With Hurricane Otto swirling at sea just offshore our caribbean coast we've changed our plans and are in our own holding pattern on Costa Rica's pacific coast. Our hotel staff placed candles and matches in our room and we have stocked some water and a few staples. Winds and rain are expected here while the latest update is that Otto will make making landfall anytime now 75 miles north of our Puerto Viejo home. Here's what we've been up to while waiting for Otto's Thanksgiving day arrival.

We spent the morning reading books that both scientifically and poetically answered E.P. and Baanko's questions about hurricanes. We re-read Time Of Wonder by Robert McCloskey with a new sense of our own wonder about the feelings, both emotional and physical, that accompany the hours before and during a big storm.

We hit the beach and made new friends with a boy from Denver Colorado who was a skilled builder.

Spiral energy was on our minds. We learned this morning that hurricanes occur when: water vapor from a warm ocean (at least 79 degrees) rises and condenses into clouds, and from that moisture rising then air rushes to fill in the vacuum and creates wind, and from the earth's rotation the air begins to swirl.

Here's what we think is interesting about Otto. It is the latest arrival of a hurricane since recording began in the mid 1800's. Usually hurricane season ends in the beginning of November. Also, Costa Rica has never had a hurricane make landfall on its coasts. It is generally considered a safe zone regarding hurricanes. Otto looks like it will miss Costa Rica and hit land in Nicaragua. We will soon find out....

For now we are just waiting out the storm...

"We went on an adventure to the Pacific Coast and Baanko and I said we didn't want to go because it was too long of a drive. But we did go and it was awesome because they had really really really really really good smoothies!!!!!!" E.P.

Tomorrow, if all goes as well as we hope, we will start our trek back home. With Robert McCloskey's words still swirling and churning in our minds. Thank you Sugar Beach, Portrero Costa Rica for being such a beautiful safe haven!

"Take a farewell look at the waves and sky. Take a farewell sniff of the salty sea. A little bit sad about the place you are leaving, a little glad about the place you are going. It is a time of quiet wonder – for wondering, for instance: Where do hummingbirds go in a hurricane?" Robert McCloskey, Time of Wonder