Well the vacation is over and it is time to get to work. For me that means waiting… and waiting… and waiting on everyone who is on Tico time here. They just don’t move fast, that’s it. And I love them for it! It took me 30 minutes today to get four copies made. And that was after having to return to the store because they closed the doors for an hour for lunch.

In a way it is kind of exciting, like when you are waiting for a package to be delivered and you just can’t handle the suspense of waiting and waiting that when the package finally gets here you are elated. Well that is what every task is like here.
But enough about work… Daina, Neko and I have been having a blast getting to know more and more about our surrounding area and people. Neko’s Tica grandma cooks me pinto in the mornings and washes our clothes… and that’s nice.
Neko got to meet Jeremy, Nino’s nephew. It was a nice meeting of palming each others face and making unintelligible spanglish conversation. Neko took a dip in Jeremy’s pool… she has taken a real liking to the water in the hot weather here.
Neko also took her first trip to the beach yesterday!!! She was really adorable in her little one piece bathing suit and hat! And in true baby form, she ate her weight in sand. Pictures to follow.
We have learned that Neko likes to be entertained and likes a lot of action… the more bored she is, the more active she is, but I guess that is pretty much every 7 month old.

Some things that we have learned since we got here:
Bananas are really cheap
Bottled water is becoming our biggest expense… around $8/day
The one way streets here are only marked by people honking and screaming out the window

The internet is a hot commodity here and the fastest speed I can find is next to dial-up

I’m sure there will be many more to come and we will definitely keep this list coming. Talk to you soon.

-Nap

Day 6… it only gets better. We have been having a lot of family time here and Neko is getting more and more adjusted. Her naps are getting better and she is getting to see some amazing sights.

Last night we went to the Tilapia farm for dinner and Neko got to go fishing for the first time. She helped me catch a huge half-pound Tilapia. Ten minutes later it was cooked and ready to eat. But we had to take it to go because Neko decided she was tired. Oh well, at least we got to fish!

Since then we have taken an outing to the weekly farmer’s market. Neko cruised around in the baby bjorn and we bought our produce for the week.

We’re still waiting on a few more documents to be processed before the water gets turned on at our house, until then we will live at our apartment next to Tita and Tuchi. They cook me pinto de gallo in the mornings and wash Neko’s clothes for us… they’re like our Costa Rican grandparents.

Hopefully in the next week or two we will take Neko out on the Precedent for the first time… maybe for her 7 month birthday? Whattya think?

-Nap

Our feet have finally touched Costa Rican soil for the first time as residents… and it’s a nice! Our first two days were super tiring. We woke up at 2:30am to get on the road by 3 to head to Ft. Lauderdale for our flight. Neko did pretty well in the car, she slept for most of our 5 hour drive. When we got to the airport and began going through the motions there, we were really thinking that teleporting would be a great idea if at all possible. Airports are the pits.
Checking in went pretty well until we got right to the beginning of security and Neko decided that she was tired and hungry… and in turn, angry. So the process of stripping down and taking everything out of our pockets and backpacks was even more fun as Neko screamed. But the guys at security had a good sense of humor about it and we had to laugh about it too.
The plane ride was pretty uneventful… Neko was happy the whole time and slept a little. When we got to Costa Rica, it was a definite felling of “ahhhhhh, we’re here.”
A guy at immigration quickly earned my award for 2008 as the coolest guy in the world, as he let us go through the citizens line because we had Neko with us. The citizens line was five people long, the other was about 300.
After lugging all of our 300lbs of luggage (no exaggeration) through customs and out of the airport, we were on our way to shop for Neko essentials.
We found a crib, a high chair and a little pool… the essentials. All of our other stuff was shipped and will be here at the beginning of next week.
We stayed at the Costa Verde Inn and Neko was introduced to the hammock. In Costa Rica, many families use hammocks similar to the way we use the Fisher Price swings to lull our babies to sleep in the U.S. It was pretty cool to swing Neko in the hammock and let her fall asleep to the sounds and smells of the rainforest.
That night was met with me eating a whole pizza and some much needed sleep after our long day.
On Tuesday we headed to Quepos via a three hour van ride. Neko did pretty well, but she was pretty ready to be out of the car seat by the end of it, and although many people here ride around with their babies in their arms, I just don’t think I’m ready for that Costa Rican custom.
Now that we are here, we are getting settled in to our little apartment in Boca Vieja, a small area of Quepos that means “old mouth,” signifying that it is the oldest part of our little town of Quepos. It is the area that most of my Tico friends live and right now we are surrounded by our friends and families of our friends. Everyone here is related in some way and everyone is so nice.
This is such a welcoming and accepting country… we love it and so does Neko!

4-3 Update

We are getting more and more settled in to our apartment and have been able to take a trip to the pool… Neko’s first. She got to play with her new floatie that we bought her in San Jose and I got to play with my new underwater camera. We have seen a ton of our friends and Neko is adapting extremely well.

-Nap

Well, as fast and as slow as it has been, the time is here. We have zipped every suitcase and stuffed the rental car full. We are both excited and nervous… it is sure going to be an adventure!!!

For those of you who haven’t been able to receive this information as of yet, you will have a few different ways of getting in contact with us. We have our Costa Rica cell phone, the number is 8347-6287. And no, there is not an extra number, Costa Rica just changed their numbers to 8 digits as of March 20th. All cell phones had an 8 added to them and all land lines added a 2.

Also, we have set up a U.S. phone number through Skype that you can call just like you call any other number in the U.S. The number is (352) 505-2421. The catch with this is that we have to be connected to the Internet. Eventually this will be no problem… but that might be a while.

We will be posting blog posts as often as possible… probably depending on the Internet connection. And I will always keep the Quepos Fishing Report up-to-date no matter what.

So keep in touch, we love to hear from you,

Brandon, Daina and most importantly Neko

We were going to leave for Costa on the same day that Daina left Michigan to move to Florida… April 1st. But we found cheaper tickets in first class a day before. We figured it would be a little easier to fly with Neko that way.

A few days ago we had our 6 month checkup with Dr. Beebe. He said that everything is going great and that we have the green light on going over to Costa.

I went for the last trip before the move at the end of February and I would say that Costa Rica is officially ready for us. I met Doctora Castro, our Costa Rican Pediatrician. And she is great!!! Thanks to Erik and Sarah Antonson for the hookup on that. Dra. Castro is the Pediatrician for their daughter Kemper.

That was a huge load off my back knowing that we have a great doctor for Neko. What a lot of people don’t realize is that in San Jose the private healthcare is very similar to the states. So don’t worry, we won’t be having organs removed under a tree in the backyard.

During the trip away I learned all about where we would be shopping and bought a membership to Price Mart… the Costa Rican Sam’s club. So now we can buy a 5 gallon tub of Mayonesa. Sweet!

Daina and I are very excited about the move, and about teaching Neko to walk in the beach sand.

She is rolling over very good now, sometimes even doing it to get around. She is starting to scoot and can sit up all by herself. She is grabbing everything and knows what almost everything in our house tastes like.

The solid food thing is going pretty well, with some of her newest attempts including sweet potatoes and applesauce. I’m pretty sure she’s ready for a T-bone, but Daina says that it could end in a fiasco… so we’ll wait a few weeks for that.

All in all everything is going very well. A few more weeks of hard work and frustration and we will be down in Pura Vida land.

-Nap

Everything is pretty much cruising along nicely over these last few weeks. Neko is growing like a weed and man is having a baby fun. Daina has been having her sit up all by herself and I got to feed her real food for the first time. That was flippin hilarious. You can see the pics for yourself.

She is really starting to get her own little personality. She is coming to love walks in her super off road monster truck Jeep stroller. And her routine is beginning to get pretty on point. She now wakes up shot out of a cannon and ready to play… and is a bit whiny around bedtime. (A lot like her dad)

We went on our routine Friday night Napolotano’s trip and Neko had her first brush with a Heisman trophy winner. Tim was there with some friends and we made him take a picture with her. We tried to do a Tim holding Neko picture and she screamed her little head off. So I had to hold her, and she wasn’t even really having that. But we got the picture and all was well.

Wow. A whole month has gone by. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Neko had a great Christmas and got to spend time with all of the family that cares about her. She got some really cool toys that she is now old enough to start enjoying. She really likes to kick things. I think she is going to be a great soccer player in Costa Rica. Who knows, maybe she will be th e first girl to play for Saprissa.

Our New Years was pretty new parentriffic. We slept un til 11:55 then went back to sleep at 12:05. It was fine though. We needed the sleep.

It was really nice to spend time with Daina’s family who came down from Michigan. Woody got to meet Neko for the first time and Nana and Papa got to spend some much deserved time with her.

It has been three months now since the most amazing… and nauseating day of Brandon’s life. Boy has it been fun, tiring, challenging, amazing, upsetting, blissful and tiring. Daina is by far the hero of the situation, tending to Neko at all hours of the night and still working! What does Brandon do you ask? Well, he writes this blog… duh.
Neko is getting so much bigger and more active now. She loves when I dance around like a monkey on Red Bull.I think that will be what brings on the first laugh… it’s definitely right around the corner. We are thinking now that her eyes are going to stay blue like Daina’s but have the shape of Brandon’s. I guess just as long as she doesn’t have Brandon’s beard then we’re ok. If you haven’t yet, check out the www.queposfishingreport.com website. It’s up and running and starting to look pretty good if I do say so myself.
Brandon

This photo is at the Florida Gator Homecoming Parade in Gainesville.

Daddy just spent his first extended period of time away from the family, and it was hard.

I went to Costa Rica for a few days to do some business (and one day of pleasure) and it seemed as if Neko had gained 10lbs and was doing so many new things when I got back. It was such a good feeling to have her in my arms when I got back that I thought I might squeeze her little eyeballs out.

Neko is now cooing so cutely, is very content just sitting by herself and blowing bubbles… and I think we have our first laugh right around the corner.

Now that I am back I don’t ever want to leave again. I know the time will come again, but I won’t like it one bit.

Brandon

Neko and I have been spending a lot of time together lately… all by ourselves! It’s amazing how one little 10lb mass can make or break your morning with precisely timed cries and fits of screaming.

Monday morning Neko decided to wake up an hour earlier than her normal time of 9:00am and start screaming. Well, at this time, Dad had not showered, eaten, brushed his teeth or gotten ready for work. (all on the schedule from 8-9) The bottle was cold… everything was wrong.
So… dad overheated the bottle, causing a 10 minute cool down period with hungry Neko screaming her little head off. Then dad fed her the bottle when it reached the ideal baby drinking temperature, only to be met with a “man that bottle is leaking” from an onlooking Papi Nappy.
Yeah, that’s right, Neko wasn’t drinking fast, I had poured 3/4 of the bottle all over her because it was leaking out of the other side that I couldn’t see from my position.
So now dad has a hungry, wet and pissed off baby, only to be followed by a now necessary changing of clothes and a sponge bath. Both of which heighten Neko’s mood in the worst way.
Needless to say, it was a great morning! This one will go down in the record books!
-Brandon