Costa Rica 2013!

Two years ago, we all started talking about taking a trip for our tenth anniversary!  We wanted to take a trip with just the adults and we also wanted to be sure Chad and Lauren came (so they went on a 9.2 year anniversary trip!) and Mom and Dad too (so dad celebrated his 60th birthday early!).  Over Christmas (2011) we all made suggestions as to where to go and we all decided on Costa Rica!  At the time, it seemed like it was a long way off.....but it was here before we knew it!  We had an absolutely amazing time and I can't think of any other people in the WORLD that I would have wanted to spend it with!  

We stayed at Casa Playa Bonita - a private house on Playa Flamingo!

Day 1 - Grocery shopping and choosing our rooms.....Phil and I scored the room with twin beds!

Our first dinner in Costa Rica - Marie's (I think if I go back, I would order the Chicken Cordon Blue!)

Paddle Boarding!  Looks like Jud got the hang of it, eh?!

Hittin' the beach!!

The boys spent a TON of time boogie boarding!

Relaxing by the pool - seems weird to not have the 12 kiddos running around!

Sunset from the back porch - absolutely gorgeous!

Katie got to spend her birthday in CR!

So, funny story......we had a few different excursions planned for the week and our first one was a canopy tour in the Monteverde Cloud Forest.  I had heard it was amazing and we were all really pumped to go (except for maybe Lauren and John - they were such good sports though!).  We did NOT, however, realize that it was 4 hours away!!!  Once it was all said and done, we all agreed that the drive was worth it, but that we probably wouldn't want to do it again!  We spent 4 hours bouncing around in a 15 passenger van on mountainous dirt roads.  We got to see so much countryside, including coffee farms and lots of little towns along the way.

Zip Lining!

During the canopy tour, you had the option to go on the "Tarzan Swing".  Katie, Chad, Mom, Melissa, and I all decided to go for it!  Check out Mom and Melissa's faces - priceless!

We survived!

After the canopy tour, we had a delicous lunch.  We were all excited to continue our adventure with the hanging bridge hike and the hummingbird garden - until the rain started to pour!  We decided that a little rain in the rainforest wasn't going to keep us from having fun - so we got a little wet :)

Lola's - the COOLEST outdoor restaurant right on the beach!

Playa Concha near Brasalito

One afternoon/evening we went on a catamaran sunset tour on a boat called the Lazy Lizard.  We had a blast!

We had an amazing sunset for pictures!

Heading to Angelina's for dinner!

Our tour guide, Jonas, from Monday was so good that we decided to book another tour with him! He took us to Palo Verde (a national park) for a river boat tour.  Once again, it was fabulous and we got to see a TON of wildlife!

Heading out for our last dinner in Playa Flamingo

Las Brisas!

We left Playa Flamingo on Saturday and headed to Liberia.  Our flight home wasn't until Sunday, so we spent the day on Saturday at La Borinquen - an amazing mountain resort.  There were natural hot springs, a mud bath, natural sauna, a pool, and some beautiful trails.  It was an amazing ending to our time in Costa Rica!

So cool to see a toucan in the wild!