Costa Rica--The Food....

 We had to take food pictures. Every single thing I had to eat was incredible!!!! And most of the time we ate on the beach...which made it even better!!!

There is so much fresh food down there. The pineapples are less than $1 each...for a whole one! The avocados are about 4 times the size as the ones at HEB. Mangoes and coconuts are everywhere. People walk down the beach selling fresh cold coconuts for $1.50. The cut the top off and give you a straw. It's a delicious cold drink!!! 

 

 This is THE restaurant that Rylie and Chase talk about all the time. And it was pretty darn good. They have all different kinds of waffles. We went two times. :) The one with peanut butter and chocolate was my favorite.

 

I could never get tired of all the fresh fruit and all the fruit juice drinks they have!!

 

 This was a tiny tiny little restaurant we went to. The kitchen was probably less than 10ft square. I'm not a fan of shrimp, but the rest the group loved it!!

Costa Rica--The Views....

I must have said a thousand times "it is SO beautiful." And it really was. Each day brought new views...and the views looked so different depending on the time of day! The difference between high tide and low tide is almost a football field in length. So depending on where the water was, the beach could look very very different from a few hours before. 

The sun sets very early (about 6:00) and everyone gathers at the beach about 5:30 to watch the sunset. Every night was beautiful. And personally I loved the " dark nighttime" from 6:30pm to 6:30am. It was my kind of schedule!!!

 Being in a place where with such amazing views, a place where you can always wear a swimsuit and shoes are rarely needed....pretty much paradise!!

Costa Rica Part Three....

 This might have been my favorite day! We got picked up from the condo in the morning and went to this small hotel and spa for treatments and lunch. It was unreal!!! This beautiful hotel in the jungle with 6 spa treatment rooms (bamboo walls). And each room had an open view to the jungle.

I think we were pretty close to heaven that day!!!

 The table for the chocolate scrub...it was this amazing combo of scrub and massage. All with chocolate. Yes pleaes!!!

The view from the treatment rooms. Talk about being one with nature!!!

 

 

Sophia, Rylie and Finola were at a sports camp and sent us a pic while we were eating lunch. So this was our pic back to them!!! Pretty sure our morning was better than theirs!! :)

The spa day was SO much fun. If I go to CR again, I have to come back!!!!

Costa Rica Part Two...

 While in La Fortuna, we toured a small chocolate farm. So beautiful (and HOT). They had all kinds of different fruit trees. We got to eat lots of fresh fruit including some kinds they don't offer in the US. The guide walked us through the steps of how they grow and make chocolate. 

The final stop was seeing how they grind and roast the cacao beans...and get to the final product. We had hot chocolate made (from start to finish) right there at their farm. It was delicious!!! We didn't buy any chocolate from them, but it was so interesting to see how such a small farm produces so much fruit and chocolate.

 

ALL the food we had in Costa Rica was amazing. All of it!!! 

Our last stop in La Fortuna was the hot springs. We spent one night in this beautiful hotel at the base of the volcano with 3 large hot springs pools. We didn't get many pictures...but it was incredible. Not only was the hotel very nice, but we had a fabulous pizza dinner and spent time soaking in the pools. I felt like it was a once in a lifetime experience!!!

The drive back to Tamarindo was on a very windy hilly road. The trip there was not bad. But the trip back was SO bad. I got really car sick. The upside is that we stopped at this restaurant over looked Aranel Lake (at the base of the volcano) and had a snack with a beautiful view!!

 

Costa Rica Part One....

 The Costa Rica trip was amazing. 8 nights in a beautiful condo with good friends, incredible food and SO much to do. The 4 of us were there together for 4 nights. And then Brenda and I stayed another 4 nights after Brittany and Cheryl left. 

We were busy busy. The first full day I was there, we set off on a 36 hour adventure. Brenda had rented a driver to take us about 3 hours away to La Fortuna. It's an area next to a volcano and a beautiful lake! 

First stop was a waterfall. We went down about 500 steps to base of this amazing waterfall. The pictures don't do it justice!!! We spent some time taking pictures and then swam in the VERY cold water. And then had to go back up the 500 steps. All of our legs hurt the next day!!

 

After the waterfall, we got ready for our ATV tour.  They gave us about 2 seconds of instruction...and we set off. They don't believe in a lot of instructions or real safety measures. About 10 min into the tour, a ATV behind me flipped (with a kid on the back!!!). The terrain was muddy and steep....honestly a bit scary. I got stuck 2 times and had to get off before I got hurt/stuck. 

We did see a sloth in a tree on the trip. He was high up in a tree and hard to get good pics...but it was so much fun to watch him for a bit. 

The scenery was beautiful but it was a long ride. I think we were driving for about 2 hours. We did drive down to a river and swim for a bit. After the drive, they had lunch for us. 

 

 

 This was our driver...Leo. He was a good sport dealing with 4 women!!!

  Beginning on 4th, 6th and 8th....

 

Last day of 4th, 6th and 8th. Plus our new addition! 

 

This coming year will be our only year of 3 kids at 3 schools!!! Our last year at Northwood and first year at Mac. Time flies!!!!