A few More Photos from Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador and Greece

Written by Mary - 5/11/21 - Highs & Lows

Highs: swim with dolphins, zip line, hot air balloon, costa rican monkeys, learning to surf, home schooling in beginning, swimming with turtles, penguins, sea lions and sharks! Volcano hikes, Tuneles snorkel, spotting Tortoises, visits from Wrights and Gloeklers, Andy’s 40th bday and the kids plans, inclusive hotels, Lows: worms, Cangrejal scorpion, rescheduling Medellin, kid dandruff and sunburns, car sick road trips, sinus infection, homeschooling battles towards the end, another parasite, Galápagos internet, loosing AirPods, rescheduling Quito, rescheduling Peru & weighing COVID risks

Written by Lucy - 5/11/21

I am sad to be leaving the Galápagos Islands, I am going to miss how we could go to the beach whenever we wanted and just walk everywhere and find a taxi. But I will not miss the sea lion noises puking up fish bones. It is so disgusting!!! I am exited because we will be able to go to New York City🗽! It is going to be so fun🤩. We are also going to Greece where they have Ancient Greek history and cool myths to learn about. I am also on a plane right now to Quito.

Written by Mary 3/21/21

Costa Rica how I love you! I’ve become accustomed to all your details. You embody many parts of past travel that bring back fond memories. Sweeping sounds in the morning remind me of Bolivia and Turkey. Trash burn smell remind me of Bolivia. Your busier cities and overly friendly people remind of the Philippines. I strongly envy Americans who choose you for life. Maybe residence here is in our future someday...?

Lucy Galápagos Informational Paragraph 4/22/21

Location: The Galápagos Islands are near Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean Language: People in the Galápagos speak Spanish Currency: The currency in Ecuador is American dollars Wildlife: Turtles, Marine iguanas, blue footed boobies, crabs, sharks, fish, sea lions... Common foods: Grilled fish are a pretty common dish to be served at the Galápagos Islands Flag: 🇪🇨 🇪🇨 🇪🇨 🇪🇨 🇪🇨 There are 15 islands that make up the Galapagos. The Galápagos Islands are near Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean. There are 15 islands that make up the Galapagos. The currency in Ecuador is American dollars and people speak many different languages but the most used is Spanish. You will probably see Turtles, Marine iguanas, blue footed boobies, crabs, sharks, fish, sea lions and more! Grilled fish are a pretty common dish to be served at the Galápagos Islands. Some fun activities to do are snorkeling, and Galapagos turtle tours. Many people come from all over the world to fish amazing fish. The Galápagos is famous for the scientist Charles Darwin. He came to the Galápagos and “discovered” Evolution. Evolution is when animals adapt to their surroundings and change over thousands of years.

Lucy Country Report 4/22/21

Croatia, Turkey, and Costa Rica all have very fun and cool activities to do. These places are very interesting countries that have many foods to taste, sights to see, and many people to meet. I visited them and I am exited to tell you all about it. First, Croatia has a gigantic beach that makes up a lot of it’s country. Croatia’s beaches are very rocky so it would be helpful to bring a pair of water shoes with you to the beach. Also, Croatia has a different language that has 30 different letters in the alphabet. There’s also a few national parks in Croatia. They are Plitvice Lakes National Park, Krka National Park, and Brijuni Islands National Park. Croatia has very delicious foods to eat, and the currency is Kuna. I visited Croatia in September 2020. We had a lot of great experiences and I really loved it. We were fortunate enough to visit nine places in Croatia. While we were there we went to many restaurants, we shopped at a lot of places, and we made a lot of new friends. It was really fun interacting with a friend I met at a hotel. She spoke German so we would use our bodies to communicate and it was very fun. I wish we could go to Croatia again! Next, I will talk about Turkey. Turkey has many many mosques. A Mosque is a place of worship for Muslim people. The most famous mosques is The Blue Mosque. The Turkish foods where very cool and different. Some famous Turkish dishes are, shawarma, and kabobs. The Galtatta Tower is another famous tourist attraction. The Galtatta Tower has A LOT of stair wells, a huge balcony, many TVs, and a big elevator. Also, Cappadocia is a famous place in Turkey to go for hot air balloon rides. Many people wake up at 5 o’ clock am to see the sunrise on a beautiful hot air balloon ride. When I visited Turkey, it was very fun and very pretty. In Istanbul there were many people, blocks and blocks of shops and stores, and a big train that drives through the middle of the city. When we visited the Hagia Sophia (a mosque) It was very beautiful and very enormous and crowded. Also one of my favorite things on our whole trip to Turkey was when we visited the Galatta tower. Next, when we went to Cappadocia, we went on a hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia and it was one of my favorite things I have done in my life. I really miss Turkey and I hope to visit it soon! Lastly, I will talk about Costa Rica. Costa Rica has a lot of fun activities to do such as, snorkeling, canoeing, swimming, hiking, and more. Many people come from across the world to visit Manuel Antonio National Park, Arenal Volcano, and the Monteverde Cloud Forests. Costa Rica has a lot of cool wildlife to see. A few common animals to see in the rainforest in Costa Rica is the Brown Throated Sloth, Mantled howler monkey, Green crowned brilliant hummingbirds, and the strawberry poison dart frogs. Nearly 5 million people live in Costa Rica. One famous person in Costa Rica is, Laura Chinchilla Miranda. She is famous because, she was the first women president of Costa Rica. I have been in Costa Rica for three weeks and so far it has been amazing! If I could give Costa Rica a score, it would be 11 out of 10! The food was tasty, the sights were extremely beautiful, and the people are so kind and loving. I love it so much and I wish I could live here! To sum up, Croatia, Turkey, and Costa Rica all have excellent food, cool activities, sights to see, people to meet, and lots to explore. I enjoyed my time in each country that I visited.

Rosie Blog Post 1/22/21

wen I grow up I am going to be - [ ] a gymnastics 🤸‍♂️ - [ ] a artist🖼 - [ ] a vet 🐦 - [ ] a teacher 🏫 - [ ] a singer - [ ] a dancer 💃 - [ ] I want to be all of these things wen I grow up. Because they seem so fun to be I

Thomas Half Gap Year round two - Written by Mary 1/22/21

Wow we’re off again!!! While disenrolling from dps, prepping homeschooling and longer term house rental seemed daunting, it was all surprisingly easier this second round! We have so many ‘systems’ in place when we rent our house (ie. Strip the beds and towels and lock in the basement morning of, empty fridge and give to neighbors the night before, pawn the scooter off, empty closets the renters will use but fill the others to the brim, lock all the house keys and openers in the house except one in lockbox). But there are always last minute items like emailing with Costa Rican immigration to upgrade our insurance to allow entry, or registering Mikey for kindergarten, car deliveries, etc. We have it so down I’d love to make a habit of it. But I’ve promised everyone (including the kids) that we’re home for good after this. And aren’t we lucky that home is such a beautiful place with beautiful people we cherish! Thanks for following us on our crazy gap half-year 😎

Written by Mary - 10/29/20 - Wrapping up this Voyage

We’re on our way home and it all seems quite bittersweet! We didn’t move as much as the original gap year plan but we sure moved around a lot. 12 houses in 62 days. We learned our kids are capable of far more than we thought! Using restrooms they wouldn't dream of stepping foot into, Handling 17 hour travel days like champs, waking as early as 4am and then forcing mid day naps to regulate. They’ve learned how to self teach portions of school they missed and catch up on school work under the gun. They've learned to entertain themselves with out toys. Coasters, trash and recyclables became quick entertainment! They’ve also learned to communicate with verbal language and handle less boundaries than Americans are used to when it comes to touching them or speaking at them. When the girls and I arrived at our hotel air balloon destination at 5:30am, the van doors flew open and a balloon employee grabbed Rosie (fully picked her up) and carried her across a field (I was running behind to catch) and placed her in the balloon. He was just trying to help. I think I was more frantic than Rosie. Once when we were tasting wine at a vineyard a man pulled his motorcycle over, walked up and squeezed Rosie's cheeks and talked to her for a few minutes in Croatian. Our first day In Dubrovnik, a very elderly man walked up and blessed Mikey chanting over him touching the top of his head repeatedly. Mikey still refers to his short lived fine as a celebrity in Istanbul With fondness although he never cared for being picked up without permission! All of these instances they rolled with and although they couldn't underderstand it, they respected it. As we enter the US with spiking covid cases and virtual school, we're thankful to be home, but mostly thankful we took advantage of the guven time overseas!

Written by Mary 10/24/20 - We love Turkey!

Turkey: Istanbul is magic! The challenges (finding clean water, dodging scoters and taxis, late nights, finding your way when Apple maps are unreliable, etc) are all the things that exhaust me but what I love and crave! I love the Call to prayer as it frequently reminds me of our spirituality which is drowned out in the US, I loved the Pretzel bread delivered to your door by the man carrying a tray of them fresh on a platter on his head, the kids loved the Endless animals - cows chickens sheep (outside of Istanbul) and of course the Cats and dogs. All the things in any populated city - things we’ve missed since leaving Manila 12 years ago. The culture fascinates me. The male female interaction stumps me. I can ask for something or suggest something but it is best when affirmed by Andy. The modern cosmopolitan city with obvious old traditions and new additions are exciting. We are a sight with three kids. I’ve been asked several times if we are Mormon, asked onece if Russian, twice if Spanish and all remaining inquiries assume we're British. We've met no Americans in turkey but met many couples who have been separated since covid meeting up in turkey and Croatia. Thanks to advising of friends who ‘gap yeared’ before us, I allowed myself to shop away thru turkey as the dollar goes a long way and the handmade crafts in Turkey are glorious! Turks like to stay up late (like 2am in our apartment complex) and we finally adapted and stayed up late too (better than laying there waiting). After a week in funfilled Istanbul with bazaars, mosques, tours, boat rides, shopping and hummus (did I mention the food is outstanding); we headed to Cappadocia. It felt like leaving denver for the mountains. The air was cooler and the towns were peaceful. We rode hot air balloons, hiked and fell in love with the small towns!

Written by Mary 10/20/20 - Good bye Croatia

Wrapping up Croatia: I think my favorite parts of Croatia will always be how we lived there instead of toured there. We shopped at the grocery every two days and I even learned how to cook their fish (frozen) and bake their tomato soup (from a packet). We would school and andy worked everyday while I tried to figure out local laundry and reserve our next travel spot. Most of the time we just set out to to explore, unlike a planned destination of a tourist. We were there long enough to make friends, play in their playgrounds regularly and really learn about life there. So long Croatia! We saw 11 of your cities and none disappoint!

A few more pics...

Written by Lucy 10/20/20

I am VERRY exited for Halloween. It will be so fun. Even though we will not get to go trick or treating with all of our friends. I love my costume! Rosie is going to be an inflatable giraffe, Mikey is going to be the Pokémon siduk, and I am going to be a pageant girl. Happy Halloween!!!