This year as a special treat Robert and I decided to take our children and a few boyfriends (not mine... hehe) on a trip to Costa Rica for their Christmas gift. I had been thinking about this idea for a long time as I find that as the children get older I want to build memories with them rather than give them a load of material things they may not remember next week.
Here we are after a lovely family dinner.
It turns out the idea was a fabulous one and I don’t think we could have expected the joyfulness generated by spending time together as we did for eight days. Of course I still prepared and hosted a big Christmas dinner for 15 on the 25th but we were soon packing our bags and leaving Caledon even before we could finish off the turkey leftovers.
This was everyone’s first time in Costa Rica. The terrain was marvelous featuring not only the Pacific Ocean, which is the coast we visited, but also stunning mountains, geography shaped by volcanoes and a few rain forests as well. Marine life was abundant in the sparkling ocean waters including some unwelcome jellyfish which attacked relentlessly during a surfing lesson. Bob and I escaped that unpleasantness!
Me and Bob on an ATV. I'm driving! But we're stuck!
Although we spent a good deal of time relaxing either on the beach or poolside, we managed to play a little too. The first adventure included driving ATV’s into the forest and then ziplining through it all the while being serenaded by howler monkeys and noisy parakeets. If you weren’t careful you would get a nasty splatter from the monkeys. Thankfully we were all wearing helmets. We were never dirtier nor had we ever had so much fun! And how delicious was that ice cold Imperial cerveza afterwards? Perfect!
Here we are up in the Costa Rican canopy during our ziplining adventure.
A further expedition included a boat cruise to Honeymoon Beach along with snorkeling. Honeymoon Beach was supposed to be private, but we discovered many other couples there when our little boat arrived. Where else are you going to go when it’s your honeymoon? There was a lot of honeymooning too, believe me! The snorkeling was not the best I have ever seen but we did manage to see some colorful fish, an octopus, flying sting rays, sea urchins, eels, and a sea snake. The coral reef was pretty much absent. But the sunset was spectacular.
Our New Year's Day snorkeling and sunset boat cruise to Honeymoon Beach.
It is a rule for us when we travel with our children that they must always join us for dinner. We always dress up and enjoy the whole dining experience from cocktails to appetizers to the main course. It was wonderful to have Kiersten’s boyfriend Julian and Rachel’s boyfriend Mat along to round out the bonding. Bob was happy to have them along for male support as most of the time he is the only man in the harem! Julian showed us how the surfing was done – up every time! Mat is a scratch golfer having attending school in California on a golf scholarship. The “Elsies” Chelsea and Kelsey lived the party life enjoying the club and disco, swimming and getting noticed by many young fellows also on vacation at Paradisus.
It was a sparkly New Year's Eve filled with dancing, champagne & amazing fireworks.
As for Bob and I, we enjoyed the relaxation of the trip by spending time with each other just getting caught up. But we also worked out almost every day. My heart is full as I realize how lucky we are to have had this time together and with our children and friends.
Please enjoy the wonderful pictures from our trip.
Keep it tight!
Tosca
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