from Thursday afternoon and were back to work Wednesday. Blake had to go back on Tuesday. Schools are closed all week.

Here is the 'damage' to our house.

Just a few shingles missing...at least it wasn't the roof itself!

The gate blew in the wrong direction and knocked the handles off.
And my flowers got overblown.

My parents live about 20 minutes away, directly west of downtown. Their neighborhood got hit pretty hard. This is a picture of their backyard. The tree branches were resting on the windows and luckily did not break through and damage inside.