The Pollard Place: January 2019

We started the year of 2019 off in a different way. Rusty and I have been working towards doing something like this for a long time, mostly time spent with me trying to convince him that it is a good idea haha. So on December 31, 2018 we boarded a plane with our backpacks, one carryon and one checked bag. Oh, and the car seats haha. We flew to LA and had a long layover before our flight left the next morning. When we landed we took a shuttle to the hotel and then walked to In-N-Out for lunch, walked to a cute little park, took a nap in the hotel, went swimming and then called it a night at around 9:00 PM on New Year’s Eve. I don’t think I’ve ever not tried to stay awake for the Ball Drop, but I did not even feel a little sad about going to bed haha. We had to get up early the next day.

January 1: The hotel worker said that we should be to the airport three hours early for an international departure. This meant that we had to be to the airport at 5:30 AM. Yuck. We got everyone up and ready and the kids were so cranky and tired, poor things. Turns out, flying out really early on New Years Day is a good idea because everyone is still sleeping from being up partying. We got to the airport at 5:15 and were through security sitting at the gate by 6:00 haha. That meant that we had two and a half hours to kill before we left. Neither of the kids would take a nap so I walked with them in laps, and especially up and down the escalator. I learned that there is no limit to entertainment given by escalators.

We got on the plane and had a six hour flight to San Jose. The flight was pretty uneventful and the kids did really well. It was a long flight though, and that made me so nervous about our flight to Bangkok. We survived by having snacks, playing with toys, walking up and down the aisle, and letting them watch a show. When we landed we were following someone to get our car rental when we saw Uncle Ed and Aunt Lorie! They had come to see us at the airport. It was such a sweet surprise. They even bought us some groceries to take home. The drive home was an experience! The traffic in San Jose was insanely crazy, with people driving like crazy people. I thought we were going to die. Once we got out of the city it got significantly better. We were told to download an app called Waze to use for maps to get around. They had a setting on it to turn it to English instead of Spanish, but not just any English. It was “Boy Band” so it sang all of the directions to you. We laughed SO hard haha! We also passed a lot of “Iguana Crossing” signs, and had some rough experiences with a toll haha. At the airport we had decided not to get any cash because the exchange rate is bad and we had no idea there would be a toll, or that they wouldn’t accept credit cards. The first guy was really nice and when I explained it he let us through and told us to take an exit to go to an ATM because there were more tolls. We took the exit and drove around in the middle of nowhere for twenty minutes before giving up. I’m thinking we went right at the exit and we should have gone left. Anyway, I figured out on Waze how to say to avoid tolls so we did that and started again. Apparently that didn’t work because then we were at another toll haha. We tried to take the exit, but there was a toll to take the exit too! So we went up to the main toll on the freeway and this girl was not as forgiving. She told us that we would have to reverse down the freeway to take the exit. Yeah, no way I’m doing that! So Rusty reversed a little ways and then did a U turn. If you take the exit going from the other way there is not toll, so we got off and found a gas station. Right as we were pulling up the lights turned off and the people walked out. I jumped out and asked them where we could get cash for the toll and they were so nice and opened the store back up so that we could use their ATM. Eventually we got to our place, after getting a little lost, and checked in.

Within the first ten minutes I saw a cockroach on the kitchen floor and started freaking out quietly so I didn’t scare the kids. I looked back down and saw a lizard run out from under the fridge and drag the cockroach back with him. WHERE AM I LIVING. I thought that was a really bad indicator of the bugs we would have in our apartment, but luckily that is the only cockroach we’ve seen. We all went to bed really exhausted from our busy day.

January 2:

Today was our first full day in Costa Rica! It’s also when we realized we didn’t have hot water or air conditioning. I MISS AIR CONDITIONING. Today we let the kids kind of acclimate to the apartment a little bit before heading out to see Quepos. We walked around downtown, one block because it was all we could bear in the heat, and then hit up two grocery stores. Henry got to pick out two treats and he got the weirdest things I’ve ever seen haha. Adeline sneakily stole some cookies while we weren’t watching and was so pleased with herself. It was fun to see the kinds of produce that they had that was different from ours, and to see the prices of everything. We spent 41,000 colones on groceries, about $60 haha. There are some things that are interesting and unexpected, like the bag of frozen chicken tenders cost $20 in USD.

Then we went back to the apartment to drop the food off before going out to get some dinner at our first Costa Rican restaurant. I got a typical plate, called “Casado” and Rusty got a plate with a bunch of mariscos (seafood). The kids got chicken quesadillas. And we finally got to try the famous Lizano salsa, which I think is worth all of the hype. So good! Then we went to Playa Biesanz, which had a little hike through the jungle to get there. It was a really beautiful little beach in a cove surrounded by big cliffs. It was more like a swimming pool which was awesome for the kids. We could not get the kids out of the water or the sand. We came home to shower, and saw that the shower has a little motor thing on it to make the water hot. It was a little sketchy looking, but worth the risk haha. After our shower we put everyone to bed. Great first day in Quepos, Costa Rica!

A tiny lizard that Rusty was a huge fan of

January 3:

Today was a pretty low key day. I worked in the early morning, and then took a nap while Rusty worked too. We had lunch here and then ventured out after lunch to try out Espadilla Beach. This place is gorgeous and has palm trees right on the beach. The locals say that monkeys come through there a couple times a day too! That would be so fun to see! Today we swam and played in the water and sand for a long time, and even got a pipa fria (cold coconut to drink). The kids loved it and so did we! It was a great day at the beach!

Our heater for our shower haha. Don't worry, it only shocked me once

How I work

Rusty's view when he works

January 4:

Today was a really cool day! Part of it was because the whole day was just wide open, fly by the seat of your pants kind of day. I NEVER do that when we travel, but here we have more time that allows us to have that kind of day and it was seriously so fun! We passed a park in Quepos a few times yesterday and Henry kept saying that he wanted to try it, so we got out of the house early today to try to beat the heat so they could play. Bad news, it is so hot here by 8:00 haha! So the kids played there for about twenty minutes and then we had to call it. I wanted to get ice cream from Pops, I had heard it was so good, but they were closed. Ok I know it’s 9 am, but it is like 90 degrees outside. So is there really a time limit on having ice cream? No. No there’s not. While we were walking a little man came up and started talking to me. He was blind (he later told me that he didn’t have contacts or glasses) and was selling a vegetable I had never seen before. We chatted for a little bit and then it ended with him telling me where he and his family lived and that Rusty, I and the kids were welcome to come by any time haha. What a cute little guy. We found a place with ice cream that was open and got pina colada and strawberry, and then went back and ordered a mango pineapple strawberry smoothie. YUM. With our cold drink we felt strong enough to venture out to walk on the waterfront trail, and it also had a nice breeze coming off of the ocean. We also did some errands and bought the kids some beach toys and Rusty a new pair of flip flops. Then it was too hot to be outside anymore and too hot to go back to our house without air conditioning. So we took a drive. We just drove around for a while and let the kids sleep. It is so pretty here and I love seeing all of the hills and mountains just absolutely covered with trees, and seeing the coast line. Eventually we ended up at a really cool beach in Parrita. We walked around for a little bit and Henry got soaking wet haha.

On the drive back home we stopped for some watermelons on the side of the road! Then we saw signs for a motocross track so of course we followed them. We weren’t really sure where to go so we waved down a guy on a motorcycle to ask him. He had a Rhino tshirt on, that I guess is some moto brand from an old moto guy. I don’t know, but Rusty was excited about it haha. To get there we drove through acres and acres of a palm forest, and even saw some people harvesting the palm fruit with a huge pole! When we finally got to the track it was right outside someone’s house but the gate was closed. A man was out working and came over, so I told him what we were doing. He said of course we could go and look at it and if any other gates were closed to just open them up. We drove for a while and thought maybe the road was the track, until we finally found the coolest track! It was actually pretty awesome and Rusty was so excited. Then on the way back to the real road we saw a giant iguana green iguana on a tree! I got out to take a picture and it ran up the tree. I had no idea they were so fast haha!

By this time we were all hungry and hot, so we stopped by the house to grab swimming stuff and then went to lunch at El Avion. We saw this place when we drove past yesterday and knew that we wanted to eat there. It has a huge airplane inside! Henry was so excited to eat there, and to get to go inside of it. And yes, he wore his headlamp the entire time. He wouldn’t take it off haha. The views from the restaurant were so beautiful and the food was awesome! I got really good steak fajitas and the kids got really yummy cheeseburgers. Rusty got a tuna steak that was actually not as delicious as we thought it would be, but the chimichurri was good with it.

After that we went back to our favorite beach, Espadilla Beach, and rented chairs and an umbrella. The kids played with the sand bucket and shovels and the floaty thing out in the water. I took a tiny nap on the chair while Rusty played in the water with the kids, and then we switched so he could swim out deeper for a while. You do have to be careful here because there is a rip current so you can’t go out too far. We stayed until the sun set and it was gorgeous. A fantastic day here in Costa Rica!

January 5:

Today was one of my favorite days ever! It started by walking around a really cool market that was set up in Quepos. They had some things that we had never tried which is always cool. We bought some mandarinas, which taste like mandarin oranges but not as good, a watermelon, and some fresh orange juice-SO GOOD. Then we drove out to do a monkey mangrove tour. I set up a reservation online for 10:00 but when we got there they said that the next one was at 11. I showed them my reservation because we were all confused, and they were like ok. No problem! We figured we could pay with credit card, but they needed cash and we didn’t have enough. Instead of making us leave to get it the owner said that we could do the tour and then go get the money and come back to pay him. So nice!

While we were waiting for things to get ready he took me over and showed me where a sloth was hanging out. It was so cute! You could just see his little head poking out over the leaves. The guy would whistle and the sloth would stick his head out a little farther, and it was so slow it was hilarious. I love sloths.

Then we started our tour, and it was just us so it was like a private tour. It was amazing! The river and all of the foliage was beautiful. The first thing we saw were some long nose bats on the underside of a bridge. Then we saw a lizard called the Jesus Christ lizard because it can walk on water. At the end of the tour we saw a couple of them run across the river and it was amazing! We came up to a group of the white capuchin monkeys that the guide said were the mean ones. These monkeys are the whole reason we did the tour, so I was so excited to finally see them but they stayed really far away. I was pretty bummed but the guide said that hopefully we would see the nice group. We went a little further and saw a few monkeys there. He started calling to them and all of a sudden there were monkeys everywhere! He got out the banana and smashed it in our hands and let us feed them. The alpha male, Scar Face, wouldn’t let anyone else come down for a long time. It was so interesting to see them interact in their society. Some monkeys wanted to come down and they would come slowly, and then we would chase them away.

Long nose bats. They eat about 1,000 mosquitos a night each!

We fed them for a long time, and because it was just us we got to do it for the whole time we were there! Then it was time to go and we went to the turn around spot. We saw lots of other wildlife like blue and tiger heron, black and green iguanas, caiman, and a turtle. The guide stopped and grabbed some palm fronds and made each kid a grasshopper that they LOVED! It was so cool to see him make them. They looked amazing, and he was so fast. Then we saw another part of the nice group (there are about 40 in that group total) and we pulled over to watch them. It was like being in Animal Planet. We watched them play, open coconuts, drink the milk and then chuck them in the river. We saw them dip their arm in the river so that the fresh water sticks to their hairs and then drink the water. I think my favorite part was that a monkey came down and stole Henry’s pretend grasshopper haha. He took it and then climbed in a tree and tried to eat it. Then another one came down and stole Della’s, but he dropped it and I got it back. Henry was pretty sad but it was ok because we still had one.

We had to go back into town to go to an ATM to get cash to pay them, and then I also stopped at a chicken place and got some fried chicken, an empanada, and fried plantains. Who knew there would be so many fried chicken stands here?! This one was SO good, and it was kind of fun because there was no menu or anything, and all locals inside. That's how you know it's good.

After we went back to pay them we went to find Catarata Pavon close to Uvita. We were pretty sure we were there, there were signs everywhere saying "Waterfall" so we parked and got ready. And I had heard that it is close to a tilapia farm, and you walked right through one! But when the trail ended there was only a little waterfall, nothing like what I had seen online. Our host recommended this place to us, so I thought maybe it was just a different angle that people had taken a picture of or something like that. And there was a really big swimming hole so we decided to stay and play. It felt SO good, and it was fun to be in freshwater for a change. Eventually I asked a guy there and he said that Catarata Pavon was up the road a little bit, so we got out and drove a little further up. Then we walked down to a big, beautiful waterfall and played there for a little bit too. This one was really cold and in the shade, but it was so fun with the waterfall!

Then we got some pizza at a place in Quepos. There are a lot of pizza places here, and this one had good reviews. But, they still have some serious work to do on pizza haha. After that we went to Pops for some ice cream!

January 6:

Today was a great day! We got up and got showered and ready for church. Since we have been here we really haven’t worn real clothes all that often. Most of the time we just wear our swimming suit and then clothes over the top. But we all got ready in our best clothes to go to church. We put the address in the map but we had a hard time finding it. We drove past it a couple of time before we finally found it. It is a little white building with a huge black fence around it. We went in and sat down a few minutes late. This is the first church that I have ever been to that didn’t have a piano in the chapel. They used the app to play the music into the microphone. The opening and closing songs were songs that are only in the Spanish hymn book, which is really cool. It was testimony meeting today and I loved hearing everyone’s testimonies. After sacrament, we had so many people come over to us and introduce themselves and welcome us to the ward. They were so kind! Even though they didn’t speak English they still took the time to come over and smile. I want to be like that. Then a little boy came and said hi to Henry and took him by the hand and showed him where primary was. I stayed with Henry in primary and Rusty and Adeline went to Sunday School. The primary was really small, just ten kids total. Most of the kids were around 8-10, so Henry was by far the youngest. But the kids really liked to talk to him and ask him questions, it was just all in Spanish haha. Henry really took to one of the teachers, Kathia, and wanted to ask her for permission for everything, including looking out the window. When I said it was ok he told me to ask her haha. Then after he drew his picture he wanted to show her. The kids got Squirt as a treat in between classes, and then some sweet lady brought a plate of treats for every family to take home in the branch. We got home and ate them all and they were seriously SO GOOD. I don’t know what we ate, but it was all delicious.

Then we decided that we should go and see the Botanical Gardens because that seemed like a Sunday activity. But a little past that was the bridge with the salt water crocodiles, so we stopped there first. We parked and then walked out onto a bridge over the Rio Tarcoles where we counted 20 crocodiles that we could see! Henry was over the moon about it and wanted to stay forever. Someone was there selling pipa fria (cold coconut) and when he was cutting into it for someone he threw the pieces over the bridge. So we saw them snap at the pieces falling down. Their reaction is so fast!

After the bridge we drove up a mountain to see the botanical gardens but when we got there they were closed! Bummer. So instead we drove down to Jaco and had a delicious lunch of Casado again at Soda Rustico. There are so many little restaurants here that are all called sodas, and the food is so cheap. It was really yummy but we are getting a little tired of all of the heavy food and would love to eat some fresh vegetables.

Just a block away from Soda Rustico is the beach so then we went out there and walked around. The kids did pretty good about not getting soaking wet, but Adeline was rolling around in the sand in her wet dress haha. That was a bit messy, but it was a fun beach to go walk around on! When we first got there we saw a band playing some music on the beach with instruments I’ve never seen before. It is so fun to be in a new place!

After that we stopped by the Jaco viewpoint on the way home, and then had an easy night. The kids watched a show and Rusty and I got some stuff done. It was the first night that we didn’t feel like we were melting in the house, so either it was cooler or we are adapting haha.

January 7:

Rusty went scuba diving today! Obviously, it would have been more ideal if we got to go together, but there was no way we were leaving our kids with people we didn't know. So, the next best option was to take turns. Today Rusty took the car and drove the hour drive to the scuba shop in Uvita. The kids and I stayed home, and luckily there was a nice breeze coming through the back porch all day. We did some preschool, I did a lot of laundry by hand in the sink, we played games, and then we ate some DELICIOUS ice cream called TRITS. Rusty had a fantastic day diving! He saw dolphins and flying fish on the boat ride, lots of white tip reef sharks, sting rays, eagle rays, a mantis shrimp and lots of fish! He came home and we went to the grocery store to get some more food and some dramamine for me for the boat ride. Rusty got a little sick after his first dive and threw up over the side of the boat. He told me all about the fun friends that he made and how much he loved the guides. He said that it was the most diverse marine life that he had seen on a dive before, and I was so excited to go!

January 8:

Today we swapped and I went scuba diving while Rusty stayed home with the kids. Because I'm a Nervous Nelly, as Rusty so lovingly puts it, he and the kids drove with me to drop me off and then came back to pick me up. They are the best and I was so grateful that they took me so I didn't have to drive alone. The police officers here do random traffic stops every so often for no reason, and it kind of freaks me out. Honestly, those are the only times that I have felt really scared here in Costa Rica. Anyways, I got there and we walked out to the beach to get on the boat. We had to wade in waist deep water to hop on, and then we had an hour boat ride out to this island that is a private reserve. The island was beautiful, but I didn't get any pictures because my phone was in the dry bag. But one of the coolest parts was that half of the rocks on the shore weren't actually rocks, they were hermit crabs! We stayed on shore for a little bit and then got back on the boat to go to our first dive spot: Anchors. This was awesome! I saw lots of the same things Rusty saw, but no eagle rays. But we did see sea turtles, a seahorse, lobsters, a sunfish, and blue jacks! The guide saw a barracuda as we were going up but I missed it! Dang! The next dive was super cool, called The Cave. As you can guess, it had a cave haha. The current was pretty strong, and it even had a thermocline come through where you could definitely feel the different temperatures. We went to the cave and it was full of these beautiful red fish and a few white tip reef sharks! One of them didn't like the light in its eyes, so it came out but the opening of the cave was only three divers wide: Stefan (my dive buddy), me, and the guide. So it came straight towards Stefan and he moved out of the way, so a big five foot shark swam right next to me. Super cool! This was a really amazing dive site! They fed us really good food and I was really impressed with the guides as well. Overall it was amazing and we are so glad we did it!

After they picked me up, we went to Playa Biesanz so the kids could swim and get some energy out. One of the coolest things was that when we got out of the car we heard these crazy sounds that sounded like dinosaurs on Jurassic Park! I was so confused, but we started the hike down anyways. Then we saw these beautiful, amazing howler monkeys swinging around in the trees. It was so cool! We played in the water and the sand, and Henry tried snorkeling for the first time. He absolutely loved it and we couldn't get him to agree to be done haha.

January 9:

Before we went to the beach we stopped by The Wagon for some lunch. It was really delicious and the restaurant was really cool. Around noon we headed over to Espadilla Beach today, so that Rusty could take surfing lessons! He has always wanted to do that, and this beach seemed like a great spot. He did it for an hour and loved it and then surprised me with giving me a turn too! I loved it for the first half, and then the second half I was like ehhhh. I'm tired and the waves keep killing me. Come to find out: Rusty only booked a 30 minute session for me because he knew I wouldn't like it for the whole time haha! It was really fun and I got up and rode a few times. I finally get why people like surfing. But man, I got thrashed by the waves and got a huge headache too.

Monkey at the beach!

Iguana at the beach!

A couple of beach bums

Rusty working hard

Our tasty granizado

January 10:

Today we went to Manuel Antonio National Park! This was one of the reasons we came down to this part of Costa Rica so we were really stoked to get there. We decided to do a tour, and that is really the way to go. He saw so many things that we would have never even noticed! As in, everything he pointed out we would have walked past haha! We met with our group and were told that we had to carry everything into the park with us. We had a ton of stuff because we were planning on staying to play on the beach, but we figured out how to make a little bag out of a towel and made it work. Our guide was awesome and offered to carry some of our other stuff in his backpack. We hiked around and saw some really cool animals!

Our tour started with seeing a toucan right away! I was so excited because that was something I really wanted to see. Man they are beautiful. Then we kept walking and we saw some really cool lizards, one of which is like a chameleon and can change colors. We saw a cricket the size of my pinky nail that had the most amazing metallic coloring, a bat, a crab, and some more toucans!

As far as bigger animals, we saw white face cappuchins jumping around in the trees, two sloths, and a howler monkey. At the end of the tour we were given some fruit on a kebab. Henry got his and was so excited until a monkey came down and took the fruit right off of the stick! This poor kid and his bad luck with monkeys haha! There were so many monkeys down here but the beach.

We decided to do a hike, Sendero Catedral, and walked around the point that goes into the ocean. It was so hot and muggy, we didn't see any animals, and the views we're pretty but there weren't many of them. So advice: probably skip this hike haha! After that we ended up at Manuel Antonio Beach and settled in for a little. I was pretty sunburned, so I stayed in the shade with Adeline. Henry and Rusty snorkeled around a little bit and then we all played with the hermit crabs. There were tons! And Adeline did not care for them haha. She would scream every time one came near her.

Hermit crab

January 11:

Today we took it easy and stuck around the house and got some errands done. At night we grabbed some dinner from Subway and then headed over to the Marina Pez Vela. We got there just as the sun was setting, and it was beautiful! It was a pretty classy place and we enjoyed walking around and getting some delicious gelato. They were having a concert that night so it was lit up with tons of lights and live music was playing. Henry had a blast dancing and then we played in the sandbox at the top. Great night!

January 12:

Today we had a fantastic, one of a kind day! It started off a little rough with us almost missing being picked up by our driver haha. I had called and said that we would wait at the bottom of the hill because 1. The hill is so steep and 2. I didn't think they'd be able to find us because I didn't have a real address. But turns out, Costa Rica doesn't really have addresses haha. Eventually we did get picked up and we had a nice long drive up to Puntarena. we had a quick breakfast and then hopped on a catamaran! none of us had ever been on a catamaran before, and I was surprised at how much I loved it. Apparently I have very expensive tastes because now I just want to buy a catamaran and pretty much live on it. It was very relaxing and a beautiful ride out to Tortuga Island. Once we got to the island they showed us where we could drop our stuff off and then immediately we went back out on the boat to go snorkeling. luckily for us, they had some snorkeling gear for Henry as well. The four of us jumped in the water and started snorkeling, Rusty and I taking turns holding Della. Henry love snorkeling so much! Every few seconds he would pop his head up and exclaim, "I see a fish! Woohoo, woohoo, woohoo!" Or "I see 100 fish! And a blue sea star!" after snorkeling we went back to the island and had a really terrific lunch. while they were serving lunch there was some live music being played and they invited Henry up to play with them. He was so excited! We also saw a wild little pig that love to be pet! It just lay down on the ground while everybody came and pet it haha. The food was so delicious!

While we were waiting outside we saw some monkeys running around our house!

After that we had the option of going out on the banana boat, but neither Rusty nor I thought that we really wanted to do. So we took it easy and relax on the beach and played in the water. compared to the other beaches we had been visiting, this beach was really Rocky and the water was pretty murky but we still enjoyed our time. The highlight of the trip was definitely the catamaran right though. We got to write it back into the port while we watch the sunset and it was beautiful. Then we got in the car and did our long drive back home no. It was a great day!

Who's kid is this?

January 13:

Today was Sunday, so we went back to the same branch as last week. It was great to see everyone again! Then we took it easy and just went back home for the day. Later that night we went back to the Marina and walked around again and saw the sun set.

January 14:

Today was our last day in Quepos and we decided to spend it at Espadilla Beach, our favorite! We got there and got some chairs and an umbrella and spent the day soaking up the sun and playing in the water. We buried each other in the sand, got some delicious nachos and a hamburger that we ate on the beach. And for our last time here in Costa Rica we watched the sun set on the ocean. So beautiful!

January 15:

Today we got in the car and drove to La Fortuna. It was a pretty long drive, so we took a break an hour in and had a delicious lunch at Jaco. As we got close to La Fortuna we saw everything transform into big rolling hills covered with green trees. It was so pretty! We got to the house and then unpacked before we went grocery shopping.

January 16:

Today we just took it easy at the house to recover from the big drive and work. Our house is in a really cool quiet area of town and it has a view of Arenal Volcano from the backyard! In the front yard there are banana trees, a coconut tree, and a starfruit tree in the back. Some mornings we would just sit outside and watch all of the colorful birds flying around.

January 17:

Today we went to Volcan Arenal National Park and got so lucky with the weather! It was so clear and we got the best views of the volcano. We did some really awesome hikes and saw some of the prettiest views!

January 18:

Today was another favorite day! We hung out at the house in the morning and then went to La Fortuna Waterfall! The drive there was beautiful, with great views of the volcano the whole way. I was so surprised at how close this was to the main downtown of La Fortuna! When we got there we had a nice hike down to the falls, about 300 steps. It was much more difficult going back up! Down at the bottom, Rusty and I took turns swimming in the falls and then we all went over to a shallow area for the kids. It was REALLY cold though, so none of us spent much time in the water. In the shallow part there were a bunch of fish and the water was so clear you could watch them. It was really cool. And the area down there was just stunning!

haha

After the waterfall and our hike back up, we walked through a little garden with some beautiful butterflies and a hummingbird flying around. It was so peaceful and perfect.

Hummingbird!

Arenal Volcano

January 19:

Today was a cloudy day, our first one here (and unknown to us, the beginning of cloudy days until we left La Fortuna haha). We didn't need good, clear views of the volcano today though because we were heading to the Butterfly Conservatory! I know this sounds super nerdy and lame, but Henry had mentioned that he would like to see more butterflies and that is a big deal here in this area so we thought we would go for it! And, even the biggest skeptics were glad we did (Rusty haha). It was really beautiful and a nice, peaceful way to spend the day. It was massive too; there were hiking trails with a monkey we saw, an amphibian area, lots of flowers, and three different butterfly habitats.

This morning we were out looking at the birds and Henry was enjoying taking pictures. Then on our drive to the Butterfly Conservatory we passed all of these Coatis on the side of the road! And then we saw a second batch on a side road when we were closer. These little guys are really cute, but still make me nervous enough I don't want to get to close haha.

January 20:
We had a low key day today, which is sometimes the very best kid of day. To start out we went to church, which included an hour drive each way, and enjoyed the pretty scenery and fruit stands on our way there and back (we picked up five pineapples for $1!)

I cannot say enough about how kind the people are here. Today at church so many women hugged me that I lost count. They didn't even know I spoke Spanish. Many of them just came and said, "Hola" and gave me a hug and then left. Our kids were more than welcomed and taken care of. A woman tried to get Della to go with her and told me, "She's my baby now" to which I took her back and told her I would keep her with me for the rest of church haha. Rusty took her to Sunday School with him and a man kept giving her cookies. Henry did great in Primary, and as we walked out we felt sad that we wouldn't be visiting this ward again. The people here are amazing, and I don't know about Rusty but I left thinking that I want to be more like them.

Tonight we watched a movie with popcorn and it was fun to do something so normal. It's funny the things that we have missed, but down days with a movie and some popcorn is on that list.

January 21:

Today was a big, busy day! We made a day trip over to Monteverde to go zip lining and do the hanging bridges in the Cloud Forest. The drive over was nuts. It took about four hours, and it was pretty. I'm sure it would have been beautiful if we would have been able to see the lake and the views but it was so cloudy. We got stuck at some construction for about forty minutes, and Henry thought he had to poop so we were trying to get him to do it on the side of the road... and it was a mess. We got super lost, then made it to the store only to be told that we had passed it haha. So we were late and lost and stressed when we finally arrived.

And it was a COLD and WINDY day. It was the first day that we busted out the jackets, but man we were glad that we each had two haha. In order to make this work, Rusty did the zip lining first while I did the hanging bridges tour with the kids and then we swapped. The hanging bridges were really cool, and slightly eerie to walk on. But we saw a howler monkey sleeping right under us! We also saw a tarantula and some cool birds. Because of the rain a lot of the animals were hiding, which was a bummer. The ziplining was hilarious! It was kind of scary and also just really exciting and the views were so cool. We would be going and then get into a cloud and everything would get all white and then you would pop out and see great views! We could even see the Pacific Ocean.

At the end of the zip lining we had two choices to get down: 1. Stairs 2. A bungee jump thing. The guides were so funny and were teasing me the whole time because Rusty had told me: "At the end you have two choices, but you HAVE TO DO NUMBER 2." So they just kept telling me that the other option was broken and I would have to do this haha. When it was my turn I freaked out and was so scared! This is when I knew that bungee jumping in New Zealand would be a no go for me haha. The guide pushed me off and yelled, "No, wait!" as a joke and I thought I was going to die. I just laid there on the pad for a while haha.

After we were done we still had a long drive home. But we had passed a park on our way (when we were lost) that Henry had been begging to go do. He did so great with this really long day that we really wanted him to be able to do it so we went. It was really cool and had lots of things that we don't have at our parks, including screws sticking out haha. Most of it was made out of recycled things, like the train that was made out of old phone booths on their side. But the kids loved it and had a good time getting some wiggles out.

January 22:

La Fortuna is known for its really nice hot springs, especially one called Tabaon. When we learned about the river across the street from Tabacon that the locals swim in and is FREE, we knew that is where we wanted to go haha. We parked and then made the short walk down and got right in. It was so warm and nice, and even with the leaves and random branches coming through I'm glad we did this one. After we left Costa Rica I asked Henry what his favorite parts were and he said: 1. The hot water 2. The volcano 3. The monkeys.

Tired after a long day!

January 23:

Today we took it easy in the morning and worked and then made it over to Soda Hormiga for lunch. Our host told us that this was a great place to get some local food for cheap so we were pretty excited to try it. It is VERY popular with tourists too, so we were lucky to be able to just walk in and sit down. We ordered some of our last things that we needed to try, like Costa Rican tacos and Rondon. After lunch we went for a walk through the park in front of the church downtown and played on the paths through the flowers and then walked around to get postcards and stamps.

No personal space as a mom, especially in this tiny bathroom haha

January 24:

Today was another down day and we enjoyed staying home with the air conditioner to get some work done haha. For lunch we went to a delicious pizza place that had this amazing play area for the kids right next to our table! And it was empty on that side of the restaurant so we didn't have to worry about them being too loud or getting in anyone's way. It was so great and the kids absolutely loved it. The pizza was delicious and the dessert was really cool. It was a ball made out of pizza dough and filled with Nutella and then baked. Rusty and I decided that we wanted this to become a fun tradition of ours to make. We will see if that lasts haha! We also went for a walk today around our little neighborhood and made friends with a little puppy. Adeline was so terrified she couldn't do anything but scream and Henry was so happy he wanted to take it home with us. Oh these kids are so different. At night we took a little drive around the town just to get out and wind down before bedtime.

January 25:

Today was ((I think)) my favorite day in Costa Rica! Rusty and I went canyoneering in Lost Canyon and it was SO SO cool! We couldn't go together because we traded off watching the kids, and this time I actually ended up going first because Rusty had a work call. It was so unique and fun and I loved it so much. We did these big rappels, and then like backwards ziplines, trekked through the creeks, and then did a "Costa Rican Tsunami" where one guide laid down on the creek above us and made a dam and then stood up and it all came down on us haha. His name was David and he was hilarious. He wanted to know what we call someone in English who just lays down and doesn't do anything, and I told him "a bum." And he was just laying there in the water and said, "Hmmm. I am a bum." and I laughed so hard I almost died hahaha. David was my best friend. Rusty went later and had an equally amazing time! This was definitely a highlight of our trip!

David

January 26:

Today was our last day in Costa Rica! We drove back to San Jose and the drive was really pretty and less scary than when we were here a month ago haha. We met up with Uncle Ed and Aunt Lorie at the San Jose temple. It was so great to see them! We talked with them for a little and then Aunt Lorie walked with me to show me her favorite place to get batidos (smoothies) and we got one while the kids played at the playground. We loved seeing them!

After the temple we went to the Children's Museum, which is in an old prison in San Jose. This place was really cool and had a lot of different things to do, but I think the highlight was the mini grocery store. The kids loved pushing their carts around and picking food out to buy. We didn't have very much time here because we had to go to the airport to catch our flight to LA. We had a layover in El Salvador before making it to LA where we got some quick sleep before our really long flight to Bangkok.

Henry's Highlights:

PAW PATROL. Holy cow. I never knew that my son could be so completely OBSESSED with something, but Paw Patrol has taken over our lives. He asks about watching it all of the time, and when he is watching it everyone has to stop everything to watch which pups get chosen. If we don't watch he gets pretty upset haha. It's all he does for his pretend play, it's what he talks about when we are driving, it's EVERYTHING to this little boy right now haha. WOW. Marshall was the strong favorite (and I died every time his little voice said his name) but then Zuma became a contender.
When I asked him what his favorite things about Costa Rica were he said, 1. The warm water (the hot springs), 2. Playing in the sand at the beach, 3. The volcano.
I completely underestimated how much he would miss his Bailey Wailey. He talks about her all of the time and asks when we can go home to Utah to see his Bailey Wailey all of time.
Potty training has been completely reversed. We knew that this would happen, but man it's rough. A few poop accidents, but not many. But a lot of pee accidents. WHY IS POTTY TRAINING SO HARD.
He is doing better about being shy. He will say hola to people, pura vida, and gracias. He actually has a pretty good ear for learning a second language. He can hear small little differences that can be hard for some kids (at least that I've seen teaching for VIPKID).
Henry has also become obsessed with the games Go Fish and Uno, mostly Go Fish. For a few days we probably played 20 games a day, which is not that fun when it's only two people haha.

Adeline's Adventures:

Adeline is talking a lot more! She can say: hi, dada, mama, Della, hola (haha), bye bye, no (always no-no-no-no-no), buhbuh (binkie), wawa (water), love you, and more that I can't think of. She is even starting to pair words together like "Love you mama" or "Buh bye Dada".
She is starting to understand sequences, like "You can have the cookie AFTER you eat your lunch." This is so helpful!
She is a cuddler, and is very sweet. She loves to give hugs and pat pats to people, especially if she thinks they are sad. Along this note, if she hurts you and you make a sad face she pats you and kisses you until you feel better.
The binkie is still KING here. She loves that thing.
Della still loves food and can pack it away like nobody's business.
She likes to color, but only for a few minutes. In fact, she only likes to do anything for a few short minutes, including watching a show. Her favorite show is Little Baby Bum.
Della likes to "do" my hair. She likes to push my bangs out from my eyes and tuck it behind my ears.
She always drinks the water wherever we go; like in the shower, tub, pool, ocean, hot springs... everywhere. She used to do this in Utah in the tub all of the time so I had to take away all of the bowls from the tub. But now she finds a way to drink everything all of the time!
Adeline started taking her diaper off... and is very unhappy when she has to wear it. Luckily for us, when we got new diapers in Thailand they are more like pull-ups so she cannot get them off. Phew!
When you tell her to say thank you she tilts her head back and forth a bunch smiling and makes a cute little "yeah yeah" sound.