It's baseball time again!

This is the first time we have played fall ball and now I know why. It's freaking hot!!! Brantley missed his first practice Saturday but they only made it about 30 minutes that day. Today they only did about 45 minutes. Man was it hot. And it didn't start until 6:00. When is this heat wave going to be over?

Quotable Quotes

Mom, today is my last day at school, 'cause I'm really smart and I don't need to go.

Home Today

Well, Brantley and I are at home today. He had what I thought was a bug bite but it created a rash this weekend. It's in a bad spot, at his tail bone between the cheeks. The rash had gotten pretty bad and I was putting lanacane and benedryl on it for the itching. Finally, I put some neosporin on it last night because it was so open and raw. This morning it looked better, but after breakfast Brantley started itching and was hysterical. He said he couldn't go to school like that. Fine. I gave in and took him to the doctor. I told him the doctor was probably going to give him a shot. On the way he said it wasn't itching anymore. Too bad. We were going to the doctor anyway. Good thing I did because it turned out to be a staph infection. It may have started out as a bug bite, but the staph took over. His doctor said it's often mistaken for a spider bite. I read a little about it and staph bacteria normally lives on your skin and doesn't cause problems. But, if you have a cut or an open sore, it can cause a nasty infection. He has to take a really strong antibiotic. The doctor warned me that the pharmacist might say something about it. They didn't, but I guess all I would have to do is say he had a staph infection. He had to take 2 teaspoons 3 times a day and apparently it doesn't taste good. We also have to put a prescription ointment on 3 times a day. Fun times.

Costa Rica

I uploaded pictures here and here. I had trouble uploading so many pictures and I don't think I got them all uploaded.

Our flight into Costa Rica was uneventful. We got a little turned around in the airport in San Jose, but it wasn't bad. Jorge picked us up and took us back to their condo so we could leave some of our luggage. He said he had the beach house ready and we would spend the weekend there. So, we packed up enough stuff for the weekend and headed for Puntarenas. It wasn't really that it was hot, just very humid. After the weekend at the beach house, we headed to Arenal. The Arenal Volcano has been active since it woke up in 1968 after 400 years of inactivity. It's really something to see. We didn't get any good night pictures, but some beautiful ones during the day. I would definitely recommend the Arenal Springs resort. It was really nice.

After two nights in Arenal, we headed to Monteverde. We took a Taxi Boat Taxi from Arenal to Monteverde which takes about 5 hours. If you don't cross the lake, it takes about 8 hours to get there from Arenal. Monteverde is very pretty. It's so high that you look down on the clouds and the clouds come in like fog. It's very cool to see. I managed to sprain my ankle there so I had to take it easy our second day there. The roads and sidewalks are terrible so be very careful if you ever visit Costa Rica.

After our two nights in Monteverde, we finished up our vacation just relaxing in Heredia. I even went and got a pedicure, even though I had a sprained ankle. I figured I deserved it. And, where else can I get a pedicure for $15.

The trip home was unreal. We got through security and everything in Costa Rica with no problem. We got to the gate about 45 minutes before we were supposed to board. Another plane was boarding and we watched one take off. It had started to rain, but the plane that had been boarding had started to taxi out only to be stopped. They closed the airport. CLOSED!!! No one could land, no one could take off. It wasn't very long before they told us the plane that we were supposed to get on had circled all that it could and would be diverted to Managua, Panama to refuel. It would be at least 5:15 before we would board and there would be no connecting flights for any of us in Miami. At his point everyone rushed the counter to start making arrangements. Luckily the nice family we were sitting with gave me the number for the hotel in the Miami airport and a calling card so I could call. After being herded around the airport, we finally got to on a bus to be taken to our plane. We ended up in Miami about midnight. It was good we got a room because we didn't get a flight back until noon on Monday. The next morning was a mess. Miami must be the worst airport I've ever experienced. We finally made it back to Nashville about 1:00 - only 14 hours late.

All in all, Costa Rica is a beautiful country. It's very mountainous and the vegetation is unreal. If you go, don't go expecting a cheap vacation, let someone else do the driving, and be careful on the sidewalks. Oh, my only other tip is make sure you wait until you get there to change you currency. Most every place takes dollars and you will get a much better exchange rate there.

Scrappy (5/98 to 8/07)

Today we said goodbye to Miss Scrappy. Brantley is very upset about the loss. Losing a pet is one of life's hardest things. Here is a picture of her with my shoes. Scrappy had a thing for shoes....

Update coming....

I promise an update soon. We just got back from Costa Rica - 14 hours late I might add. I'll update with pictures and stories soon.