Dec. 27th

We took the oldest to the airport here in town to travel to Costa Rica (Dec. 27th). No more things to add to the suitcase just in case. I stood in line with him while he checked in. The plane was delayed 45 minutes so they would be leaving later than expected, not bad considering the day was very foggy, in fact the weather people referred to it as freezing fog.

I had a follow-up doctor's appointment right about the time they were originally suppose to depart so we had to leave. Doug didn't have to literally drag me away, almost.(Drag me Sammy.) I told him I was sure everyone thought we were those irresponsible parents dropping their kid off at the airport and then taking off. He said it gave others the excuse to leave since we did it first. Whatever!

Doug and I had made plans to go to a resort in Galena for a few days. Doug has a colleague that owns a condo and rented it to us for a very reasonable price. She like Doug (who doesn't)! It sounded good at the time, but as we traveled I worried about the flight being canceled and having to spend the night at home or them getting delayed in Atlanta and were were on the road. Of course Daniel had our cell numbers. I typed and laminated all emergency numbers on a card and put it in his backpack.

I guess things were fine. I was going by no news is good news. We did have fun in Galena. We arrived safely, got set-up and then it started to snow. All told we got 7 inches worth. Right by the condo was a Nordic Trek/Golf Club. Here we were able to get cross county skiies and sleds. We went sledding. We loved it. The little one and Doug caused a sensation and created a trend. they called it the double decker. He laid on his belly on top of the sled and she laid on his back, down the hill they went. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of this since I had already put the camera away to do my own sledding. At the end of the sledding day, as we trekked up another hill to the golf club, a gentleman who admired my "camera" offered to take a picture of us. All that white fuzz is snow coming down.

We met a family who has a lab dog named Martha. She chased them down the hill. After awhile she would just run beside the sled and kind of nip at them. The dad took her down on the sled twice; what a sight that was. It made us miss Amber as we knew she would be doing the same thing (with the addition of barking at everybody).

We saw woodpeckers, deer, cats, and squirrels. The little one made a snowman. The only things I had to decorate it with were golf balls and peanuts. The golf balls were too big so she used the peanuts. Doug said with a bigger smile it could be Jimmy Carter. Ah, memories of GA too.

P.S. I know you were worried about our big boy. When we returned home there were two messages from the phone tree that the group had arrived safely and on schedule to San Jose. We then were graced with a phone call on the 30th from my boy, probably the only call we'll get. He said he had almost used up his $20.000 phone card and could only talk for five minutes. I should call the girlfriend to find out what he's doing.

He sounded great and had seen two toed sloths, a pit viper (that can kill you in 20 seconds), and lots of poison dart frogs. Where was his camera??? In the front pouch of his backpack. Hello, I showed him where everything was!!

Oh, I love this. Patty this is so Daniel. He says it has rained everyday, but today was clear. I asked, "Did you wear the windbreaker I packed for you (my windbreaker)?"
No, he says. He says, " I figured that you would only get so wet and then you couldn't get anymore wet than that."
Using my best Dr. Phil voice I said, "How'd that work for you?"
He says, "It didn't. I got really wet and kept getting wet. ha, ha."
Hello!! What does he think, that people have a saturation point. Wrong!
Now, I'm sure his group leaders are thinking what kind of momma wouldn't pack her son a waterproof jacket when it was on this list of things to bring.