Childrens Museum

We had a long weekend which was so nice! We decided to take the kids to the Childrens Museum we've heard so much about. It was completely amazing! Probably the best one we've ever been to...not the fanciest, but the best for sure. Sorry there are so many pictures...but come on, it was awesome! Total cost? $8 for the 4 of us. We took a bus for $1 downtown, then took a taxi from the bus stop to the museum for $2 and then paid $8 to get in. Unbelievable. The Childrens Museum used to be a prison so it's absolutely huge but right next to the Red District in San Jose. That's right...brothels lined up one after the other with ladies lined up out the door for the choosing. I was completely disturbed.

But on to the fun...

Had to swing by the pet shop on the street first to see the cute puppies

And buy some coffee at the Central Market where they roasted the beans in front of us

And get some lunch at a local Soda...I about cried when we couldn't figure out how to order!

We got some type of fruit drink when what we really wanted was a Slurpie...how do you say Slurpie in Spanish??? We saw them there and everything, just couldn't figure out how to order them. Next time.

On to the museum!!!

Space center

Earthquake floor

Went to a section on the many uses of water. See the pictures? We use water for cooking, drinking, fishing, playing in the rain, and baptism. So funny that baptism is just a normal way of life...no one complaining in this country about religious stuff at the museum.

Why in the world was this their favorite thing at the musuem? They fought over who got to ride it and for how long...kids can be ridiculous.

Will and the goose having a talk

Remember...used to be a prison

A real train

Learning how bananas grow

Coffee plants

I'm getting ready to go home...but lots more to see

Kids shopping center...madness

This was the kid's favorite

They even had their own checkout girl who spoke English

Will had had enough...so he took a break sitting next to a pregnant girl

I think it would be a great idea for USA schools to come on a field trip down here for the Childrens Museum. It was so great and full of education! See what the teachers think about that and let me know.

Independence Day

Today is Independence Day! And we lucky Americans get two whole days off of school which means a 4-day weekend for us. I could not be more excited. We've only been in school for 3 weeks but it feels like an eternity. We are moving so fast that it will be nice to just rest, study and hang out this weekend. We're going to lunch tomorrow with the LAM President and his wife, and then going to try to get to the Children's Museum on Saturday. Emma isn't feeling too well, so we'll have to see about that. For Independence Day, the kids at Sojourn all made faroles (lanterns) to carry in a parade through the streets surrounding the school. They had a special assembly in the gym at around 6pm and then we all walked the streets with fire-lit lanterns.

Who cares that these kids range from ages 2-9?

They can handle fire, right?

Will and Jack goofing off in front of the Independence Day decorations at Sojourn

Costa Rica Independence Day - September 15th

My kids were really confused about all the red, white and blue decorations everywhere. They kept asking if they loved America here in Costa Rica, but I pointed out that the colors of the Costa Rican flag were also red, white and blue...confusing to them

The kid's lanterns...so proud

Jack's was the bottom of a Coke bottle with truck stickers all over and "Costa Rica Jack" written on his sign. Emma's was full of puppy dogs and hearts. Since neither of them had anything to do with Costa Rica, they didn't even come close to placing in the lantern contest. But they sure loved their lanterns! Found out later we were supposed to have a hook to hang the lanterns on to carry them...oops. You know, cut us some slack, we're gringos.

Jack and his friend Bethany with their lanterns. She's only a month older than Jack!

Emma and her friend Marcy

Me with new friends Claudia (from Canada) and Jennie (from Montana). We're in classes together at ILE and our kids are all around the same age

The girl in the back looks thrilled to be carrying the flag

This was hilarious to me. Will brought his long grill lighter to light our kid's lanterns when it was time for the parade. Apparently no one else remembered to bring fire with them, so Will became the official lighter of lanterns. Parents were passing their lanterns down from all over the room for Will to light. As you can see, each lantern was a complete fire hazard with paper mache, toilet paper rolls, tissue paper and cereal boxes...and we didn't hesitate to light them all up in the middle of the school gym.

Next Will burned Emma's chin with the lighter so we had to go home and get ice. He was in the middle of lighting her lantern and she leaned over to look inside her box right as he was taking the lighter out...totally not his fault. But it was horrible timing. She cried the whole parade.

My best attempts at pictures during the parade. It was led by the drummers from the high school at Sojourn and we even had police escorts. So cool!

Traffic stopped...they were not thrilled

Costa Rican dancers at the assembly

There's my Grammar teacher in the middle

Since we did all this fun celebrating last night we decided to sleep in, make pancakes and hang out in pajamas all day today. We heard there were parades everywhere through town today and that everyone sings the national anthem together at 6pm. Like, cars pull over on the side of the road and people salute and sing. The national anthem is played over all the radios and tvs and the whole country sings together in unison. Sounds pretty cool, but it just dawned on me that we missed it. We were just too busy being lazy Americans. Or maybe it was last night and that's why we had the parade then? I don't know. Like I could actually sing the national anthem anyway. Happy Independence Day Costa Rica!