Lizard

Mason has been on a mission for the last year to get a bearded dragon. It is a specific type of a lizard. Cindy and I have remained steadfast in our resolve that we are not going to have any lizards. However, as his birthday is approaching, he has been escalating. At first I got this text, which ended up being a joke with me as the butt. 

Then he spent an entire half of a day researching the critter and preparing a 17 point (no joke) essay. It took him four minutes to read it to me. 

Tonight as we went to pick up him and his football buddies. It was clear that he had recruited them to help. They each immediately started telling me why he should have the bearded dragon.

I said "I will buy frozen yogurt who tells Mason a lizard is a bad idea."  They each immediately flipped. He stayed quiet. #momwins. 

George

This is my buddy George.

Sunset at Beckett Point

Basketball buddies

Philip!

nzie was in my office hanging out for a day and mentioned that she really wanted to see Janel. I told her that I wasn't sure how it was going to work out this year since we didn't know when the baby was going to make his grand appearance. We texted Janel who said she was bored, so we jumped on it and Kenzie was on a plane by that afternoon, set to come back on 8/10. On the 8th he quickly decided to enter the world! Lucky Kenzie! Tia Jo, Uncle Randy, Sarah, David, Daniel, Ruby, Sarita all arrived quickly - and Kenzie got to hang with them plus the new family of Janel, Ryan and Philip. We extended her stay a few days. Sarah took everyone under 30 riding bikes across the Golden Gate bridge. It sounds like an amazing time. I stayed home and worked...and have yet to meet my grand nephew!!

Ke

Football!

It's happening - Mason has started football. They setup the teams by weight and age. The low cutoff for his weight was 105 and he weighed in at 107. Some of the boys have 75 lbs more than him, plus two more years experience. So, he is small and has a lot to learn. Hopefully he will have fast feet!

Mason has on the black tee shirt with the green socks. 

Day escape

Soccer break

Mason had a soccer tournament in Monroe. It was a scorcher and somehow we ended up with a few extras. We found a park with a river, fun chill day.

Day seven - winding down

We had a split morning. Cindy and the boys walked to the beach, watch Kenzie and I stayed and swim in the hotel pool. We had our last lunch in Quepos, then took the long way to San Jose. Along the way we stopped and saw crocodiles in their natural habitat. 

For our last dinner, we ate in the city with Jackie and Fernando at a Cuban restaurant. They were such fantastic guides for us. We spent a bunch of time talking about our favorite memories of the trip and realizing that are fabulous adventure is coming to a close. One more day back at the hotel that we started and, then we ordered a plane to head back home. 

Day six - countryside

We got up and drove to Londres, a very small town with no tourism. We then hiked into the Campesino Reserve, a many-mile adventure on a small wondering path through the Costa Rica countryside. We met up with a gentleman named Visae, who has never been to a city and speaks no English. He is a groundskeeper for a plot of land. He walked with us. Kenzie and I got to practice Spanish. He took us to the land of his boss, where he served us fresh lemonade and lychees from his yard. 

We were all so sweaty, and the walk went on for hours--up, down, around. Waterfalls, rivers, the occasional cow and lots of leafcutter ants that we avoided stepping on. We eventually ended up at a cooperative-run waterfall park where we hiked down to a beautiful waterfall where we swam and let the water beat down on our sore muscles. 

Jackie and Fernando swam with us. 

We had lunch in a hut in the woods then walked across what was perhaps the scariest part of our trip--a wobbly suspension bridge. None of us knew it was coming so we found ourselves quite surprised! Cindy pointed out after the fact that it was constructed from aluminum ladders and some of the net below wasn't in tip-top shape. 

We hiked back up to the top, and we're very happy to see a 4x4 car waiting to take us back to the bus. 

Day five - Manual Antonio

We stayed three nights at the beautiful Hotel Mariposa in Quepos. 

We got up and went to the amazing Manuel Antonio National Park, which is packed with wild species. We saw sloths, titi monkeys, white faced monkeys, raccoons, deer, coatis, a boa constrictor, crab that live in the woods, lizards and a lot more.

We swam in the park, then drove outside the park for surf lessons. The kids and I all got up--we had great instructors. 

Day Four - Travel Arenal to Manuel Antonial

We got up early today because Jackie, our guide, had a surprise for us. She said the cooks at the hotel we were staying in had seen this animal show up almost every day. We were all up and ready by 7am and bummer the animal did not show. Here is what it looked like. 

Ocelot and her baby. I guess she showed up the next day. (Picture sent to us by Fernando when he did the next tour. )

Fernando had also spotted a viper snake the night before and it was still there. 

Insert picture. 

We then had breakfast, checked out and we were on our way to Manual Antonio Park with some stops along the way. 

Lunch was in a small town where a lady started cooking for the tourists who would come by looking at the Macaw birds. We were not disappointed. As we were eating lunch, the birds were dropping almonds on the rooftop. Curiosity got the best of Mason and he went out from under the roof to see what was going on. An almond hit the roof and then hit him square in the head. We all got a good laugh out of that one...well maybe not Mason. After lunch we spotted several beautiful macaw birds. 

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Before heading back on the road again, Jackie and Fernando suggested playing soccer with the local kids. 

Frog walk

At the EcoTerminales spa we went on a night walk, looking for frogs. Headlamps and flashlights on, Jackie led us to find tree frogs (with red eyes), poison dart frogs and a few other miscellaneous critters. The air was dark and thick with humidity, as we tiptoed through the trail. Such a fun night!

Day Three - water

We took our family bus to the edge of a road and then got in a 4x4 vehicle, and drove another vet bumpy half hour toward the volcano.

Once again we geared up, then we started hiking! All of the sudden we found ourselfves at the top of a waterfall, and one at a time we rappeled down. We had five total rappels, including one "monkey drop" which was literally a free fall off a rope. 

We hiked and hiked back up. Then we went to the La Fortuna waterfall, hiked down to the base of the waterfall and enjoyed a lovely swim. 

On the way back up the 500-stair climb, a howler monkey came to say hello. He showed off climbing through the branches no more than 15 feet from us. 

And then, as if we weren't quite wet enough, we headed to the EcoTerminales  hot springs. This was like a natural spa, with beautiful pools heated by the volcano. Every 15 minutes we had to go in the cold pool to regulate our body temperature. There were monkeys, toucans and an iguana in the woods surrounding us. It soothed our sore muscles.