Monthly Archive for July, 2008

Blog #137 Victims of Fun

Published
by
Trevor
on July 24, 2008
in Travel
. 9 Comments

Trip Details • July 24 - July 31 • Seven Days • No Planned Itinerary • Two Countries • $74.00 One-Way Tickets • No Jace • Backpack & Duffel • Mask, Snorkel, Fins • Monkeys • Five Stitches • Water-Logged D20 • Uninhabited Jungle & Beach

Trevor & Caci 2008

Day 1: San Jose, Costa Rica

El Pueblo Local Music

Day 2: Puerto Viejo

Bus @ 6:30 AM to Limon • Bus from Limon to Puerto Viejo • Hostel: Rocking J’s • Cliffside Surf Incident ~ 1:00 PM • Stitches from 6:00 PM to 7:45 PM

Day 3: Puerto Viejo

Recoup Day • Beach

Day 4: Bocas, Isla Colon - Bocas Del Torro, Panama

10:30 AM Bus from Puerto Viejo to Sixaola • Cross Border into Panama • Van to Changuinola • Boat to Isla Colon, City Bocas in Bocas Del Torro Archipelago

Day 5: Bocas, Isla Colon - Bocas Del Torro, Panama

Rented boat and explored and snorkeled all throughout this area. Large desire to buy land here. Since we’ve been on this Isle we’ve ridden the bicycle built for two quite a bit. Hostel: Taitu

–Trevor’s Journal Entry

Day 6: Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica

Travel Day • Bocas » Almirante » David » Paso Canoas Internacional (Border) » Golfito » Puerto Jimenez • Boat from Golfito to P. Jimenez • Small backpackers room with fan

Day 7: San Jose, Costa Rica

6:00 AM “Collectivo” to Cabo Matapalo • Beach • Jungle • Two Species of Monkey • 1:00 PM bus to San Isidro • Bus to San Jose

Flew out the next day.

—————————————————-

Trevor’s Thoughts.

Excellent trip! We packed very little and it definitely paid off. The landscapes were beautiful! Bocas is a place I want to head back to and snag a plot of land to build a bungalow as my getaway.

Puerto Viejo is a beautiful retreat. Our experiences there opened my eyes a bit. Caci’s version is coming - I’ll breifly touch on it myself: Being thrown and pummeled on lava rock (sharp) by a force seemingly stronger than a thousand horses is not something taken lightly. I’m happy for the experience and lesson but happier that we both made it out with all original limbs and almost all flesh. Invincible as I sometimes feel, nature’s raw power and unforgiving actions are to be respected.

I have more coming, I’ll mark my updated text when it comes so you can easily navigate to it. In the mean time, I’m getting the video of our trip ready to post.

—————————————————-

Caci’s Thoughts.

Trevor and I have always had a fascination with Costa Rica so when we saw plane tickets for $79 each way, we had to pounce on it! We flew Sierra out for the week so she could watch Jace for us and then on July 24th we loaded into the car with Thor and Shanna (our friends who were coming with us) and headed to Ft. Lauderdale to fly out.

We arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica in the afternoon and then went to this really cool hostel to stash our stuff before hitting the town. That night we went to this AWESOME strip that has all the bars in town on it-they are all interconnected into this giant party place. We thought it would be pretty lame since Trevor and I don’t drink, but it was actually super awesome and we had a great time drinking our orange juice! We went into this tiny little bar that had no electricity-only wooden tables with candles sticking out of the centers; it was soooooocool!!! It was packed with Cosata Ricans and there was a guy playing the guitar and an old man playing the bongos-real authentic soothing Spanish music. It was just too cool!!

The next day we took a bus to Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. HOLY COW IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!!! It has BLACK sand beaches, crystal clear water, and is just awesome!

We stayed in this hostel called “Rockin’ J’s” and it was the coolest hostel I have ever seen in my life! The hostel is completely open to the ocean, right on the beach, and instead of having rooms, they have hammocks! So it is just this huge room full of hammocks and you get to know EVERYONE because you are all there chilling together. It was AWESOME! They also have a room full of tents that you can stay in - the tents are $6 and the hammocks $5. The hotel is right on the beach, so we put our stuff in our locker and then headed out to explore. We played on the beach for awhile, playing in the water and chasing the crabs, and then we saw this island that we wanted to try to get out to.

We followed the coast until we got to these volcanic cliffs that we decided to climb. They were really beautiful because they dropped straight into the ocean and the waves were crashing beautifully against them making these giant sprays. We were protected from the waves by the curve of the rock so we were getting AMAZING pictures. All of a sudden the giant waves started coming around the enclosure so we decided we better get off the cliffs and FAST.

We turned around and started back when all of a sudden a HUGE wave crashed into us knocking Trevor into the rocks and me down. Then a second wave immediately followed, picked me up off the rocks, and washed me into the ocean below. I was trapped in the white water and was under for about 25 seconds. Finally, somehow, I was able to surface. Trevor saw me and pulled me out only to find me absolutely cut to pieces. My hands, legs, and feet had been sliced up on the volcanic rocks and my feet were just gushing blood all over the rocks as I stepped. I was in total shock and was freaking out. My shoes werelostin the ocean so I was wearing Trevor’s and they were just dripping with blood. He sat me down and wrapped my foot in his shirt to stop the bleeding. It was then that I saw I wasn’t the only one hurt-his back was absolutely mutilated with about 25 6″-12″ cuts down his back. It looked like he was attacked by a bear; he was coveredin blood. His arm, too, was cut all up and was bleeding like crazy, and his shorts had been ripped up so badly that his little bum was totally exposed. He put his shirt back on so as not to freak everyone out, and tried to keep his shorts together as much as possible and then ran to town to get help. Soon Thor and Shanna came running up to take car of me, and then Trevor returned-there weren’t any medical supplies at the camp. He then put me on his mutilated back and carried me back to our hostel. The three of them bandaged me up with what was available then put me in the hammock to rest. Trevor decided to go into town to get us some food and medical supplies. He came back about 2 hours later because he had found a doctor to stitch me up and was trying to negotiate the price. He was able to talk the doctor into doing it for $80 so I consented.

Continue reading ‘Blog #137 Victims of Fun’

Blog #136

Published
by
Caci
on July 7, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 8 Comments

This weekend was SOOOOO fun! For the 4th we decided to down to the Florida Keys to celebrate. So on Friday morning we gathered up all our beach gear and headed on down. Brooke and Steve came in our car and Jeff, Bryan, Dyllan, and Stephen all carpooled in another car.
The Keys are about 300 miles from us so it was about a five hour drive. When we got to the bridge that takes you to the first Key, we saw that traffic was completely backed up across the entire bridge– we think there was an accident and since it is a one lane bridge, it was at a complete halt until it could all be cleaned up. Well, we waited for about 5 minutes and then Trevor had enough of that. He turned around and motioned Dylan to follow they then drove to the other side of the road on the oncoming traffic side of the bridge. Everyone on the other side of the road just looked at us in awe– the people towards the front of the accident had been there for over an hour and a half just sitting in the scortching Florida sun and then– BAM here come these two cars taking action. People cheered us on– it was awesome.

We were REALLY stressed that a cop would see us and give us a huge fine but we were able to avoid all cops and merge into the right side of traffic just literally seconds before traffic started coming down on the lane we were in– what a rush!!!

Anyway, the keys were SOOOOO beautiful!!! The water is crystal clear and just gorgeous!! We got to Key Largo and saw this AWESOME island that we wanted to camp on for the night. The sun was beginning to go down so we quickly unloaded all the stuff, blew up our raft and then Trevor, Steve, and Jeff started hauling everything to the island while Brooke and I went to get firewood and food for the night. By the time we got back it was pitch black so we started flashing our lights at the water’s edge so the guys could see us. We didn’t see them for quite a while and Brooke was getting really worried but then all of a sudden out of the darkness came a “Land HO!!!!” And there was Trevor and Jeff like 15 feet in front of us– it was so dark we couldn’t even see them. We then loaded the wood and food into the boat, hopped in, and they swam us across the shark infested black water to the island– Jeff was behind the boat wearing fins acting as the boat’s motor and Trevor was in front paddeling us in the right direction.– IT WAS SO COOL! I was really afriad that Jeff was going to get eaten by a shark, but thankfully we arrived on the island all in one piece (and it only took about 25 minutes to get there! It was awesome!) We unloaded the boat and Steve had already set up camp– he had hung the skychairs and had made a firepit. The boys the whole way over were telling us about “The Island” and its secrets. We wanted to know SOOOO bad what the “Secrets” of the island were but they said if they told us we wouldn’t sleep there that night so against all our pleading they remained silent. In the morning I discovered the “secret” of the island– that it was an unhinhabited State Park called Indian Key and it was called that because the indians had come onto it 100 years ago and slaughtered all the inhabitents and boats would come here to see the cemetery and all the burned structures. FREAKY! Also, the island was crawling with hermit crabs– it was AWESOME! We went out on the dock to snorkle in the crystal blue amazing water but just before we were going to jump in Trevor was like, “LOOK AT THAT!” And we looked right beneath us at a 7 foot shark and then another 5 foot shark!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!! We think they were reef sharks but we are not sure. And then about a minute later a huge sting ray swam by, too. There is SOOOOOO much aquatic life here in the Keys! A cop came and told us weren’t allowed on the dock so we went to another part of the island to snorkle around and then we cleaned up camp and swam everything back to the main Key. We must have been such a site– too hilarious! Jace had been pretty bad that night so none of us got much sleep so we drove down to the furthest Key– Key West– and got a hotel. We all took naps, cleaned up, and then went to explore Key West. We went to Outback, went to the most southern point of the U.S., and went to the beaches then went home for some much needed sleep. Trevor, Jace, Steve, Brooke, and I all shared one bed and Jeff camped out on the floor. We actually originally put Jace in the bathtub with a blanket but he woke up screaming at 3AM and joined us all to make things even more squashed. In the morning we went to breakfast and then snorkeled the day away going from beach to beach and got Key Lime Pie. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the Keys!!! Trevor and I are going to go again by ourselves with a boat and just snorkel the heck out of the reefs for a couple days. The reef there is the best in all of the United States and is just AMAZING! Oh and we picked a ton of coconuts and brought a bunch back. I LOVE THE KEYS! I will update with pics soon but it is SUCH a bummer because the battery died the VERY FIRST DAY!!!!!!!! LAME!!!!

Blog #135

Published
by
Caci
on July 2, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 3 Comments

Post has been removed as it is causing alignment issues

Blog #134

Published
by
Caci
on July 1, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

Goodness! I don’t know why it has been so hard for us to keep an updated blog! I need to start writing down everything Jace does because he is SUCH a hoot and you would all die with laughter to hear the things he does each day.

About two months ago he started sleeping in his crib and it is so funny because he has his pillow, a blanket, and his sippy cup in there with him. When I come to get him in the mornings he will be crying for me to get him and as soon as I walk in, he stops crying, then turns around and throws each thing out of his crib until it is completely empty of everything except him and then he raises his hands for me to get him. He thinks that EVERYTHING should be taken out of the crib in the morning and then everything should be put back in at night—it is so cute!

He is so funny because when he is hungry he will run over to the pantry and knock on it until I open it. Then he will take out a paper plate, and hold it while pointing to whatever he wants to eat. I then place whatever it is he wants to eat on the plate and then he runs over to the dishwasher, opens it up, and then takes a spoon out of the utensil holder, takes it all out to the balcony and then proceeds to eat.

His new favorite word is “b*m” and he says it all day long and will run up to us and pat our bums letting us know they are still there. When he is being extremely bad and I spank him (don’t worry Chapmans—he will be emotionally secure even with his daily beatings) it is completely ineffective because he immediately starts spanking himself saying, “B*m! B*m!” He thinks it’s a game.

He loves to organize things and will take everything out of the drawers and then replace it all in a very organized manner. He has special places he likes to put things so we always need to search the house in the most random places when something is lost. We usually find lost items under the couch cushion (he lifts it up when no one is watching and places the item in question securely beneath the seat), in the bathroom drawer, in Kinsi’s bottom left hand drawer, or in the TV cabinet. These are his secret places he hides things ranging from apples to my favorite shoes. He is so precious!

We moved our table out onto the balcony so we could eat while watching the wildlife below so I put two of the chairs in the laundry closet and the other two on the balcony. Well, I was just doing my thing one day and then I heard this sweet, hushed, call, “Moooooom…. Mooooooom!” So I started looking around to find out where he had gone and I opened the doors to the laundry closet and there he was, sitting in the darkness with his little hands folded on his knee as he perched himself reverently on the chair. He is so cute!!!!

He hasn’t taken a liking to nursery yet and often Trevor has to stay with him through Sunday school. He does, however, love art time and I LOVE the little things he colors and draws for me each Sunday—I never knew why mom always saved those ridiculous little things we made in school but now I know how priceless they are—I love them!

Jace is SOOOOO cute at the beach and LOVE LOVE LOVES being there! He will run out into the waves and just splash around without even caring where we are at. He loves to make mud pies and will take his Frisbee, fill it up with water in the ocean, and then transport it up the hill to where he is making things and dump it down to make mud, and then start the process again. He really is a clever little guy!

He is such a climber and is always climbing ANYTHING he can. It is so cute when he is taking a bath because he will grab onto the soap holder thingie and just climb up perpendicular to the wall and just hold on like a pro with his bare little body—it is so cute! He is so strong!!

There are so many cute things he does but I just can’t remember them all—I will start keeping track of it so I can update you all.

We just got back from a family reunion in Philadelphia, PA. It was so much fun! Jace and I flew in last Tuesday and then Trevor joined us on Friday. We then flew home Saturday with Jace and I on one flight and Trevor on another. I vow to never ever again as long as I live travel on a plane alone with an infant in my life. Jace screamed his GUTS out on the return flight and everyone HATED me. It was terrible. So, aside from the plane rides, the reunion was SOOOOOO fun!!!! It was the Call Family reunion (Trevor’s mom’s side) and everyone came to celebrate. It is so sad being with so much family and then having to leave so soon—at least we get to see everyone again in August at Brooke and Steve’s wedding—it’s coming up quick!! We leave for Costa Rica in 3 weeks!!!! How exciting!!!!!