Quading and Full Moon Beach Party!

Landon used his own money and generously rented a quad for the whole family to use!  He is so awesomely cool :-)

OUR LAST NIGHT IN SANTA TERESA HAPPENED TO BE A FULL MOON SO.........

WE HAD A PARTY ON THE BEACH!!

The beaches of Santa Teresa & Montezuma

Leaving the beach near Jaco

I never thought 21 people and all the luggage would ever fit in this speed boat for the hour long ride to Montezuma but we did!


 .....arriving in Montezuma!

Here is the beach we 'play' at almost every day!

On our way to Rocamar for the beachside family picnic

just a cool photo opp....

 

 here is the site we went snorkeling, when it's high tide you snorkel, when it's low tide you don't...

just another gorgeous sunset we witnessed with the people at the family picnic

Louis and Scoobie-Doo!

Waterfalls at Montezuma by Tianna

March 2, 2012

Today we went to the Montezuma falls. First we went to the little ones which just had a bunch of tiny waterfalls everywhere around, and a deep hole that we cooled off in.  We couldn't even touch the bottom it was so deep.  then we hiked for about 10 minutes more and we saw a bunch a people jumping off an amazingly awesome ginormous waterfall. On the left side of the waterfall there was a really big rock (that Landon and me jumped off of) and on the right side was another rock (that Landon and me jumped off also). It was amazing!!!!!

after a whole month together 24/7 and I still love my brother!

Our own private pool

Should I jump??.....maybe not.....yes I will......maybe not......ok here goes!!

whooooohooooo LUIS!!!!!

Monkey Mayhem!

Monkey Business!

Here are some monkey's next to the house we rented in Costa Rica! They began climbing through the trees about 30 feet away but by the time they covered the area around our house they were as close as 10 feet.

Monday Feb. 27

Monkey Mayhem!

Today the monkey’s returned and they’ve multiplied in numbers, we counted at least 17 of them this time swinging in the tree’s beside and behind our house.  Numerous babies clinging onto their parents back while being maneuvered from tree to tree!  One baby was so tiny that it was surely only a few days old.  So cool.

Swinging is hard work....think I'll rest here a while...

Look.....no hands!

See the baby hitching a ride?!

Swimming in the Rain!

Saturday Feb.25

Swimming in the rain!

After another hot, dusty day we were treated to a rain shower, the first time it has rained here since the beginning of December!!

The clouds rolled in quickly and when they opened up lovely rain poured out from them.  You’d think we struck gold by the amount of enthusiasm we showed.  We were pretty excited and had a riot “swimming in the rain”, the water was warm and we were loudly expressing our appreciation for this special treat.

It has been sunny and hot here everyday and I can’t believe I am even going to write this but sometimes it feels too hot.  I guess that is why we were so excited to see the rain, it was a very nice break from the heat.

Prior to the rainstorm we had guests arrive at the pool for the weekly sunset dinner however, it had been cancelled due to the Rodeo/Fair in Cabano not far from here.  The guests from Italy, Switzerland, New York and Israel stayed for a swim even though they wouldn’t be feasting on any pasta tonight and JC was their bartender, serving them cerveza’s poolside.  I had an interesting conversation with the New Yorker, a filmmaker who makes independent films, while they all enjoyed the amazing sunset we witness every evening.

Snorkeling by Landon

Feb. 24, 2012

We're in Costa Rica still and today we went snorkeling in a rocky pool, which has lots of fish and other animals in it.  Tianna discovered a dead lobster in the water and thought it was alive so she quickly swam away from it.  There were lot's of pretty colored fish, some as thin as paper and one big blue fish with black dots on it.  Then, when the tide came to close in, we got out to have lunch.  After lunch, I decided to go looking for cocoa nuts.  I found a big tree with plenty of cocoa nuts, but no matter what stick I used, it was too short.  So, I started looking on the ground for a cocoa nut that was ripe, and didn’t have any holes, meaning no bugs have got in.  After a few minuets of scavenging, I found two big cocoa nuts that I shook close to my ear to make sure all the water was still in it.  Once home at Gumbo Limbo, I borrowed a big machete from the hotel owner, Michele, and cut a hole in the cocoa nut, and poring the water into a big glass that Tianna, Luis and I shared.

That’s all for today!!!

Landon

"tree huggers"

Pura Vida (life is good)

almost 3 weeks now and we've settled into life in CR......kid's are on track with schoolwork and I'm learning to "be" and not "do" which is hard for someone like myself!  Surfing was fun!!  except Landon has had to take a week out of the sun to recover from his sunburned lips, poor kid.....they blistered and now the blisters are drying up so let's just say he's not too kissable at the moment.

It should read 200mt straight up a very steep hill

The GUMBO LIMBO tree

Tianna & I walked down to the soccer field (below our house) and showed the CR boys how the Canadian girls play....we rocked!  well actually we didn't score at all but they were impressed by our talent I'm sure!  I did place a nice high shot to the far right corner of the net which hit the cross bar and then went in (the goalie didn't have a chance).   Unfortunately this was after the game was over and we were all just taking turns shooting.  Oh well, I feel I've redeemed myself and all the Canadian women soccer players.  On the walk home, in the dark, up the hill Tianna & I saw what appeared to be someone with a torch in the forest when all of a sudden the torch was floating and heading straight towards us.....it was the biggest firefly I've ever seen and we're not exaggerating when we say it was like a big ball of fire flying by.  It went right over us and disappeared into the jungle on the other side of the road.  Spectacular!!  On the way down we saw the family of monkeys in the trees above us and the firefly on the way up,  add soccer and ice cream.....what a great mother/daughter date!

We all went snorkeling yesterday (Landon will share this experience in his own post).

After spending the morning snorkeling JC and I took the bus to Cabano up and through a very windy and of course dusty road.  Then another bus to Montezuma where JC had a swim and we just walked around.  At the right place at the right time and we got to share a taxi ride back to Santa Teresa with 2 guys from the States (Boston area) who just arrived here to surf.

Last Sunday we walked along the beach to Rocamar beachside restaurant and the spot where the locals go to hang out with their families on Sundays.  Tianna impressed everyone with her famous head stands (the owner went first, he's pretty strong doing all kinds of core strength moves while standing on his hands).  Landon played a his guitar for a bit and got a tatoo of a turtle, Tianna's tatoo was of a frog and the artist was Cocoa from Nova Scotia.  After the sun went down they set up an outdoor movie screen (a white sheet) and all the kids got to enjoy watching Astro Boy.  Thankfully Michele was there too so we all piled into the back of his truck for the ride home in the dark up our steep, dusty road....I wonder if I will ever get used to this?!!?

Tianna LOVES her tatoo!

Cocoa, the tattoo artist is from Nova Scotia

Tianna & Dad performing at the beachside family picnic

Great balance Tianna!

Landon's turtle tatoo

This morning we had a war with an army of ants!  Our latest challenge is how to keep the ants from getting into our food.  Tianna and I spent the morning removing and then cleaning an area that an army of ants had taken over in our house, under the fridge......in line across the floor.....up the wall.....onto the table where our food is......and oh look someone forgot to close the bag of peanuts!!!!

Good learning lesson for the kids except that Landon took off (wimp!) and Luis slept while Tianna & I scrubbed the area clean.  We officially HATE ants!!  I keep telling myself it could be worse..mice or cockroaches would send me home!
The family meeting went something like this.....YOU HAVE TO CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELVES, NOT LEAVE FOOD AROUND ANYWHERE, WASH YOUR DISHES RIGHT AWAY.......hope they got the message:-)

Oh yes, ant's are plentiful....but at least we've only seen ONE of these!!

SCORPION!!!!!!!!

This was on our back wall next to the outdoor shower,  JC managed to catch it in a cereal box and threw it back into the jungle where it belongs!
I was fine until today during my skype call with Dave & Deb Poggemoeller when he told me "there's never just one"   SAY WHAT?!?!?   thanks alot Dave!

The "STICK BUG"

Three new bugs today, ones we have yet to see.  The first one JC thought was a stick on the counter so he grabbed it and then it moved in his hand.  Even he jumped!!  It was the most interesting insect, looks identical to a twig.  The body, the legs, the head, the antenna’s all look like twigs joined together.  Landon let it walk all over him, even his head and his face!    Introducing ……The ‘stick bug’

Then when I took the towels in from hanging outside to dry, out popped a little white spider................  A WHITE spider, have you ever heard of such a thing?!?  It looked very dangerous…..well at least in my opinion which has likely been tainted by seeing so many different types of insects in such a short time.  No pictures though, no time messing with something so suspicious.

Lastly, but equally interesting is the “Leaf bug” which Landon claimed as yet another pet.  He let it crawl on him and 'Leaf Garrett' liked drinking the water off his stomach!!  My brother Terry was nicknamed ‘nature boy’ when we were kids and I think Landon has inherited this fascination and attraction to insects and animals from his Uncle Terry.

  

The "LEAF BUG"