Amanda and I played MarioKart and took showers.  When Karen got home, about the time Michael and Jenn both got up, she made some steak and cheese sandwiches out of leftovers from last night.  She laid a bunch of other stuff out too, basically trying to get rid of as much food as she could before we all left.

After Milly went down for a nap Amanda, Michael, Karen and I played Puerto Rico.  Jenn wasn’t feeling it and Phil’s not much of one for playing games.  Amanda won this one, but the point spread was crazy close.  She had 43, Karen and I tied at 42 (though Karen had more dubloons, so she won that tie-breaker) and Michael had 41.  I really like that game and I could play it back to back several times if someone else would go along with it.

It was just about to time to feed Milly again after the game so she was fed and everyone packed up to leave.  Michael and Jenn left a little before us.  Bruce snuck out of the house while I was going out to load the car and jumped in, waiting for us to take off.  He stayed in there the whole time, except for when I took him out right before we left so he could relieve himself.

The ride home was without incident, though Milly again didn’t sleep on the trip and was angry fussing the last ten miles.  We thought she’d pooped, but it turned out that one of the dogs, very likely Harvey, had simply farted.

Back home we unpacked and watched an episode of The Soup and a couple Law & Order: SVU‘s.

Two other things of note from today:

1.  Amanda accidentally knocked a statue of St. Francis of Assisi in the sunroom onto the very laptop I’m typing on right now.  It’s working fine, but I think a few keys are loose and there are a few very small pock marks on the screen now.

2.  Jason Revill called me today and asked me a favor.  He wanted me to call Barry Frazelle, Amanda’s uncle who is a dentist, and ask him about a situation.  You see, Jason went to Greensboro this weekend to hang out with some guys we went to college with.  Apparently Jaime Arnold accidentally knocked Jason down.  Jason tripped at the same time and ended up faceplanting into the ground.  His front left tooth was knocked back (on top of busting his lip and getting a shiner) but he was able to push it back into place.  He said it doesn’t hurt or bother him except for when he messes with it.

I talked to Barry and he said to keep on a soft diet and take Advil.  As for what would happen with the tooth, he said it depended on the root.  If the root wasn’t damaged they would splint the tooth by tying it to one next to it with floss and put something on it to keep it in place until it heals.If the root was damaged though, he’d need a root canal and that sucker is going to have to come out.

Zach Dotsey
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First off, happy birthday to my little brother, Adam Dotsey. I celebrated his birthday by traveling most the day halfway or more up North America. I didn’t sleep the best last night, well, this morning anyway. Barry, as he has done every morning we’ve been in Nosara, Costa Rica, got up and went out to look at the surf. He came back a little bit later and said the surf was like it was last night. Hannah said she’d go out if Barry went out. Michael said he’d go out if they went out and I said what he said.

We ended up not going out at all. James and Warren had gone out and they said you had to paddle like fifteen minutes straight to even get out past the thirty set waves.

Instead, Barry and I went ahead and returned the rental boards to Coconut Harry’s. I also picked up an Imperial tank top. Imperial is the beer of Costa Rica and while I did have a few of them throughout the past week I mainly wanted it because I like their logo, which you can find all over Costa Rica.

So we all ate breakfast one last time. Jim sat with us for a few and James and Christie were at the table next to ours then Warren and Torri joined us at another table a little while later.

When Barry was settling up (and paying for a good portion of my food, which he shouldn’t have) we were talking to one of the owners of La Casa Romantica, Sylvia, and she told us a story about toy monsters and how they help her kids remember to clean up after themselves. I’m definitely going to use that with my kid(s).

We packed up and left La Casa Romantica a little bit later. No telling if or when I’ll ever see that place again, which makes me a little sad.

The trip back to the airport was largely uneventful with the exception of a time when Warren slammed on the breaks then Barry slammed on his. Of course this was just a few miles from the airport.

We also saw a horse running free in our direction down the dirt road towards us. That was followed by two kids on horses, presumably trying to catch the free ones. They had some catching up to do though.

We also saw several cows literally standing in the road. I tried to get a picture of one but the little camera was giving an error and wouldn’t focus at all. It also had some issues turning off and on.

The trip, particularly on the dirt part, seemed to go faster this time, as usually seems to be the case when returning from a place as opposed to going there. It also seemed a bit greener this time through.

The airport in Liberia was hot. While waiting in line to check in I didn’t bother taking off my backpack for a while but when did the back of my shirt felt like it had been dipped in water.

Barry, Hannah, Warren and Torri grabbed a bite to eat then we went through security. I didn’t have to remove my laptop this time, which was nice because both of my bags were very tightly packed. Michael and I both ate hot dogs from a place by the gates then we waited with hundreds of other people in an open air waiting area that reminded me of a cattle barn. They had the largest ceiling fans I’ve ever seen there.

Our plane was late, which I didn’t realize until the pilot mentioned coming in late on the airplane later on. Before we could board everyone went through a manual baggage check. Our group didn’t bother getting in line until mist everybody else already had. There wasn’t much point in it, really.

For the return trip I was in the row in front of Michael, Barry and Hannah seated between a middle aged man next to the Susie and a middle aged woman by the window. They were both supposed to catch connecting flights and tried to hurry off the plane once it landed.

Not much to report on the return flight except there was more turbulence than I’m used to. Nothing terrible though. I spent most of the four hours of the trip listening to MuteMath and The National while reading The Shack, which is started on yesterday.

We went through customs whereat I accidentally lied and said I didn’t have any food in my bags. I actually still have a few protein bars.

I called Amanda after Customs when everyone else was taking potty breaks. She was watching a movie with Amy and Nick Warkentien.

Before I could even ask she told me that one of  Duke and Carolina had won and the other had lost, meaning one was out of the running for the ACC championship. I told her that since the Internet had been down I didn’t even know if they’d both won yesterday. She said the Duke vs. Maryland had been a low scoring affair then went on to tell me after some coaxing that Duke had won and Carolina had lost, which was sweet, sweet music to me. Amanda said that the Heels had been down by three at the end if the game and that Tyler Hansbrough had missed a three pointer for the tie. Of course, point guard Ty Lawson was out with an injured toe.

So tomorrow it’s Duke vs. Florida State for the ACC championship. Duke has beat them twice so far this year, so hopefully they can go for a full sweep. I think that would give Duke a strong chance at getting a one seed in the NCAA tournament.

Anyhoo, I left Adam a voicemail and we headed out from the Charlotte airport for the long trek back to Wilmington, stopping to gran some food at a McDonald’s. It’s about 40 degrees here; a stark contrast from the weather in Costa Rica.

The GPS told Barry to take I-85/40 and I think we should be about passing Greensboro soon. Longer route, but oh well.

I can’t wait to get home and see Amanda and how much bigger her tummy has gotten. I expect Bruce and Harvey will be very excited to see me too.

Zach Dotsey