DAY 6 continued BEACH

When we arrived at Manuel Antonio we headed straight for the beach! It was beautiful. Costa Rica averages 18 feet of rainfall a year. They grow trees in rocks! I can't even grow them in soil :) I had to add one picture of me to prove I was there! 

COSTA RICA DAY 6

We spent day 6 traveling, we checked out of our hotel and started towards Manuel Antonio which is on the west coast. We stopped a couple times because it was quite a long trip. The second stop was at a bridge with huge crocodiles below it! And it was hot!!!! The first pictures are when we are leaving the hotel. One picture is of Range and a girl who came in the trip named Story. She was so cute! They are the same age. The roads are crazy scary! I don't know how more people don't get him by cars. They are very narrow with no shoulder. Nobody slows down when they pass pedestrians. Our bus driving made corner and turns I would be nervous to make it my car! And he was driving a "grey hound" type bus. Many roads are through mountain passages with very sharp turns and one lane bridges. The driving in Costa Rica really amazed me. Also one day while we were traveling somewhere traffic was stopped. The bus driving (who didn't speak any English) walked up to find out how long we would be stopped for. I was amazed at the details he got. A man had been hit by a car, he was drunk and walked right in front of the car. He died. In Costa Rica a judge has to come get their body. So the body lies in the road until the judge comes. I was just amazed at the information the bus driver was given. It seems in the U.S. everything is a secret,  With 25 cops directing traffic. There were no cops at the accident, just people waiting for a judge. 

COSTA RICA DAY 5

I literally took 450 pictures while we were in Costa Rica so it's hard to pick which pictures to post. Day 5 we got back on the bus and went towards the Nicaragua border (about 1.5 hours).

We went to a place called Cana Negro Nature Reserve. We got on a boat and floated a river that had many different animals. We saw lots of Caiman (crocodiles), turtles, monkeys, and lots of birds. You did not want to fall in the water here!!! After the tour we went back to the hotel and the boys swam. Luckily our hotel had a pool. The boys swam every free chance they got. 

COSTA RICA DAY 4

I didn't get many pictures on day 4 either. First thing in the morning many in the group including Dusty and the older 3 boys went zip lining to another place. (13 zip lines, one was almost a mile long!)  It was still raining so we didn't get out cameras out. Range and I stayed at the hotel then went with Brent back to the guys propert with the birds. Later that day we all went to a place called Baldi Hot Springs... AMAZING PLACE. 28 hot pools in jungle atmosphere with crazy slides! One of the slides is number 3 in "Top 10 Waterskides!" The boys got beat up at this water park but had an amazing time! Again, no pictures because of the rain :( there was a water slide called the toilet bowl. It hurt but the boys loved it! I got some pictures off their website. They really don't have rules at their water park. I didn't see a single life guard there. Things are much more relaxed in Costa Rica. 

BACK TO DAY 2

After we got to La Fortuna we went to a mans propert and he has built a mini jungle and home for wild life. The animals aren't caged in, the can come and go freely. He just built it so they could have a home. We saw poisionous frogs, a sloth, and many birds. If you look closely you can see a tucan behind Range. 

COSTA RICA DAY 3

Day 3 we were still in La Fortuna. We went to a hot springs resort. It was surrounded by jungle at the base a volcano. There were water slides and hit pools... It was amazing. Dusty and the older 3 boys went zip lining. It rained all day so we didn't get pictures of anything. Range and I were in the pools from 10 am to 5 pm. The boys went zip lining and got back about noon. It was so warm even with all the rain. Here is a picture of the volcano and dinner after the hot springs and a few of Range at our hotel. 

COSTA RICA DAY 2

We left for La Fortuna early on Thursday. We stopped by a small wildlife park and saw monkeys, butterflies, birds, and some awesome waterfalls! We had lunch in the park and the boys quickly realized Costa Rica food was much different than that of the U.S.!!! We luckily found bread and fries, that's what they lived on for lunch that day! The bus trip was long, almost 5 hours! La Fortuna is in the northern part of Costa Rica. It sits at the base of a volcano that was active up until 5 years ago. 

COSTA RICA DAY 1

The first day of our trip was flying. We had to be to the airport at 5 am with our flight leaving at 7. We had a 5 hour layover in Pheonix, which was painful! And arrived at Costa Rica at 7:40 pm. We checked into our hotel in San Jose and had a quick swim then went for dinner! Then headed to bed! 

VALENTINES

Rayce and Ridge made their boxes at school but Wayke had to bring one to school. I had Bunco and about 30 minutes before I had to go I remembered Wayke needed a box. I had seen a post on FB that a cousin had made a minion box but theirs was purple. We searched the Internet and found a yellow one! Wayke loved the idea an we got to work. He loved the how it turned out... And I thought for a 30 minute project we did pretty good! Thank heavens for FB and Internet for the idea!!! 

SCOUTS

On February 9th we had our Blue and Gold Banquet. Rayce earned his arrow of light and Wayke earned his bear. Rayce was welcomed into his Scout Troop now that he is finished with cub scouts! Poor Wayke felt a little sick all night so he couldn't even accept his award! He ended up catching the same mouth thing Ridge had but I had read they can take an antivirus. We Valle the doctor and got him on one. He ended up only having 4 or 5 mouth sores compared to Ridges 50!!! But the headache and fever they start with is really bad too! And he had to go through that :( (we had no clue he had it when we started the night or we wouldn't have taken him he just said he had a little headache so we went, but by the time the night was over, he was throwing up because he was miserable!) anyway, it was a very exciting night for our family. The boys work hard on their scouts and both earned many awards to put on their shirts. 

SPRING

This weather is amazing. It's the first of Febrary and we have short sleeve shirts on. I have already mowed the lawn once (just to make the nice pretty lines I like!!!) I'm scared for spring/summer but I guess if we have no snow, it might as well be 55!!! We are playing outside so much, bike rides, and baseball! We live spring!!! 

We even went to the park while Dusty and Rayce were gone to scout camp!