Finally...visitors!!!, by Jodi
The last two weeks have been some of the greatest we've had here. We haven't had any family come visit since we saw Shel and Trent's family the first month we got here. It's been a long 6 months with no visitors and a few months ago, we finally got Kevin's parents booked on a flight to come visit us. Then, out of the blue, my sister called and said they were bumping up the trip they'd been planning on taking in July or August and were now coming the following week because her husband had some time off work. So, Sharon and Mauri got here Tuesday night and Kevin's parents got here on Friday. Sharon brought us enough chocolate chips and M&M's to last us a year if we were normal people. However, we're not and the M&M's are almost gone.
Wednesday, we went and spent the day at Las Catalinas. On our way, we stopped at every beach we passed so Mauri could take pictures. It was really fun showing off how amazing of a place we live in. After living her for several months, we've started to just take it all for granted.
Thursday, Jose helped us find someone to take Mauri out fishing and we pulled Jack out of school early and he went with Kevin, Mauri and Jose to do some deep sea fishing. They caught a bunch of blue fin tuna and saw a sea turtle and some dolphins that swam right in front of the boat for a while.
Friday morning, Kevin and Pres. took Mauri out for a surfing lesson, but the tide was low and really strong, so I don't think he thought too much of it. Then we left for the airport to pick up Kevin's parents. They came with several extra bags loaded with legos, polly pockets, and board games that Kevin had ordered for the kids since toys are the one thing we totally neglected to bring with us. The kids got out of school right after we got back from the airport and they spent the rest of the afternoon building legos and trying out new board games with Grandma and Grandpa. We managed to pull them away for a couple of hours to go have dinner at one of our favorite beach side restuarants, Cocos Locos. However, Saturday morning they were much less willing to leave the house. It took us until about 3 in the afternoon to pull them away from the legos. We met Sharon and Mauri at Playa Avellanas, our favorite surfing beach. But the waves were really choppy and the tide was so high, it covered all the rocks and made it really scary, so we didn't end up surfing at all. The kids got in some good boogie boarding time with Grandma and Grandpa though. Then we went back to Tamarindo for another dinner on the beach, since Lola's was closed.
Sunday was all day church, including a baptism, a district meeting with the Young Women presidency for me, and then dinner at the Hidalgo's. I warned everybody to dress in their most comfortable and coolest clothes because the church had been ridiculously hot the last few weeks and the Hidalgo's kitchen is all outdoors. Luckily, the A/C at the church seemed to be working better, but Hidalgo's was still nice and toasty and after a couple of hours there, Autumn had had enough and was ready to get in the car with the A/C. We did discover before we left how cashews are harvested. Hidalgo's have this tree that has fruit that looks like a mini, plastic apple--it's super shiny and totally looks like plastic. But the stem is really big and fat and I guess if you roast it, you can crack the stem open and there's a cashew inside. Crazy.
Monday, we got up and packed and headed to Monteverde. It was our first time there and it was soooo nice to finally not be hot. It's a perfect temperature up there--like Utah in the fall when it's cooling off but before it actually gets cold. The place we stayed at was on the side of a mountain and had the world's coolest rope swing in this gigantic tree at the top of the property. It had the most amazing view of the surrounding hillsides and sugarcane plants that Grandpa chopped up for the kids to suck on.
Tuesday we went to a cloud rain forest reserve that had suspension bridge hikes, zip lining, a hummingbird garden and a huge butterfly house. Sadie and Tessa and I skipped the zip lining and did the suspension bridge hike instead where we tagged along with a guided tour for a while and got to see a Quetzal. Then we all met up for the butterfly house. The kids got to hold all sorts of different butterflies.
Wednesday morning the kids spent a couple of hours getting in their last swings on the rope swing and then we headed into town for brunch and some final souvenir shopping. We ended up spending a couple of hours souvenir shopping and didn't get on the road until early afternoon. It was raining by then and the dirt, mountain roads were pretty sketchy, but the Galloper managed to pull through.
Thursday, we took Kevin's parents to Danta and spent the day paddle boarding, boogie boarding, and kayaking. Kevin's mom and I decided that we were really tough and could swim to the Las Catalinas islands way out in the bay. We convinced Autumn to join us and we all set out with boogie boards as flotation devices with Grandpa and Sadie in the kayak and Jack on the paddle board to watch over us. We got to the island alright and tried to make our way around it, but the currents would't let us budge. Plus, the stinging algae were making us crazy, so we turned back. I saw Kevin in the distance with Tessa on his back coming out to check on us and he let us know what a dumb idea he thought our little adventure was. I told him we were fine and we were going to be swimming with the current on the way back. But I soon realized that the current we'd tried to swim through around the island had used up most of the last of my energy and there was no current helping on the return. Kevin convinced me to swim to another beach closer by and walk back to our beach with the kids. He had no interest in taking any chances of someone not being able to make it to shore with all our kids out in the water with us. JoAnn made it safely back with Larry and Sadie in the kayak and the kids and I hiked back to the beach to meet them. I think we were both pretty ready for a nap at that point. We asked our server how far it was to the island and I think he said 3 km. That was a little further than we'd realized.
Friday we decided to hit as many beaches as we could before Kevin's parents had to go home, so we went to Crabby Patty beach first (we named it that because we have no idea what it's really called and there are lots of crabs), then Pirate's Bay where we discovered sea slugs in the tide pools, a dead puffer fish on the beach that Sadie threw back in the ocean to save, and Jack stepped on a sting ray resting on in the shallow water. Luckily, it didn't sting him. Then, we hit Playa Mina's which had perfect waves and was absolutely beautiful. Grandma and Grandpa finally got to see their first monkeys that were hiding in the trees as we were driving out. The male monkey screamed at us a lot, trying to get us to leave. Then, we hit Playa Conchal really quick before the storms set in and then off to Panga's for dinner.
Saturday, we returned to Playa Conchal and discovered that there actually is a part of the beach covered with tiny shells. I knew Conchal meant "shells," but I'd always thought that the sand must have been made of pulverized shells. There's a part at the beginning of the beach that's always crowded, so we bypass it. But, this time we ended up stopping there and discovered why it's always packed. There really are millions of tiny, smooth, broken shell pieces covering the sand. So many that when our kids changed out of their swim suits that night, tons of little sea shells fell out of their swim suits. And it had the best snorkeling we've found here. Sharon saw an octopus and Jack saw an eel. We spent the whole day there and Sadie and I even got massages on the beach. The kids were so tired by the end of the day, they were falling asleep with their heads rested on the table at dinner.
Sunday, Kevin woke up early and took his parents to the airport. Very sad day for all of us.
Today, the clutch on our Galloper went out and the A/C in our bedroom stopped working. It's Kevin's parents' fault for leaving. It brought us bad luck. :)
I had noticed the transmission sounding weird a couple of days ago. The engine would rev up when I was in gear and then take a while to kick into the right gear. Today, I was following Sharon and Mauri to drop off their rental car and pick them up and suddenly, I couldn't switch gears. The clutch had dropped down to the floor and I had to put it in neutral and pull over to the side. Sharon had forgotten her phone, so I called Kevin to tell the car rental place to send them back and not have them turn in their car. While I was waiting for them, I tried pumping the clutch and forcing the car into gear but that didn't work. After a while, I decided to see if I could pull the clutch back into position with my foot and somehow that worked and it stayed in place after that. We drove it home and called a mechanic and now he has it. So, at least we didn't have to get it towed.
The A/C in our room isn't cooling at all and it's dripping water and the bottom is frozen up. I'm guessing that's a bad thing. Looks like we're sleeping with the nice, tropical air of Costa Rica tonight.
Wednesday, we went and spent the day at Las Catalinas. On our way, we stopped at every beach we passed so Mauri could take pictures. It was really fun showing off how amazing of a place we live in. After living her for several months, we've started to just take it all for granted.
Thursday, Jose helped us find someone to take Mauri out fishing and we pulled Jack out of school early and he went with Kevin, Mauri and Jose to do some deep sea fishing. They caught a bunch of blue fin tuna and saw a sea turtle and some dolphins that swam right in front of the boat for a while.
Friday morning, Kevin and Pres. took Mauri out for a surfing lesson, but the tide was low and really strong, so I don't think he thought too much of it. Then we left for the airport to pick up Kevin's parents. They came with several extra bags loaded with legos, polly pockets, and board games that Kevin had ordered for the kids since toys are the one thing we totally neglected to bring with us. The kids got out of school right after we got back from the airport and they spent the rest of the afternoon building legos and trying out new board games with Grandma and Grandpa. We managed to pull them away for a couple of hours to go have dinner at one of our favorite beach side restuarants, Cocos Locos. However, Saturday morning they were much less willing to leave the house. It took us until about 3 in the afternoon to pull them away from the legos. We met Sharon and Mauri at Playa Avellanas, our favorite surfing beach. But the waves were really choppy and the tide was so high, it covered all the rocks and made it really scary, so we didn't end up surfing at all. The kids got in some good boogie boarding time with Grandma and Grandpa though. Then we went back to Tamarindo for another dinner on the beach, since Lola's was closed.
Sunday was all day church, including a baptism, a district meeting with the Young Women presidency for me, and then dinner at the Hidalgo's. I warned everybody to dress in their most comfortable and coolest clothes because the church had been ridiculously hot the last few weeks and the Hidalgo's kitchen is all outdoors. Luckily, the A/C at the church seemed to be working better, but Hidalgo's was still nice and toasty and after a couple of hours there, Autumn had had enough and was ready to get in the car with the A/C. We did discover before we left how cashews are harvested. Hidalgo's have this tree that has fruit that looks like a mini, plastic apple--it's super shiny and totally looks like plastic. But the stem is really big and fat and I guess if you roast it, you can crack the stem open and there's a cashew inside. Crazy.
Monday, we got up and packed and headed to Monteverde. It was our first time there and it was soooo nice to finally not be hot. It's a perfect temperature up there--like Utah in the fall when it's cooling off but before it actually gets cold. The place we stayed at was on the side of a mountain and had the world's coolest rope swing in this gigantic tree at the top of the property. It had the most amazing view of the surrounding hillsides and sugarcane plants that Grandpa chopped up for the kids to suck on.
The infamous Galloper that I'm about ready to launch off a cliff to be rid of.
Autumn
Tessa
Kevin
Jacko
Autumn
Sadie (she started out with eyes shut, but managed to graduate to keeping her eyes open the whole time)
Sadie
Tessa
Grandpa
Grandpa going again because his foot is stuck
Getting Grandpa's foot unstuck
Kevin
Me
That's the Quetzal. But, it was too far away and I couldn't hold the camera still enough to get it to focus.
Wednesday morning the kids spent a couple of hours getting in their last swings on the rope swing and then we headed into town for brunch and some final souvenir shopping. We ended up spending a couple of hours souvenir shopping and didn't get on the road until early afternoon. It was raining by then and the dirt, mountain roads were pretty sketchy, but the Galloper managed to pull through.
Thursday, we took Kevin's parents to Danta and spent the day paddle boarding, boogie boarding, and kayaking. Kevin's mom and I decided that we were really tough and could swim to the Las Catalinas islands way out in the bay. We convinced Autumn to join us and we all set out with boogie boards as flotation devices with Grandpa and Sadie in the kayak and Jack on the paddle board to watch over us. We got to the island alright and tried to make our way around it, but the currents would't let us budge. Plus, the stinging algae were making us crazy, so we turned back. I saw Kevin in the distance with Tessa on his back coming out to check on us and he let us know what a dumb idea he thought our little adventure was. I told him we were fine and we were going to be swimming with the current on the way back. But I soon realized that the current we'd tried to swim through around the island had used up most of the last of my energy and there was no current helping on the return. Kevin convinced me to swim to another beach closer by and walk back to our beach with the kids. He had no interest in taking any chances of someone not being able to make it to shore with all our kids out in the water with us. JoAnn made it safely back with Larry and Sadie in the kayak and the kids and I hiked back to the beach to meet them. I think we were both pretty ready for a nap at that point. We asked our server how far it was to the island and I think he said 3 km. That was a little further than we'd realized.
Friday we decided to hit as many beaches as we could before Kevin's parents had to go home, so we went to Crabby Patty beach first (we named it that because we have no idea what it's really called and there are lots of crabs), then Pirate's Bay where we discovered sea slugs in the tide pools, a dead puffer fish on the beach that Sadie threw back in the ocean to save, and Jack stepped on a sting ray resting on in the shallow water. Luckily, it didn't sting him. Then, we hit Playa Mina's which had perfect waves and was absolutely beautiful. Grandma and Grandpa finally got to see their first monkeys that were hiding in the trees as we were driving out. The male monkey screamed at us a lot, trying to get us to leave. Then, we hit Playa Conchal really quick before the storms set in and then off to Panga's for dinner.
Building the sand crocodile.
I don't know how, but every time we go to the beach, Sadie ends up with about 5 times more sand covering her body than anyone else.
Destroying the sand crocodile.
Sadie had really wanted to find a moon jellyfish to show Grandma and Grandpa since they got here. She finally found one at this beach. They're really cool. They're just this clear, jiggly mass that doesn't sting. We found them one other time washed up on another beach.
Tessa fell off right after this picture was taken. She was not very happy.
Saturday, we returned to Playa Conchal and discovered that there actually is a part of the beach covered with tiny shells. I knew Conchal meant "shells," but I'd always thought that the sand must have been made of pulverized shells. There's a part at the beginning of the beach that's always crowded, so we bypass it. But, this time we ended up stopping there and discovered why it's always packed. There really are millions of tiny, smooth, broken shell pieces covering the sand. So many that when our kids changed out of their swim suits that night, tons of little sea shells fell out of their swim suits. And it had the best snorkeling we've found here. Sharon saw an octopus and Jack saw an eel. We spent the whole day there and Sadie and I even got massages on the beach. The kids were so tired by the end of the day, they were falling asleep with their heads rested on the table at dinner.
Sunday, Kevin woke up early and took his parents to the airport. Very sad day for all of us.
Today, the clutch on our Galloper went out and the A/C in our bedroom stopped working. It's Kevin's parents' fault for leaving. It brought us bad luck. :)
I had noticed the transmission sounding weird a couple of days ago. The engine would rev up when I was in gear and then take a while to kick into the right gear. Today, I was following Sharon and Mauri to drop off their rental car and pick them up and suddenly, I couldn't switch gears. The clutch had dropped down to the floor and I had to put it in neutral and pull over to the side. Sharon had forgotten her phone, so I called Kevin to tell the car rental place to send them back and not have them turn in their car. While I was waiting for them, I tried pumping the clutch and forcing the car into gear but that didn't work. After a while, I decided to see if I could pull the clutch back into position with my foot and somehow that worked and it stayed in place after that. We drove it home and called a mechanic and now he has it. So, at least we didn't have to get it towed.
The A/C in our room isn't cooling at all and it's dripping water and the bottom is frozen up. I'm guessing that's a bad thing. Looks like we're sleeping with the nice, tropical air of Costa Rica tonight.
What beautiful places you visited and saw while both your families where visiting. What a treat to have spent time with them : ) Costa Rica truly looks beautiful. Sorry about the car and A/C hope they are quick fixes.
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