Spent part of the day packing, but managed to squeeze in a ride with my brother. We’ve all been so busy, we haven’t had much time to go riding, and since we’re leaving tomorrow for a job in DC, today was our only chance. We took a relatively short ride along the back of the canal, along the old Indiantown Road over to Cypress Creek WMA. He’s never been through back there before, so he enjoyed it thoroughly. I was a bit frustrated, as I really wanted to do more trotting and cantering, especially after all I had done in CR, but he was satisfied to mostly walk and sight-see, so I had to be satisfied I was at least back on my horse. One thing I know for sure, I’m going to expect a lot more from Apollo once Hubby and I start riding together again! Got back late in the afternoon (well, we started late : -), finished packing, then called it a night. Early start tomorrow!

Stained and polyurethaned all of the extra bits and pieces while Hubby installed what he could that was prefinished. Everything dry and installed by the end of the day, now it looks even MORE fabulous! Also put new trip around the back door, it had rotted at some point, not sure how or when, but I did discover water gets trapped in the back door, but drains when you hold the door open for a few minutes, not sure where it’s coming from but glad to know how to avoid it doing any more damage. This was a job LONG waiting to be done, and we’re thrilled it finally is finished, and delighted with how it looks. Whew!

Apollo and his bug-eating bird

Finished off the floor today, it looks FABULOUS! It didn’t take long to finish it off, so then we went out to get all the trim, corner molding, stain, etc. in order to finish the job. Too late to do any more by the time we got back, so we settled down for the evening to recharge our batteries.

Time to get busy getting ready to move out, now that spring is here. Spent the day doing spring cleaning while Hubby started to prep the kitchen floor, to finish the job we started back in January, i.e. actually laying a new floor down on top of the repairs he made. It’s already been bought, we have just been storing it until we had time (and deadline) to tackle it. I spend the day feverishly trying to get the rest of my big spring cleaning done, a slow but necessary process. Didn’t stop til well after 7:00, exhausting ourselves, but we know it’s the only way to get the job done!

While I continued spring cleaning, Hubby (with my intermittent help) started to lay the floor. We had bought an Armstrong Click-Lock laminate that actually looks like a beautiful Italian stone, what’s known as a floating floor, so it was just a matter of cutting it to shape, locking it together, and nudging up to the corners. The only challenge was where it fit into the slide, that took us quite a while to get right. Worked late again, got about half the floor finished. As always, everything takes precisely twice as long to do as you think it will!

Finally finished up the laundry, made it a relaxing movie day.

Hubby had a doctor’s appointment, just a follow-up to his back shots, one last adjustment today, and we’re done!

More of the same, laundry, rest, repeat.

Woke up at 6:00 Costa Rican Time (about 8:00 Eastern : -), went out once to do necessary shopping, then spent the rest of the day unpacking, doing laundry, and doing our best to relax and get caught up.

Last view of garden statue

Hotel Restaurant

Breakfast buffet again, final packing, then once again our friend Paulo met us and drove us to the airport. Final goodbyes, much security at the airport (they even had another go on the jetway from the gate to the plane! Made me drink two whole bottles of water just to keep from losing them! Nuts!), then settled in for the relatively short flight home. Landed in Miami a little behind schedule, about 6:00, no problems, had the shuttle from the car park place come and get us, and off we went! Arrived back at my brother’s in the evening, barely had enough energy to say hello and good-night to him, reunited with the kids (little Billy was beside himself with whimpering and squeaking, Marina just wiggled and wiggled her fat bum!) Settled down for a short evening, then crashed, thrilled with our vacation, glad to be back with the kids, kind of sorry we have to get back to the grind, but definitely with our batteries recharged and rejuvenated!


Last view of mountains of San Jose