Hola -- hiya -- Hola otra vez.

Well here I am about to take off again for a new adventure.

Update in brief:

We got to Scotland, safe and sound. Saw John, my father-in-law and spent a few precious months with him before he was called back to heaven. It was a brutally painful end for him, so while we all are sad to see him gone, we are relieved to see his pain ended. Suffice it to say the Young family has a bone to pick with god, and his name is Jonh Young. Screw you, god. That was so unfair! Yeah, yeah, I know he works in mysterious ways and all that blessing in disguise stuff...still not fair. He was this amazing person, and the world could have learned a lot more from John Young.

Benjamin has gotten to know three beautiful and enchanting young ladies from the Mclean Clan. His cousins; Ruth, Fiona, and Lauren. His Princesses, as he calls them. Ruth was a feisty contender for our Benjamin who was used to being the revered baby of his social realm, and he soon learned to keep a safe distance and strike quick and fast before she could retaliate...she had the nails, but he has good strong chompers like his dad. At first it was anyone's game, but now I'd have to put my money on my wee boy if it came down to that. he is utterly in love with the McLean family, and it occurs to me that once he is old enough to travel alone, we may have to send him along to visit his auntie Karen and Uncle John with or without us. He is also in love with his Gran and Uncle Fraser who just take the greatest care of him.

But as the time ticked by and the prospects of me legally finding work in Scotland dwindled to almost impossible, I started searching abroad again. I found a great school and in what I thought would be vain hope applied for a job as an A2 English teacher. Well, after many interviews and lots of long hard thinking I got the job! I have never been so elated by a job offer before. I know it seems silly, but I am actually smitten with this school. It is what I have always wanted in a school. It's the school I would have opened if I had the money and experience I wish I had. It's just everything you could want in educational experience. It's in the mountains, but close to two seas. It's in a tropical location, in one of the greatest ecological reserves in the world. The students come from countries all over the world, and the curriculum is one I fully believe in and adore teaching.

It's called the United World College of Costa Rica, and actually they have a website, so you can read all about them yourself and I can stop gushing like a school girl who just got asked to the prom. http://www.uwccr.com

Benjamin is already talking about picking pineapples with his barehands and catching butterflies in the backyard in "Cosrica" I am just so excited for him to be around Spanish speakers again. We tried really hard to expose him, but especially with all the doctors and hospitals and emergencies, it just wasn't the priority and totally fell by the way-side. He still understands quite a lot of Castellano, but not nearly enough, and he never speaks it. My MIL seems to think that if we take him somewhere where they speak spanish, he will lose his English or learn to speak with a funny accent. She is certain that it is impossible for the human brain to hold two languages at once. "You will confuse him! He is only three!" she insists...well, what can I say to that line of thinking? I tried to show her studies, remind her that her son and I are language acquistion experts with decades of experience, between us, under our belts and we do know a thing or two about the topic, but her "common sense" trumps all that, doesn't it?

Nevertheless, off we go.

Benjamin and I are heading to the states this week, to see Gummy and Pop-pop, Abuelita, Great-Grandpa Hommel, Tio Max and Tia Laurel (and dare I hope, aunty Rachel? probably not), and Tia Maria (the aunty not the liquor) and Tio Marshall and Tia Linda, Grandma Sally...the whole gang! I am really excited. He is mostly excited about the notion that there will be sno-cones at the Fourth of July picnic (why oh why did I ever tell him this porky-pie?) but that is because he hasn't seen gummy and pop-pop in over two years, so he doesn't know how much FUN they can be. I am already anxious and not sleeping well at night. I want very badly to arrive so that I know half the journey's over.

Jamie will join us in August. He's doing this summer camp ESL thing which he HATES but which will earn him 4000 dollars in six weeks. It's a good thing, but heck oh heck will I miss him, and Benjamin? well I don't know how it will effect him, but he's already missing him like crazy now that he is back at work everyday...I can't imagine what he will be like when we are a whole ocean away. *sniff* it makes me sad just thinking about it!

So that's it, really. I'm moving to Costa Rica (Santa Ana), with my boy and my husband. I love my family, and they are so great. I feel like I sort of have that happily ever after feeling despite all the tradgedy along the way.

It's a good thing.

Here are some photos of our time here:






















Benjamin makes his first snowman with daddy.



























Let's go Rangers!















Happy Third Birthday! (yes, I did make that 3D cake of James the Tank Engine.)




















Benjamin at the swan pond


























By the bonnie bonnie shores of Loch Lomond with Ruth.


























Spring flinging with Ruth.