Sorry for the lack of posts lately, Blogger has been messed up, and not letting me get in...

10/29 – So today is my birthday. And on my birthday I always take a step back and see how I did in the last year. This process started when I was 21, and I realized that my last year had been spent partying in Gainesville. I came to the realization that I had my priorities pretty figured out when I was 16 years old. Friends, Surfing, and Music. And during my 21st year, I didn’t have much to do with surfing or music, and didn’t spend too much time with my best friends. So, after that I started holding myself to the standard of how Erik at 16 would feel about what I am doing today. This helped tremendously when I was stuck in a cage at 23 in Gainesville, succeeding impressively at Barr Systems, but absolutely miserable, little E would have kicked my butt. Passing time staring out the window, just thinking of all of the fun things I could be doing outside. So back to today, and my reflections for the past year, I guess I did pretty well.

Here is the count for the year… I have a nina on the way! I live in Costa! I surf better than I ever thought possible (for me anyways) and better wave more often. And I have a great group of friends that includes my family.

Oh, and maybe the biggest thing this year… Back in the states my birthday happens to fall on my least favorite day of the year, so called Black Day, as the clocks are being set ahead. But, here, there is no Black day, and I surf early, early in the morning, so it getting dark early doesn’t affect me at all. I guess in the states, Black Day symbolizes the beginning of winter also, and I vehemently hate winter, but this year, there is no winter. Actually, November through February are the nicest months of the year. So, this year, I have escaped Black Day, and winter, I live in paradise, and have a daughter on the way… I hope this trend continues… I have to say I am bullish on the future.

E.

The last week has been spent settling back into life in paradise! Surfing, taking the pups to the beach, playing with the pregnant belly. Peanut continues to surprise me as now she can push Sarah's stomach out about 1.5 inches. I love the food here! Casados, Gallo Pinto... I have already started dropping the weight gained from the states trip, and... NO ALLERGIES!!!!! Man, it feels good to breath right!

It feels sooooo good to be back in the water, and the waves haven't been that good. But, after a few sessions I feel that my board is back under my feet. I can't wait until our next good swell with good weather!

On a weather note, the past few days have been really nice. Still some rain off and on, but nothing like our first 4 days back in Nosara. The power hasn't gone off since last Friday and yesterday, there was actually some dust on the road.

Thor, taking it to a bad guy...


Thor continues to impress us! I am extremely happy that he came back to the states so everyone could meet him and see what a gentile, fun dog he is. But man, when he gets in front of a bad guy, it all changes, and he gets nasty! We worked him on Monday, his first agression training since our trip, and I was worried that he got too much love in the states and would be soft. His first bit was ok, he was fired up and probably too hyper, as he never got a good hold, but did some head shakes. Then we watched a few dogs works and hopped back up. His second bite was like an adult! He latched down and went to town! It was the first time that we had to pull him off, as after a minute he wouldn't let go! I can't expain how fun it is working with him. Everyday he is doing something new.

Other than that, all is well! I am ready for the restaurants to reopen, and Sarah is ready for Robin's Ice Cream. Only one more week!
Late.

10/21/06 – Well, we have arrived in Nosara just in time for the rain. Wow, RAIN. Pushing 5 straight days here right now. But I ain’t complaining, cause check these for stats. All the big stuff came off perfectly, and if some rain here and a car wreck in the states swings the balance a bit, that’s OK.

First and foremost, Peanut is good, great, PERFECT right now. And you won’t believe this, I think that I had a feeling, but the Dr. is now certain that it is a BOY!!!!! So all the clothes we brought back from the states are worthless… Gotcha. It is still a girl. I think Sarah is going to write a blog (finally) with all of the details, but the rundown is that she is now over 3 lbs, 5 fingers, 5 toes, super healthy heart, brain, and she kicks like a tai boxer. The due date is now the 21st of December, but the doc says that due dates are actually more accurate at the beginning, which was the 24th, so who knows... If she is like her momma, she will take a lot longer than she thinks to get ready to come out.

We hit up PriceSmart (Sam’s Club for Ticos) and Don Fernando meats while in San Jose, and dropped 3 bills, but we now have food for a month. We rode back with Claudio again, and he hooked it up as always. We got to our house about 8, and we had power, and no one robbed us. However, we did have to mop the whole house as Andrew left all of the windows open and water was everywhere. No real damage. Andrew also left his car in the middle of the driveway, blocking mine in! So, I had to do some off roadin’ to find a way out.

Friday morning we rolled the dice and went to get gas… It was rolling the dice for two reasons, first, I wasn’t sure if we had enough gas to make it. Second, it had been pouring rain all morning and there is one bridged river in the way. We made it, but the river, which is normally 4 or 6 feet below the bridge was 1 foot over it. On our way back there was a tree lodged in the bridge up river, and we waited for a minute to see if it would dislodge and pass by, it didn’t so we decided to go. Guess what happened??? Yep, no sooner did we get parallel with the tree did it let loose, so we had to give it some oomph to get by, and just missed it. I missed the fun little adventures that happen here on a daily basis!



Then on to the important mission of the day, finding and recouping Sandy and Mack. We rolled into the vet parking lot to see 3 dogs chasing a cat around the office. 2 of them looked a lot like ours, just skinnier and darker. Sarah gave a hoot, and they came running, pumped! The vet looked somewhat sad to let them go… he said that for they had a great time, just chasing cats and barking at everyone.

So, we are a complete healthy, happy family in Nosara. I just need to get in the water! A month is way, way too long!!!! Maybe this afternoon.

Oh, and last night we didn’t have power from 5 to 11, so we spent the first few hours winding the Radio that Bob gave us. That came in huge, and probably will today again. Then we went to a cool little British pub. This world is small, as we hung out with some folks that we ended up knowing from St. Aug, Al is a good friend of my fried Pat, so Stories were flying. Especially some about Dixon and Beelzebub, as Ben’s girlfriend lived with her during their stint… Dixon, I heard a few more!!! Can’t wait until Thanksgiving to let you have it.

It is good to be back, Tranquillo! Adios, E.

We have arrived safely in San Jose!!!! Thanks for a great trip home everyone!!!!!

Well, time flies when you're having fun... We have been in the states for almost three weeks now and it has seemed like a few days. I will recap our latest adventures, but for the most part we have just been spending time with friends and family and drinking good beer. I will miss the good beer here!

After leaving mom's house up in GA, we spent 5 days in St. Aug chilling at Sunset Grille, and bothering Katie. I miss bothering her!!! Katie had a Gator party that Saturday and everyone came into town. Sarah's belly was the main topic of discussion, rightly so, as she is about to pop. I also worked a bunch, trying to keep the ship of coastal web headed in the right direction with full sails, and it seems that that is happening.

We miss Sunset Grille!!!



Me and my bud Dustin...


An action shot of Frizbeer, yes, Dizzle and I acutally won one!!!


Sarah looks good with a baby, we may have to get her one of those.


The better half of Coastal Web in bad shape, Thank you Tammy for taking care of Mike!


Last Wednesday we headed down to Lauderdale to spend time with my dad and Sarah's folks, and they sure did treat us right. My dad took off a bunch of time from work, and we went fishing and caught a few beers with Brian. On Saturday we took my little brother Aaron to a go-kart track where we proceeded to beat the pants off of my dad, who drives like an old man (just kidding, he still drives better than me..). It was nice to spend a lot of time with him, as his job keeps him pretty busy and I know it's not easy for him to get off time... So Thanks Pops!

On Saturday night Sarah's folks threw a baby shower/gator game party and invited a bunch of folks that I have gotten to become good friends with over the past six years in the family. If any of you guys are reading, Thank you soooo much for your kind words and generosity, unexpected, but truly appreciated!

He looks dangerous, doesn't he???


Me and Dad on the Boat... next time we do this it will be in Costa.


The Antonsoni Family


My brother Aaron at the Go-kart track. I bribed the guy so we could ride all day for $20, Costa has taught me a few things...



Tomorrow we back to Costa Rica and paradise! Claudio is picking us up at the airport, and we are staying at the Casa Roland. Our friend Kristin arrives tomorrow also and is also at the Roland, so we have a dinner date. Thursday we have another peanut appointment, so pics will be coming! And check this out, this explains a little why we love Costa Rica so much... We called Dr. Paer today to see if he had any availability for Thursday, and no, he didn't... he is in a conference all day. He is in the conference again on Friday, so Monday is the next appointment. But, he understands our situation, and is taking his lunch break on Thursday to drive across San Jose (same size as Orlando) to meet with us for a 20 minute appointment that will only cost us 50 bucks! Folks just don't go out of their way to help folks like that in the states. It happens at times, but in Costa it is the norm.

Long time, no blogs, Sorry about that... we have been travelling and chilling with amigos for the past few weeks. But tonight, I had dinner with all my family in South Florida, and took this picture that I wanted to post... I just think my Gram looks really cute in it, and didn't want to forget it... So, I will post some of the fun stories and pics of the past few weeks but enjoy this pic, as this is what we miss living in Costa Rica.

I guess everyone has their own definition of adventure, and we all need our gear... but really, ski poles?????



The adventures of Los Bechos continues in N. Ga where today we rode bikes along the Savannah River in Augusta. It was a 12 mile ride, and Sarah made it with only a few stops. I kept asking her if she was tired and needed to turn around, and her stubborn self kept saying "No, Erik I am just fine!, worry about yourself." Then, about the 8th mile she was exhausted. Thank goodness, I woke peanut up, and she carried Sarah the rest of the way!

You don't really know how much you miss something until you get to see it again, and we really miss our family and friends. It was so much fun hanging out with Mom and Ames these last few days, my only regret is that we didn't have more time!

Tomorrow we are off to St. Aug and Sunset Grille!!!

Here are some pics of the day, more for me than you guys, as I will get to check them out when we are back in Costa...

Hello from Sunny Georgia! I was under the impression that we were coming back to the states to relax for a while, and have discovered that its not the place but the people that provide adventure, and I seem to be one of them. I will recap the past few days briefly, as some funny things have gone on.

The flight was great, but I hate travelling. I don't think there are many other times that you feel more like cattle than when you fly. Friday started great, when the hotel forgot our wakeup call, Thor woke us up, and then our driver forgot to pick us up.. We got a cab. Then we get to the airport and had changed our tickets so we had to pay some fees. The genius, who happened to be a very nice genius, decided to charge our CC once for each fee instead of all together. So, after 3 charges in Costa Rica, MasterCard decided that we were being robbed, and stopped paying them. It took us an hour to check into the flight. But, the guy felt bad for Sarah, who was laying on the pregnant thing, and hooked us up with first class. First Class on Martin Air is quite nice.

The ordeals started when we got to the airport and went through customs. Since we were first Class, our bags came out first, and we got through immigration first. Then we had to wait 15 minutes for Thor. The was pumped to see us, but needed to pee really badly. I asked the officer at the door if he could watch me walk Thor for a second and I was told that I could not go out side or let him out for any reason. Getting him though customs was easy but then the airport made us give back our bags and Thor becuase we were in a terminal, not the main concourse. So, at this point Thor has been in his crate for 6 hours, and is ready to explode. They take him and our bags back outside and we have to go catch the tram to the baggage pickup. To do this we have to go through airport security, taking off shoes, and giving up our water (they had already taken Sarah's fruit). Long story short, it took another hour and fifteen mintues from that point for Thor to come back out. We landed at 2:20 and didn't leave the airport until 4:30. Good job Orlando, you certainlly put some thought into that! Thor exploded all over the sidewalk where you get picked up, and we just left it!

Over the weekend, we chilled with our amigos from St. Aug and Gainesville at the Gator game. We got tickets and made it through a half in the heat before peanut wanted to go into some A/C. It is nice taking hot showers and sleeping on comfortable beds. One thing that I just realized that I have not mentioned is that in our new house our bathroom only has a tub, so I shower outside with cold water.

Some pics from the game...





On Saturday night, we decided to go to bed early and not go out with our friends to bars and such, as this is about the last thing that Sarah wants to do, and we got on the road very early. We stopped in Starke to get breakfast at Hardee's, which by the way may be the worst food I have eaten in months. About fifteen mintues after that stop we were discussing how nice it is to drive on such smooth roads, and how safe we feel, when a (I would use some expletives here but I won't) gorda chica from Starke runs a stop sign and hits us. We were doing 50 mph and the impact from her hitting our rear driver side tire knocked us into a fish-tail. Thank God that no one was coming the other way as we went though the on-coming traffic lane and slammed into a speed limit sign. No one was really hurt. The cops made it out in about ten minutes, and from the first second it was very clear that they were trying to pin the wreck on us! It was foggy early in the morning, but at the time of the wreck the fog had almost completely burned off. Sarah had turned off her headlights and left on the side lights. The cop was trying to tell us that that was the cause of the accident and was pushing the blame towards us. We later found out that he was friends with the redneck girl who hit us, I think they were cousins that used to date a little back in the day. Luckily for us, another officer showed up and we had 4 witnesses that all said it was not foggy, and he wrote the gorda chica the ticket. To make matters worse, we didn't opt for the insurance on the rental car, and no longer have coverage in the states. (how on earth are we going to get in a wreck in the states after driving in Costa for 3 months with no accidents???) The inbred cop then tells us that Florida is a no-fault state, and that it is our insurance company that needs to pay for the car, and that we can't go after her insurance company! This is a lie, so he either does not know what a no-fault state is, or was once again trying to screw us and protect is ex. No worries though, becuase my tranquillo pura vida vibe carried us though and it turns out after talking to Mrs. Lucansky, who is a claims adjuster at Nationwide, that we went after the gorda chica's insurance and will be fine! So, all the wreck ended up costing us was a day. And to be honest, it was the nicest day I have ever spent in Starke. HA.

Starke Sonny's...


Here are a few of the car we were in...




The beautiful folks that hit us...


My momma and Uncle Mike had to drive down from GA to get us, 5 hours each way. Big Thanks Momma and Mike!!!!! And now we are in GA having fun. Took out the boat yesterday, went to a state park today, eating the biggest, bestest steaks from the Fresh Market, and tonight is Salmon and Shrimp!!!!! I miss the steak here!

Good Stay Thor...


Biggest Kids on the boat were...


Uncle Mike on the boat...


Let Freedom Ring! A bald eagle in GA on the lake...


Sarah is fine! The baby is fine! And me and Thor are good too, I am so glad that no one was hurt!