WE'VE ARRIVED IN BOQUETE, PANAMA!

We've arrived in Boquete, Panama, our home base for the next 12 months!  The past 48 hours have been a whirlwind.  Yes, we have been preparing for this adventure for 6 months now, but even so, up until the last few hours we were still packing our bags, finding homes for our many animals (chickens, birds, snakes, geckos, fish...etc.) and getting the house ready for our renters who will move in while we're gone.  It was WILD, and Oh how good it feels to be done with that process and on our journey!

A few hours before our departure, Christina dropped her car off with the Sapp family, since Jared and Melissa have kindly agreed to sell it for us. Melissa and her kids drove us back to our house just 2 1/2 hours before our departure to witness the packing, sorting, and cleaning that still needed to be done.  We had a wonderful sendoff from the Knezevic and Eades family who left their glorious day on the beach to come say "goodbye" to us. As our airport shuttle sat in our driveway and our driver patiently waited for our departure, Mary and Kat quickly jumped in and finished dishes, cleaning, putting away last minute items, and locking doors and windows to our house, as Monica and Matt got in their last minute visit and goodbyes with all of the kids.  WOW, never in my life have I left my house for a trip and had it be so chaotic at the end.  Nonetheless, it was the perfect sendoff, added tons of humor and excitement to the experience, and it felt so great to give our final goodbye hugs to friends.  Thank you Mary and Kat for ditching the beach and coming over at the last minute - your visit was PERFECT and very much appreciated!

The calm settled in on our drive to LAX and we were filled with excitement, relief and of course, some sadness, as we will certainly miss our home, many animals, and friends and family.  Let the adventure begin...!

We arrived at LAX only to realize that we left the laptop charger at home.  Not good, as there is no Apple store nearby in Boquete.  Not to worry - Salli Zilles and I had planned to rendezvous  at LAX before we jumped on our overnight flight to Panama City.  The Zilles family was returning from their yearly family trip to Wisconsin and we just happened to be at LAX at the same time.  I texted Salli, and sure enough, John Zilles had the perfect laptop charger for us.  Thanks John, you saved the day!  It was so fun to meet up with Salli at LAX and have one final sendoff and goodbye from a good friend - such a treat!

As I'm sitting in my airplane seat at 3am (yes, we took the red-eye flight), I look over to see Monica (11 years) lying down on Matt (7 years) with her head in his lap, fast asleep.  Matt has his stuffed panda bear "Ping" tucked in his arm as it is draped over Monica's shoulder.  Matt's head is cocked to the side, and he has finally fallen asleep.   My heart melted, and I said to myself, "What an adventure this is going to be, and I'm so grateful for each of us to learn and grow from this journey".

We arrived in Panama City and quickly met up with Jose from Golden Frog who drove us to the domestic airport in Panama City and most importantly, took our larger pieces of luggage and Greg's fishing pole tube off our hands and made arrangements for them to be sent to Boquete (We suspected the bags would exceed the maximum weight requirement on our next flight).  We then flew on a smaller plane from Panama City to David and had an easy 1-hour flight.  We crammed our bodies and the remaining luggage into a small cab (Christina in the front seat with 2 bags on her lap) and enjoyed the short 45 minute drive from David to Boquete.

So fun to arrive at this small 2-bedroom casita that we have rented for a year.  The house is located in the small community of Volcancito (10 min. from downtown Boquete) and is adjacent to Volcan Baru.  Located in a lush and tropical setting with a fabulous view of the volcano, we suspect this home and property will be a very special place for our year abroad.  We are excited to settle in!  It is the rainy season, and yes, on our first day here we got to experience thunder, lightning and a great deal of rain in the late afternoon/early evening.  So fun to sit on our deck, while enjoying the spectacular sights and sounds of it all!