Weeks 42 and 43: Last Visits, Last Assembly, and Getting Inked

The countdown is on and we are busy squeezing everything we need to do and need to see in these last few days! John just had his follow-up visit to the doctor to check on the progress of his broken toe (it’s the third toe on his left foot). I have to say that, although the toe does not look good (in my opinion), the doctor said it is on the mend. He has to wear his boot for 2 more weeks and then he should be good to go again. We will miss our little clinic down here and all of the wonderful doctors (not to mention the reasonable cost!).

In addition to this, we have made sure that both of the boys have had the opportunity to get their “Tico haircuts” one last time and have visited our neighbors at the “Juice Cafe” that they own in Tamarindo.

Last Assembly:

The boys had their last school assembly which, of course, was lovely, but long and hot! We were proud parents as both boys walked away with awards. Ray was recognized for playing both soccer and volleyball, but was given the “Leadership Award” for Basketball! He also received high honors for his academics. John received the “Student of the Month” Award for the primary school, likely due to the fact that he has worked hard to pick up the trash that he finds laying around the school which has earned him many “green tickets” to enter a drawing to win this award. In addition, to our surprise, John won the Most Valuable Player on his soccer team. He was recognized for this honor out of all of the 4th, 5th and 6th graders on his team. Being that he has not even been able to play soccer these last 3 weeks we were even more surprised!

New Tattoos:

Mark and I have wanted to commemorate our time here in Costa Rica with tattoos and we finally decided to get it done (nothing like waiting until the last minute)! There are a couple nice tattoo places in Tamarindo (no, not some back alley!) and we went with the one where one of the teachers at the boys’ school just got a tattoo. Since her tattoo looked great and she held them in such high regard, we trusted that we were going with professionals. Mark had wanted to get the initials “CR” on his arm-obviously for Costa Rica-so after a family discussion and many drawings, Mark decided on the design that I created. He got his tattoo last Friday, and I went on Saturday with the entire family. Since I was there and ready to go, I decided to get two tattoos-both boys were able to hold my hand throughout the process! The coordinates are for my favorite beach down here, Playa Conchal.