Merry Christmas!

We awoke bright and early for presents. Keagan was awake at 0600, but held off coming downstairs until 0700. Wes misses the wonder and excitement that came with Santa's anticipated arrival, so he asked the boys to run downstairs and jump on the bed like they did ten years ago. Keagan didn't disappoint.

 Santa's present this year was the PS4, and the grandparents sent a few games to go with it.

 

 

 

 

 

After church, we will have a traditional meal with ham, watch some football, and play in the spring like weather.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Christmas is supposed to be a time of family, food, and quality time together. This year we get to throw in a homicide investigation. Nothing says ho, ho, ho like a crime scene. Three more years. Three more years I keep telling myself and this will no longer be our norm.

We began with Christmas tree sugar cookies. I bake. Keagan decorates. Evan eats. It's a tradition ten or more years strong.

 

Christmas Eve Service. This year's sermon was the best I've heard given on Christmas Eve. I hope we get to hear part 2 tomorrow. 

 

Christmas lights.

 

And of course a present or two. This year's big hit was VR headsets. We rode roller coasters in our living room. So much fun!

Now we await Santa! Merry Christmas Eve!

Farewell Costa Rica

Now vemos, Costa Rica. We will forever have fond memories of beautiful beaches, big waves, sangria, wildlife, wonderful people, stunning sunsets, Tico Sours, and Keagan's favorite, fresh pineapple.

 

 

 

 

 

Final Day in Paradise

Keagan singing in the shower:

 "La Pura Vida....Si....Bueno...these are all the Spanish words I know." He's had his fair share of sleep this week, but when he isn't sleeping, he's keeping us in stitches. 

The waves at the beach this morning were huge! We spent the morning boogey boarding and jumping waves.

 

 

 

We spent the afternoon at the pool with an iguana and a macaw. 

 

We are sun-kissed, relaxed, and out of money. I guess that means it's time to return home. But first, one more meal fresh from the sea.

Adventure of a Lifetime

Today's adventure took us white water rafting down the Savegre River. The scenery was stunning. 

The water was a gorgeous clear green reflecting the colors of the trees from Manuel Antonio Park.

 

We took class 2 and 3 rapids down the river to a waterfall. 

 

Keagan was in his element. 

It was thrilling and not anything we will likely forget any time soon.  In fact, we saw the bus awaiting us at the end of the trip and we all groaned. We could have stayed for hours more. 

 

We have mastered living La Pura Vida!

Nature Hike

Our morning was spent in Manuel Antonio Nature Preserve. We hired a naturalist to help us locate animals and to explain the significance of what we saw. 

 

Otherwise, it's just a park with a bunch of trees to us.

 

We saw several sloths, monkeys, raccoons, insects, and lizards. All of the raccoons we saw wore collars. Biologists are studying their behaviors because in the last three years the animals have become non-nocturnal. Surely humans are responsible for the change in behavior. Interestingly, there was not one mosquito. One species of bats can eat up to 1,000 a night!

 

 

 

We ended our hike at the beaches. My favorite was Las Gemelas. 

 

But we also visited the south side beach where there were beautiful trees with low lying branches and monkeys. The boys were done at this point and needed naps, as evident in Evan's expression. Late night FaceTime dates with the girlfriend make 6:30 wake ups hard and hiking even harder. 

 

 

We bribed the boys with a promise of food for this last shot.

While waiting for dinner at a local restaurant, the boys were laughing about an inside joke they had from many moons back at after school daycare. Keagan mentioned that one boy carried his Playboy with him. Before he could finish his sentence, Wes and I stopped him. Which kid has a nudie magazine at a Christian based daycare? It appears Keagan meant gameboy instead of playboy. Just a minor mixup, but it created a lot of laughs!

La Pura Vida Take 3

I woke up today to monkeys scampering across our roof. I can't tell you how much better that is than waking up to construction crews. Our adventure today took us to the waterfall Santa Juana. 

 

However, we can't just hike up to waterfalls with the boys and expect them to have any fun. So we took ATVs up the mountain, across the river, and through the mud. 

 

 

We came back filthy! However, both boys got to drive through the "playground" kicking up mud and spraying water in all directions. They will remember this adventure forever! I will remember clutching Evan's waist yelling "slow down" and "hug the high side." To be the mom of boys is not for the faint of heart. 

We came back to the resort for a quick dip in the pool and squirrel monkeys joined us. This is the third species we have heard; the second we have seen.