Daddy Turned 40!

We recently walked across the border into Costa Rica. Ben had to attend a funeral in the States and it was way cheaper to fly out of Costa Rica than Panama City. He was gone for 8 days, and of those, he traveled for 6. It was a difficult time for him, but I'm glad he was able to go. This is the welcome sign on the CR side - quite sad!! 

Our "5 blonde kid" parade, as usual, got a lot of stares and "cinco hijos, todos son suyos?" (5 kids, they're all yours?) Yes they are mine, I do not walk around with other peoples' children - especially not when they look just like me. This, sadly, is the only other Costa Rica picture we could find.


I am hopeful that we can soon do some vacationing in Costa Rica as I have fond memories of places there on our honeymoon. Just not this border town.  .
We did pretty well while he was away, surprisingly, but we were very glad to have him back. He even brought us all treats from the US.



While he was gone, Ben turned 40! We were so sad to miss it, but we wanted to have a little party when he returned. The kids and I blew up some balloons and showered them down on him as he came through today.




As you can see, everyone was super excited to have him back home. Even the dog has been super happy.


All the kids picked out a few items at the local Todo a Dollar that they thought he would like and wrapped them up. He was pretty happy to open some olives, mushrooms, clips, cookies, peanuts, a drink and a Texas and California trivet. It was a fun little party that we had!