Costa Rica - Day 5

Our last full day in Costa Rica was spent soaking up the sun, on the very beautiful black sand at Hermosa playa (beach). It is currently the rainy season in Costa Rica, so there were hardly any tourists on the beach, or in Jaco. In fact, we actually had the beach all to ourselves for the couple of hours that we played there. We stayed at a beautiful resort called Los Suenos (A big thank you to Clark's hotel reward points. They made the stay practically free.)

This is the view from our hotel window. The hotel had it's own beach, Herradura, within a couple minutes walk.

Such a pretty hotel

A crab I found on Herradura beach

The following beach pictures all come from Hermosa beach. It is such a beautiful, beautiful beach! I loved it. And the weather was perfect. It was the first sunny day we had on our trip, and because we we were so used to having lots of cloud cover, we ended up getting quite sun burned.

"Hey, Clark. I'm going to do a handstand. Tell me when to go."

"Okay....now!"

Thank you, Clark, for the wonderful timing. I got completely soaked :)

And below is a picture of the sunset, as seen from our hotel, the last night of our trip.

At dinner. Look how nice and burned we got at the beach!! And here is a cute video clip of a little band that came around and serenaded us during dinner.

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And then, the next morning we left for the airport super early, and we slowly made our way back to real life. As we left San Jose, we got to see this great view from the plane, of Arenal volcano.

A BIG thank you to my mom, for watching the kids for us!! The kids loved spending time with grandma, and Clark and I enjoyed having a kid-free vacation! However, I must add, that the minute I left my house the first day, I couldn't stop thinking about my kiddos. I missed them like crazy. And my mom told me that Corbin prayed every night while we were gone, that Clark and I would be safe from the volcano's lava. What a sweet boy!

Avery, on the other hand, was mad at me for leaving. When we finally walked in the house Tuesday night, she wouldn't even let me hold her! The little rascal! Luckily she warmed up to me again by Wednesday morning.

Costa Rica - Day 4

On Sunday, we said goodbye to Arenal Volcano, and we drove about 3 1/2 hours south to Jaco, a very beachy area.

Our tire was quite flat, so Clark and Milan changed the tire before we left Arenal.

About 45 minutes north of Jaco, there is a river where tons of crocodiles live. We took the opportunity to get out of the car and watch them from the bridge over the river.

Costa Rica - Day 3

We woke up bright and early on Saturday. The sun rises at 5:00 a.m. in Costa Rica, and it sets at 5:00 p.m., which was kind of strange at first, and it took a little getting used to. The first thing we saw when we awoke, was this beautiful view out the window of our cabin.

This picture above really shows the steam coming out of the volcano. The volcano is constantly erupting inside, which results in a constant stream of steam. The steam is pretty dangerous to your health, so unfortunately you can't hike too closely to the volcano.

We had a zip line tour that morning. It was so much fun!! We went on 12 different cables. The longest cable was a little over 1/4 a mile long! Our guides were hilarious. They kept us laughing the whole time we were there. Here are videos and pictures of us on the zip line.

We also got to do the Tarzan Swing, which was soooo much fun!! I love Clark's reaction. My man is crazy!

Tarzan videos:

Zipline videos:

After the zip line we went to La Fortuna, the closest town to the Arenal Volcano. We hiked down 400 something stairs to see the La Fortuna waterfall. I am so glad we went there. The waterfall was beautiful! And it was so relaxing just to sit and listen to the water, and enjoy the amazing views. I only wish that I had worn my swimsuit, because the water was pool temperature, and it would have been fun to explore the area more.

Thirsty man

Milan and Clark were so funny during the whole trip. They made sure that we never had to experience a dull moment. Here is Clark getting a picture of Milan drinking the waterfall.

After the waterfall, we had lunch at a typical Costa Rican restaurant. The food was delicious! We ate typical food as often as we could on our trip. No Burger King for us (and there really was a Burger King right next to this restaurant.) Clark loved ordering the gaunabana juice with his meals, and my favorite was pina (pineapple). Mmmmm....so good!!

To finish the night we went on a tour through the jungle, and then we went to Baldi Hot Springs. There, they had 25 different pools, with natural rocks, waterfalls, and different water temperatures. Soaking in the hot water was the perfect way to end our busy, fun filled day!