:Long pleased sigh:
Instead I met my family in Costa Rica where we saw crocodiles, humpback whales, dolphins, sea turtles, iguanas, sloths, howler monkeys and cute little steal-your-shorts-while-you're-swimming monkeys, caimans, toucans, poisonous frogs, poisonous spiders, poisonous hummingbirds...probably. We went zip-lining, hiked to a 600-ft. waterfall, surfed, played on the beach, caught sailfish, crashed a wedding party booze cruise, kind of went snorkeling, went to the crater of an active volcano, waited for it to erupt, and got stuck at a souvenir shop for an hour while our driver fixed his car. It was awesome. Except that last part and except the part where my surfboard gouged my lip open when it smashed me in the face. Whatever. Can't have it all, I guess.
There were 27 crocodiles hanging out by this spot. And those were just the ones we could see.
Pocket-sized parents.
Shredding some gnarly waves. Like a boss.
Sailfish.
Momfish.
Whalefish. The only good thing to come out of the booze cruise.
It's a minkey!
After that I drove down to St. George for the weekend so I could see Les Mis for the first time. It changed my life. I've already convinced my family to spend Thanksgiving in Chicago this year so I can see it again. The first night down there my friend and I didn't have a place to stay. Surely we could find someone to let us camp out somewhere, right? Our friend's family didn't trust us with the security code to their vacation home but they kindly let us inflate our air mattress on their back porch. In order to go to the bathroom they suggested we sneak onto the golf course in the backyard and break into the facilities there. Which is exactly what we did...kind of. Thanks, guys. The rest of the crew, including a friend from California, met up with us the next day and our time was spent hanging out at the pool, taking The Color Code, and eating peaches and vegetables (gross...).
Oh, and we pretended to be adventurous for about half an hour.
For Labor Day weekend, my cousin ran my hometown marathon while my dad ran the half. I decided I might as well go home too. So I did. Some extended family members came up from Wisconsin as well to join in the fun. It was great family times. I showed my cousin around, we kayaked amidst large waves, sailed on Lake Superior in a double-masted sailboat from 1933, went cliff jumping, cheered on the runners, went cliff jumping again, played MadGab, and briskly hiked 6 miles along Pictured Rocks -- a National Lakeshore (who knew those existed?). Way fun after a marathon, right???
Even my grandma went sailing...she was worried she was going to get tossed overboard the whole time.
Yes, again, this is my home.
Most notably, however, one of my friends had a baby. Little Miss Clara Jane Harcourt. She's going to be an equestrian someday. Or a British author. Probably both.
Here's the little elf at 1 day old.
Her dad did a little photo shoot with her after about a week. Makes me want to poke my fingers (gently) into those dimples. Now that she's starting to smile more I will definitely have the opportunity.
What a great month.
Now if I could just find myself a job...
