Pura Vida!

We came back last Friday from an amazing 2 week trip to Costa Rica!!  I then left again this past Monday for a big water conference in Dallas....craziness. Going to Costa Rica was the trip of a lifetime for all of us and many adventures were had.  It is perhaps best summed up with some "stats" and pictures (aka I am waaay too tired to write out the whole trip and no one probably wants to read the whole play by play anyway :)

Both girls were such great travelers...  Izzy ate many meals on the go, this one on a boat ride to an island off the coast of Samara

• 13 12 days in Costa Rica (apparently arriving at the airport 2 hours early isn't enough time to catch a flight.... luckily for us we got out the next day and had a nice place to stay at near the airport thanks to Patrick's sister) to celebrate 10 years of marriage with 2 Lacroix girls in tow.   
• 659 kilometers were traveled on roads that varied from great to bone shaking and forded 2 large rivers and turned around at the third.  

Our little Jimney... small (very small) but mighty

• At least 6 beautifully carved highchairs, had I thought of it sooner I could have made a guidebook to the most fabulous highchairs of Costa Rica... sure to be a best seller in the under 2 set.

• 545 photos taken... don't worry I will never make anyone look at them all!  But here is one of my favorites:

• 1 incredible volcano (Arenal) and at least 3 amazing waterfalls.  

• 2 days in Monteverde with a 13 platform zip line ride that included one zip line that was 1 kilometer long.   (Patrick and the girls wandered through a butterfly garden and a hummingbird exhibit to pass the time, it took 2 hours to complete!)  Followed by an 8 bridge canopy hike... all with barely a drop of rain, must have been some serious travel karma.

• 3 horses were ridden though the cloud forest where 2 sloths were spotted.  

• 1 ferry ride over to the Nicoya peninsula to the town of Montezuma. 

• 3 relaxing days at a jungle/beach resort (just about as close to heaven as you can get in my book) in Montezuma...

Rio de Piedras Coloradas, from here we hiked for an hour or so to the gorgeous Playa Grande

• Marred only slightly by a scare when we (Patrick and I) intelligently decided to take 3 collective bites of a poison apple (aka the manchineel tree... Gee all the pretty apples below the tree should have been a clue... Lesson learned, never eat what the monkeys won't) 

• 4 days in Samara including a 1.5 hour long surf lessons for 2 new(ish) surfers. (both managed to get to a stand on their boards... I was highly impressed.) 

Look out world... she is a surfer girl!

• 2 hours on the gorgeous Playa Carillo... Where the was 0 other people. 

• 1 amazing Italian meal cooked by our villa host where (gasp) Patrick and I actually had an over 2 hour-long meal because we were eating right by our place and the baby went to bed before dinner and Evie had a friend to play with and then went to bed herself after an hour or so. 
• An infinite number of little movements and memories that remind me how much I love to travel and, most importantly, how much I love spending time with Patrick and the amazing little family we have built these last 10 years. 

Patrick expressing his love for and joy at finally meeting the source of one of his greatest loves.... coffee.