Henry house

Here are a couple pictures of the finished product of the house that we built for our guard, Henry, and his family to live in. For those of you who know the property the house is located on the building pad that we cut just down the hill from the stable. I think it turned out good, very rustic and charming.

Marlyn and Dave trip

We just dropped Marlyn and Dave off at the airport today, after it rained on them for 9 days. The weather seems to have cleared up today, sunny and hot. We saw toucans in a tree on our farm while planting a grandpa tree this afternoon. And we heard the monkeys too. Too bad Dave already left. Marlyn and Dave were like a breath of fresh air, the last 6 weeks have been terribly hard. We are looking forward to a visit from Trisha, Keith and Samantha in two weeks. It's always nice to see family, but now I'm appreciating it even more.

For all my family,

I love you!

Rainy season is definitely here. In the last week Reina has "discovered" the T.V. She asks every day to watch her "happy" video, in her learn to read video they sing if you're happy and you know it stomp your feet... She normally gets one video a day, but the since it's been rainy sometimes she gets two.

Shawn and his two workers are still working on door installation, it's been a hard job for them dealing with a lot of crooked and bowed wood and imperfect craftsmanship. The doors and the paint have changed the whole look of the house, all of a sudden it looks finished and clean. I's excited to see the windows in.

I just heard from my sister Trisha that her and her family, at least part of her family, will be coming for a visit in October, yet another thing to look forward to. And of course Marlyn and her friend Dave are still coming at the end of August. How nice to have family visit!

I'll post pictures of the new house as soon as the weather is good enough to take out the camera.

Reina likes stacking things. Here's a tower she built by herself, she just had a little help from mom adjusting the tower before stacking the last can.

The Scooter is up and running and Reina loves it! She wakes up in the morning and asks for "moto" (motorcycle) and then she gets her pants and starts looking for the backpack that she rides in so we can go for a ride. What a girl, she must be mine! Hopefully we will get a real motorcycle when we sell the scooter.

The house for Henry is about a week away from being ready to move in. Shawn has been hanging the doors, and the window guys are scheduled to come up this Friday to start installing. It turned out good, it's a rustic cabin, it would be perfect for a rental or guest house too.

We finally snuck in a quick trip to the beach to surf and visit with friends. We spent some time with Paul and Jodie Buehner and their two sweet daughters, Bella and Berkley. The waves weren't that good, but it was nice to paddle the surf boards in the warm ocean anyway. Reina had fun in the sand and in the water. She is talking a lot now, she says "Dada, BEEEE?" and she shrugs her shoulders and turns up her palms to ask Where could Daddy be? Then she answers her own question and says "ocean, Board" for Daddy is in the ocean surfing with his surf board. She waxed the surf boards and even looked for the ocean after we came home. She had a great time running from the waves and being caught by them, and digging a hole in the sand and standing in it while it filled with water from the upcoming tide. She's a natural beach baby.

It was a perfect get-away, but it's nice to be home too, the cool breezy weather is refreshing, and our house is comfortable and bug free. I didn't take the camera to the beach, but here's a picture of the scooter.

Anniversary

Tomorrow it will be ten years that Shawn and I have been together, and two years of marriage. Shawn is still the love of my life, my perfect match, and even more attractive than the day we met. I'm really grateful to have him! And I love our life now with little Reina.

Reina loves her blanket, she calls it "Juju" because she knows that Aunt Judy made it for her. It's really cute how she says it! She takes Juju for rides in her stroller and in the laundry basket.

Henry's house and the goats

Shawn and the boys framed half a house in a day, it's looking good, I would live there. It has a nice mountain view, it's small, but efficient. I've been taking pictures of the progress.

On Monday I went with our neighbors, John and Barbie Yoder and bought two goats, I named them Nana and Coco, they're very friendly, fun and cute. Shawn and Reina and I took the goats on a walk yesterday, Shawn had Nana on a leash (the older sister) and Coco follows wherever Nana goes. They would probably follow us anyway, they like us. Here are some pictures of the new house and the goats.

Henry's house, taken from above and behind the house

Henry's house from the front

Nana and Coco

Nana and Coco, their first day on our farm

Nana and Coco sniffing me and chewing on my fingers

Life in Pura Vida ville

We started construction on a house for Henry a couple weeks ago, the block work is done and Shawn is going to start framing the walls today with wood. All the plumbing and electrical is done, I think Shawn did it all single-handed in three days, wow! Reina and I went up today with the camera, I almost stepped on a baby coral snake, it was deadly beautiful, Shawn killed it for me. Reina and I have been going on our walks with the stroller now, she loves it and it sure takes a load off of my back, her stroller isn't really made for 4 wheeling, but it hasn't broken yet going up and down our road. We planted a memorial tree for freddy a couple weeks ago and Reina and I were out collecting wild purple flowers to plant around it yesterday, she was in the backpack, perfectly content with a guayaba in one hand and an almond in the other. She is a nut lover! Shawn went to San Jose yesterday to get her social security card, while he was there he went to the price mart. He found a huge thing of nuts for Reina and craisins, she likes those too, a new bed for us, YAY!!!! and new tires for the car, it was a success and he made it back all in the same day. Our new bed is very comfortable, it's an orthopedic foam with a pillow top. Mosquitos have been out, I guess they come out for the change in seasons, dry to rainy season, so we have to have nets over the beds at night, but the cool breezy weather is welcome, there hasn't been any extreme rain yet. Our plans to get to the beach for some surfing have been put on hold yet again while Shawn is building this house for Henry. It's going to be a cute little house with a great mountain view, and if Henry moves out eventually it will be a good rental house for us. It looks like we will be getting a goat this monday, our neighbor (and contact for buying the goat) says it looks like I will have my pick of goats from a small heard, I look forward to it.

Reina is still doing word flash cards and loving it, she knows most of the words on her cards says or does something to describe the word or picture. We also got the chalk board out again and this time she was ready for it, she draws pictures and knows how to erase on her own and start over. I write words and say them, she copies what I say and indicates what the word means, like for the word hello she waves at me. She's getting taller now and she gets into everything she can reach which is increasing daily, she's very curios.

Life with Reina is always interesting, and getting more and more fun all the time.

I'll keep you all updated.

Shawn on the job site

Reina on the job site

Henry's house under construction, 4 foot block walls done

Reina checking out the camera

Reina with her new dresses from Marlyn

Reina update

I was writing an e mail to Marlyn today and thought I would share part of it with everyone since I was talking about Reina and the horses. so here it is, starting with Reina:

I love how she is so feminine, she likes to put on lotion and perfume and brush and style her hair. She is her own person and really great to be around. We put lotion on together, she rubs some on my legs and then some on hers.

I swear she grew into a new stage in a day yesterday. She sat at the table and ate her food all by herself with a spoon even, it's the first time we've ever had dinner as a family, (where we were all eating together at the same time). She says yes and no in answer to questions, like she always says she's not tired when asked if she needs a nap, it's funny! She dances when she hears music she likes, she says a lot of words, in both languages. She sleeps through the night sometimes (without needing milk I mean). She walks long distances on her own and she can go down small steps on her own without using her hands now. She shovels dirt with her mini shovel and successfully puts it into pots for planting. She takes handfuls of seeds and pushes them into the ground with a finger. She has lots of teeth, all her first molars, she loves almonds and yesterday I discovered she loves corn. She runs into the kitchen every ten minutes yelling "AAHM" which is her word for almond, she takes two at a time and it takes about ten minutes for her to either finish them or lose them.

Yesterday she was going without a diaper to get some fresh air and she told me "pee pee" BEFORE she went pee! We didn't get to the bathroom in time to get any in the toilet, but I was excited that now she is recognizing what she's doing before it happens. Oh the things that new mothers find joy in!!! She reminds me of Brett in some ways, I think she could be a stand-up comedian, she has me rolling with laughter sometimes, and she is such an athlete! She's a climber, she has great balance and coordination. I took her for a ride on Rocky today, she loved it, and she sat on Jack by herself for a few minutes, I kept a hand on her of course. Today was a super fun day for me, I had the babysitter and didn't have to work, so I took the day to spend with the horses. I rode Jack and led Rocky over to a friends' house that has a horse and socialized a bit and swapped horses, then I rode back to the house on the road, cooked breakfast for everyone and then I took the horses super grazing and rode Rocky. He is quite a horse, I can't believe he's the same horse I bought for Hailey, he was perfect at the time I bought him (for a little girl), but now he is strong and healthy and powerful and full of energy, he loves to run and it takes some strength to slow him down from a serious canter, a little girl could not stop him anymore. So when Hailey comes to visit we'll have to have another horse around. He's the best horse I've ever had, better than Jack even, just because Rocky doesn't spook at things and he doesn't panic. They're both good though.

Shawn gave me the green light today to buy a goat, I'm getting a good deal, $50.00 for a pregnant female that is about a year old. I want her for milk, we're going to go get ther tomorrow from a guy that runs his house with solar energy only. He;s going to give a tour of his house and another project of his that he is powering with a hydro turbine system, it should be interesting.

The Lockwoods: Ken, Judy, Brett, Shawn, Reina, Shena, Marlyn

Ken and Judy and Brett visit us at our house in Lake Arenal, Costa Rica

Soccer camp with Daddy, we're starting her young

Reina's first easter egg hunt

Sweet Creek Trail, Florence Or.

Fountain in Springfield

Pony Ride, Thanks Giving Point Ut.

Thanks Giving Point, Ut.