Pura Vida! part II

The boys had fun surfing.

Zach's first ride, standing up!

The "big" boys got in on the fun too.

I tried it, and actually got up a couple of times! (Sorry, no pictures at this time)

 More fun in the sand.

We all enjoyed relaxing on the hammocks. Here's Zach taking a nap like his Mama used to when she was little.

And of course, the highlight of the trip . . . . the zip lines . . .

The trip was great! I think everyone had fun.

Pura Vida! part I

We just got back from our trip to Coast Rica. We had a great time! We stayed in Playa Grande with Carlos, Heather, Abby, Charlie and Mamita.

 

Here we are waiting in line for the potty at the car rental. We flew in on June 20th. We left our house at 4a.m. and arrived in Liberia at noon (Coasta Rica time)

This is our trusty van. Not the most comfortable ride, but it did the job. We took turns sitting up front. Those were the only seats that got any of the A/C.

The boys had a great time playing in the sand, and getting pounded by the waves in the "washing machine"as they called it.

I think Charlie really enjoyed his first "taste" of C.R., don't you?

 

I spent most of my time sitting out on these chairs reading Gone With the Wind. It was so nice. Somehow, Heather managed to get some reading in too. Abby took these pictures, I think she did a really good job.

When we weren't outside enjoying the beach we were inside eating. We went out for breakfast a couple of mornings, but mostly we ate breakfast and lunch at the house. We had cereal, pb&js, and lots of fruit. We went out for dinner every night and had some typical Coasta Rican food. Thier typical dish is called a Casado. It consisted of gallopinto (rice and beans) a meat (usually mahi mahi, chicken, or steak) and fried plantains. The boys wouldn't eat it though, they ate the usual (chicken and fries, hamburgers, and spaghetti). We also ate at a couple of really good pizza places, yum!

This huge rock was just down the beach from our house.  Jared and Carlos took the boys up there to explore it. This picture was taken at low tide, at high tide the water covered half of the rock.

Two wheelers, triathlons, and back dives

It's been a big couple of weeks for us around here. Full of action.

Zach is riding a two wheeler! Meranda and I took the kids on a bike ride a little while ago and Zach was not happy that he had to ride in a stroller. So, as soon as Jared got home he asked him to take the training wheels off of his bike. He has definitely been the fastest to pick it up. Jared took the training wheels off and off he went. He loves it! Sam was easy to teach too. Jared's theory is that they learned how to balance and steer from the razor scooters. Maybe?

Last weekend Jimmy, Sonny, and Rollin participated in a mini-triathlon. It was for kids 7 to 15. This was their first year to participate (Jimmy says it's his last). They had to swim 50 yds., bike 3 miles, and run half a mile. Sonny was nervous about not winning. I told him it wasn't about winning, just finishing. They finished! The swimming was a little harder than we had expected and they could have used more training there, but they did great! Sonny had fun and said he would do it again and Sam says he's going to try it next year.

And, since summer means spending lots of time in the pool the boys have been working on perfecting their dives. Sam has even learned how to back dive. We like to play "diving contest".

The boys dive and Jared and I rate them on a scale from 1-10. The smaller the splash the higher the score, just like the Olympics.

Sam's Dive