Costa Rica Part 1

Jeff and I got to go on an awesome vacation in January.  He took a week off of work and my parents stayed with the boyz while we headed down to Costa Rica.  It took us months to decide where to go and when to go and what to do.  We finally settled on Guancaste, CR because of the resort (Marriot pts), the beach (all Jeff) and the quick travel time (3 hr direct flight).  There was a lot of stuff there to do and see but more than anything I enjoyed the time with Jeff without the hassle of travelling with kids.  I love my kids but it limits what you can do. 
Anyway, we had an amazing time.  It was the first real getaway we'd had together in YEARS.  We are already trying to decide what to do next year (for our 10 yr anniversary).  Anyone want to watch our kids????

 This is the beach outside of our hotel.  It was a beautiful resort but the shoreline was a little rocky.  Fortunately we discovered that just around the corner from where we were was a much nicer beach with great waves and no rocks.  It was about a 10 minute walk and well worth it.

 You can't really see it in the picture but this is a man surfing with his dog.  Jeff was fascinated by this.  The guy would paddle out with the puppy on board and then ride the waves back.  It was pretty fun to watch and the dog seemed to enjoy himself too.

 One night while we were there we went sea turtle hunting.  Not to kill them but to watch them lay eggs.  There is a nature preserve for the endangered leatherback turtles and you can wait there at night and see them come up to nest.  It was a really long night bc we had to ride a boat then walk about 2 miles and sit and wait in the dark until the watchers spotted a turtle.  Next we had to run down the beach to the turtle (about 1.5 away) and then we could see her come up, dig her nest out, lay her eggs and then return to the ocean.  It was super neat to watch and learn about although I did feel like I was invading the poor momma turtle's privacy a little.  But she didn't even seem to know we were there.  Well we couldn't take pictures of the turtles, but we did get some pictures of the howler monkeys up in the trees.  They were everywhere.  These happened to be hanging out right over our car!

 My husband was in HEAVEN with the waves and his boggie board.  He could have spent his whole vacation swimming out and riding the waves back.  I'm glad he had fun.  The water was much too cold for my taste though so I stuck with reading my book on the beach or soaking in the hot tub at the hotel.  It was January even if it was the tropics!

This is me with my kindle watching Jeff in the water.  We found this fun little outdoor restaurant on the beach and hung out there one afternoon.  It was a fun Italian place named after their pot bellied pig who used to play on the beach.  We were disappointed to find out the pig "Lola" died a few years ago so we wouldn't get to meet her.