Costa Rica, Day 1

4 hours of sleep last night
wake up at 4:45 AM
shave, wash hair, eat poorly-nuked breakfast sandwich
lead children to get dressed and get in car
leave house at 6:10 AM
drive to atlanta airport
stop at publix grocery on way to get sudafed to un-stop jason's left ear
park car and shuttle to airport
airport trains broken down; hordes of travelers walking miles to their gates; we are in E, the farthest down (yeah exercise!)
hang at the gate; potty trips; trips to duty-free shops
board plane at 10 am
on plane, kim reads cr guide; reads chapter 10 of harry potter; jack sits with caleb; jason listens to podcasts
no flying problems; deplane on tarmac
takes ~1.5 hours to get through migracion, aduanas and reclamo de equipaje
ryan and lucas fetch us; we go to parking garage; bag all luggage in heavy-duty garbage bags and tie to roof; luggage on top of us and at our feet
jack in back with lucas having a 1-way conversation; kim, caleb and willow in middle seats with suitcase at feet and 2 backpacks in laps; jason and ryan (driving) in front
while trying to adjust jason's seat, kim unsticks it so that as we drive, jason's seat moves to and fro, till he eventually resettles it
the ride begins with light rain, which becomes a downpour within 30 minutes of driving down the road across san jose (southbound towards san gerardo de dota)
the car, born in 1994 (a 16-year-old) has its charms; as the rain increases, the windows go up to prevent inundation; windows up with 7 steaming bodies causes fogging of windows, most notably windshield through which ryan sees to drive; jack continues to chatter and giggle in back
perhaps most notable from my perspective is the fact that caleb, willow, and i are sitting under a sun roof with a broken glass, the result of which is that for the next 2 hours, caleb and i are soaked at 3-minute intervals (which are often spurred by ryan's turning this way or that on the road) by all the water collected in the rivulets of metal on the car roof; as a result, my warm jeans and t-shirt (warm for costa rica) are swimming in cool, refreshing water; it's a cold-water bath; caleb's side gets watered but not as generously; he uses lucas's hoody to stymie the water flow; the kids (willow and jack) squeal in surprise and delight at the water inundating their mama; ryan (who continues to drive the car) gets a little too distracted by the water for kim's comfort and she perceives that he nearly rear-ends one car, but it didn't happen after all; we drive through the parking lot of Price Smart, the Wal-mart of Costa Rica, to buy Lucas's friend Pablo a big jar of crunchy peanut bar, here referred to as mantequilla de mani (the costarrisense mantequilla de cacahuate); the traffic is too heavy, and we leave the parking lot, declining to purchase honey from the children in the road leading into the store; as we re-enter the highway, and the rain increases, there's a need for a cloth with which to clear the parabrisas (windshield--just relearned the word today); doing a crusty job of it; kim has jack strip off his yellow t-shirt which is hereafter used for defrosting the parabrisas; the windows go up and down; let's just say, kim's imagination is exploring the possibilities for ways she can die in this situation; trying to repel such thoughts with the comfort that thousands, maybe millions of people live in this city and do okay with it; kim's approach is to take the cold soaks quietly and try to keep willow and jack from squawking with delight each time the water pours down; willow eventually decides to embrace the water coming in through the roof and drapes herself across my lap with her face turned up towards the ceiling so she can experience the full effect; within 10 minutes, she's drenched and loving it; jason is strangely quiet in the front seat, exchanging pleasantries with his baby bro; once across san jose, we begin our ascent up the mountain road to san gerardo de dota; the 2-way road winds, twists and turns; i try to not worry how jason is feeling...it's hard to tell with his uncharacteristic quietude; i regularly tell willow and jack to calm down, be quiet, etc.; ryan tells us that the month of may is the 2nd rainiest season of the year, after october; so, the road is twisty, the windshield is cloudy, the rain pours down and soaks us, and we're cold from regular downpours in them middle seat; at one point, ryan passes a line of 3-4 slow cars and there's no nice way to say that i knew my death was imminent; ryan got a car honk of reproach; i have decided he drives like he's playing basketball on tuesday nights; an hour later, we stop at a roadside cafeteria, air at ~55 degrees, soaking wet, emerge from the car

University of West Georgia Alma Mater

Enjoy the University of West Georgia alma mater as performed by her loveliness, Kim Huett: