Memorial Weekend

I'm sorry it took so long to post about our weekend. I haven't been overly busy, but I've been overly lazy! In reality I've actually done some housework this week - speaking of housework. We're one step closer to getting our maid! We have to do a few things to make sure she has insurance and social security. We probably won't be able to have her start by next Monday - but we're on our way!

Ok...the weekend.

We decided pretty last minute to go for a trip. We were looking originally in the area of Jaco but when John contacted a tour guide that he met at the Embassy he was told that that area is too built up and we should look farther south in the Manuel Antonio/Quepos area. He said that he'd try to get us a good deal. And a good deal he did get! We got half off the room and we were upgraded to their best room. From our balcony we could see the ocean, it was gorgeous! From the outdoor jacuzzi tub we could see the forest and the ocean - amazing! We had the top room of a building three rooms high and it was a perfectly picturesque view.

The resort is very nice! It was one of the first green hotels in Costa Rica. Only one tree was removed purposefully to build the resort. In this part of Costa Rica the mountains go very close to the coast, so the resort is built into the mountain which means lots, and lots of stairs. I certainly worked out my legs and rear end at the resort. But it was so beautiful! Because it's built right into nature you're completely surrounded by it. Malachi even saw a monkey outside of our window on our last morning. We frequently heard a critter on the roof which we think was a lizard, and I think he had friends sometimes. One time we thought we heard bats - that was a bit freaky.

On Saturday we got off to a bit of a slow start. We didn't leave until about 11am. It was John's first time driving in Costa Rica - and the first time he drove in six weeks. The longest break from driving he's ever taken. He was a bit nervous - but he did really well! We stopped in Jaco for lunch and had very tasty traditional Costa Rican meals.

We drove the rest of the way enjoying the amazing views and then got checked into the hotel. We found our room and had a great time checking it out - it's huge! After the initial picture taking and room checkingouting we put on our swim suits and headed to the pool. I fed Simon while John and Malachi got in. They enjoyed the pool and then Simon and I got in to join them. The water was really chilly! Simon started shivering after a while so we got out. I wrapped him up in a towel and let him nap. When the other boys were done, we went back to the room and changed for dinner.

We went to one of their restaurants and had a pretty tasty meal. We tried to get a movie going on their super slow internet in our room, but it wasn't working out so we all went to bed.

Sunday morning we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel (included in the room), and then headed to the National Park in Manuel Antonio. We got a guide with a bunch of people we didn't know and really enjoyed the tour he gave us. We saw birds, monkeys, sloths, crabs, a super, super tiny grasshopper with seven different colors, and a deer walked out onto the path in front of us. Elias, our tour guide, told us that they're tame and Malachi should try to pet it. Unfortunately we couldn't catch it because it wouldn't stop. He was sad - but probably not as sad as me, I really wanted to pet the deer. That was pretty exhausting for us, so we went back to the hotel for a period of rest - during which Malachi fell asleep.

After we were refreshed we went to El Avion - a very cool restaurant about a 2 minute drive from the hotel. It's built in/around an old airplane. One of the two that was used during the Iran Contra Affair. It's the one that wasn't shot down in Nicaragua. It's really cool to be sitting so close to such a big part of American history.

After lunch we took the car back to the hotel and rode the shuttle bus to the beach. Oh the beach! We had such a good time! Simon was sleeping when we arrived and he continued to do so once we settled down with our chairs and umbrella (I was prepared to pay a pretty penny to protect my baby's skin, but we only had to pay $8 - not bad!). He napped on the chair for quite a while and then had a bottle. John and Malachi went into the water as quickly as they could! They had such a good time! Malachi LOVES the ocean! When daddy needed a break - Malachi played in the sand for a while until I was ready to take him into the water. We did that for a while and then he played in the sand by the water by himself for a bit. He loved throwing the sand into the water. He was very obedient to stay behind the imaginary line - only needing to be called back a bit (a very little bit) once.

We went home when the sun was setting and desandified ourselves. This wasn't a very easy process because our shower was really lame and the water didn't come out very well. The boys went into the tub to clean off, I dealt with the lame shower.

We went to the nicer restaurant at the hotel that night and enjoyed a delicious meal. I was very full after it and took my desert to go and ate it the next morning. Simon and I were both very tired after dinner so we went to our room and crashed (this was at 7:30 mind you) and the other boys went to a common area to try to run the movie that Malachi hadn't been able to run very well in our room. It didn't work there much better, so John brought Malachi back, put him to bed and then went to the movie theater at the resort. He wasn't that impressed with it, and had seen the movie so he came home to read about an hour into it.

The next morning after another delicious breakfast (although their pancakes weren't as good as the French toast we had the morning before) we went across the street to the resorts butterfly farm, and reptile lagoon. Both of them were very interesting and very informational. We were the only ones in both of them until the very end when another family came in. Our tour guide was great, we all had a really good time. We saw some beautiful butterflies as well as crocodiles, boa constrictors, caymans, turtles and fish (I realize they're not reptiles, but they're food for the reptiles). We had a lot of fun there.

We then packed up and headed out. We had a really great weekend! We have a friend and her friend coming into town next month and I'm going to try to convince John to let me and the boys take them down there for a night or two. Just to see the beach would be great! Check out my flickr for a great collection of pics that John took.