Anniversary (continued)

After checking out all the details of our cottage we broke open our special anniversary gift basket which David and Gianni had prepared for us. It contained some sparkling cider (as close as we want to get to champaign), some great cheezes and a box of delicious chocolates. There were also some fragrant candles which we placed by our porch jacuzzi bath after dinner.

So nice to just relax and have nothing in particular to do but enjoy each other's exclusive company!In front of the fireplace just before dinner...
and the luxurious dining area!The next morning we enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast and being surrounded by all sorts of birds and early morning clouds over the primary forest below.

Check out the new Bird Sanctuary:

There's a whole new display of flutterbys,moths,and weird bugs just outside the new bird sanctuary


Then we investigated the pool area which is open only to the Peace Lodge guests. Here's one of hundreds of artificial stone structures found around the area.And you can choose either hot or cold pools. This is one of the hot onesOf course Julie enjoys the snap of the cold one. Me? No way!!
More to come...

Thirtieth Wedding Anniversary!

Sorry again for all of you who are continually checkin up on the blog and seeing nada!

I've been up to my neck in home inspection work (thank God for that!) plus we're moving all the tools out of the old shop area to a brand new bodega (our old location for the compost shed). So there are workers all over the place and practically the whole family arriving over the next few days as well, which means a lot of preparation for that.

So, them's my eggscuces for the lag in updates.

But I can't hold off any longer in sharing the latest McKinney celebration: our 30th wedding anniversary! We decided to do another once-in-a-lifetime thing and spend a night and a day at our favorite Costa Rican spot, the Waterfall Garden's Peace Lodge. We watched it go up over the years 'til it's now 18 units (in 5 buildings) and always wondered what it would be like to live is sheer luxury for a day! This is the first installment of photos--more to come later...
The lady and I (at home still):
Here's the type of building we were in. (Just to show the outside style and the stonework.)Here's our personalized room. Check out our own sign!The canopy bed and the rocking love seat in front of the fireplace:
Julie loved the stonework, woodwork and metal work everywhere. Each room is named after a particular flutterby. Ours was the Heliconius Erata (see some in the glass case on the mantle). The hand-painted sinks with gold plated hardware, stained glass, wood galore!Here's the entry door to the waterfall shower stall. (You can have hot water pour down over you by the falls or switch to a regular shower nozzle.) "You takes yo pick and pays yo price"
It's way past bedtime and we have a big day tomorrow. I'll post again when I can.

Aria and Sasha Arrive for a Visit

The first of the family has begun to arrive. Aria and Sasha have been here for a few days while James is off on a great adventure with his Boston College class exploring some caves in Mexico.

Of course Mima is in Grandma heaven again with both Sasha and Ela so close!

Here's lil' Sashita having a terrific time harassing Butter Kitty.

... enjoying the early crisp early morning air on the tree swing...
Lil' Sasha Two Shoes! Ain't she Keeeuyuute!Check out this little video clip of Sasha and Mima listening to a great singing group we just discovered.




They're called Natural 7 (in this case they are accompanying Sarah Connors on her great song "Music is the Key"

Sons and Grand Daughters...

David and Ela come over practically every morning to sun themselves out on the porch (while Mom, Gianni, sleeps in). Here's a shot of the two.

Ela's really starting to get a little chubby and more alert every day. She's only a little over one month old.

Visitors Keep Streaming Through...

A few months ago Jenn Scharf was living with us in the apartment downstairs while studying at the nearby University for Peace. Then, while we were traveling around the States, she went home to Canada. Now she's back again to finish up her thesis (in Peace Education) and spent a few days visiting us. She's moved to another part of town now to house sit.

It was great having her back!

Here's a couple of shots with Jaleh, the new pumpy, Barney, and Sassy the kitty:

We also enjoyed a surprise visit from Karen (previously Thurber), her adopted daughter, Alicia, and her husband, John Hines. This is a first for John, who is on vacation from his teaching job in Utah.
Alicia is Costa Rican and was adopted when she was a tiny baby. She left with the Thurbers (we knew Karen, who worked for awhile in the Continental Office with Counselor, Ruth Pringle, and Kingsly when he was working with Jimmy Seals as a recording guru) when she was only one year old! So, the purpose of this visit to CR was to see if it might be possible to find Alicia's biological family, which she has always been promised would be attempted.

The first day here they were amazed to discover that the 17 year old records were still neatly filed away at the Patronato (Child Welfare) office in Alajuela, plus people working in the office actually knew the wherabouts of Alicia's family who live nearby. So, there was a tearful, but joyous, meeting of her mother and half-sister and others very soon after they got here.

Now, they're off to visit more family members in the northern part of the country and to have a couple of days at the beach. Then they all return to Utah.
We hope that Alicia will return sometime soon and hang out with us as well as to polish up her very weak Spanish! Thanks for the visit, guys!

They're Off For Great Adventures!

We had a happy goodbye dinner at our newest restaurant find, El Aguacate. This place is on the old road to Piedades (used to the be main highway from Santa Ana before the "Pista" was built).

The dinner was in honor of Dick and Brenda's journey to visit family in Texas (that would be South America--get it?) during Dick's school vacation time. Plus to wish Anne and Parviz Ighani a farewell too. They are on their way to Uganda to help Linda Godwin with her annual International Service Project. The trip will take them to Dubai enroute, where they'll spend the night in one of those fancy world-renown hotels (without the outrageous expense--they got a deal).

We'll be waiting to hear from both families about their adventures on their return...

Youth at the Feast

We want to show the world our great team of Baha'i youth! This is part of the gang at our house for the last 19 Day Feast celebration. We had a great consultation with these kids about their plans to organize and work in groups with music (hand-made instruments such as the Digeridoo and bongos, etc.) and art based themes. They're really fired up!

On the left with the dreads is Dorian, his brother, Ferisdani Morales, Ronny Matamoros, Geremy and Charloth Morales, Diego "Hoopa" Cascante, and Gerald Morales. (Margie Diaz is with her back to the camera.)