Not always right, darnit

This was a big one to be wrong about, but I must admit Greg sure was right.  I think it might have had something to do with him confidently saying "It's a boy" everyday and calling it "him" from the get go.  Chock one up for the people who say putting it out there will make it come true!

Just to clarify if you missed that one, yes, we are 19 weeks pregnant with a healthy 9 ounce baby boy :)  I thought for sure he would be at least a couple of pounds since I've gained almost 15 pounds and wanted to blame it on something other than the large amounts of pickles and chips I've been eating, ha!  P.S. two foods I rarely eat gave my mom (who drank salted vinegar when prego with my brother) the hunch I was also carrying a boy.  Although, I am just fine with him being a small little guy when he comes into this world, as long as he's healthy, and not a "blob" (as my aunt's lovingly referred to me when I was a baby) like my 9lb 10ounce 22 inch self - ouch!   

Greg is beyond excited for his little Jedi track star in training to come into this world, but promised to not go overboard and love him just the same if he isn't into that kind of stuff.  I told him he'll always have Brady (our nephew that has a budding obsession with Starwars thanks to uncle Boom) Justin case... I mean just in case ;)  He even said he'd make it a girl next time when he could sense my tiniest bit of disappointment.  "I'm happy our daughter will have a little protector when she is born."  I love the way his glass is always 1/2 full.

So while my visions of dresses, tutus, hair bows, and a mini me running around will be put on hold for a couple of years I am truly ecstatic to meet our little man in less than 5 months!!!!!  Since one of my cousins asked me not to post "growing belly/baby" pics on FB I will share these ones with you here (sorry, you know who you are, if you are reading this, ha):

This little guy is inside that tummy!





In other news, Greg is on his 3rd week working at Expeditors and loving it!  As my dad loves to tell people, "he is in the importing exporting business" (Seinfeld reference).  I'll let him tell you more about that if he would like.  Let's just say he is working with data, right up his ally, and his brother Tony.  Now if his brother Chris worked there too it just might be his dream job!

I am at Lake Oswego High School part time as a school counselor and working at CoCo & Toulouse again part time as well.  Stop by if you are in the Westmoreland/Sellwood area on Mondays and some weekends :)

Olivia, our chocolate lab - pictured in our profile - couldn't be better!  She is maturing, learning new tricks, and trying her hardest not to jump on people when she gets excited.  I don't know if it's the baby or not but my feelings are so heightened I feel awful leaving her during the day and it hurts more when she gets hurt (scratched her tummy running out the door too fast after birds/squirrels in the back yard).  I have a feeling this parenting thing is going to be a whole new heightened world!

Greg said he'd start blogging again once we found out the sex of the baby so hopefully you'll hear from him soon.

~C (& G)

Happy Monthaversary!

We have officially been married for one month!  And what an amazing month it has been.  We are home from Costa Rica, recovered from our "everything we could have asked for and more" wedding, making dates to catch up with friends, all the presents and cards have been opened and put away (thank you's coming soon I promise!).  I just have to say we have the most generous, thoughtful, and amazing friends and family who went above and beyond!

Now we are back into the same old same old - 8 hour work days, Monday night dinners, daily runs and dog park (aka "DP" when Liv is within ear shot) visits with Olivia - you know, the usual.  With an added bonus of training for hood to coast!!!!!  Callie does M/W/F morning runs with Amy and Olivia, Greg favors the nightly runs with Olivia and sometimes special guest Callie (who keeps him at a good 9 mph pace so he can run farther).  Callie was lucky enough to get leg #1 (ranked 12th on the hard to easy scale) and Greg is making his H2C debut with leg #2 (ranked 3rd, yikers!  He's up for the challenge though.  He ran sub 5 minute miles for Peet's sake people).  Let us know if you have ran these legs and have any tips for either one of us :)  GO POUNDERS!

On the work front, Callie is trying to figure out her job situation and will hopefully have a plan for the school year by the end of the week!  Fingers crossed :)  Greg is still surveying the lands and plotting away while researching insurance plans for the family (not a fun task) now that we are one.  And speaking of family...what is the next logical step after love and marriage????  A baby carriage of course, duh!  We'll keep you posted on those adventures in the future.

Until then...

LALA
G&C

When It Rains, It Poors

July 11th

Our last full day in Costa Rica. The rainy season can now begin, we are leaving this place soon. It sure does make it easier to plan your day when the weather forces you to stay in doors. After our last, usual healthy morning breakfast, we came back to our Villa #4 and started packing our stuff up. Trying to dry our clothing up quicker, Greg put the damp clothes in the closed quarters where the AC is located and dropped the temperature to 69 degrees. While the clothes were drying we started writing some Thank You cards for the recent wedding we just partied at. What a wedding that was! DJ Grandpa was off the hook!

As the rain continued to fall all day, we grew more and more homesick. We missed our dog, we missed our family, and we missed our friends. We're ready to come home. Oh, and by the way, Greg's tan is already starting to peel. Which means Callie might be the winner of the darkest tan.

Can't wait to see you all soon!!!!!!!  Although there probably won't be much to tell about our honeymoon if you've been following our blog ; )


LaLa,
G & C

If At First You Don't Succeed. . .

July 10^th

The nights rest was challenged throughout the prior evening by bright flashes of lightning and deep thunderous roars. Greg snuggled closer to Callie to help calm her back to sleep. By morning, the skies were clear, the sun was bright, and the granola and yogurt was calling our names. We ate our usual healthy morning breakfast and decided we were going to ride back into town again. So we prepared our bikes and pedaled our way into town. We spent only a short while in town this time. As it was Sunday, the majority of the shops were closed which forced us to do an even more detailed tour of the small town of Mal Pais looking for anything that was open.

After searching the town from top to bottom and only finding closed signs, the hot sun convinced us that it was time to head back to the resort and make another attempt at surfing. If at first you don’t succeed, get a surfboard that is twice as long as the first one you used. Let me tell you the difference that made! We practically hit the water running. Callie was riding every other wave all the way to the shore. Greg, was trying to do the same. But it was a whole lot more fun surfing when you actually stood all the way up for a while.

At a cataclysm of events happening at once, Greg being slightly stung by what he thought was a jellyfish, and Callie falling off the surfboard and landing wrong, we felt accomplished enough to call it a day and headed back to the resort. I’m sure we looked the part of tourists as it took the both of us to carry the giant surfboard back to the resort. Greg insisted he carry it by himself on the way to the ocean I might add. But the exhausted feelings after surfing didn’t leave much energy for arguing when Callie insisted she help this time on the way back.

Greg still worried about the slight stinging on his left ankle; we decided we should try something to aid the pain. And if there was anything we learned from MacGyver, it was that urine was supposed to be a remedy for jellyfish stings. So, we then. . . yada yada yada, washed up and relaxed some more until dinner time.

By dinner, Callie’s back was feeling better and Greg’s ankle was not stinging as much. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day, minus a couple yada yada’s.

LaLa

G & C

P.S. These yada yada’s do not correlate to the yada yada’s that Elaine referred to. And the Lobster Bisque was delicious.

Bicycle Built For Two

July 9^th

The day following the great surfing experience, we were expecting to be much more sore. But I guess we just didn’t push ourselves hard enough, because we both felt well rested and ready to do some more adventuring today. Rising much earlier today, we ate our usual delicious breakfast around 10:00 and found ourselves out front of the resort preparing the bicycles. We were advised during our initial tour of the resort that if we did desire to ride into town, that we should only bring what we needed leaving behind cameras, jewelry and passports. If that doesn’t strike a big vote of confidence and safety, I don’t know what will.

So we took off down the pot holey road and headed into town. Greg secretly stashed some folding money in the inside brim of his hat. We were ready to experience some Costa Rican culture! Most everyone we passed were very friendly offering a “Hola!” or some other nice gesture. Lots of dogs too! If we haven’t commented on the number of dogs we have come across, I’m taking a second right now to let you know that the number of dogs in this area almost match the number of residents. But not to worry, the dogs appear to be just as friendly as the people.

After crossing a river or two we eventually made it into town. We locked up the bikes to a chain link fence and started checking out the local shops. Mainly visiting the most touristy looking shops we could find, we were looking for something we could bring back with us to remember our Honeymoon in Costa Rica. Greg had his eye on a wooden frog that he had seen earlier in the week. But finding it again may take some searching. We did however come across a cute cutting board we liked. We have already started a cutting board collection at home and this fit perfectly.

Walking from shop to shop we took full advantage of the AC being blasted in your face as you entered the stores. Did a little browsing, said some “Gracias” and moved on to the next store. Eventually we had had our fill of shopping for the day and found ourselves at an ice cream shop to take a quick snack before hopping on the bikes again. Not being able to communicate fully, Callie ordered what looked like Chocolate Chip Ice Cream only to hear the fellow behind the counter reply, “Rum raisin?” “No, no, no! What is this one?” She said pointing to another drum of ice cream. “Carmel and vanilla.” He replied. Perfect! We both ended up getting a scoop of that to treat ourselves to.

The ride back was just as bumpy as ever. But we made it, with sweat beading all over our faces. A quick rinse before jumping in the resort pool, we found ourselves poolside once again soaking in the sun. We wanted to try surfing again, with a much larger and more stable board, but were willing to wait one more day. Today was for relaxing again. We laid by the pool for the majority of the day, watching the iguanas scuttle around the floor and along the tree branches high above. We watched as another couple indulged themselves in what appeared to be at least 8 fruity drinks from the bar. Feeling slightly inspired, we ordered some smoothies of our own.

Bringing our drinks back to our Villa with us, we read some books and stole some naps waiting for the right time to head down to the restaurant for dinner. Finally, it was 6:00 and time to get some food. Feeling somewhat proud of conquering his fear of sushi, Greg offered that we get California Rolls for appetizers, Callie was happy to oblige. And for dinner we split a brown rice and jerk chicken topped with a mango salsa. The food was excellent as usual.

Feeling the end of our Costa Rican trip approaching. It was getting easier to plan the remainder of our days. Leaving plenty of time for more relaxation, our biggest concern at this point, is wondering how we’re going to dry out the majority of our damp clothing in this insanely humid climate. Guess we’ll just drop our bags off at the parents house and let them open them.

LaLa

G & C

Check one off the bucket list!

July 8, 2011

We woke up as usual after our 12 hour slumber and continued our morning routine of sharing the “healthy breakfast” which consists of homemade granola, fresh fruit (usually pineapple, watermelon, papaya, and banana which Greg removes the latter two and promptly puts them on my plate in disgust), and homemade yogurt – today the yogurt flavor was pineapple which was delicious.  We parted ways as I wanted to continue my relaxation journey with morning yoga and Greg thought laying still by the pool would be more relaxing - touche.  He promised to stay in the shade and put spf45 on his lobstered body while lounging aka falling asleep for another hour. 

Yoga was…interesting.  I consider myself a pretty limber person, but having abnormally short arms and legs does not lend itself to getting into positions the long, lean, giraffe-esc yoga instructor was demonstrating.  However, I did not fall (which is more than I can say for over half of my compadres), I worked up a good sweat while listening to the ocean, and prayed the bats overhead wouldn’t drop guano on my prezelled extremities.  It actually was relaxing in the end and I thought to myself, “I need more yoga in my life,” as I left so I may go again tomorrow.  Namaste!

By the end of class Greg was ready for an adventure.  An adventure of a lifetime in my book, a dream come true really.  I can now check off a bucket list item – SURFING!!!  Well sort of…we weren’t completely successful but we had fun, have video to prove it, and almost tackled those Costa Rican waves!  I’ll start from the beginning.  After lathering up we decided to go to the surf shack to grab a surfboard.  Yesterday we decided to grab one so we could help each other out and videotape one another once we got the hang of it (such a supportive marriage, ha).  We were told the longest ones were the easiest to ride on and beginners should start with those.  Well, standing in front of a board that was the length of both of us combined we decided to carry the shorter board down the beach to playa del Carmen – a not so rocky surf spot with gentle waves.  Greg, the chivalrous man that he is, carried the surfboard and I carried the boogyboard for when we were tired of surfing and wanted a much easier ride on the waves. 

We made it to our sought after surfing destination, dropped off our clothes, sandles, sunglasses, and boogyboard and headed full blast into the ocean!  I tried first, and almost immediately came to the conclusion this was much harder than it looked and next time we should definitely start with some lessons instead of googling “how to surf” on the internet and calling it good.  Needless to say I was flying everywhere, the board was flying everywhere and it was soon Greg’s turn to try his hand at mastering the surf.  He ventured out much farther than I did and had some choicier waves to work with.  He made a valiant effort to stand on the board but alas did not succeed.  Eventually I rode a wave in on my knees (as I was trying to stand up and just went with it) and you would’ve thought I won the Olympics I was so proud of myself.  Equally as enthusiastically I stood on the board for a nanosecond, but try as I might could not put the two together.  Greg rode a wave in on his stomach and that’s when he called a spade a spade and decided boogyboarding was more his style.

The rest of the evening was same as usual, just like the morning.  We layed out by the pool, Greg in the shade to protect his burn :( (he literally made that face as he pulled his chair under the palm tree).  Followed by some delicious tacos (mine fish, Greg’s pulled pork), chips and salsa, and a nap to cap off the afternoon.  In order to save money, b/c the cost of food at a resort is a little ridiculous; we had homemade ice-cream sandwiches for dinner :).  We just skyped with some friends and family from home, whom we miss so much and wish were here with us (most of the time ;) 

LaLa

C & G        

Monkey Business, As Usual

July 7^th

Day four. Still, no sign of rescue. We helplessly wait in the sun looking to the horizon. It feels as if we have been abandoned on this 75% water locked island for nearly half a week. Drinkable water is scarce in the ocean. We’re lucky to find pools of them collected near our belongings in little bottles. This day has been a long one…

We drug ourselves from our air-conditioned cave at the crack of noon. Walking nearly 125 or maybe even 150 steps to the place we commonly find something edible. Granola with yogurt and some mixed fruit. Callie hunted it down with her weapon of choice: American Express. We eat it all, not saving anything for the other creatures lurking in our midst. We sign the bill and head to the ocean, keeping a keen eye for a passing ship or a plane. Anything.

We wandered down the coastline for what seemed like an hour but was most likely 15 minutes. Either way, it felt like a while and we were getting hot. “Look!” exclaimed Greg pointing to the crashing waves. “We can cool our bodies in the ocean!” It seemed liked the right thing to do at the time. “Be sure not to drink it, again,” said Callie, as a look of idiotic fondness passed over Greg’s face. “Fine.”

The quick dip in the ocean was very refreshing. It cooled the bodies to an extent. But also left them very tired from the efforts to stay afloat. Leaving the ocean, covered in sand and salty water, we tried to find a place in the shade to take refuge, but fell just short. We passed out in the blazing sun right on top of a couple towels. None of the natives came to our rescue to help us. So there we lay. Burning our skin in the Costa Rican sun.

But all hope was not lost. We soon came to, dizzy and disoriented the pictures we took through the cameras looked. It was hard to see the digital screen from the glare of the hot sun. We got to our feet and headed back to our place of solitude. Once again in search for the water collections we have grown to rely on.

Returning to our common grounds, we were unexpectedly separated. Callie had fallen once again by a fresher water source that had a slight smell of chlorine. Greg was on a mission. A mission to remember, so that others who followed in their footsteps would know what to expect in these surroundings. Round and round Greg walked collecting valuable information. Watching, recording, watching, narrating a little, he completely covered the grounds and felt satisfied. What he had done, would undoubtedly be used by others in the future.

Callie screamed in the distance so Greg returned quickly to her. There, an iguana beast stood above her fallen body. Its tongue lashing in and out. Greg frightened it away by the mere pitter patter of his footsteps. Soon after the near death experience, they noticed something else suspicious in the air. It was as if we were being watched. “There!” Greg yelled pointing to the trees. Monkeys were everywhere. Lazily watching us with their half sleeping hands pointing at us. Maybe they were pointing at the ground. Not sure. But it was intense. A whole family of monkeys wanting to eat (with) us.

Hunger came upon Greg and Callie’s “frail” bodies. Following a common path used before, they came upon the smoothie operator, Callie armed again with her weapon of choice. Success! Callie’s weapon had no match! The sweet taste of tropical fruits blended with homemade yogurt on ice was enough to keep us barely alive. Leaving the food area, heading back to our air-conditioned cave we were stopped in our tracks again. The monkeys returned to finish the job they may or may not have started earlier. A dozen monkeys surrounded the cave. Eating wild fruits and sleeping the savage beasts did.

Slowly we eased our way into the cave and took a comfy nap. Hopefully when we wake, we will be safe from the monkeys, hopefully. Sure enough, when we awoke, the monkeys were not to be seen. But hunger had returned. Crawling on our feet back to the hunting grounds, Callie hunted some more food for us. Carolina pulled pork appetizers and some seared yellow fin tuna for the main course. She fed us well this evening. The sun is setting now and it is time to hide ourselves deep in the cave.

Hopefully tomorrow our rescue shall come.

Hopefully tomorrow.

LaLa

G & C