Three and three quarters

Ronan on Laguna Arenal in front of Volcán Arenal

Late monthly update but what a month this was!  We finished up our trip to California and were home for a scant 5 days before heading to Costa Rica for 11.  We are finally just enough caught up that classes starting Tuesday isn't a total disaster, but boy was all that travel worth it. 

Ronan is a pro-traveler for someone so generally cautious (and whose first word was "uh-oh").  He's done a lot of it for a three year old (let's see, cross country trips at 5mos, 7mos, 8mos, 1yr, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5; Germany at 1.5; Costa Rica at 3.5; camping every year, and long drives to and from DC).

His enthusiasm for travel is aided by a love of planes.  He adores pilots and overcomes all shyness to talk to people with wings on their lapels, no matter what they might be in the middle of.  He pores over the pictures of planes in the magazines and can't wait for his first sighting of an airbus 380 (he also wants to see a Tesla for what it's worth, and identifies every Mini, Fiat, VW Bug, and convertible we drive by).  

Costa Rica

We went all over Costa Rica with friends, a rented SUV, a guidebook, and various maps.  The electronic ones were essential (as roads aren't signed).  We stayed in 7 places over 11 days, most of which I would recommend highly.  We ate casados (rice/bean/veggie/cheese or meat plates) for nearly every meal and cooked them upon returning home because all other food seemed strangely wrong.  We soaked in hot springs, hiked to light blue waterfalls, kayaked, swam and snorkeled in the warm ocean, felt the softest sand I've ever touched, saw monkeys and tons of birds and iguanas, rode horses, got muddy and wore through our hiking sandals, read books, and were generally offline for the longest stretch in recent memory.  We slept really well, rising early and going to bed soon after dark.  I would go back in a heart beat.

Ronan in the sort-of-a-kid-carrier backpack crossing the Rio Celeste

Ro is of an age where we needed to bring almost nothing special for him.  We had some books on an e-reader for bedtimes, an inflatable swim vest for all the water stuff we did (packs down small), and a frameless kid carrier/daypack (Kelty transit 1.1) that is unbulky enough to bring as a carry on and use for regular loads (pictured left).  Ro's big accomplishment for the trip (besides being adventurous) was to do most of a hike (~2 miles) on his own, on very muddy terrain over huge rocks and roots and up and down hills.  I was tired by the time he pooped out and none of the rocks to climb over were my height.

When invited into the cockpit on our return flight home from Costa Rica, it turns out what Ro really wanted to say was this: "Did you actually know that when I get home I'm going to be three and three quarters?"  Kids do seem to love growing up.

Ro
We have officially entered the know-it-all phase of development.  Ronan loves to learn things and then teach them.  About half the sentences out of his mouth start with "did you actually know that..."  What's amazing to me is how much he does know.  He knows Mars is dusty, that you can tell whales aren't fishes because their tails go up/down, that anglerfish live in the deep deep ocean, and that space just keeps going.  This all makes it more charming when he says "I knowed that already".  

The other half of Ro's sentences start with "why."  Boy can a parent get tired of that phrase.  Why is the sky blue? Why does air absorb light? Why not blue light?  Either way you end up at chemistry and physics pretty quickly or at "because."  And either way it's turtles all the way down.

• Pictures of Costa Rica are here.
• Other new pictures from this month are here (or will be after Tuesday).

Quotes:

8/5/13
R: Mom, what does ironic mean?
A: [totally fails at explaining in 3-year old terms]

8/9/13
A: I wonder if Diego would like to see that
R: Well, Diego's in the TV and I don't think he knows how to come out
[N.B. Watching Diego was awesome before heading to a rainforest -- Ro wanted to see sloths and monkeys and asked if he was old enough to go on a zipline. (No)]

8/25/13
R: Peaches are the best
A: I think blueberries are even better
R: Grapes are the best
A: You're the best!
R: I'm not the best for eating.  I'm the best for hugging and snuggling.

9/2/13
R: Dada, look what I found-- what's this?
D: That's a hairpin.  Maybe Shira uses those to keep up her hair.  Mama doesn't use those, because she uses hairbands instead.
R: Yeah, is Shira Sasha's mom?  Siri doesn't use anything, because she's a machine.  Well, she uses electrical things inside.

Wood fired hot tub at the riverside