Living on

I have mixed emotions about continuing on with my wife's blog. She did such an amazing job and I worry that anything I write will only detract from the beauty that was in her writing.

The simple fact is, her path hasn't ended. Now she has to sit in heaven and watch in horror as I make a mess of life with her kids. The kids are fighting right now at this very moment (probably with knives or something) and her I am, shutting it out and typing on the computer. They have been doing an absolutely admiral job of coping with life and I envy them so much. I with I could be more like them. They are my biggest strength though  because they are the only piece of  Geneva that I have and her "Unexpected Path" continues on with them.

As most of you know, we kind of took the summer off after the funeral to just get away. I took the kids camping with family and then we last minute decided on a Costa Rica trip. I'm sure Geneva was cursing my name as she watched. First we decided to rent a 4x4 pickup truck instead of a car and that was just the excuse I needed to take a remote jungle road that some local said might take me where we were going. We got lost for only a moment (couple hours) but after crossing a small river and mud bog we found a little town. I also got the kids right into the culture the first day as we ate lunch at this tiny taco place with a dirt floor and hungry dogs all around. The food was good and the kids didn't get sick so I figured day 1 was a huge success.

Day two we went to Tamarindo (small surfing town) and took surfing lessons. In hind sight I should have taken lessons at a separate time as W and K but that didn't occur to me at the time. Nothing happened but I still realized that someone should have been watching them while the instructor was taking turns teaching me. But nope! They were paddling around on their own trying to catch their own waves. C was by himself on the beach playing in the sand, but at least he was safe and being watched by total strangers sitting by him. Both W and K picked up surfing really fast but K especially. She must have caught 20 waves.

On our way to Costa Rica, we had made some friends on the plane. An older gentleman and his daughter were taking a short daddy daughter trip. They invited us to the resort they were staying at to come and hang out with them. We all had a great time and the kids loved the idea that they could swim up to the bar and get a pop or juice. I swear they thought that was better than anything they had ever experienced in their lives.

Our next adventure took us zip-lining in the  forest. This wasn't dangerous for the kids but I still don't think Geneva would have let me take them. We drove to the top of a mountain (more like a really tall hill) and then took 11 different zip lines down to the bottom. We were lucky we were able to go because had it not been for the hitch hiker we picked up before hand, we never would have found the place. After the zip line fun we made our way back to Tamarindo for dinner and our waiter just happened to be the same hitch hiker we picked up that morning. He hooked us up with awesome food. So let that be a lesson to everyone that it always turns out good picking up hitch hikers. While at dinner, he turned up the music because he could see K was liking it. I had bought her some cute little beach dresses earlier that week so she really wanted to dance because she was wearing one of them. So she and I were dancing in the restaurant (which had all glass doors, walls, etc facing the street) and having a ball. She kept insisting that I catch her by the waist when she jumped at me like a ballerina and hold her high up above my head. I was really uncomfortable with the crowd that was watching but what choice did I have?

A new day brought with it another fun time. My new hitchhiking friend hooked us up with a great deal on deep sea fishing, so we chartered a boat for half a day and went out. 2 tuna, 2 mahi mahi, 1 wahoo and 1 Sail Fish later we were all really tired out. We took a few fillets with us back and the restaurant we went to cooked them up for us. We had enough fish for 7 people so we took some of our friends who we were there visiting. I've never tasted any fish better. 

I needed a break from it all by the time morning rolled around so the 4 of us booked a spa day. W and I got massages and K got mani and petti and C was going to get a massage but chickened out at the last moment. W graciously accepted C's massage for him.

The day off was greatly appreciated because next on the schedule was horseback riding. It was so much fun and W and K were able to ride their own horses. C rode with me but was regretting it by the end because the saddle was really small and he kept telling me that his privates were being squished. I had hoped (like an irresponsible parent) that he would have ridden his own but he wouldn't. We had a great time and C's privates survived. That same day we also took a boat ride up the estuary to look at Crocks. 

Next on our list of things to do was sailing. We took a catamaran trip out on the sea. We had dolphins swimming right below our feet (we were standing on the net part of the boat) which was breathtaking. They swam with us for at least 20 minutes. We also saw some whales swimming near by. I spent most of the trip trying to keep the kids safe and from going over the edge but gave up after a while. I then had the captain back me up and confirm when I told them in Costa Rica it was encouraged to beat your children. He even supplied a small fish club as a prop to take my story to the next level. He said he was constantly lending it to parents with misbehaving kids. C believed me and was much better. The captain even let him steer the ship. We stopped by some tiny islands to snorkel and i went with K and W. C stayed with the captain. Something about the waves constantly looking up to see if W and K were still alive made me horribly sea sick and I stayed back a few seconds while everyone swam back to the ship and I fed the fish. You should put on your list of hardest things to do, barfing while treading water in waves. 

The catamaran was out last big adventure. After that we checked in to an all inclusive resort and just relaxed in the pool, took latin dancing lessons, ate too much food and enjoyed live shows at night. W and K even got pulled up to dance on stage. A beautiful grandma woman from  Columbia grabbed K after she came down from the stage and started dancing with her and was showing her how to cumbia. She later told me that she had seen K and I dancing in front of the class doors at the restaurant a few days earlier and fell in love with my daughter. She was such a sweet lady.

That in a nutshell was our trip. We did so much and were so tired when we came home. I have just barely got life organized since. We had lots of fund and cried lots of tears too. It was just what we needed.