Angel's Landing!

Kent has wanted to take me hiking in Zion National Park for several years now. He and Skyler went a few years ago, and he has wanted to share this amazing natural wonder with me ever since. This spring proved the perfect opportunity, when our annual Moab in May trip was cancelled (or, not planned, in this case). So, the first weekend in May, we headed for southern Utah! We left Taylee behind because we knew we were going to do some hiking that was beyond her ability level. Good thing too, as the first hike on our schedule was Angel's Landing! If you have ever hiked it, you know what I mean. The story goes that they named it Angel's Landing because the only way to the top is on the wings of an angel. Turns out you can walk. But it's an intense hike for sure! Pictures don't quite do it justice, but I'll include some just for fun. Enjoy!

We made it!

Looking down over the switchback section of the trail

Climbing on all fours. And using the chain. I have no shame. 

Kent -- Tough Guy!

I couldn't resist posting this photo of the trail, which included a stern warning about the risk of death. Eeeek!

Kent stopped to take photos. I gripped the chain the whole way up.

Well, in the end, we felt like Angel's upon our landing on the summit. What a spectacular experience!

Easter 2015

Well, its only August, and I am finally determined to get caught up on my blog! So waaaay back in April, it was Easter! I honestly don't remember the details, since it happened 4 months ago, but I know we had fun! Obviously we painted some eggs....

And Taylee was super proud of her colored egg collection!

On Easter morning we got up to a beautiful spring day and went hunting for some eggs with nana and popi. And after the egg hunting was done, Taylee found this surprise waiting for her... A new bike! A big girl bike I mean, a bike with training wheels because my big girl won't even try to ride without them! Maybe someday...next summer. Or beyond. :(

And later that day, Skyler showed up and went Easter basket hunting too! 

And at Grandma's Easter dinner Shelly made these fantastic twinkie/peeps/marshmallow treats for the kids. Too cute! 

The kids had a fantastic time at the Annual Easter Egg hunt at Grandma's/

The window wells are always a popular hiding spot!

My only shot of Kenzie out hunting. She's too quick for me!

Even Skyler gets in on the hunt!

These two cuties were chillaxin together after dinner. Taylee and Hunter have always had a cute little friendship. :)

And we even got Taylee to try her bike without training wheels! But she wouldn't pedal. So she fell over. And that was the last time she was willing to "try." Here's hoping for next summer!

Costa Rica Day Ten!

For the final day of our Costa Rican Anniversary Spectacular, Kent and I hired our old friend Gustavo, from two days earlier, to give us the "locals" tour. He picked us up early in the morning and took us in his "four wheel drive" over the Congo Trail. (A little local secret). Our first stop was Flamingo Beach. It was gorgeous! We spent awhile enjoying the beach and the sun before heading off to our next spot, Playa Conchal. This beach was on our list of must see locales because it is home to the Westin All-Inclusive Resort, which we were strongly considering as a future vacation destination. It turned out to be a little less than we might have desired, and costs a lot more than we desired, so I think it is now officially OFF the bucket list. No worries though, we have a new Costa Rica vacation plan in mind! Playa Conchal was pretty cool, because like most beaches it is made of shells, but these shells are not ground into a fine sand yet. The whole beach is made of small shells, and yet it is still super soft to walk across. Pretty cool. 

Kent at Flamingo Beach

"Imperial" on Playa Conchal

We spent a while snorkeling on Playa Conchal, then headed over to Tamarindo Beach. This is one of the largest and nicest beaches in the Guanacaste province. We were excited to check it out! Kent had high hopes of taking a surfing lesson, and somehow I caught the bug and decided to try it out too. We went to a cute little shop called "Iguana Surf" and signed up! Our instructor Mao helped us get outfitted with our surf shirts and our boards, and then we carried them across the molten lava (sand) to the shoreline. Mao gave us some instruction on the beach while we attempted to prevent the boards from flying up and cracking us in the head in the strong winds. Apparently Tamarindo beach is well known for its small waves that are excellent for surfing instruction, as well as frequent high winds. I should mention... I HATE wind! We finally got into the water after about an hour, and I very quickly annoyed our instructor Mao with my lack of coordination, and my tendency to try to plug my nose as soon as I felt myself starting to lose my balance. No matter how hard I tried, my hand went straight to my face. Every. Single. Time. I did eventually get up, (twice even!) so I consider it a success. Fortunately Kent had better luck (and skill) than me, and he was able to surf several waves to shore. Our instructor Mao had a rough day dealing with his two less than fantastic surf students, and suffering some sort of illness which caused him to shiver and look absolutely miserable while playing in the ocean on a 98 degree day. Poor guy! I'm just glad we didn't take that souvenir illness home with us!
By the time we finished up, it was after 2:00, so we went out hunting for some lunch. Gustavo took us to a cute little restaurant right on the beach. It looked fantastic until we realized they ONLY served seafood, with a specialty in ceviche (raw fish!). Sadly we had to pass on this gorgeous setting (we are both a bit picky when it comes to raw fish...). Luckily Gustavo had another friend in town who served us a fantastic Portuguese lunch.
After lunch and a little final souvenir shopping in Tamarindo, we headed back to our hotel for a whole lotta packing for our return home in the morning. We were sad to say goodbye, but oh so happy to say hello to Taylee bug!

Bye Bye Costa Rica!

Costa Rica Day Nine!

As we neared the end of our trip to Costa Rica, we wanted to get out and explore a bit more of the countryside in the Guanacaste area. On Thursday we grabbed a shuttle from the hotel to a nearby town and beach called Playa Del Coco. We had been planning to take a water taxi across the bay to Playa Del Coco, but it was too windy and the water was rough. We were bummed, but glad we had a backup shuttle by land to rely on.   

It was a cute little town with lots of shopping, restaurants, and a couple of beach side bars where we were able to enjoy a drink before heading back to the hotel, where we had free drinks waiting. Doh! 

The beach seemed pretty nice, but we had dressed for time in town, so we didn't spend much time hanging out on the beach. We mostly just wandered around in town, and bought some souvenirs to take back for our families.  

Shuttle Bus Selfie!

Playa del Coco Banyan Tree

A little shopping :)

Playa Del Coco

Costa Rica Day Eight!

This was the most adventurous day of our trip. We took a 90 minute private transfer from our hotel to the "Adventure Tour" at Hotel Guachepelin. We got our gear and we were off on the first piece of our tour, a zipline course. It was a little frantic, and with a rappel, a rock climb, and a tarzan swing led by the same set of guides, it became a bit hectic and out of control at a couple of points. A bummer because I would have loved to experience rock climbing without fearing for my life as the distracted guide pulled me up the rock wall. Well, maybe another time.

Costa Rican First Aid Tent. LOL

Ready to Zip!

Zip-Lining upside down... Not all it is cracked up to be. Mostly just a blur.

Kent came zipping down the canyon!

As part of our Adventure Tour we were forced to ride given the opportunity to ride domesticated horses to our River Tubing Adventure. It was actually pretty comical, as they stuck about 40 tourists on the backs of horses, then "herded" us down the road. It was all fun and games until they started trotting. Oh boy! That was uncomfortable, and Kent reports that it was just as uncomfortable from a man's perspective! Occasionally one of us clueless tourists and our horse would take off on a rogue adventure, and seeing as how we had no idea how to ride or manage our horses, we were just stuck going along for a ride through the trees and underbrush. A few injuries were sustained. And I was laughing so hard I was crying. For all the wrong reasons.

Horseback Riding to the River. Not exactly our thing.

Next we were given tubes and a life vest, and off into the River Negro we went for our tubing adventure! The river run was 5 km long, with level 2 & 3 rapids. It was a blast!

Pura Vida!

Lunch at a local restaurant followed the tubing adventure. It wasn't that good, but it was free, so that was awesome. And as usual, the Costa Rican scenery was unrivaled! 

Plus we got to ride on an ox. So there's that. 

After lunch and the ox ride, we gave each other volcanic mud baths. Fun and romantic?! Well. funny, anyways. We got to take a dip in the Natural Hot Springs after our exfoliating mud baths.

Just what I always wanted to do!

Messy Muddy Fun!

Costa Rica Day Seven!

After being on the go go go for 5 days in the Rain Forest, we were ready for a day of pure relaxation! We set out to spend the whole day poolside. We realized after a very short period of time that the 97 degree temperatures were going to have us spending most of our day IN the pool. Thank goodness for all inclusive cold beverages!

Pura Vida - loosely translated to mean "Pure Life." The Costa Rican motto

Costa Rica is an extremely peaceful country, with an ecological focus. We found the Pura Vida lifestyle in every area we visited.

Not a bad view for the day!

I was happy as a clam with my kindle. For about 20 minutes. Then I hopped into the pool to do water aerobics... Just to get cooled off!

There were some very LARGE lizards in this part of the country

We went on a beach walk and checked out the neighboring RIU Palace. It was also beautiful, but had less of a tropical feel. We liked the foliage at our hotel a bit better. Overall, it was a great day, and by a Loooong shot, the cheapest day of our vacation!

Beach Walkin'

More action at the pool. In the late afternoons, the pool got pretty wild once all those Canadians and Midwesterners had been busy drinking all day long!

Costa Rica Day Six!

The midpoint of our vacation took us from the lush green rainforest of the Arenal Region, to the much dryer, desert like climate in the Guanacaste area. Although the beauty of the Rain Forest was sad to leave behind, we were ready for dry weather, and the heat of the Guanacaste province. And boy did we find the heat. The average temps in Guanacaste were 95-98 degrees. It was smokin' hot!

Enjoying our taxi through the countryside

The lush green landscape just as we left the Arenal Province

The change to a dry desert climate happened in a flash. Like literally went from green to brown in 2 minutes. Crazy!

Using our stilted Spanish, a picture of a map, and our taxi guide's marginal English skills, we were able to request a side trip on our 3 hour transfer from the Nayara to the Riu. We felt bad, as our taxi driver had no idea what we were headed into, and the road was rather bumpy, but he was handsomely rewarded with a nice tip that made his day. I believe it was well worth the side trip! And Kent and I were pleased to see yet another beautiful waterfall and another small piece of the beautiful Costa Rican landscape. 

Llanos de Cortez Waterfall

Our check in at the RIU Guanacaste was uneventful, but we were thrilled to find that we had been upgraded to a beautiful ocean view with a room that looked out over the pool and beautifully manicured hotel grounds. Oh happy day!

The walkway from the lobby to the pool.

Open Air Hotel Lobby? Yes please!

A different view of the lobby, where we spent plenty of time, connected to the hotel's wifi, available only in the lobby. We were grateful to be able to text with our family, but bummed that the wifi did not support facetime. :/

My handsome husband, poolside on day one, enjoying our first "free" cocktail!