We arrived back home from our Costa Rica trip very light Friday night and dove right into house and family stuff on Saturday (kids don't give you much time to adjust :-)).
Our peach tree needed to be taken care of so Kyle picked all the peaches off of it (hundreds and hundreds). The girls and I washed them and then Kyle & I cut and froze most of them. Kyle then cut down the tree as it has broken a couple times over the years and wasn't growing very nicely for how much work it was.
Then in the afternoon Katelyn, Brooklyn, and I head to the local Claire's to get Katelyn's ears pierced. This was her graduation gift from Dad & Mom, but I didn't want to get it done until we were home from our trip. Katelyn was pretty excited and she did really well. No tears. (Although there have been some tears in weeks following when I clean them, which she doesn't find enjoyable.)
We had both ears done at the same time.
Katelyn took a bunch of selfies of her earrings when we got home.
While Kyle and I were in Costa Rica, Kyle's parents stayed with the girls for the first six nights. They took a bunch of pictures of the kids and all the fun things that they did.
Playing at Home:
Grandma read Balto to the girls.
Visiting the local Youth Museum:
Going out for Ice Cream:
It was over 100* a few of the days, so they had a 'Frozen day'. They made a snowman and ate sand (made out of jello) while watching the movie Frozen.
The last night of Grandpa & Grandma's visit - pretending to sleep & making a sign for Dad & Mom:
After 6 nights, it was time for Grandpa & Grandma to head back home to Minnesota, so the girls went to stay with my mom & step-dad for the last three and a half days. They went to see "Finding Dory", saw the 'Bug Lady' at the Library, and played with their cousin Micah.
Watching a movie with Micah & Auntie at Grandpa & Grandma's
We Skyped with the kiddos about every other day and while they were glad to see us get home, I think they had a great time and didn't miss us too much. I think it is fair to say they were very spoiled and very loved and enjoyed every minute of it.
*If you want to read about this trip in order, read this post first.
For the second part of our trip, we stayed at the Dreams Las Mareas on the west coast of Costa Rica. This was an all-inclusive, family friendly resort that was only opened about 1 1/2 years ago. It was the only resort on a small bay very close to the Nicaraguan border. Once stayed at the resort for 5 nights and pretty much just relaxed by the pool for most of that time. My goal was just to relax and read (both things I don't get to do much at home).
Our room - we had a swim out with a small shared pool outside the door. There was also a couch outside, where Kyle spent a lot of time relaxing, while I hid from the misquitos inside the room. The misquitos were only bad around dusk, so it wasn't really a huge issue, but I had a few bites - Kyle never gets any.
Kyle checking out the water. It was the perfect temperature - refreshing, but not too cold.
About to go exploring.
The bay looking out into the ocean.
Another view of the bay.
The forest around the resort was full of cactus.
This guy was always on the path to the adult pool. He liked to eat the flowers that had fallen on the ground.
There were tons of butterflies in the bushes. I have never seen so many in my life.
We did participate in a couple of activities at the resort, including archery (Kyle did much better than me) and a nature hike. We were told if we had come a month or two earlier, we would have seen a ton of monkeys, but they move out of that area during the rainy season. We also rented a sea-doo for half an hour one day in the bay. It was a lot of fun and it was cool go down the coast line a little ways and see the area from the water. In the last minute of the rental, Kyle turned the sea-doo so fast that we both went flying and I lost my sunglasses in the water, but we still had a great time.
Heading to dinner
The resort at night.
The view from the restaurant area of the entire resort and bay. There were 2 big pool areas. Our building is the one you can see on the left.
We took a few videos of some of the wild life at the resort for our kids. On our way to the airport, we also saw a few white-faced monkeys and spider monkeys, but I didn't really have a chance for good pictures or videos.
Crabs - there were tons of them on the beach to the right of the resort. The had holes all over that they would go into.
Iguana - there were quite a few lizards and a couple of iguanas that we saw.
Butterflies - as I mentioned above, there were tons of butterflies.
Heading home to see our kids.
Our kids were sleeping when we got home after midnight, but it was fun to see this sign.
