Vacaciones

Sarah: These past two weeks we spent in the good ol' US of A visiting family for our summer break. Instead of going to Iowa this year, we flew straight to Denver to meet up with my family in Estes Park. The whole gang came - my parents, my younger sisters Katie and Rachel, and my older sister Emily, her husband Greg, her stepson Hunter, and their son Ash. We had a great time all hanging out together, playing with the babies and spending time in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Highlights of the week include (but are not limited to):
~A short beautiful hike in RMNP to Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, and Dream Lake
~Horseback riding in RMNP through Moraine Park
~Ice cream at the Y-Camp
~Church service with large windows showing the beautiful mountains
~A drive up Trail Ridge Road
~Seeing lots of elk and deer
~Watching a coyote
~A beautiful long hike in RMNP past Alberta Falls, to The Loch, and a long (but beautiful) journey back
~Evenings driving around RMNP looking for wildlife
~Cinnamon rolls at Glen Haven
~Whitewater rafting the Poudre River
~The little creatures - chipmunks, pika, marmots
~Time with family!

And some pictures from the first week:

At Bear Lake

An elk up on Trail Ridge Road

Emily and Ash and Adele and me on Trail Ridge Road
Professional family pictures taken at the Y-Camp
Ash and Adele chilling in the grass
The hiking crew at The Loch

The second week we spent with the Hilles, also for their family vacation. We spent the entire week up at a cabin they rent right on a lake near Spokane, Washington. It was a week full of relaxation, naps, being entertained by many kids, and swimming in the lake when the weather and water warmed up a bit. David's parents were there, along with David's sister Jordan, husband Rusty, kids Gracelyn, Gabriel, and Benjamin (and another baby on the way!). David's sister Jenna was able to come over from Montana and hang out with us for our last night.

Highlights from the week include (but are not limited to):
~Fireworks for the 4th of July over the lake
~Cooking hotdogs over the fire pit near the lake (and s'mores)
~The 4th of July boat parade
~Huckleberry smoothies
~David's nature hikes with Gracelyn and Gabriel
~Walking to get ice cream
~Visits from Aunt Karen, Mort and Terry, Aunt Dian and Uncle Laurence
~Watching the sky change colors over the lake in the evenings
~Observing Adele get smothered by 3 cousins who desperately wanted to hold her and play with her every waking moment
~Eating dinners out on the deck in the warm evenings
~Horseshoes and croquet
~Swimming in the lake (or barely getting in for some of us wimps who can't handle cold water)
~Family time!

And some pictures from the second week:

Gracelyn and Adele having a conversation

Adele crawling with Benjamin cheering her on

David throwing Gabriel up in the air

David, Gracelyn, and Gabriel recording what they saw on their nature hike

Hanging out on the raft in the lake

In the (cold) lake

7 months

Sarah: Adele is 7 months today! She is so much fun and we are loving our time with her. Here is a little insight on her personality:

What Adele Likes:
-BOUNCING. Non-stop. (A good arm workout for Mom and Dad!)
-Looking at herself in the mirror
-Drinking out of glasses
-Dancing
-Being tickled by Daddy
-Watching hummingbirds
-Eating grass and dirt
-Animals, especially dogs
-Little kids
-Using her two bottom teeth to bite
-Hanging upside down
-Sleeping with Mom
-Trying to sneak in some taps on the computer keyboard
-Eating her feet
-Stuffed animals, especially those that make sounds
-Finding food that's spilled and rubbing it all over the table
-Splashing in the pool
-Being naked
-Sitting on Mom's lap while being entertained by Daddy

What Adele Doesn't Like:
-Getting dressed
-Sleeping by herself
-Sitting still
-Any pacifier other than her old one that now has a hole in it
-Riding in her car seat for too long
-Getting shots
-Getting flicked when she bites while nursing
-When dogs don't pay attention to her

And some pictures from the last month:

Full circle

Sarah: Now that we are finished with the semester program, we have been working on finishing up other projects. One of those has been painting the building. We did not paint it, but hired some local guys to paint both the inside and outside. The outside went smoothly, and they were actually able to finish that before the semester even ended. We waited to have them start the inside until we had no groups here so we could be free to move all of the furniture out of the room they were painting at the time. The upstairs went easy, and we put everything back together within a matter of a couple days. The downstairs was quite a bit more difficult, as it took us a long time to even stay ahead of the painters by tearing apart a room. Thankfully, Ana was a big help, and she basically took care of our whole apartment for us - taking it apart AND putting it back together. That woman sure likes to organize!

The lab and storage were the most difficult to take apart, and we found quickly that the lab was FULL of stuff in the middle of the room. It reminded us of our first month here at QERC...

When we first arrived to this job almost 4 years ago, most everything was disorganized and a mess, and we took it upon ourselves to go through the lab and storage to try to make some sense of it. It took weeks, but after pulling everything out and going through it all, we found a home for every piece of equipment. We find ourselves finishing up our time similar to the way we started, having come full circle. Here is a picture from 4 years ago, and a picture from a few days ago:










On a separate note, this past weekend brought some more visitors for us. We hosted a group from Pitzer College, and also welcomed back NNU professor Dr. John Cossel. Along with John came his daughter Jessie, and 2 researchers - one of them being a former student of ours, Kyle Luthman. It was great to spend time reconnecting with Kyle, and we we enjoyed having the whole NNU group here for a few days of hanging out.

Hilles in the House

Sarah: This past week we have had the pleasure of hanging out and traveling with David's parents, younger sister Jenna, and her friend Ashley. The Hilles wanted to take advantage of visiting us one last time before we no longer live in Costa Rica, so this time we planned an adventure down on the Osa Peninsula. All pictures on this blog are from the Osa.

Adele warmed up to Nana the first morning, when she dug into a suitcase full of her new 6-9 month clothes and toys. Adele was the excited "kid-in-the-candy-store" and found that she just didn't have enough hands to hold onto everything that she wanted to at the same time! After a morning in the city, we headed out to QERC and enjoyed a couple of rainy days, complete with a hike to the waterfall in some pouring rain.

Though our time at QERC was short at the beginning of the trip, we were eager to get on with the adventure and head down to the tip of the Osa Peninsula. David had found a good deal on renting a house for 4 nights; however, after a long day of driving, ending with some rough and bumpy roads to the middle of nowhere, we were all a little skeptical of what we'd find at our final destination. We were all completely blown away at the sight that awaited us. The house was incredible, sitting on a cliff that overlooked the ocean, decorated with beautiful art, a pool at the edge of the cliff, and an amazing layout with complete open air that felt like we were outside even when we were inside the living room. There were two bedrooms, each with an outdoor shower, lined with beautiful tiles and rockwork and lights for a nice way to cool down in the evening. Jenna and Ashley stayed in the main part of the house, in a loft that overlooked the living room, pool, and ocean.

Our first day there was fairly rainy, but it didn't matter as we woke up to the wonderful sounds of howler monkeys, scarlet macaws, and toucans right outside our windows. We got up to find black-and-green poison dart frogs hopping along our driveway and knew we were in a good place. We spent a lot of the day lounging around, taking turns bouncing Adele (her new favorite way to spend time), and watching the birds and monkeys that would travel in the forests around the house. In the afternoon we went for a walk on the road through the forest, where we saw more monkeys and even a baby coral snake!

For meals, with the exception of the first night, we took advantage of the option of having the local caretaker's wife cook for us, and she made us a feast at every meal. It was good Costa Rican cuisine! The first night we went to the nearby hotel and had a very fancy meal to celebrate Jenna's birthday.

Our second day was nicer weather and we jumped on the chance to walk down the path to the beach. We added a sloth and an agouti to our animal list, and enjoyed some time walking along the beach. Our third day was even nicer weather, and Ashley tried her hand at surfing while David and his mom and Adele and I walked to a small waterfall. We also got lots of pool time in with the hot sunny weather.

Adele did great with the traveling and even got to a point where she was fairly used to her car seat. She still preferred being with me, but if I was able to leave her happy with others, she hardly missed me while I was out of sight. She always woke up happy and enjoyed spending time with Nana and Popa first thing in the mornings.

We headed back to QERC last Saturday and spent one last evening together before Jenna and Ashley traveled into San Jose very early Sunday morning to return to the states. The rest of us had 2 more full days at QERC, where David enlisted the help of his parents to put in some manual labor in the nursery. It was a great way to spend time together and get some more things finished up around QERC. We had to say goodbye to the Hilles on Tuesday morning, but were thankful for such a nice vacation with them!

Half year!

Sarah: Happy half birthday to our sweet Adele Marie! This past month she seemed to grow up fast and seems more like a toddler in many ways than or small baby!

Highlights from the past month:
~1 new (sharp) tooth
~a second tooth just about to break through
~Just beginning to eat solid foods (loving the avocado!)
~Moving around a lot in her walker
~The few hairs she has are starting to get longer
~First time in the ocean
~First time in the swimming pool, which she loved!
~Loves catching the attention of strangers and smiling at them
~Loves when people sing to her
~Laughs hysterically when Daddy dances for her
~First unscheduled trip to the doctor (just a mild respiratory infection)
~Still loves those hummingbirds
~(Mostly) sitting up on her own
~Loves to suck on her feet

Some of our favorite pictures from the past month (see facebook for even more):

The end of good things...

Sarah: Well our semester program has officially finished. Except for the paperwork and cleaning up and evaluations and documenting suggested changes for next year. :)

The rest of April flew past us, as we had activities like the river clean-up day, a day to restock the QERC reforestation nursery, a day of interactions and games with the local Costa Rican English teachers, and with visits from professors Dennis Siegfried (to teach Ornithology) and Frank Johnson (for his second trip, to do a Spanish evaluation of the students). The students were as busy as ever, trying to soak up their last moments in Costa Rica and making final memories. They were a great group and everyone seemed very on top of their work this year. We ended our time with them at QERC with some movie nights, game nights, and of course, their presentation nights. We split the group into 2 this year and invited the whole community to join us for listening to them present their research projects. We had a decent turn out both nights, and the students did great informing those present about what they had been working on all semester.

After presentations, things were truly finished at QERC, and professor Bob Lively came down to see us through presentations and our debriefing/reentry retreat with the students. We love having him come down and participate with us and share in the excitement from the semester and offer his insight and advice to the students as they prepare to return to the U.S. We held our retreat at the beautiful location of Arenal Volcano and enjoyed watching the volcano spit lava rocks all night long. We also took advantage of the location and did some hiking, and Adele tried out her swimming legs. We had great discussions with the students and they were able to reflect and process their experiences extremely well. It's such a fun time of sharing memories and seeing the full impact of this study abroad experience.

And finally, after one last night in San Jose, we said a sad goodbye to the students. It's always a sad realization that our students, who have become our friends over the course of 4 months, leave us to head back to their lives in the U.S. It was especially sad for Adele, who will miss having them to entertain her here at QERC!

David and I spent a night with Trevor and Laura in San Jose before they left Costa Rica for the entire summer, and then we renewed our visas before heading back to an empty building. However, it doesn't seem like our lives have slowed down too much with the program being over. Besides the wrap up from the semester, we are welcoming a variety of groups and researchers over the next few months that we are preparing for!

AND...David and I notified the people at SNU a while ago that we will not be staying on for another full year at QERC. We are excited for what awaits us in the States, though we have no set plans yet. We are now in the process of looking for replacements for us to begin sometime this fall. If there is anyone who is interested in this job, or if anyone who reads this knows of anyone who might be interested in the job, please please please have them contact us! You can find the job description at www.snu.edu/qerc-field-manager.

Reflections

Sarah: Reaching the 30-year old mark is a crazy milestone. I've thought about my 20s a lot recently and realized how much happened in these 10 years. So to say goodbye to my 20s, here is my list of 20 (big) things that happened in the last decade of my life:

1. Graduation from Northwestern College in Orange City, IA, with a major in Spanish, minors in Cultural Anthropology and Religion, a Career Concentration in missions, and a Coaching Endorsement
2. 1 month spent in Taiwan
3. 1 summer spent in Brazil
4. 1 semester spent studying in Costa Rica, with trips to Nicaragua and Guatemala, through the Latin American Studies Program
5. Meeting the love of my life while studying abroad
6. 2 years teaching high school Spanish at Iowa Christian Academy
7. 2 years teaching 5th and 6th graders Environmental Education at Mission Springs Outdoor Education, outside of Santa Cruz, CA
8. Playing varsity volleyball in college
9. Leading 2 mission trips to Brazil and one to Mexico
10. The purchase of our first house - a rental home in Spokane, WA
11. Coaching junior high basketball and volleyball, JV volleyball, and helping out with varsity volleyball and basketball at Iowa Christian Academy
12. Buying my first car - a Saturn Ion
13. Getting married to my best friend, David Charles Hille
14. Giving birth to my beautiful daughter, Adele Marie
15. A tattoo with my sisters
16. Becoming an aunt to my niece Gracelyn, and nephews Gabriel, Benjamin, and Asher
17. My first cell phone and first laptop computer
18. Getting my braces off
19. More trips to Brazil (with stops in Argentina and Paraguay), more trips to Nicaragua and Guatemala (with a stop in Honduras) and a trip to Panama
20. Moving to Costa Rica to work as Field Station Managers at the Quetzal Education Research Center

Here's hoping my 30s are just as good!

Cinco Meses!

Sarah: Adele has now reached the 5-month mark! Sure seems like she's in a hurry to grow up these days. She wants to be doing everything mom and dad do, and thinks she can drink out of a glass, talk on the phone, take medicine from a spoon. Here are some highlights from the past month:

~Adele rolled over for the first time! (causing the need for closer watchful eyes...)
~Has found her LOUD voice and went through days of extremely noisy chatter
~Prefers to be with mommy but watch daddy all day and smile huge when he looks at her
~Lots more giggling and laughing
~Prefers to be outside and loves to watch the hummingbirds
~Sleeping by herself all night in her crib (a few nights only...but those were encouraging nights!)
~Loves trying out her sippy cup with water and a very small amount of juice
~No solid foods yet, but she likes to lick our fingers after a meal
~Enjoys trying to suck the juice out of cantaloupe and watermelon
~A doctor's visit - 70th% weight, 95th% height (which explains why sh's growing out of her 3-6 month clothes...)
~2 shots, followed by a day and a half of fever and clingyness to mom
~A new found love for being naked
~No teeth yet, but a high increase in drool and frantic behavior to put everything in her mouth
~A new love for dancing with the students
~Has learned how to give slobbery face kisses to mom and dad

Here are some pictures from the last month:

Quetzal Jubilee

Sarah: Arizona State University has been working on a project called The Transcendent Icon: The Resplendent Quetzal for years. It's a multi-disciplinary approach with the purpose of collecting information about the quetzal in the context of history, religion, science, politics, and art. The overall goal is to connect interested parties so there is good networking for conservation work. This year, ASU is holding a quetzal conference called the Quetzal Jubilee in Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama. The Costa Rica portion of the Jubilee was divided into two parts: one in San Jose at the University of Costa Rica, and the second at QERC.

David went to San Jose to participate in that part of the Jubilee, and he also gave a presentation about the research and education taking place at QERC in the name of quetzal conservation. He really enjoyed presenting, and it was a great opportunity to network with professionals within Costa Rica.

At QERC, the conference lasted all day Saturday with a variety of guest speakers and participants. We had a number of members from our community and guests from around Costa Rica show up. Presenters included Leo Finkenbinder, the original founder and director of QERC; Maarten Kappelle, director of The Nature Conservancy for all of Central America and the Caribbean and expert on montane oak forests; and Arsenio Arguero, director of Los Quetzales National Park. ASU also presented a video about their project. It was a great day and fun to host the event at our facility. It was good to connect with people and share ideas that will hopefully develop into better communication and more collaborations in the future.

Touring Costa Rica

Sarah: David continues to be extremely busy, so I'll do the reporting for him. For 3 weeks, David took our crew of 10 students and teamed up with the Latin American Studies Program with their professor Trevor, 3 LASP students, and our former boss from California, Scott Smithson, who also served as a professor. The entire group traveled together on an ecological and sustainability tour of Costa Rica. This is easily (and obviously) one of the major highlights of the whole semester for our students. It doesn't come without work though; all of them would agree that the 3 weeks are strenuous both physically and educationally and with little sleep. Yet again - totally worth it!

The group started off their travels by heading to Earth University, where they learned that the mission of the university is to equip their students with the knowledge of sustainable agriculture and environmentally-friendly practices. The university is open to all countries in a tropical setting. From there, the group headed to La Fortuna, where Arenal Volcano is located. Naturally, they studied volcanology and were excited that they had incredible views of the volcano (see picture) and were able to see plenty of lava rocks rolling down the volcano during the night. Here they also had a close encounter with an eyelash pit viper (next picture), and many were very excited about that. :)

From La Fortuna, they traveled to Palo Verde National Park to study the dry forest. While everyone was skeptical showing up to an incredibly hot, dry location, they were reluctant to leave in the end because of all the wildlife they saw - agoutis, howler monkeys, white-faced cappuchins, deer, crocodiles, anteaters, and jabirus (the largest stork in the world). The first week of the trip wrapped up with a couple of nights in Ostional, where they studied sea turtles nesting on the beautiful beach and all got to see this process in action.

After a night in San Jose for a chance to take their first test, the group headed out here to QERC to study cloud forests. They got some great looks at quetzals (picture) and our students in particular enjoyed being "home" for a few nights. (I was personally happy to have David back for a short time - Adele is good company, but I also like to have some 2-way conversations once in a while!) During their time in the cloud forest, the group hiked over to the next valley over and spent some time with our friends, a family who runs a large organic farm. The group harvested bananas, helped in the coffee-making process (picture), ate a lot of vegetables, and milked cows.

Finally, the group spent the last week down on the Osa Peninsula, one of the highlights of the trip (as if the whole trip wasn't a highlight...). They were at Campanario Biological Station and got to do some hiking around the station, collect bats at night, hike in Corcovado National Park, and do some snorkeling around Caño Island (picture). As if this wasn't enough, the remote location they were at allowed them to spend their free time playing in the waves in the water right outside the station.

The group came back from their travels just in time for Easter Sunday. The visiting professor this week, Marty Michelson happens to be the religion professor and pastor, so he led our group in an Easter morning fellowship time. This week he is here teaching a class on Biblical Theology and Global Stewardship. It's a great follow-up to their travels, where they learned all about sustainable practices and now are able to talk about how it all applies to their faith. These pictures are of Marty and Adele, and Adele dressed for Easter.