SeaWorld in September

Back in September we were fortunate enough to attend a Dine with Shamu dinner at SeaWorld. We had received free passes and were very excited to use them. The food was really good but the highlight was seeing the whales so close to us while we ate our dinner. We would recommend this experience but save it for a special occasion because the tickets are expensive.

This was right next to our table.

Shamu waving

That is Shamu right behind Jacob.

Here is a better view.

Waving goodbye at the end of dinner.

Here's Olivia enjoying the show. She was a little nervous at first.

After dinner we went to the new Sesame Street Playplace and Olivia got to see Bert.

We made a last stop at the tide pools before heading home.

Olivia was finally brave enough to hold a sea star.

It's Time To Go Back!

Dear Friends and Family - Thanks for hanging in there with all of the Costa Rica blogs. We actually had another fun filled day visiting the Waterfall Gardens but since we had been there the first time I'm going to skip over those pics and try to update everybody on what's been going on since July! I'm way behind but since I'm on vacation I hope to catch up. That means that the blog may change quickly so you'll have to check back often to see what's been done!

To start our update I'll jump back to October where Michael and I spent the first weekend in Colorado. Neither of us had been there before and despite the fact we were there to see his cousin get married we snuck in some tourist time too.

We arrived in Colorado Friday the 3rd and checked into our hotel. We then met up with Jeannie (Michael's cousin) and Donald for their rehearsal dinner. After dinner we took a tour of Donald's house, mostly the basement, to see his crazy Star Wars collection. The next morning, after a good breakfast, Michael and I headed out to the Cave of the Winds where we took the lantern tour. We basically spent almost 2 hours wandering through dark and spooky caves with only the small light of an oil candle. After that we went to Manitou Springs, had lunch, and wandered around looking at the old buildings.

The wedding was at 5:00 at a wonderful restaurant called the Craftwood Inn. The weather was a little chilly (it snowed up at Pike's Peak) but the wedding was beautiful and the dinner was delicious. It was so nice to meet Donald's family who are all so welcoming and fun! Jeannie and Donald are a wonderful couple and we are so happy to have been able to share their special day!

Michael's mom Dottie, Jeannie and Eric (his cousins), and Michael at the rehearsal dinner.

Just a small (very, very small) corner of Donald's Star Wars basement.

Here is where we started our lantern tour. The picture below shows how you had to bend down to get through many parts of the cave.


Jeannie and Donald during the ceremony.

Mr. and Mrs. Bychowski at their reception.

Jessica and her new family - Jack and Jim (Donald's dad and uncle).

Donald, Jessica, and Jeannie at the end of the night.

We're Still Not Done!

Okay, I know that we are lagging in updating the blog but life has been busy. In the future you are going to have to look for our trip to Colorado for Jeannie and Donald's wedding, The Cave of the Winds, the Ranta Halloween party, trick-or-treating with the kids, New York and whatever else happened or happens before we get caught up. Looking back at the trip to Costa Rica it's amazing how much more we'd love to share. Don't know if I'll get to all of it but if I don't blog about zip lining Michael and Jason will be sorely disappointed. As it is, sorry Jay, I haven't yet figured out how to do video so that will have to come later!

Anyhow, the fifth day of our trip was another great one. We woke up early, again to pouring rain, and had a quick breakfast in the car while en route to the Arenal Sky Tram and Trek adventure ( http://www.skyadventures.travel/Arenal_En/Welcome.html ). The hotel was so nice to give us take out boxes and cups and allowed us to fill them up from the buffet. We ate as we drove and were ready to go by the time we got to the sky tram.

Once at the park the kids, Amy and I waited around while Jason and Michael got outfitted with their gear. We all rode up to the top of the zip line in a tram and then watched as Jason and Michael started the zip line portion of their tour. They had an amazing time and talked about it for the rest of the day! Amy and I took the kids on a rain forest hike and then rode the tram back down. The kids were very nervous to have their dads swinging from a little cable so they were very relieved to see them waiting for us at the bottom! After that it was back to the hotel for a quick change and checkout. The adventure continues......

Jacob and Olivia waiting for Dad to get his gear.

The guys are finally ready!

Amy, Sophie, and Jason ready to head to the top.

Here we are!

The whole gang

A view of the top of the canopy from the tram. Pictures never show how beautiful it really is.

Here's adventure boy heading off into the rain forest.

Michael heading off on the zip line!

There he goes all the way across.

Here's Jay zipping along too!

It's a long way over and a long way down.

The whole family in front of Volcan Arenal.

Day 4 - After our boat adventure!

Part of our Safari Float boat adventure was a visit to a small Costa Rican ranch 6 miles down the river. At the end of our tour we pulled up to the river bank, climbed a small hill, and found ourselves being welcomed by a very nice family. The family had prepared for us some homemade cheese, fried plantains, a kind of crepe/pancake thing, fresh juice and coffee. They served it on their outside patio right at the edge of the river. We got a chance to visit with the owners and their little girl. We learned that the ranch has been in the family for many generations and that the grandparents still lived on the property. They have 3 daughters who all ride horses and one is the champion barrel racer for all of Costa Rica. The kids had a great time playing with the puppy, learning about the local plants, and most of all holding the little baby goat who was only 8 days old.

Here are the girls heading up the hill to have a snack.

On the way they found this little goat.

This was the highlight of Olivia's trip. She talked about the goat every day.

Jacob got to hold the goat too.

Here is the ranch where we had a snack before heading back to the hotel.

That is the river right outside the house.

The flowers around the house were beautiful.

After such a great experience visiting the ranch Daniel, our guide, took us back to the hotel. The kids were tired and not very hungry so they stayed with Michael at the room. I went into the town of La Fortuna with the Orlandos for some lunch and shopping. Later we met up again back at the pool where we spent the afternoon relaxing and swimming. Later that night we went back out for dinner and tried to see more lava at the spot we had gone the night before. Unfortunately we had no luck since the clouds covered the entire volcano. It was still an adventure and we were grateful for what we'd been able to see the night before.

Tough life our kids have hanging at the pool bar....

...and the jacuzzi.

The sky was beautiful on our walk to dinner. This was the room we stayed in.

Day 4 - The Beginning

On our fourth day in Costa Rica we were awakened by the loudest rainstorm we have ever heard. It started about an hour before we were due to wake up and lasted throughout breakfast. This wouldn't have bothered us except we were scheduled to take a boat tour down a river to see local wildlife. Starting to get nervous that we wouldn't be able to go we got a call from our guide. Daniel was checking in to see if we still wanted to give the trip a try despite the torential rains. Luckily we are the adventurous types because we said what the heck and told him to pick us up.

After about a 30 minute drive, it was still raining, we came to Rio Penas Blancas. Here we exited the van to see a small staircase leading down to the river and nobody else in sight. Daniel proceeded to pass out life vests and point us toward an inflatable raft. Here is where Amy and I looked nervously at each other and whispered that we were both expecting to see something along the lines of the "Jungle Boat Cruise" at Disneyland. The thought of 3 small children and 5 adults, in a blow up boat, on a river full of crocodiles was a little more adventurous than we expected. And to top it all off it was still raining!

Proving that once again our vacation was charmed and we were destined to have a fabulous time, the clouds parted and the sun peeked out. We couldn't back out now so down the stairs and into the boat we went, passing a poison arrow frog on the way!

I'd love to say the trip went smoothly and it did except for a few minor issues. One, kids don't like life vests. Especially when they are wearing waterproof rain gear and the jungle is now getting steamy. Two, once you remove a life vest from a child, in order to remove the hot and sticky rain gear, they don't want to put the vest back on. Three, telling children why they need a life vest and then pointing to the nearby crocodile does not settle them down, if anything it makes the problem worse because they now realize they are in a blow up boat on a river full of crocodiles! Chaos ensues, mom bribes all children with as many juice boxes and Oreos they want, youngest child falls asleep (yes our Olivia), and finally we can continue our cruise in peace. Of course Michael is now balancing the sleeping child on his lap while trying to remain in the boat and Jason is getting a permanent stiff arm from trying to shield the sleeping child with an umbrella. When all was said and done we saw so many amazing things that all the little issues were quickly forgotten!

More on day four later......it was a big day!

Jason and the kids ready for our big adventure. The foggy rain was just beginning to stop.

Not the best picture but the kids were excited to see a real poison arrow frog in the wild.

One last shot before heading off down the river.

This is a Jesus Christ Lizard....so called because it seems to walk or run on the top of the water.

This crocodile (cocodrilo in Spanish) wasn't fond of Livie's crying. We were a little nervous when he snapped his head around and dove into the water right by our boat.

This is a three toed sloth. The patch on its back means it's a male. You rarely see them moving so we were excited when this one started to go from one branch to another.

There were many cows on the river banks and they were all numbered except this one. His tag said Charlie. We hope Charlie's been told about the crocodiles.

We think this was called a Tiger Heron.

A howler monkey

Another howler monkey

There were tons of iguanas up in the trees.

These are bats that we found on the side of a tree. We saw nature at work when they all lifted their heads and started to move in unison. They were trying to make the appearance of being larger than we were by moving all at the same time.