Los Suenos

When Taylor lived in Costa Rica, his cousins had a home in the city where they spent weekdays going to school and working, but then every weekend they'd drive out to their beach house and play.  While he was there, Marriott announced they would build a mega resort just 1 beach down from them but Taylor of course never got to see it.  So staying there and reliving memories was high on his to-do list.  The resort did not disappoint.  All that blue water was definitely calling to Isla so after checking in we changed into swim suits and headed to the beach.

Which unfortunately was very disappointing.  We think they built there because they could put in the size marina they wanted, but the beach here is volcanic sand so it's brownish black and rather coarse.  Also, any kind of sunset is blocked by the mountain so there's not even a beautiful beach sunset to enjoy.
Isla was pretty funny.  We set her in the sand and she instantly tried to balance just on her bum.  She definitely didn't like the feel of the sand and spent the whole time picking up 1 leg or hand and then having to put it back down to balance herself.  We tried to build a castle and she was just not interested at all.

Okay I take that back, she was interested in eating it.

And truthfully, it was really sticky sand so it got all over her the second she touched the sand at all.

Off in the distance there's a small island that Taylor and his cousin used to paddle board out to.

Since the sand was a bust, we tried out the waves.  Isla enjoyed walking in the muddy, wet sand.

With our help of course.  I was hoping she'd be walking by the time we got to this trip- she started crawling back in January and all my boys crawled for just 1 month before they walked, but not Isla.  Crawling works for her- except on Sundays when her knees get caught in her dresses and she gets really mad.  So walking with a little help.

But sadly, while the muddy sand was a hit, the waves coming to get her were a bit too scary and she was not a happy camper.  Cute, but not happy.

So we headed back to the amazingly huge pool with more bridges and islands and waterfalls than we could count.

The next day we walked over to the marina just to check it out.  Gotta love a climate where plants grow so easily.

And I love that Isla likes to ride on Taylor's shoulders with her fingers inside his ears.  He doesn't love that as much as I do.

After our walk, we checked out, did some last minute souvenir shopping, and drove back to the capital so we'd be packed and ready for our very early flight the next morning.  Isla enjoyed playing on the hotel floor with Taylor's golf balls.

And once we were home, we were all excited to see that Grandma and the boys had not only survived but had a great time together.

Arenal Volcano

This lovely view greeted us shortly after arriving at Arenal and we couldn't wait for the next day and our chance to go exploring.

So bright and early we were us and heading to the National Park.  Isla is ready to go.

Taylor kept laughing at the signs they have to warn you that you're entering a high risk volcanic zone.  Duh!

We only had the morning to explore so we picked a short hike.  It was amazing to see the variety of plants growing there.

Isla again not so pleased with her situation.

Still not pleased- but we enjoyed the view.  This is about as close as they let you get to the volcano which is probably just as well.  It's not actively erupting so you might as well just get cool background shots.

This is the lake that takes up most of the lower valley.  The picture doesn't do it justice.

You may not notice the tiny green lizard in the corner but he was almost the cause of some marital discord the previous night.  He started croaking at about 11:00 when I was trying to go to sleep and kept it up for a while.  I told Taylor he needed to find and kill whatever was making the dreadful noise.  He played his ipad instead.  Luckily I was tired enough to just pass out and sleep through these noisy lizards.

A nice Sunday drive... or not

We were excited to go to Costa Rica for the wedding, but even more excited to have a few extra days to explore the country on our own.  Sunday morning we headed out on our drive from very isolated Santa Teresa and planned to make the drive to Arenal Volcano in just 4 hours.  That's what google maps said anyways!  We had a lovely drive up dirt roads, gravel roads, trails paralleling the beach, roads literally on the beach.   It was an adventure but we enjoyed laughing at the craziness of it all.

Taylor was very impressed with the "tree fences" they use in Costa Rica.  Apparently they plant trees along a road and tie barbed wire to larger trees that are already there.  Then as the seedling trees grow taller, they literally grow around and become one with the barbed wire.  And thus the fences are really very sturdy and beautiful too. 

Our drive was very picturesque with farmland and fruit trees around every bend.

These are my favorite trees.

It was a lovely Sunday drive until we came around a bend in the gravel road, headed down and steep hill and came upon this... yes... a river... in the middle of the road.  Yep, you see that road on the other side- um yep, that's where we needed to be.  A lot of the SUV's in Costa Rica have water spouts so their engines don't get flooded when they drive through these rivers.  Ours did not.  So we elected to back track and take the long way round- and 4 hours turned into 8 1/2.  But it was better than being stuck in the middle of a river in a rental car in the middle of the most isolated part of Costa Rica.

Eventually we made it there and even before the sun set!  The view alone was worth the crazy day of travel (Isla may disagree with me as she spent much of the day bored, bum stuck in the same carseat position with no brothers in the backseat to entertain her.  Don't you worry though- she definitely let us know she was not pleased with her situation :).

Wedding on the beach... and Isla eats a giant beetle.

In High School Taylor lived with these cousins for 6 months.  He went to their school and played sports and made friends with all their friends.  So when Maren decided to get married in Costa Rica, Taylor was all excited to see her and the family, but also a lot of old high school friends.
Maren was gorgeous and perfect for the beautiful beach setting.

Maren and Pedro were beaming and the wedding was just perfect.

Unfortunately this little princess and one of Taylor's cousin's 1 year olds weren't that inspired by the scenery so Taylor and I missed a lot of the ceremony while we took them someone they could explore.

The family.

After the wedding we all hung out on the beach waiting for the sun to set.

Isla wanted to get down in the sad and get dirty but was placated a little by being allowed to play "where's Isla".

Peaceful and perfect.

Not so peaceful- but definitely perfect.

After the sun set, they broke out Chinese lanterns for everyone to light.

I will confess I was singing the Tangled theme song the whole time in my head :)

Then it was time to party.

And I do mean party.  Lots of food.  Lots of drinking- which was interesting to be around.  Lots of dancing.  And lots of bugs.  This is Costa Rica after all and the smell of food and all the bright lights certainly attracted them.  Isla was good for a while- eating, dancing with people, playing my iphone, but then she'd been held for so many hours that I just knew she wanted to get down and crawl.  And since it was dark and we were almost going to leave I decided she could get dirty.  So I set her down to crawl on a wood porch.  I will admit I was talking and only somewhat supervising her so when she crawled over to a half-dollar sized object on the ground and popped it into her mouth, I walked over calmly and made her spit it out into my hand.  When she deposited a giant beetle in my hand I about had a heart attach.  And that was the end of crawling.

The next morning we met up for breakfast and then everyone had to head out.  So sad we don't live closer to these fun people but at least we'll get to see them at Christmas.

Costa Rica here we come!

This is the year of Taylor's cousin's weddings- or so it seems.  In the next 3 months we will be traveling to 3 different cousin weddings and thankfully we'll not be bringing our boys to any of them.  Isla though is still a package deal since she's still nursing.  So we asked my mom to come out and watch the boys and they fell right into their normal routine- baths, pajamas, and songs on her ipad.  Looks like they'll be fine without us here.

We took 2 4-hour plane flights, followed by a 6 hour drive and 1 hour ferry ride the next day.  Isla was a champ.

Especially since she's tiny enough to play in almost any space and she's cute enough that everyone wants to hold her.  Plus Grams and Grandpa came along and they're both suckers for her cuteness.

So is dad!

We spent 3 days out on the very isolated Nicoya Peninsula in a tiny town called Santa Teresa.  And when I say isolated let me tell you that this place was on a dirt road and looked like a beach bum town from the 60's.  Thankfully only the infrastructure was outdated and our accomodations were amazing- even with AC and Wi-Fi.  Thursday night after so much travel we took a stroll along the perfect, white sand beaches.  Isla wanted to play her favorite game- where's Isla.  Taylor puts her up on his shoulders and then acts like he can't find her- turning around, looking every which way, even asking people if they see Isla.  She dies of laughter and then will bend herself in half trying to get him to look at her.  It's pretty cute and hilarious because she laughs so hard the whole time.

I love the perfection of this beach and these cuties I love.

The waves were amazing and though most of the beach was deserted, the ocean was full of surfers trying to catch giant waves.  After that we went to the rehearsal dinner and sweltered in the heat and humidity.

The next day we headed to Taylor's cousins rented compound to swim and hang out.

Isla wasn't too sure about being in the water but Grandpa was quick to try to entertain her.  He is truly smitten with this little girl.

Could you ask for a more perfect setting.  Infinity pool overlooking the crashing waves.  Perfection.

And that little ladybug is perfection too!

This compound has 5 different villas and a central pool/dining area.  It's like living in nature but having all the conveniences you need.  I'm not sure I'd like to stay there though since all the villas have no walls so you're truly open to nature- even the bathroom and shower don't have walls- just a roof.  Fun if you're by yourself, but a little weird with others around.

After swimming and walking around we had lunch and hung out.

Isla found the best place of all to hang out.  She looks pretty cozy doesn't she!

And just as we were leaving, a family of howler monkeys was making their way down to the beach and started hanging out in the trees above the houses.  Tiny black specks way up there but very loud, even from the ground.  We all headed home to shower and get ready before the wedding.