Costa Rica

Just after Christmas we flew to Costa Rica for a vacation. Mikey flew with us from LA, and my mom, dad, Eric and Patrick flew from Boston, meeting us in San Jose. Our flight left at midnight… perhaps not the greatest choice but I think it was our only option. Add to that the stopover in Guatemala, and Taca Airlines’ inability to leave the lights off and just be quiet so people can sleep, and you get a very long night with not much sleep. Riley amazingly decided (voluntarily) to take a nap around 11pm, and slept right through the transfer onto the plane. Damon slept pretty well too, but it’s hard to sleep holding a baby, so Sage and I didn’t really rest much (as a result I saw some of the new 90210 show… so weird). Having Mike travel with us with really nice, he’s a very helpful guy. It’s almost like having 3 parents to take care of Riley and Damon. Also, he always travels with his pillow, which was handy when Riley wanted to sleep on the floor in the airport…

We arrived to San Jose exhausted only to find out the airline had lost Damon’s car seat. We didn’t let it phase us and proceeded to try and find our car rental company, which it turns out is the only one without a little booth in the airport. Then we found out one of the cars was booked for the wrong days (starting 2 days after our arrival) which was kind of a big deal because it’s high tourist season here. All somehow worked out ok though, with no major fights and Riley and Damon holding themselves together reasonably well. I think Michael deserves a lot of credit for that. Like I said, he’s super helpful, and also very calm.

My the time we got the cars and car seats all sorted out, the Boston crew was just arriving, so the timing actually worked out perfectly. The kids slept most of the 4 hour drive to Playa Hermosa. Well actually the first hour was filled with Riley telling Grandma everything that has happened to her in the last few weeks.

Monday we slept late (my mom took Damon in the morning so we could sleep in, bless her soul), then hung around our ridiculously beautiful house enjoying the pool and the view. Later we made it down to the beach, which was not too busy, and really very peaceful. The water was warm and calm so even Riley was coaxed into the water. We made a little tent out of blankets and towels for Damon to nap in (which was a recurring theme on the trip… we could have a whole post just filled with pictures of Damon sleeping in different places).

[As long as Damon had his pacifier in his hand, he was happy in the water. He didn’t even need it to be in his mouth, just nearby. Since he seemed so comfortable in the water, we decided (after a lot of hemming and hawing) to dunk him… the first time he was really surprised and cried, but after that he didn’t seem to mind a bit. He even started to close his eyes before going under.]

[Pat and Damon spent a lot of quality time together]

[Eric was actually the one who convinced Riley to leave the step and venture out into the pool on her own in the floaty thing]

Tuesday we went on a little boat tour down the river in Palo Verde national park. Riley got car sick and puked on the way there, but the rest of the day got better after that. Thankfully the day was a bit overcast so it wasn’t too hot. At first the boat seemed a bit treacherous with the kids, but Damon seemed to actually like having the wind in his face, and actually ended up falling asleep after a while. Riley was bored until we started seeing animals, like giant iguanas, white faced monkeys and crocodiles. We stopped at a little restaurant for lunch and Riley was in heaven because they had one of those plastic play houses with a pretend kitchen inside. that may have been her favorite part of the day actually. The food was delicious.

[Damon on the boat]

[Glamour girl]

[Monkey on the boat!]

[Not sure what’s going on here exactly…]

[Sleeping through dinner in a nice restaurant]

Wednesday we went zip lining! Well Michael, Patrick, Eric and Sage and I did. We rode horses up to the top of a canyon, then took a series of zip lines back down, criss-crossing the canyon. It was pretty touristy, but the views were amazing and the zip lines were awesome. Riley and Damon stayed with my parents and went on a long walk exploring the natural hot springs and steaming rocks. Riley was of course resistant and scared at first, but as soon as they found her a good walking stick she was off and running and had a fantastic time.

We met up for lunch, then spent the afternoon lounging around the pool. There was a swim-up bar, pretty amazing. Riley was happy because the bar tender gave her an almost endless supply of maraschino cherries. Everyone else was happy with their beers and fancy cocktails.

They claim that the mud from the hot springs is good for your skin… who knows if that’s true or not, but we all slathered it all over our bodies anyway. Even Riley! She actually did it multiple times.

[Covered in mud, I’m amazed Riley agreed to this]

Before leaving we went back to the horses and asked if Riley could ride around on one. They picked a nice one for her, and boosted her up. She was terrified, but stayed put, and gradually became more comfortable, until finally she was laughing and having a great time…

[Riding a horse!]

It was a great day, but by the end we were ready to leave the resort and get back to our house…

Thursday was New Years Eve. We had a relaxed day at the beach, then went to a nice restaurant for dinner. The nice thing about Playa Hermosa is it’s big enough to have fire works and New Year’s celebrations, but still small enough to not be overwhelming or too touristy.

[decadence]

On Friday we decided to drive to a beach known for having big waves. Turned out to be a beach with almost no shade, and we got there at noon… perhaps not the greatest timing. There was a little shack with a bar selling drinks and tacos, and a lot of surfer kids hanging around, I felt a little old and out of place with my two little kids. Turned out to be okay though. We took turns playing in the giant waves, which were a little scary, but also super fun. At one point, Riley was sitting on the bar in her underwear, drinking mango ice tea from a bottle, her blonde crazy curly hair flying everywhere, and I thought she actually fit right in with the surfer kids smoking a joint right behind her. I wish I had a picture…

Eric was dying to go fishing, so on Saturday we all went out in a tiny boat together. Everyone but Eric and Pat got dropped of on a deserted beach to snorkel and play, while the two boys tried to catch some fish. They were gone forever, but luckily caught something!

[Cold beer on the hot beach… is there anything better?]

Our kids can sleep anywhere, even on a tiny, bumpy, noisy boat…

[Sunset view from our house]

Sunday was our last day, so we spent it at our little beach…

[Beach boy]

[Nap time]

When we got home, I asked Riley what her favorite parts of the trip were, and she added:
1. Singing the grinch with Mikey (Riley was obsessed with “How the grinch stole Christmas,” so Mikey and I looked up the words to the song and sang it to her in a taxi… she loved it)
2. Swimming in the lagoon (at the beach, it was really shallow and clear, with no waves)
3. “Playing games with Pat was cuckoo fun!” (Riley decided a while back that “cuckoo” means really, or very, and we’ve all kind of adopted it. Pat brought trivial pursuit, and Riley played with the little pie pieces every day. He also brought the movie “The Soloist,” which Riley actually watched the whole way through)

A final thought from Riley: is pink a fish or a vegetable?