"Friday with the kiddos!"

Megan's buddies came out for a play date last Friday. They had a few sharing difficulties... but for the most part did great. The Dads came out for a taco feast after their workdays. It was a fun time getting together with the Whitlocks at the house one last time before they become North Carolinians. (If thats a word?) Next weekend we are getting together for the final hooray... but we are getting sitters. "Date night"

Megan and her best buddy... Ruger (aka- Bubba)

This little one never stops with OUTSIDE! She begs us ALL day long to go out. She woke up the other morning... and instead of learning how to say "good morning" Daddy and I heard little bit shouting... "outside... outside... outside" It was pretty cute hearing her talk through the monitor. "Outside and Bubble" are her biggest requests. Today she got to do both!

Only the best of friends share their Cheerios! Jen made sure they didn't fight over their snacks. What cuties!

"Peek-a-boo"
Megan got a kick out of the hat! She was being really silly. She loves it when her friends come over.













Megan loves pointing to her belly button these days... but today she was proudly showing off Isaac's little nose!















"What a pair of cute boys!" Megan and Evan are going to be losing a little playmate. Isaac is just beginning to move around and explore... and now he is moving away. Darn! It was a fun day of playing in the yard, living room, and pac-n-plays. Thanks for coming to play!

Costa Rica 2008

COSTA RICA

Well... we are finally home! It was a great vacation for the three of us. Here are some of the highlights of the trip. This was our view from the sliding doors of our hotel room at Tabacon (our first destination). I believe it is the largest active volcano? It erupted in 1968 killing 100 people. I don't think they knew it was a volcano until then? The smoke blowing out the top was really an awesome site to wake up to. Stephanie has a touch of my mom in her... she made the poor bell boy take us in 3 different rooms to make sure we got this view. I must admit... her persistence paid off. It really made our stay special.
ARENAL VOLCANO

I couldn't resist taking pictures of all the flowers.
It seemed like even the poorer homes were landscaped with rich... beautiful plants and flowers. The locals really take pride in their plants. The hotel was covered in them.

ZIP LINING
We took a zip line tour on the second day of our trip. It was about a 15 minute drive from the resort. Luckily... we didn't have to hike with this one. They take you up on a cart... like a sky lift. It was a pretty steep ride up... that allowed us to see views of the volcano and Arenal lake. We tried to see monkeys... but they hid pretty well in the trees. Right about now...we were beginning to think about our fear of heights. We really didn't know what to expect.

Kev was brave... he went first. I'm still trying to upload the video of his first line. It really gives you a better height and distance perspective than the pictures do. The longest one was 2500 ft long. That feels pretty far when you are hanging from a cable.

"Scooches!"

All done... it was a blast!

These are pictures of the hot springs we wrote about earlier. You can really see the steam all around. The spa is at the base of the volcano... so it heats up the water. The place is covered with cascading waterfalls to soak in. You can just drop you towel and jump in wherever you like. Some of them were REALLY hot... I liked the warm ones... more like a bath tub. Kev and Steph liked them HOT!

It was SOOOO steamy! I had to keep wiping the camera lens off... just to get a picture of anything. It literally rains every afternoon... so the steam sets in fast. The rain feels really good when you are sitting in the hot water.

We were woken up by some crazy animal noises the last morning we were there. It was very "jungle like" around there. Stephanie was still waking us up at 4am every morning... 6am our time. Well... this morning she rushed to the sliding glass door... and opened it to the dark sounds of what sounded like 2 wild mountain lions fighting. It was pretty crazy. Playing back the tape... we think it is just a monkey. It really did sound like a monster! Then she noticed the smoke coming out of the volcano... and convinced me to jump in the car so we could drive closer to try to see the lava. By the time we got there... pj's and all... it was daylight. You really can't see it good in the light. This photo was at 5:45am... and you can see how light it already was. The view was still really nice!

LOS SUENOS

On the forth day... we headed down to Los Suenos for the 2nd part of our trip. It was a very sick 4 hour drive through curvy mountain roads. Yuck! We were so excited to come out of the crappy roads... to this very inviting resort.

Los Suenos was beautiful... but the beach was brown and nasty. We just enjoyed the view of the water... and of course... the POOL. The pool was so refreshing. We basically floated around in it for two days straight. That was the infamous location of Kevin's burning. I'm still finding skin everywhere. He was fried! The strawberry daiquiris and french fries at the swim up bar were the best!

Pete made it!!!! Pete is our travel buddy on all of Steph's trips. I first met him in Barcelona, Spain 3 years ago... then Kevin met him in Dublin, Ireland last year... and now Cost Rica. We all have a lot of fun together. We've really lucked out on the trips... thanks Steph!

"meet and great... opening night at the banquet"

This little guy tried to sneak up on Kevin during our breakfast! Guess he likes fruit!

Yikes... Crocodiles were everywhere. You don't want to fall over this bridge! I'm partial to alligators myself.

This was the coolest place to watch a sunset! You could hardly tell where the ocean stopped and the sky started. It was one of the most peaceful settings I've ever seen.

Can you tell where the ocean stops?... It was so relaxing!

We stepped in for a little local mixing... I think they were ready for us to leave!

WHITE WATER RAFTING!
The river was really brown... but lots of fun. It was a lot of work staying in the raft. Our tour guide was awesome! He did a good job telling us what to do. The two rafts in front of us totally wiped out. They all flipped out of their rafts. We were headed down river... and oars...rafts... and 12 people were scattered all over the rapids. We never came out... we hung on for a really fun ride!

Its tough to tell... but this is us making it! We hung on! We did on the other hand get VERY wet! How we made it through this on is beyond me. It was awesome!


Last night at the Marriott. The banquet was nice. They brought in exotic birds, dancers, and fireworks! Her company must sell more books than I thought. They really spare no expense on these trips!

Pete couldn't come on the next leg of the trip with us! We were bummed.
It was fun hangin' out during this part though!

... more views of the pool!

TAMARINDO
...part 3! We were greeted by some little monkeys! This little guy was so cute! He was pretty camera friendly too!

The beach in Tamarindo was much improved! The driftwood was so cool. Our hotel was kind of away from all the hustle and bustle... so it felt almost like our own private beach. Unfortunately... it was HOT!

I know we're from Florida... but come on... it was like the face of the sun here!

KAYAKING
Steph checked out the waves on the kayak. She actually got the hang of it... after a few good spills.

"SURF SCHOOL 101"
Apparently surfing is the #1 thing to do in this area... so you know they had to give it a shot. I couldn't resist the photo opportunities. The waves weren't nearly as high as I thought they would be... but for beginners... they were high enough!

"nice form... I think you're ready for the big ones!"

Kev picked it up pretty quickly

"Hang ten!" For some reason Steph does her hang 10 upside down...guess she is hanging "01"

This was our biggest monkey! I'm pretty sure its the same kind that made all that noise back in Tabacon. He wasn't as cute as the little ones.

These guys were fun to watch. They kept trying to knock each other off.

This one was hanging out in the tree right outside our porch. He was munchin' away on those leaves. I'm sure he was thinking...
"can you please stop taking pictures of me."

Another long day at an end... we stopped in for a drink and a sunset.

The sunsets were AWESOME!

SCOOT SCOOT
It was fun cruisin' around on the scooters! Nice "chips" helmet Steph!

This is the main road in Tamarindo

"Did I mention how stinkin' hot it was?"

1 day left... it was a great trip. We were able to relax... and have lots of fun too. We were both really looking forward to seeing "Snooky". It was a long time to be away from home.

We took a taxi to the next beach over... but it rained... or should I say... STORMED... 30 minutes after we got there. It was worth the trip... the water felt great!

Kev was in time out. No more sun for this Canadian. He was blistered... and wanted no part of more heat. It was pretty nice over in the shade.

This is where I finally found a bottle of heinz! I'm a ketchup girl.
The food was yummy!

"REFRESHING"

We sat around the pool and beach on our last evening of the trip. The sunset was amazing... a nice way to end our vacation. The sky changed so many different colors.

If this isn't a Corona commercial waiting to happen, I don't know what is (other than the fact that he is drinking Heineken!)

Heading home!