Our Costa Rican Adventure - Day 2

Day 2 of our Costa Rican adventure started out beautifully. We got up fairly early and hit the winding mountain road for The La Paz Waterfall Gardens (http://www.waterfallgardens.com/). It was an absolutely beautiful drive through the Cloud Forest. We arrived at our destination and immediately set out on the trail. We first wandered through a giant aviary full of toucans, macaws, other birds, and some lemurs. After that we made our way into the Butterfly Observatory. There were hundreds of butterflies flying around and landing right on us. After the butterflies we walked through a hummingbird garden and made a stop to check out the snakes. We then made our way to another delicious Costa Rican buffet before we continued on our way to the waterfalls. After lunch the rain started but that didn't bother us since we were in the rainforest. We took a quick ox cart ride, wandered through the frog habitat, and finally began our descent to the waterfalls. We followed an amazing stairway down to the falls and were amazed by how gorgeous everything was. Jacob couldn't believe how big the waterfalls were and Olivia couldn't stop looking (even for a picture). We made it to the top of the third waterfall before calling it quits and heading home. The kids did an amazing job exploring the jungle. Jacob walked the whole way on his own and thanks to the Kick family Olivia had a cushy backpack ride. Sophie even walked most of the way with a little help from mom and dad! We started back down the mountain, stopped for a quick fix from the Auto Mercado (supermarket), and called it a day!

Jacob was in heaven exploring through the jungle.

Olivia riding in style!

Explorer Jacob!

Jacob's favorite story is how this toucan tried to eat his hat.

Olivia loved the butterflies.

The Orlandos in the Cloud Forest.

Jessica, Sophie, and Jacob taking a ride in a traditional ox cart.

You can't get any closer than this!

The whole gang!

As pretty as this picture is the real thing was spectacular!