Hi all,

I know I promised a post on "Luisa" next. But that can wait a little longer. We're trending toward the end of July. School has been out for awhile and now is the time for vacations. As in people vacationing to Costa Rica. :) Some of those people just happened to be our family coming to Costa Rica for the first time.

My husband's parents, my inlaws, just returned from the States this weekend after spending a week with us. It was wonderful to see them. It also gave us a reason to actually do a little vacationing of our own. So off we went out into the wild, blue and green Costa Rica.

Where did we go? Based on recommendations from some of the folks I work with, we headed to Manual Antonio. Yes, it sounds like a guy's name. But it's really the location of one of the best national parks Costa Rica has to offer. Here is the link to the Wikipedia entry about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Antonio_National_Park

We spent 3 days in Manual Antonio. 3 days of family, sun and nature. We had lots of all 3. First family. 3 full days of 6 people driving in one car in a foreign country. James drove. His dad Gerry navigated. I helped to keep the kids entertained while the Nintendo batteries were charging. Judy, James's mom, held on for her life for the bulk of the trip. The roads in Costa Rica are nothing short of an adventure. There are a lot more obstacles (cows, people, pot holes, mountains, roads which wound around the mountains with no guardrail) then one usually encounters along the average highway and biway in Missouri. But besides the joys of a road trip, having our family with us here in Costa Rica was the best. It's hard to describe the happiness of having your close family in the same room for a change instead of only by Skype. The kids missed their grand parents very much. Having them here for a week was the best vacation we could have given.

And then there's sun. We had lots, lots and lots of sun; mostly on the 2nd day. We applied sunscreen liberally, in the first 15 minutes we were on the beach. But then, forgot to do it again for the next several hours. Add the fact we're 2 miles from the sun here in Costa Rica and playing in the water, spells more than too much time without adequate sun protection. Lesson learned for sure. Although, my favorite picture was of the kids after this day of sun and sand.

Finally, there is nature. Lots and lots of nature for sure. We saw grasshoppers 5 times the size of anything I've seen before. Walking stick insects which were as big as real sticks. We saw iguanas and geekos at every turn. Monkeys of 3 different species. There were sloths in 2 different varieties. We actually saw a bona fide tree frog snuggled safely in the crook of a large banana leaf. So small and so close to the same color of the leaf without the expert eyes of our guide we would have missed the little frog totally. We saw tree bats snoozing in the mid afternoon. And, we saw snakes. Joy, slithering reptiles. :) Tree boas were mostly what we saw with the one exception. One of these reptile friends we saw Monday evening right outside our hotel bulding on the path leading from the beach up to the hotel. Here is a picture of our little friend, a black reticulated boa as our nature guide said based on this picture,  as he was quickly trying to escape into the underbrush. Our other reptile friends were curled up high in the tree canopy away from those pesky people.

It was a wonderful 3 days and a great week with our family. We thoroughly enjoyed having them visit us, enjoy Costa Rica and experience our day to day life here.

I think this final picture exemplifies the Pura Vida feeling we all had after enjoying our vacation.

Now, this week, MY parents visit. More family, sun and nature coming up!