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UPDATE 2: They are on the ground in Minneapolis, but still on plane. Pilot announced they are going to refuel and head to Omaha later. Cell phone is on its last legs so might not hear much more from Eric. If anyone hears more, please let us know here!

FLIGHT UPDATE: Eric just emailed from the plane. The flight has been diverted to Minneapolis. I've been following the flight (with the weather map overlay) at this site: http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightTracker/flightTracker.do?id=230398592&airline=AA&flightNumber=440 If we hear more, I will post here tonight. (Lynne Herr). Talked with Carleen Dowding. She is in contact with Dave the bus driver, and he is in Omaha waiting for them, knowing they are diverted and will be late. Flight status currently shows arrival in Omaha at 11:45, but would guess it depends on the storm movement.

Monday, June 20tu 5:50 p.m.: Just a quick update, our flight is delayed about 25 minutes and after taking to Wendy K, it sounds like we might encounter some weather on the way. I will make sure the students call you when we land so you know what time we'll be in Waverly. We're all looking forward to coming home!


 * Sunday, June 19th 4:45 p.m.:** We have arrived at the last hotel, a very nice Quality Inn. Surprisingly, no one has been in the pool yet! I think many of them have called or emailed you since we arrived since there is free WiFi and a business station with computers. The area the hotel is in is great as there are 3 restaurants on the property for our dinner tonight. We will all be going to dinner together as our last hurrah tonight at a BBQ Chicken place that our guide recommended across the parking lot from the hotel. Tonight we will have a meeting to fill out our paperwork to leave the country, talk about what they can and cannot bring back in the carry-on, etc. (making sure that none of them have been keeping a kiddo from the orphanage in their bags;). At that time we'll also do some debriefing about the trip, the travel company has a feedback form for each of the students. From what we are seeing all is a go in Omaha on our way back, our flight arrives at 8:30 p.m. Please refer to the email I sent with the attachments of our flight schedule for our flight numbers, I don't want to post those online.

Most of the kids are ready to be at home, although they have definitely enjoyed their time. I will likely not post again until we arrive in Dallas and are through customs. It has been a pleasure to have each of the students with us and we have appreciated their cooperation and company through the duration of the trip. ¡Hasta mañana!


 * Saturday, June 18th 7:00 p.m.** We finished our last excursion today and the kids have done a great job following the guidelines we've set for them at the ocean. The ocean water at the resort is not safe to swim in because of undertow and so we told them only walking in it, no higher than the knees. We saw them in it from the pier as we were watching without them realizing us there, they were staying in the shallow. We set an 11:00 time to be in there rooms and despite hunger pangs they stayed in their rooms until they got in touch with us to go get a midnight snack. Our guide is VERY knowledgeable of the plants, animals, and environment of Costa Rica and has many specialization in the wild life so has done a great job keeping us safe but showing us a lot of great things. Tomorrow morning is our last time at our all-inclusive resort and so we are all getting our feel of extra snack food between meals.

Several of you posted messages on the discussion board that i did not see until tonight having been without WiFi at our homestay the last few days. As some of you said there, not all of the families had internet at their homes and WiFi isn't quite as prevalent in stores and restaurants as it is in the states. Those who have asked for their children to email, I will let them know your request.

Finally, we are aware of the flooding issues at Eppley and will find out what that looks like tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for your patience with the sparse updates for a few days there.


 * Friday, June 17th 8:30 p.m**. : We arrived to our awesome report about mid-afternoon today. The WiFi went down at our homestay a couple days ago and so I haven't been able to update. Wednesday we visited an orphanage and played with the kids. They did a great job entertaining about 10 kids playing basketball, soccer and talking in Spanish. The little boys were picking flowers and giving them to the girls. They were all very sad to leave. Afterward we learned to dance the the merengue, salsa and some other Costa Rica swings. We have a few dancers in the group for certain.


 * Wednesday, June 15th 9:55 MDT.** This morning we have time with our homestay families until after lunch. Some of the students have found that members of their families speak English so the are playing video games with them and looking forward to playing some soccer with the kids in their families.

Our day yesterday was very long and busy but it was fantastic! We got on the bus at 9 and rode for about 3 hours up into the mountains with a couple of stops along the way, one in a town where thy make very decorative ox carts. Here is a link to the towns visit site with info about the carts. We stopped in a beautiful park in another town and continued on to the hot springs at the base of the Arenal Volcano. When we arrived there, the volcano was covered in clouds so we couldn't see it. The springs had 7 different pools ranging from 104-152 degrees and 3 water slides that the kids really enjoyed. Needless to say, no one stuck more than a toe in the 152 degree pool. We ate a buffet up further on the mountain in the springs. Just as we were filling our plates the clouds dissipated and we could see the top of the smoking volcano with a red lining from the setting sun. It was gorgeous! We had a 3 hour return bus ride and got back to our homestays at about 10:45. It was a long, tiring, but very fun day!

Today we visit an orphanage and take some dancing lessons. It will be fun to report that experience to you!


 * Tuesday, June 14th 11:00p.m. MDT** We just returned from a great day at the Arena Volcano and to Baldi Hot Springs. It is late and we have some time in the morning tomorrow before we begin our day so I will post more details then. Buenas noches!


 * Monday, June 13th 10:00 p.m. MDT** We arrived without problems again in San Jose and our luggage was waiting for us! Everyone did a great job going through customs and joined our tour guide in "Para vida!" An expression that literally means pure life but is used to say "Things are going well!" and as a greeting. It is a very cultural expression and is used and seen everywhere here. We got on a bus after going through customs for a 25 min. ride to the drop-off for the homestead. Everyone is doing a great job with their Spanish thus far and they've been practicing together. We are anxious to hear how their first night went! Our guide, German (pronounced Herman), was very reassuring and let us know to contact him if anything is wrong. He will be with us the entire trip so it will be fun for he kids to have a Tico friend! Tomorrow we see the Arenal volcano and the hot springs. Hopefully we'll feel like we've just visited a spa after that visit. Mrs. Abel, Adam, and I have WiFi at our homestead so I will update the wiki daily at least for the next 3-4 days. Hasta manana!


 * Monday, June 13th 2:30p.m.:** We arrived at DFW without a hitch. The Eppley staff complimented us on how smoothly we handled check-in - it took 45 min. to get us all checked-in and ready for security. We have a bit less than 2 hours before our flight to San Jose leaves. The students have eaten and are playing games and chatting while we wait. I tried to load some pictures from my phone to share but they wouldn't attach. We will send a message as soon as is possible once we are in San Jose. Until then!

Additionally, I created another page of quotes from the kids that you can look at by clicking the link to the left.


 * Monday, June 13th 8:00a.m.**: We're on the bus working our way to the airport through rush hour traffic in Omaha. The students are clearly excited, sharing music with one another and chatting with a great deal of energy. We're so excited that they could all join us! We'll update again when we land in Dallas!

Watch here for updates from Mrs. Stahr, Mrs. Abel, and students on our trip to Costa Rica!!!