Sweet Sixteen - Lewie Style

Last weekend, my little boy (who is not-so-little anymore) turned sweet 16. Right away, I searched the internet to establish if my son could turn "sweet 16."  Was this a term only used for girls? Turns out, according to most, it could be used for either.

Lewie in Costa Rica.

On the surface, moving up from 15 to 16 doesn't feel like this huge jump, but as I started to do my annual "interview" and reflect on this past year, I realized Lewie's "growth" has been rather significant in a variety of ways. This kid is more talkative, super helpful, and squeaky clean (he takes a shower every chance he can get with his Dr. Squatch soap and puts on cologne.)

In terms of appearance, he grew about 2 and 1/2 inches.  We began the year (last August) measuring ourselves back to back, and I was the winner by about an inch and a half.  This was the same at Christmas time. Then, from January - April, he GREW.  His large shirts and medium pants now needed to be replaced with extra large shirts and large pants. He measures about a 1/2 an inch taller than me, too, which means he's about 5' 11"--maybe more.

Lewie with Grammy on Father's Day!

Somewhere around April and May he became more of a conversationalist, too. Last year, our mother-son talks were brief like, "How was your day at school?" (Him: "Good.")  "Did you learn anything new?" (Him: "Nope.") I'd have to force him to make small talk. At times, I'd even have to bribe him by offering him a treat--you know, ice cream, a cupcake, or maybe a trip to his favorite restaurant like Friendly's.

This year, all of a sudden, Lewie started being the one to start conversations. "How was your day?" (Me: "Okay.") "Did you know what happened in school today?" (Me: "No. What?") I started learning more about his teachers, classmates, and friends. He'd tell me about projects he was doing on the computer (usually, these conversations go way over my head), and he'd tell me about future plans/goals.

Then, another switch flipped. He started showing interest and curiosity about things in everyday life. In the past, if I started talking about inflation, illness, politics, or family drama, he'd swiftly change the topic or leave the room. Now, he was the one curiously asking me questions. What was it like when Grammy was growing up?  What was it like for me? What was it like when he was younger? He started showing interest in his school subjects like history and WWII as well as more recent life events such as the school shooting at Sandy Hook (only 19 miles away) or Purdue Pharma and the opioid crisis (another life event that hit too close to home, including family and friends).

Now this quiet 15-year-old is a 16-year-old gabber. "Oh my gosh. This kid doesn't stop talking!" I recently teased him. He now teases me right back--sometimes using Daddy's jokes and sometimes using his own. "Did you misplace your cell phone AGAIN?" he'll ask, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, well, maybe...SO!" I'll answer with both of us laughing. We use light-hearted banter to get us through the day.

Perhaps most of his maturing, however, happened after his spontaneous lung collapse in April. He took the whole ordeal like a champ, and while he's still squeamish about it (the chest tube and the hallucinations he had when they gave him Ketamine, in particular), he's developed a healthy understanding of taking care of himself. For example, he wants to exercise and go back to playing tennis to strengthen his lungs while heeding his doctors' warnings about never smoking or vaping. We all learned or were, rather, reminded of life's fragility and not to take anything for granted.

Lewie with his cousins.

This year, we used the whole weekend of August 10th and 11th to celebrate Lewie's birthday. His three best friends came over to use the pool on Saturday and then his aunts and cousins came to the house for a pizza party on Sunday. Months ago, I offered to make his 16th birthday into a larger event. "Do you want to invite all your friends to Lake Compounce?" I asked. No. Not for Lewie. He's the type of kid that doesn't mind doing the same thing over-and-over-again.  Inviting his three friends and family to the house was all he needed--nothing elaborate for him. Part of me grimaced at the fact that I wasn't making his special day into something bigger, but then I realized that would have been to satisfy my own ego--not his.

Once again, after his birthday weekend ended, I sat down with him for his annual "interview." This year, he spent more time with me and even wanted to read my posts from previous years. He's really growing up! (I think I'll need to change some of these questions because he's getting to be too mature!)

Q:  What is your favorite color?
A:  "Purple and green with a splash of orange." I'm not asking you to create a logo or anything," I teased him. He thought his answer was creative. He's right; it is.

Q:  What is your favorite book?
A:  House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Truth be told, I don't know much about the book. He's also liking the book for his summer reading this year--How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather.

Q:  What is your favorite cartoon?
A:  He still likes Sponge Bob and The Amazing World of Gumball but said, "There's no good cartoons anymore."  I think he might be right...

Q:  What is your favorite movie?
A:  "Deadpool and Wolverine and Oppenheimer are really well-directed." We made Lewie watch Inside Out 2 with us. "You have to go," I urged, "they talk about all the new emotions you are feeling now that you are a teenager." He went but wasn't impressed. I suppose it may have felt more relevant if he was turning 13--not 16.

Q:  What is your favorite board game?
A:  "Chess and checkers."  Me: "You know how to play chess?"  Him: "Not exactly, but my friends and I like to try challenging each other online for fun."

Q:  What is your favorite computer game?
A:  "Garry's Mod." This stayed the same as last year. 

Q:  What is your favorite place or favorite vacation?
A:  This year Lewie had surprisingly way more to say than in past years. He likes the Grand Canyon because he remembers their "spring water was the best." He loved Yosemite because the Evergreen Lodge resort had an Alexa in the room and the best pool.  He also loved staying at Universal's Cabana Bay Beach Resort because of their lazy river.

This is the Evergreen Lodge that Lewie remembers with fondness.

This is how big Lewie was when we went to Yosemite and stayed at the Evergreen Lodge.

This is Lewie at Universal's Cabana Bay Beach Resort. I think these dots were
meant to look like bowling balls for their 'Galaxy Bowl' area. Every time we were
at the resort, he'd hop from one dot to the next, careful not to touch the sidewalk. 

Q:  What is your favorite thing to do at school?
A:  "Graphic Design I."  This year he thinks AP Computer Science will be his favorite.

Q:  Who is your favorite teacher?
A:  Mr. Misuraca, Lewie's graphic design teacher. Everyone calls him "Mis" for short.

Q:  What is your favorite sport?
A:  "Skiing." He started the tennis team, too, but skiing is his favorite.

Q:  What is your favorite food?
A:  "That's so hard."  He couldn't come up with one, so here are his favorites in no particular order--fruit and yogurt parfait, grilled cheese, French toast, and a chocolate milkshake.

Q:  What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
A:  "Black Rasberry." This has been his favorite for two years now.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A:  "Make stuff. Create stuff. Make an album. Make good tools for software design." Lewie has become laser-focused on music production this year. Every year he seems to focus on something new with technology.

Q:  What is your favorite saying this year?
A:  "Womp. Womp." Yes, he uses this phrase to tease me--A LOT.  Example: Me: "Lewie, I can't believe you've already gone through all your clean clothes."  Him: "Womp. Womp." Me: "Lewie, what happened to my baby boy?  How are you already 16?  Him: "Womp. Womp."  Another favorite saying is "I think lefty is okay today; I think good ole lefty won't collapse." (I don't like this comment very much, but if it helps him process that traumatic experience, then I have no room to judge.  Finally, another common saying is "Bet!" Example: Me: "Lewie, do you want to go out for ice cream?" Lewie: "Bet!"

Q:  What was your favorite moment as a fifteen-year-old?
A:  "To be fair, I've had a lot of 'a-ha' moments with music production. I guess there's been a lot of funny things in high school, too." (One of his favorite moments is when his tennis coach teased him about his lung collapse during their end-of-the-year banquet. I write about this in a previous post.)

Lewie at ID Tech Camp.

Finally, my favorite moment was taking him to ID Tech Camp this summer. (Every year he goes for a week-long camp to learn tech skills. (Skills from the past included classes like Minecraft Coding, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, etc.)  This year, he chose to learn "VR Game Design with Unity and Meta Quest." At the end of the week, students are supposed to show off the skills they learned to family members. Daddy Lew and I arrived to see him get his certificate and try out the VR game he created. "What type of game did he create?" you ask. Well, he created a shark VR game (in honor of Shark Week at the camp). The goal of the game is to hit as many sharks as you can with a spatula.  Yes, you heard that right. Sharks come flying after you in virtual reality, and the goal is to hit them with a spatula to earn points. It was hilarious, especially the sound effects.  (The sound effects were nothing more than him recording himself going "Pew, Pew, Pew, Pew.")

Daddy Lew and I had fun putting the VR headset on to play his game, but then something more amazing happened. Many kids at the camp got wind of the game he created, and they wanted a turn, too. Then, kids were urging their family members to play the game. In the end, we were the last ones to leave the camp showcase because people were in line to play Lewie's game! It was definitely a proud mama moment! In true Lewie style, Lewie shrugged and said he could have made it better if he had more than a week to work on it. I thought it was terrific.

Costa Rica - San Jose, Jaco, and La Isla Tortuga

As mentioned in my previous post, Costa Rica is WILD--not wild as in crazy but wild because of its rich biodiversity.  It's estimated that Costa Rica is home to nearly 500,000 plant and animal species, which means although this tiny country is only 0.03 percent of our planet's landmass, it sustains about 5% of our planet's total wildlife.  

When looking at a map, we can see that Costa Rica, part of Central America, sits at the center of an isthmus, which joins the continents of North and South America.  This part of the world is super diverse because the isthmus has served as a natural migration route for thousands of species between these two continents.  The country boasts 10,000+ types of plants, 900+ types of birds, 9.000+ types of butterflies, 500+ mammals, reptiles, and amphibians, and 300,000+ insects!

After landing in Costa Rica's capital, San Jose, and going through customs, we took a shuttle to the Eurocar rental office.  Immediately, we felt like we flew into a different universe. The roads, cars, streets, traffic, and street signs looked vaguely familiar but with a strange twist. The roads were narrower and bumpier, the drivers were more aggressive, and the stores, particularly the supermarkets, were tiny. At the rental car place, I almost got stuck in the bathroom because the handle was loose and the door sealed itself shut with all the dampness and humidity.  (Oh no! Am I really going to begin this trip by needing someone to break down the door? I thought. My anxiety was already running high because we were in another country where everyone spoke broken English, and I hadn't practiced Spanish in years.)

Without hesitation, I let Lew take over the driving. While the rules of the road were basically the same, driving in the city required a certain confidence--one that I lacked. It was clear that the only way we were going to pull out of the parking lot was if we cut someone off, and that's exactly what Lew did, swerving unapologetically between lanes to first get to a market and then to the highway.  Lewie's first impression of Costa Rica was the market. He followed me into the stuffy building only to discover that the entire store consisted of four narrow aisles, mostly filled with canned goods.  "Do they have chocolate milk?" he asked. There was water, juice, soda, and more soda--no chocolate milk. We left with a few water bottles, a bag of chips, and a generic package of cookies.

After the market stop, our destination was our hotel, Docelunas, in the city of Jaco.  We had to load Waze onto our phones and hope for the best. We were told that while its directions were pretty reliable, the timing was another story.  What "should" take an hour and a half, for example, could easily take two or more hours because of traffic conditions, disabled cars, or accidents. Since most roads and highways were two-lane roads (often without shoulders or breakdown lanes), traffic could easily come to a stop and did.  (In fact, one time we encountered an accident that took up the entire highway. The police officer directed everyone to drive down into a field and follow a little cow path before connecting to the main road again. I cringed at the thought that our rental vehicle might suffer a flat or get damaged while driving into a ditch. At the same time, the large tour bus in front of us looked like it might tip over sideways as it drove down the embankment. I said a silent prayer to myself and closed my eyes. Thankfully, we emerged from the rocky farm field unscathed.)

Hubby took the entire drive to Jaco while I tried to avoid being a backseat driver. I kept looking at my old-school map for reference because I wanted to make sure Waze was directing us to the right location.  What if there was another Docelunas, and it took us to the wrong one?  All travel sites forewarned us that we would want to avoid driving anywhere in Costa Rica after dusk, so getting to the hotel during the day was essential.

As predicted, the hour-forty-minute drive took about an hour longer. Still, we arrived at Hotel Docelunas in plenty of time to get checked in.  The hotel was gated with a tall fence surrounding the entire property.  Once we presented our hotel reservations, we were warmly welcomed and given the keys to our room.  I LOVED this hotel.  It had several long, two-story, motel-like buildings with a beautiful garden-like courtyard.  It also boasted a beautiful pool next to our room, which never got busy. In fact, during our three-night stay, I only saw about five people use it the entire time. My husband and I went out there several times. During the day, we were enchanted by all the beautiful birds, plants (like banana trees), and squirrel monkeys (who, I think, were throwing coconuts down at us).  At night, we had a big frog that came to greet us by the pool waterfall.  He somehow knew not to jump into the pool, but he nonetheless, rested by the poolside as if he were on vacation, too. It truly felt like it was our own hidden oasis.

The hotel's restaurant served delicious American cuisine while we sat on their outdoor patio. There, we were charmed by one of the owner's dogs, Coqui, who pranced over to us each day with her sweet brown eyes. She was such a well-mannered dog, knowing not to beg, jump, or bother any of the guests unless called.  Seeing her run around the courtyard and play all day helped fill the void in my heart, for I was starting to miss our own pup, Bruce, who we left at home.

While staying at Docelunas, we drove to Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio one day and then took a boat trip to La Isla Tortuga the next.  When traveling to Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio, we drove through a darling beach town called Quepos, which had quaint restaurants, art galleries, and souvenier shops in a village-like setting. I marveled at its cuteness, and while we only had time to explore the National Park, I'm glad we did get a chance to have lunch at one of its restaurants. (If I ever go back to Costa Rica, Quepos would be on my list!)

At Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio, our guide provided a 1.5 hour tour, stopping along the way to show us any interesting wildlife. It seemed like each time we took a step, there was something new for him to show us. We saw two different types of sloths, three different monkeys (white faced monkeys, howler monkeys, and squirrel monkeys), a Toucan, a Jesus Christ Lizard, several bats, a snake, and a spider. We even saw some white-tailed deer like the ones from home--proof that Costa Rica is a place where animals of North America and South America merge so that animals like deer and iguanas coexist. I LOVED this park and could have easily spent the whole day meandering on its main trail and many side trails.

Can you see the snake eye?

This is a spiny fruit that's called a "monkey comb." Monkeys
actually use it to groom one another.

A sloth...The picture is taken from a telescope.

Fun fact: The cafeteria in the park is surrounded by a fence to keep the white-faced monkeys out. 
They are aggressive and will take food right out of your hand or backpack.

The following day, a tour company picked us up at our hotel, so we could go to la Isla Tortuga (Turtle Island). They dropped us off at a swanky beach club and then had us board a boat for a full day of sightseeing, snorkeling, lunch, and swimming. Since Costa Rica is hot and steamy, the boat ride provided a cool reprieve. We sat under a canopy and let the wind hit our faces, all while getting a chance to see dolphins, birds, and cool rock formations. Our guide knew a lot about wildlife, but he also shared interesting historical facts about Costa Rica. For example, the country used to be the number one exporter of coffee in Central America. Now, their economy relies on three main industries: 1) Toursism, 2) Cosmetic Surgery, and 3) Coffee. 

The guide fed us watermelon and pineapple and then helped us get into our masks and flippers for an hour of snorkeling (before arriving to Turtle Island). It was Lewie's first snorkeling experience, and although he wasn't crazy about the flippers, he did enjoy seeing all the beautifully colored fish.  We all swam around a rock formation while the guide spread breadcrumbs to lure the fish up close. I had trouble with my mask continually fogging up and filling up with water until the last ten minutes--UGH! Still, I did enjoy seeing the fish and was secretly hoping to see turtles--there weren't any in that location.

When we arrived on the island, the boat driver and tour guide brought us to a rustic pavilion to eat lunch.  There were beautiful views from every angle--beach, forest, trees, and rocky outcrops.  Rummaging in the forest behind us were deer, wild boars, and iguanas--what a mix!  After lunch, the two Lews relaxed on the beach a bit. Meanwhile, I explored the cute gift shop, which also held the pass to the island bathrooms.  

By the time we were done on the beach, we were tired and grateful we didn't have to drive back that day. We watched the views from the boat and then the van, mostly in silence until we were dropped off again at Docelunas. It was the perfect excursion offering just enough adventure, education, and relaxation rolled up into one.