For the first time EVER- Josh and I left the kids and headed on our own little vacation. We have never left them over night without us, so we weren't sure how they would do, especially Avenly, but as it turns out- they did great, and so did we!!! My parents were so nice to take the kids, but they don't get all the credit- Benji Kayla, and Aaron helped out a bunch, too, and I'm grateful for everyone who took part in keeping our kids happy while we were gone. THANK YOU! LOVE YOU!! :)
Now for the trip details!
We were supposed to get to Costa Rica 12 hours sooner than we actually did; we ended up having a cancelled flight. It was a bit crazy, but eventually we got there. The only thing we missed out on was our hike to see the Macaws, and our beach time was cut short, but it ended up being okay. We did see monkeys on our way to the hotel, so maybe we wouldn't have seen them if we got there earlier. They were super cool. We saw a mother monkey with a baby on her back, and another monkey had quite the conversation with Josh.
Our first hotel (besides the one in Houstan,where our flight was cancelled) was near the ocean. It was called Hotel Punta Islita. It was well worth the 5 hour, part dirt road drive from the airport to get there. We had our own little villa with a hammock, and beautiful view of the ocean, mountain, and stars.
One reason we chose this hotel is because it had complimentary activities. We spent most Saturday doing these activities, and we ended up having the same guide for all of them. In fact, we even ended up going with the same people, so we got to know some other vacationers. Our first activity was kayaking to the ocean on the river. We saw lots of birds- mostly black hawks, small cranes, and big herons.
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Our next complimentary activity was zip-lining. We flew on 8 different zip-lines, each getting higher and longer. On my last one, I saw a deer, so that was cool.
Our last activity was horseback riding. We rode along the beach, and up the mountain on some pretty steep terrain for the horses. The view at the top was amazing. My horse, named Brandy, loved being the leader. He did not like when other horses went in front of him, so I led the whole way, but I didn't mind. Some other horses liked to go REALLY slow, but the guide just kept yelling up to me to keep going, so I kept going. Several times I had to look back to make sure the horses were still coming behind me. Josh's horse, Chingle, didn't care to be up by mine, so I guess it's good I was comfortable on Brandy. There was some animosity between the horses. Josh's horse did a 360 when he was going down the hill. Mine tried to kick the horse behind him at one point. Later on, I was able to see a pair of Macaws flying for a quick second before they headed back into the trees. Josh's horse was just too slow, so he didn't see them. :(
We couldn't come all the way to Costa Rica, and not go to the beach, so even though our beach time was cut super short, we did manage to take a quick dip in the ocean, and order pina coladas on the beach. We also enjoyed delightful Costa Rican food, including strawberries cut into flowers. For one meal, we got in the pool, and had lunch at the pool side bar. It reminded me of our honeymoon in Cancun.
Our second hotel was located near Arenal Volcano. On our 4 hour drive we admired the beautiful jungle, the lake, and the spacious volcano. It was a clear day, which was lucky because the next day- our jungle hiking day- was cloudy,and we didn't see the volcano at all.
We also got Pipsa Frias- fresh coconut water from a road side stand. They were everywhere in Costa Rica.
The hotel was called Royal Corin, and we were treated like royalty. We had some Expedia VIP thing going on, so they upgraded our room to the Junior Suite for free, which came with a welcome drink (non-alcoholic, of course), and an appetizer plate with fancy cheeses and what not. The room was awesome with a jacuzzi ,and just luxury. The hotel itself had a lot of natural hot springs from the volcano. We ended up having the hot springs to ourselves, which was nice.
Our last day was our Jungle Day. We went to Mystico Hanging Bridges. It was so pretty. I love the jungle/rain-forest, and could have spent all day there. The Hanging Bridges was not that crowded, so a lot of the time we were alone. We saw lots of birds, two snakes, and two red aunt crews going to work carrying leaves 3 times their size.
The trip really did go by fast, but we were ready to see our kids again. We took the red eye flight back to Las Vegas. Then Josh flew home, and I went to St. George for a few days to pick up the kids and see my family.
Thanks, Josh for the amazing trip, and thanks again Mom, Dad, Kayla, Benji, and Aaron for watching the kiddies.
