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!!