Costa Rica!

It's been an amazing week! 

On Friday night we packed up and headed to Punta Islita in Costa Rica. It was an incredible week filled with animal adventures, the beach, pool time, and beautiful memories. 

The beach at Islita

 We got to the airport a little early--the flight left at midnight--so, the girls took a little snooze on the DIA floor before we boarded.

 The villa was beautiful! Fresh flowers on the beds everyday!

 One of the favorite parts of our day was just hanging out at our villa--

we had an awesome "plunge pool" that was 3 feet deep. 

The girls loved that they could stand up and it was the perfect size!

 The view from our villa.

 Little swimmers!

 Coloring on the porch--I think that Keagan was practicing her howler monkey skills by coloring with her foot...

 The resort was on a mountainside--so, we would walk a little over a half a mile down the mountain (it was a wonderful path with lots of wildlife at every step) to the beach and pool. There were only 47 rooms...and Jeff and I think we saw about 40 people at most. So, hanging at the pool or beach meant it was usually just us and Miguel and Tito, the wonderful kind and engaging bartenders of the pool bar!

 Lots of smiles...all around...and love that our girls are starting to take photos! They loved messing around with the camera!

 Our neighbor, the iguana, came to visit us on our porch!

 On Sunday we visited the ARA Project (www.thearaproject.org). Juan Carlos gave us an incredible tour! We met "Precious"--a great green macaw who was found with a broken back and thus will never fly. A very sweet and beautiful bird. The ARA Project was incredible--their main purpose is to breed and release the macaws back into Costa Rica. 

 Jeff with Precious...Jeff loves birds. :)

 Keagan was a little hesitant as well!

 The mating house for the great green macaws.

Preparing the food for the scarlet macaws. Everyday, the macaws which were released into the valley in previous years, come back for a little snack! They want to make sure that the birds are able to find their own food in the forest, but that they are also still getting all of the nutrients they need. 

On the mornings we were up early enough, we were able to see the scarlet macaws fly by our villa heading from the trees near the ocean back into the forest for the day. Absolutely beautiful!

 Juan Carlos putting the food in the feeding trays.

 

 ...and they came quick!

 There were five feeding trays at the center--in total we counted around 30 birds that had flown in for an afternoon snack. It was such a fun afternoon--it was incredible to meet Juan Carlos and see the work of this organization. 

 Some family sunset pics!

 Tito took care of getting coconuts for everyone, fresh from the tree. Coconut water was a big hit!

Another highlight from the trip was meeting Sage--our new penpal! She is from Pennsylvania and was born just three days after the girls...so, they hit it off! We found time to meet up and play with Sage each day.

Hanging out in the hammock on our porch!

 On Monday we headed out on our Monkey Quest. Velizio was our guide--and he was determined to find the howler monkeys. We could hear them everyday at the resort...but, they are sometimes tricky to spot! Eventually we found them, and Velizio was able to help us get some great pictures. He brought a telescope with him and we learned that you can use your iphone camera to take pictures of the view within the telescope--very cool!

This was the Daddy who was making all of the noise.

 We also took time to enjoy some of the other animals around. The breed of cattle in Costa Rica have incredibly large, droopy ears. 

 After searching for monkeys, Velizio took us to a stunning, secluded beach with beautiful sand. We had a blast digging for clams and seeing all the live critters! It was also a good spot to play in the ocean, as the undercurrent wasn't quite as strong in this little bay.

 

 On Tuesday evening, we had our last adventure away from Punta Islita. Eduardo took us to another neighborhood beach for a low tide exploration. Because of volcanic rock from hundreds of years ago, when the tide goes out, there are hundreds of little pools of water filled with crabs, fish, seashells, and other excited creatures! We spent almost two hours exploring--so fun! 

The sunset was stunning and it was a great way to spend our last evening!

Such a beautiful place! And a wonderful getaway for our family!