Crazy Storm

So I don't know if it's on the news or not, but we're having a really crazy storm here on the Pacific side of Costa rica.  Did you see my turtle post from yesterday?  Well the photo below is the EXACT spot where two nights ago we watched the turtle lay her eggs.  It has now turned into a river!

We went to check out the devastation on the beach - it's pretty crazy!

Kai found a light bulb!

On a more serious note - one of the communities my husband's been working with lives right on a riverbank - they had to be evacuated and are in a temporary shelter.  Many people have lost their homes and even their lives.  And the rain continues.  Tonight it's supposed to rain even more, so we ask for your prayers.

Baby turtles making their way to the ocean

We got up at about 5:30 a.m. (we tend to wake up at that time anyways, actually!) to go and see these baby turtles being released and making their journey to the ocean.  It was absolutely amazing.  The kids even got to hold a little turtle - they were handing out gloves so people could help the stragglers make it. (Not sure if that was the greatest idea?  But it sure was a neat experience for them!)

What an incredible morning!

My little surfers

Sad.

So we live a few blocks from the beach.  It's very cool.  Well, the other day I decided I was going to walk to the beach with the boys.  It was actually my first time doing this.  With the ages of my kids I don't actually get to the beach too much, it's just kind of hard.  But on this day I decided to just do it.  So I loaded Jude and Koa up in the double stroller and headed off with Kai and Ezzy walking.  I was really happy with myself for doing this and thrilled when we got to the beach and I realized how easy it is.  I disregarded the bums sleeping beneath the trees.  I even overlooked the glass in the sand and just held Koa instead of putting him down.  I just enjoyed the breeze and the moment of being there with the boys.  They asked if they could go play in a river that flows into the beach.  "Sure!" I said.  We headed over and they began to splash and play.  Pretty soon I noticed a strange sewage smell.  Then a nice man stopped to tell me concernedly that this water, "No es para ninos.  Es contaminado.  Es agua de caca."  Yes, contaminated water.  Poop Water.  Not for children.  I turned around and saw the sign, "Agua Contaminado."  Translation:  Contaminated Water.  Then I noticed the piles of trash surrounding the river bank, including a hypodermic needle.  Yes, I loaded my kids back up, headed home and scrubbed them down.  It's a little disheartening.  And it's sad.  It's sad that this beautiful, natural resource is treated this way.  Such is the life in Jaco.

So I've been avoiding the beach in Jaco, but the next town over, Herradura, has still held out hope for me.  It's beautiful and seems cleaner.  We went last weekend with the kids.  Scott was in the water with the boys and I was on the sand with Koa.  Next thing I know Scott is running over and getting everyone out of the water.  There was human poop floating in the water.  Sorry, I know that's gross.  But just imagine my husband and children were swimming in there with that.  I'm not surprised that Jude is now saying his ear hurts and I can see discharge coming out - a definite ear infection.  His third one in the last 3 months.  And Ezra is burning up with a fever.  Probably has one too.

Sigh.

It's just sad. I don't know what else to say.

Throwing my schedule out the window!

I recently posted about my amazing new schedule with Kai and how well it's going.  Well, it is going well.  I love the productivity of a good schedule.  But even in that, sometimes you just have to toss the schedule and mix things up.  That's the beauty of homeschool.

Kai woke up in sort of a grumpy, whiny mood.  He wasn't "hopping to it" with his schedule with any form of enthusiasm.  He was resisting every form of work.  I went to put Koa down for his morning nap and just sat and prayed for a minute. I prayed for a strategy of how to turn this day around and make it a good one. I immediately felt that I needed to let go of the schedule and do some fun, creative stuff with our unit on Ocean we've been doing.

So I gathered the boys around and did the good day cheer.  Then we played "Dive Under the Ocean."  To play I put some sea creature toys under a sheet and called a child's name, "Jude, dive under the ocean."  He "swam" under the sheet and picked one ocean toy and named the animal he picked.  We did this several times and they would have kept playing all day!

My next suggestion was to use the new paints that my mom brought us.  So we each picked an ocean creature to paint.

Next we did a really fun craft.  We sat and tore up little sheets of construction paper.  We put them into a trash bag.  Then we cut out a sea animal shape and painted it with glue.  We dropped the gluey creature into the bag and shook it up.  They had a lot of fun shaking the bag up.  Then we pulled the creature out and were amazed at how the little papers stuck to the creature so perfectly.

Then we made this little project - you fill a bottle half way with blue colored water.  Fill the rest with oil.  It makes waves in the bottle.  

After all the crafts and games we went outside to have a snack and story.  This is "Quiet Fox."  He has his ears up and his mouth closed!  My friend Ellen, a second grade teacher taught me this one!  It works!

And after story a good run with the ball - kicking it soccer style, or futbol as we say here, before the rain came.

I think everyone felt refreshed after this morning and the next day Kai was ready to get back to his schedule with renewed energy and enthusiasm!

our new pets

I know little boys need to have pets. I'm just at a stage of life where I feel like I can't try to keep anything else alive. Well, I think I found a pet we can handle - hermit crabs! The boys collected probably 20 or 25 small hermit crabs at the beach and after they spent one night in a little bucket I knew we were going to have make them a more suitable home. So we went online and read all about hermit crabs and then made our own habitat. The boys love to "google" things! We used a big rubbermaid tub and filled it with sand from the beach and lots of rocks and things to climb on (hermit crabs love to climb). We gave them salt water and fresh water to swim and drink and some food. They seem very happy and are digging holes and climbing and enjoying themselves. The first thing the boys do when they wake up is go check on their hermit crabs. They each have their favorites that they've named. It's actually really fun, I just hope I can keep them alive!

a book we're enjoying

A House for Hermit Crab (The World of Eric Carle)

I love Eric Carle books. His art work is so unique and the stories are captivating. You might be familiar with some of his most popular books - Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and Very Hungry Caterpillar. I just wanted to share about A House for Hermit Crab, which is not as well known, because it's a book the boys are really enjoying right now in this time of adjustment. It's a great book to help children through transitions and changes. Here's what it's about:

Eric Carle is the creator of many beloved books about animals, birds and insects, but he says that he feels particularly fond of Hermit Crab, the hero of this book. He wrote and illustrated Hermit Crab's story to show young readers that new experiences are not to be dreaded but are really wonderful opportunities.

This post was written in under 30 minutes as part of the Steady mom 30 minute blog challenge.