Our Visit to Costa Rica!

We had such a great time in Costa Rica!

Here we are after just getting off the plane and getting thru customs.  This is my kids and I, my brother and his family and my parents(well except my Mom she was taking the picture). Don't we look like the typical tourists?  It was very warm! So we had already been traveling for about nine hours and still had another hour and a half van ride. But it was totally worth it!

We stayed in the area of Tamarindo. And we saw so many incredible sights! From the greens of the meadows and jungles to the blues and turquoises of the ocean. In the water were large formations of black rock. We believe it was lava that was cooled by the ocean a long time ago.  We went to one beach that just went forever! The tide was out and there were so many different things to look at. We all love to look for different shells and sea glass. So, we spent quite a bit of time looking around. Lots of white shells, not so much glass. But as we were looking we started to find living sand dollars! And when we looked closer there were hundreds of them! Just under the surface of the sand. It was really and awesome sight! Here is one that is just starting to hide under the sand.

 
And when they get completely under the sand it looks like this. And when you looked back at the beach you could see all these little groupings of holes. They were all sand dollars! It was really crazy!

 
 
 We stayed at a wonderful house and the owner, Tatiana was just great she put up with a lot from our crew. But her house is really nice with a beautiful pool and a view of the golf course that the cows roam around all day and night.

There were so many interesting things to do in Costa Rica, it was really hard for us to narrow it down to what we ALL wanted to do.  In the end we did the mud baths, hot springs, zip lining(which was really so much fun!!), horseback riding, a sunset cruise and hanging out at the beach and pool.

 
 This was at the hot springs and the water was so hot! I wasn't sure were actually going to make it all the way in. But we all did and it was nice once you were in. Well for a minute or two.
 
We went on a sunset cruise and got to do some snorkeling and saw a very pretty sunset.

 
One of the things we were all looking forward to was seeing the monkeys, they were supposed to everywhere!  Well it took us a couple days, but we finally found them! And they were so loud! Hanging in the trees with their legs just hanging down from the branches. They were very funny.

 
So all in all we really had a great trip, a wonderful adventure that I know we will all remember for the rest of our lives. It really is nice to be able to go on these trips with your family and just enjoy having everyone together.

 
Oh and the necklaces I made for all the girls.....they loved them!!

You Gotta Love Frit

 So, Kate and I decided to play with making some frit again(this stuff is addicting). I was running low on two of the combinations I had originally made, so I had to replenish. And then we came up with four more! These are only for me to use, but for some reason we think we need to name them.

This is By the Beach.....because we love the beach of course!

 We are calling this one Costa Rica because my family is planning a trip there later this year and even though we have never been, these are the colors we think of.

 This one is Lily Pond...lots of blue and green and purple.

And I just love this one! But we haven't come up with a name yet. Turquoise, bright green and grey...Kate says I should name it My Closet, since these are the colors I always wear. Funny girl.

Hitting the Beach

Kate and I!

We just got back from a week in Virginia Beach.  This was our first visit to that area.  We usually go to the beaches in North Carolina. But we were looking for something just a little different. We stayed in Sandbridge Beach, which is a little south of Virginia Beach actually, not quite so many people.  We rented a condo that was very nice, and the outside of the building was painted in bright colors.  Very festive! I love going to the beach. I love sitting on the beach, reading a book, and watching the dolphins play in the waves. It's very relaxing. The other thing I love about the beach is looking for sea glass. It is so much fun to walk the beach and find little pieces of frosted glass. But we couldn't find a single piece of glass this trip.

We went to the aquarium and they had sea turtles that were only a year old, they were so cute.  There were two alligators that were huge and for awhile I thought maybe they were just statues, but we did see them finally move. There were a lot of really good exhibits.

The other thing we saw in and around VA Beach, was a sculpture project called a Dolphin's Promise. Local artists decorated life sized dolphins made of fiberglass.  The money raised from this project, helps to support cancer research. I don't know how may dolphins there are, but we spent some time searching for and photographing them. They are all really well done. I will post pictures of some of the ones we found later.

Here's just a couple pictures of our adventures!

View of the new Cape Henry lighthouse from the old one.

Brian made it to the top of the lighthouse!

Mom and Kate did too!

The Sanctuary where we stayed

The last evening there