Rain, Rain, Go Away!!!

Seriously! I feel like I am starting to mold! Is this rain ever going to end? Our poor garden is just not doing as well as we would like! I think we are going to have to replace a lot of the flowers we have on the deck! The rain has not kept the cats inside though, and I sometimes have to towel them dry! They love our new picnic table (thanks Mom and Dad!!) as a good vantage point to watch the birds!I am not going to try to regale you with every single thing that we have done since my previous post, since it has been quite a while! But, suffice it to say that the few (VERY few) ok days that we have had in between the rain have allowed us to have a couple of impromptu BBQs, including some horseshoes! We have also been able to play some disc golf a couple of times, which is always a good time! I am starting to get a lot better at disc - it has been quite a while since I have gotten over 100!! My personal best is still 92 though, so I am trying for less than 90! We will see!Anyway, we have been having a great time hanging out with people in the last few weeks! I don't think that I cooked more than once last week! We went out with some work folks a couple of nights, and Friday when we had some friends over we got the basement set up for black light beer pong! It is very fun! We are keeping our fingers crossed for some good weather to come so we can go strawberry picking! I have a TON of jars so I am going to have to do plenty of canning this summer and fall! Too bad all of the crops are not so good right now!I had to include this picture because it is so descriptive of what it is like on a typical Saturday afternoon at our house! This is what we do while we are waiting to go to disc golf! To see more pictures from the last few weeks go here: http://s295.photobucket.com/albums/mm160/arolin1/June%202009/

So, I feel like I am running out of things to blog about! From here on out it is going to be pretty much the same old same old! If you have any suggestions about things to blog about - either mundane or intellectual - please let me know! I will try to come up with something more interesting for next time! Until then. . .

Love, Sarah

Happy Father's Day!

I seem to be a day or two behind, so here you go! To all the Fathers out there, I hope you had a very wonderful Father's Day!!

F.A.T.H.E.R.S.

"F" aithful.

"A" lways there.

"T" rustworthy.

"H" onoring.

"E" ver-loving.

"R" ighteous.

"S" upportive.

-Author Unknown

Love, Sarah

The Inevitable Let down. . .

I am calling this post "The Inevitable Let Down" because, really, how can anything going on right now compare to the amazing two weeks that we had for the wedding and honeymoon?? Our life is already back to boring!! LOL! From now on all I am going to have to blog about will be things like "today we went to the grocery store. We bought groceries. Yum food!".

But seriously, I have already forgotten to carry the camera with me! So, although he had a good time last weekend once we got home, I didn't get any pictures of the craziness! I will try to be more dilligent in the future! Here is a summary of what we did, hopefully I don't leave anything out!

We got home around 4am on Wednesday, June 10. We slept late (although, not as late as I would have hoped for!), then spent most of the day unpacking and cleaning. And, since our marriage certificate was already at the house, I went down to the DMV and the Social Security offices to change my name! Yup, that's right, I am officially Sarah Cote!!!!!!! I am still not quite used to it, but it still sounds good:)

Derrick had the rest of the week off, but I had to work. I worked from home on Thursday and Derrick went to lunch with Jason. Friday night we ended up having an impromptu BBQ at our house. It was really fun and I think everyone had a good time - especially Becky!! I had never met that Becky before! Saturday we went disc golfing (I managed to keep my score under 100 and Derrick shot under par if I remember correctly!). After disc golf was another BBQ. This one ended very early! We are getting so old! Sunday afternoon we went to Roger and Gail's house to show them our honeymoon pictures and catch up. And then, that's right, we went grocery shopping!

Our first full week back at work has been uneventful. Wednesday we went to St. Joe's to watch Danielle's softball game and we met Nola and Ken at Gilbert's in Windham beforehand. And I think that is the extent of the excitment since we have been back. I know that you have been enthralled and intrigued!

I have uploaded some more wedding pictures that I have gathered from various sources! I knwo you have been hoping for more, so here you go! I am still waiting on links from a few other people! http://photobucket.com/derrickandsarahwedding

I will try to remember to bring the camera and take pictures to share with you! For now we just have some pictures of what our garden looked like when we got home! Enjoy! Hopefully I have something more interesting to share with you next time! Until then. .

Love, Sarah

Costa Rica Part 3 - Ocotal and Home

We have the best friends ever! I will get to Ocotal and the journey home in a minute! I just need to take a sec and thank the wonderful friends who power washed and painted our deck and side porches while we were gone! We also love the new patio table, chairs, and umbrella that they got us!! Amazing! And we came home to a wonderful welcome message! And, Thank you to the Higginses and the Carsons for taking care of the kitties while we were gone! Very much appreciated!

So anyways, leaving Punta Islita was tough! We really enjoyed our stay there! But, we did finally get to ford the river! It was actually very fast moving water!! The drive to Ocotal was pretty uneventful, other than our stop at the Costa Rican WalMart!! And, right up until we dead ended at the ocean and we still hadn't seen the hotel!! We were in a small oceanside town that reminded me of Old Orchard Beach. So we turned around and went down a side street in the general direction we thought the hotel might be in. We went through a small part of the town that was very busy! There were people walking and biking everywhere! We finally left the little town behind! I was all for turning around and asking directions when we once again dead ended at the ocean! Luckily we were at a gated community type place and we asked the guard for directions to the hotel. I don't think he spoke very much English, but he pointed us in the right direction. The entrance to the driveway seemed to be the entrance for several different properties, so we ended up having to go through two different gates - one right at the road, and then one for the hotel. We got all checked in and got to our room. The Hotel El Ocotal is one of those hotels that was probably really nice 20 years ago. It has a really great location up on the hillside of the rocky coastal area - but it is very outdated, the rooms are very small, and it just didn't seem that nice! But, it wasn't terrible either - I think that it is really trying, it just isn't quite there yet! Anyways, once we settled in to our room a little bit, we decided to head back into the town for some dinner and souvenirs.

The name of the town is Playa Del Coco and it is a pretty cool place! It just has a really nice atmosphere! We did a little shopping and then stopped at a sports bar (yeah, they have those!) for dinner. It was happy hour so we got $2 margaritas! They were yummy! We also got to watch a couple of monkeys play in a tree that was hanging over the road! So cute! We then drove back to the hotel, changed our room to one with a king sized bed (a racoon chased me down the walkway!), and spent the rest of the night reading and watching spanish tv.

Our very last day in Costa Rica was a sad one! While we were glad to be going home, we were also sad to be leaving! We ate breakfast at the hotel, in the company of a very large Iguana and about 5 blue birds. The drive to the airport in Liberia was pretty short (we had to drop off the car and get a shuttle to the airport). Luckily we had someone to tell us what we needed to do, because we had to get in line to pay a customs tax, and then fill out a form before we could go in! The Liberia airport was an experience! It is a very small airport, and like everything in Costa Rica, it is totally open air. As far as I could tell, there was only one "gate", and the ceiling fans wobbled scarily! There was a food counter where you could also get beer or whatever! So we had our last pina coladas sitting at the gate waiting to go home. Loading the plane was a pain since they searched every single passenger's carry on bags before letting us board! But, we finally got on the plane! Our layover in Miami was not as eventful this time around. We hung out at a bar for a few hours and talked to a guy from Montreal while we waited. The flight from Miami to Boston took longer than it should have since we had to fly around some weather. The most eventful occurance on our trip home happened just after we got into Maine, around 2:45am - We got pulled over and Derrick got a speeding ticket! Luckily the cop did not get us when we were going like 100mph, but it's totally ridiculous since the ticket is for going 74 in a 65!!! Totally dumb!

And so that is the story of our trip! I am sure there are things that I left out, so feel free to ask questions! I will update you on what we have been doing since we got back as soon as we do something interesting!

Apparently we did not advertise our wedding Photobucket site very well! Sorry for that! I will try to gather some of the pictures that have been uploaded in other places and get them up there so everyone can view them! http://photobucket.com/derrickandsarahwedding

More pictures from Ocotal and home: http://s295.photobucket.com/albums/mm160/arolin1/Costa%20Rica/Part%203%20-%20Ocotal%20and%20Home/

Love, The Cotes

Costa Rica Part 2 - Punta Islita

Ah, Punta Islita! The relaxing part of the honeymoon! Punta Islita is a very secluded hotel on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It is built up on a hillside with spectacular views of the ocean! The drive to get here was much less eventful than our drive to Arenal, but we still had to stop a few times to get our bearings! On the way out of Arenal we FINALLY had good views of the volcano! Go figure!

Anyways, the drive to Punta Islita included quite a stretch through interesting dirt roads that wound their way up and down the mountains of the coast. And then we had our first glimpses of the ocean! Ahhhh! Gorgeous! Derrick used Trip Advisor a ton when researching where to go in Costa Rica, and the roads to Punta Islita where supposed to be horrendous! We were supposed to have to ford a river to get here! I decided that the people on Trip Advisor were just pansies that had never driven a dirt road in their lives! That is, of course, until we took a different route on the way out and got to cross the river! It was pretty cool!! When we finally arrived, our consierge greeted us with cool towels! While we were getting all of our stuff together with her, a little lizard took up residence on the back of her chair! Then she showed us to our room. Down the little paths that wend their way down the hillside till we got to our room. Another king sized bed! There is also a little sitting area inside as well as out. And, while we do not have an outdoor shower, we do a have a little plunge pool and a hammock. Not to mention the sights and sounds of the pacific ocean right outside our door!

The first night that we were here we just ate at the restaurant, hung out in the room, and went to bed early!! We had a little friend in the light fixture by our table that was really cute! Some kind of little salamander or something! Very neat! The first full day that we were here did not go much differently! We got up, ate breakfast, hung out on the hammock, read, and tried to decide what, if any, activities we would do while we are here. We did get to spend Earth Day planting trees with some of the hotel staff and other guests! Punta Islita is really trying to be a "green" hotel, and they try to plant like 2000 trees a year! It was the first time that we had ever done anything for Earth Day! That afternoon, while we were in the plunge pool, a small group of monkeys were hanging out in a tree just down the hill from us and we watched them for a while. I have no idea what kind of monkeys they were (Derrick says they were howler monkeys), but it was neat to get to watch them. We were supposed to have a romantic dinner for two down on the beach, but as the afternoon wore on the thunder clouds rolled in! And then it began to rain buckets!!! We decided to postpone our romantic dinner until Saturday and instead had dinner in the hotel restaurant again. We then spent the rest of the evening reading in our room.

The second full day that we were here, we had decided that we wanted to go ziplining, horseback riding, and to the spa. We ate our breakfast and then went to see our consierge. Unfortunately, the ziplining was not available, the sunset horseback ride is only offered in the dry season, and there was only room for one at the spa (that's what we get for waiting until the last minute!). So, we scheduled ziplining and the spa for Sunday and then set off in search of rum! There is a very small village next to the hotel that sometimes carries wine, but there is a larger town (with a little airfield!) about 10 minutes further on. That litte store did not have any rum. It did have a few beers that we grabbed and then we headed back. We spent some time in the village looking at their little art gallery/souvenir shop. When we got back to the hotel, we went up to the pool for a little while. We had some drinks and some ceviche and enjoyed the infinity pool! The view was amazing! We then had just enough time to change and head down to the beach for our dinner! It was beautiful! White table cloth and scattered flowers! We were right on the beach watching a storm out at sea! Very romantic!! The food was really good and we had fun! We have definitely noticed that they take their time with meals down here! When we got back to the room, Derrick started taking pictures of something in the folds of the curtains. I just ignored it thinking that it was probably just a big bug that I didn't want to see. After he finished taking pictures, he took his shoe and swatted it out of the curtain and smooshed it on the floor. Then he showed me the pictures - it was a scorpion!!!!! So friggin creepy!!

The third full day at Punta Islita, we zip lined through the canopy! I wish it could have lasted longer - it seemed to go by so fast! We went down 8 different cables of varying lengths and heights. It was a ton of fun! After the zip line we hung out in our plunge pool for a while and then headed down to the beach for a little while. We had the beach almost completely to ourselves! It is a huge beach and so private and unspoiled! Very cool! I am glad that we decided to come here instead of one of the more touristy beach areas! We went right from the beach to the spa for our couples massage and body scrub! I am glad that we didn't have to wait another day, since we both have sunburns and the body scrub would not have been fun today! The spa was wonderful, very relaxing! After the spa we went down to a little restaurant just down the street from the hotel (cheaper!!). I had casada, and Derrick tried Conch! It really isn't bad - kind of a cross between crab and shrimp! And then, that's right, we spent the rest of the evening reading in our room! Our little porch is covered, and it has been fun watching the little salamanders running around eating bugs at night!

And now we are packing up, getting ready to leave this beautiful, quiet place to head to Ocotal for the night before flying out of Liberia tomorrow. We are going to be so sad to leave! We have enjoyed our stay in Costa Rica so much! But, we have missed all of you too, and can't wait to tell you all about our adventures in person! Just a few more days!

More pictures from Punta Islita: http://s295.photobucket.com/albums/mm160/arolin1/Costa%20Rica/Part%202%20-%20Punta%20Islita/

And, don't forget to upload your digital photos from the wedding to: http://gs109.photobucket.com/groups/n78/G6N3Y7SQZ2/?sort=ascending


Love, Sarah and Derrick

Costa Rica Part 1 - Arenal Nayara

Oh my, there is just too much to tell! I will try to keep it as brief as possible since I am sure that we will have the chance to relay all of this to most of you in person (sorry Mike, guess we will have to send you an e-mail with the details!).

So far our trip to Costa Rica has been exactly what we thought it would be - an adventure! Getting here took a while, but since we finally made it we have been having a blast!

The story of getting here goes something like this -

Got up aroun 3am Monday morning in Boston and caught a shuttle to the airport. We then hoped a flight to Miami where we were supposed to have about an hour layover. Well, 1 hour turned into more like 5, most of which was sent IN the plane! Well, three hours in the first plane, and then like 2 hours in the second plane that we had to board after making an emergency landing 1 minute after taking off in the first plane! Yeah, seriously!!

Needless to say we did not arrive in Costa Rica as early as we wanted to! We got our rental car and directions to the Arenal volcano. And then we were off. And HOLY S*#T!!!!! You have no idea until you actually try to make the drive, but did you realize that only about 10% of the roads in Costa Rica have names or any signs telling you where the road might take you? And did you realize that none of the maps are really very accurate at all? And did you realize that in the mountanous rainforest regions it gets really foggy at night? Like REALLY freaking foggy??? Not to mention the fact that the roads are incredibly narrow with steep drop offs and incredible s-curves?? Well, neither did we.

But, we made it to Arenal Nayara finally. We got in pretty late, like 8pm I think. We were greeted with cool towels and papaya juice and after getting checked in we took a short golf cart ride to our casita. Our casita had a king sized bed and a ton of space! We would have had a great view of the volcano from our little porch if it wasn't for the fog! The casita had hot tub and some chairs on the deck, and it also came equiped with an outdoor shower! So cool!

Everything in Costa Rica is very open-air. The lobby of the hotel and all of their restaurants do not have doors, or even really walls in some cases. The ground of the hotel were really beautiful! There was a coy pond and a ton of foliage! And there was even a bar in the pool!

Our first full day we spent mostly just relaxing on the porch and trying to decide which activities to do. There are just so many choices!! We went into La Fortuna for a bit, did some shopping and relaxing. We went to the local grocery store for supplies (sorry Dad, it seems that Seko is illegal, so we will be bringing you back some other kind of rum!!) and ate some incredibly spicy pork on a stick that we bought from a guy on the street. That night we hung out at the pool bar for a few hours and met a few of the other guests (mostly honeymooners!!) before hitting up the restaurant for some paella and sangria! Delish!

Our second day at Arenal, we decided to take an early morning hike to Rio Celeste and then hit up some of the hot springs in the area. We thought that the hike would take about 4 hours, we would have some time to relax, and then we could head to the hot springs. Then the guide tells us that it is a 2 hour drive to where we are going! We still thought that we might be able to make our 5pm hot springs reservations. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and it was interesting to hear information about the various plants and animals. We stopped to see the second oldest tree in Costa Rica, and we got to see a blue jean frog which is teeny tiny!! We also got to see some kind of lizard that the guide said does not come out very often! Very cool! The drive to the beginning of the trail took us by dirt road up and up and up the mountain. We passed by yuka plantations and tons of pineapple fields! I had no idea that pineapples grew from the ground! We stopped at a pineapple processing place and the driver got us a couple of pineapples from the workers - as fresh as you can get!! The hike through the rainforest was amazing! There are really no words to describe the feeling! We didn't get to see very many animals, but we did get to see a water fall (and we crossed the river right in front of the waterfall! Exilerating!) and some natural hot springs. The water in the river and in the lagoon we stopped at is very blue from all of the minerals and gasses escaping from the volcano. It was all very cool! We then had a delicious lunch of casadas before departing.

On the way back we saw a two-toed sloth crossing some power lines! It was very cool! We also stopped at a stand that had been set up by the indigenous people of Costa Rica. We learned a little bit about their culture, saw what their homes look like, and even got to sample some smoked fish that they had going. They are a very hospitable and interesting people.

Our guide had called the hotel for us earlier to see if we could still make our hot springs reservation. We were assured that we could show up any time after our reservation time. We got back to the hotel, changed, and headed to the hot springs. Outside the gate we were supposed to be able to push a little button and someone would come out to let us in - the button was broken! We headed into town to get me some cold medicine (I have had a stupid cold since we first got here!) and then back to the hotel to straighten out the mess. We decided that since we had gotten to sit in a hot spring in the jungle that we were ok with not going to the fancy pants place! Instead we hit the hot tub on our porch and ordered room service!

On our last morning in the Arenal area, we went rappelling down waterfalls! We were picked up around 7:15 with another couple and drove about 10 minutes. There were 4 guides with us the whole time. It was soooo much fun and I got to go first! It was crazy! The first rappel was on a dry wall next to a waterfall! I was the only one of the four of us that had rappelled before (thank you JROTC summer camp!) but I was pretty shaky when I made it to the bottom. We did 5 rappells total, 4 of which were down the middle of different waterfalls! We were in the jungle the whole time and I can't even imagine how they got all those cables out there! Definitely an awesome experience!!!

After lunch it was time for us to pack and start our trek to Punta Islita! We did not want to risk leaving to late and driving in the same conditions we had from San Jose! On the way out we noticed that the sky was clearing out and we could FINALLY see most of the volcano! LOL! Of course we didn't get to see it until the drive out!

Everything at Arenal Nayara was wonderful! The colors of the linens and everything are just so wonderful and vibrant and the atmosphere here is just so laid back! I love it! We had some good food, some great adventures, and of course good company! We got to see some lizards and birds (Tucans!) and frogs, as well as some howler monkeys and a sloth! This is a wonderful country and I can't wait to tell you all about our experience at the secluded beach resort that is Punta Islita! I am sure that I am leaving some things out, but there is just too much to tell! If we decide to come home I will tell you all about it!

More pictures from Arenal: http://s295.photobucket.com/albums/mm160/arolin1/Costa%20Rica/Part%201%20-%20Arenal%20Nayara/

Love, Sarah and Derrick

Having Fun

Having fun in Costa Rica! Still not sure if we are coming home or staying here!

More to come later!
Love, Sarah and Derrick

Finally!!!! Mr. and Mrs. Cote!!

Well, we finally did it! We are Mr. and Mrs. Cote! It was an amazing whirlwind weekend that we just didn't want to end! The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner were amazing! We absolutely loved getting to spend some good times with our friends and family! Although, I think we were both paying for it the next day!

And then Saturday came. The weather report was saying that it was going to start raining right around 3pm, so we decided to forgo having the ceremony in the field. I had to rest up most of the morning while the girls were getting ready due to the amount of fun I had at the rehearsal dinner, but I was feeling much better by the time the photographer arrived! We had some mimosas and sandwiches (Thanks Chrissy and Mike!) and shared some laughs. I think my Dad was a little overwhelmed with all the estrogen, so he had to go pick up the cheesecakes with my Brother (Thanks Shawnie, Jill, and Dad!!) It all seemed to rush by after that. . .we were taking pictures and then we were in the van and then it was just my dad and I waiting on the stairs, watching the guys walk to the arbor, ready to go out on the deck. . .

When I saw Derrick at the end of the aisle, I just wanted to be there already! But, for some reason my dad wasn't moving yet. I gave his arm a little tug and he still wouldn't move!! I finally said "come on Dad!" out of the corner of my mouth and tugged his arm again and we were off! The ceremony was beautiful! Miraculously I didn't cry! Even when Jason dropped my wedding ring and Tracey forgot Derrick's! Jason recovered the ring and Derrick had just gotten his grandfather's ring from his mother, so we used that! Everything happens for a reason! Becky did a wonderful job officiating and the weather stayed awesome the entire day! I think we got some really good pictures of everyone and I can't wait to see the proofs from the photographer! And then it was party time! Peggy did a wonderful job setting everything up, the food was delicious, and I think a good time was had by all (especially Jim Poole!!). We had so much fun and I almost wish we could do it all over again!!!! Thank you to everyone who helped to make our weekend so incredibly special! We look forward to all of the exciting things to come!

Here are a few more pictures from the rehearsal dinner and the girls all getting ready!

http://s295.photobucket.com/albums/mm160/arolin1/Wedding%20Related/

You can also view everyone's digital photos from the wedding! If you haven't done it yet, we highly encourage you to share your pictures with us by uploading them to the site indicated on the back of your seed paper favor. If you need assistance or direction, please let us know! We love looking at the few pictures that are up there already and can't wait to see more!

http://photobucket.com/derrickandsarahwedding

I will regal you with tales of our travels to Costa Rica in the next post! Let's just say that it was an interesting flight and once we finally arrived in Costa Rica, it was in interesting drive!

We love you all and we can't wait to share our Costa Rican adventure with you!

Love, Mrs. and Mr. Cote