A day in the life of a retired woman...with kids

Catalina and Sydney in the Nicoya Airport

Sydney is taking her nap, Catalina is having her science lesson from her Science/Social Science Teacher (AKA Daddy), and I'm attempting to create a mini-routine by sipping iced, Costa Rican coffee with one hand and using my Kindle to blog or read in the other.

The Clark-Reed clan has taken off six months from real life to be with each other.  Michael started a blog a few days ago to let people know about the surf and the geography of our travels, and I was inspired to start one that focuses on our family, particularly what it's like to parent small children in these foreign places.

Catalina does some of her Writing Work for the week:
a postcard to one of her friends; Sydney takes a nap

The idea of our trip was a simple one, even if the logistics and preparations were not.  For half a year, we are pretending to be retired while we're still young and able to enjoy it. The dream destinations are in place already, thanks to our love of beaches and Michael's travel know-how: a month in Costa Rica, a month in San Clemente, and (count them) four months in Australia. No work, all play.  Well, okay, some work with Catalina's homeschooling, and parenting is fun, but it's never all play. We've been in Costa Rica for almost two weeks now, and we're beginning to establish what I like to call a "flexible routine."

Shannon's lone footprints during a morning run

Like  most retirements, our days begin with sleeping in. Of course, for our family this means waking up between 7:00 and 8:00 in the morning. For surfer Michael, this works out well. For me, well, let's just say that I'm glad Costa Rica is known for its coffee. If the surf is up, the kiddos and I usually enjoy a leisurely breakfast; although, I still have yet to convince my seven-year-old that Gallo Pinto (a Costa Rican meal of flavorful rice and beans) is worthy of her morning taste buds.  If there is no surf, then I get to have a morning jog on the beach.  Now, I know I'm comparing my days to teaching 180 teenagers typically, but I must say that jogging barefoot next to the ocean is pretty difficult to beat.  Seeing my own footprints (and no one else's) on the jog back is even better than reading The Great Gatsby for the 50th time.

Catalina at the head of the footwalk that leads from
the Yoga Institute to the market in town

After we've truly woken up, we have the option of doing some schoolwork (I'm in charge of English, Math, and Art; Michael is Science and Social Science) or we can fulfill the Physical Education portion of the curriculum (I'll wait for you to stop laughing at the thought of me as a P.E. teacher...) by hiking along or swimming in the ocean.  Yesterday morning, we had breakfast and were finished before the heat set in.  Catalina and I strapped Sydney into the sling and headed towards a new path through the forest.  Nosara, the area in which we're staying now, is known first for its surfing and second for its yoga.  At the end of our road, lies a large, forest-covered complex called the Nosara Yoga Institute.  They have created a lovely, serene footpath from the Institute to the Mini-Super (which is both a small market with a nice variety of food and something I'm using next year to teach oxymoron).  One of Catalina's reading assignments for the week was a non-fiction piece called "The Red-Eyed Tree Frog," and she had to determine from the story whether the forest was noisy or quiet.  What a wonderful experience to be able to actually go into the forest and listen for ourselves!  Of course, Catalina noticed that the textbook offered an online "tour" of a rain forest, and she's very excited about all things electronic at the moment.  Nevertheless, we stood in the middle of the footpath near some large, braided vines and listened.  Even Sydney seemed to understand what we were doing and appeared meditative during that time.  Catalina decided that the forest was quiet.  I agreed.  It was wonderful!

Michael and the girls at the beach:
a 5 minute walk from our house

Everyday we enjoy a trip to the beach, sometimes more than once.  Michael is great about taking us at low tide so the girls can enjoy going deeper into the water.  Catalina is practically body surfing, and she has been pleading for her own surfboard lessons for a couple of days now (photos coming soon, I'm sure).  Sydney is way too courageous in the water, but we keep taking her in because she has the best laugh when the waves get strong enough to knock her down.

We miss our friends and family, of course, but I wouldn't trade this time with my husband and my girls for anything.

Next Up: Things I Hope My Daughters Remember about Our Trip