Costa Rica Pacific Coast

We spent our last week in Costa Rica at Samara on the Nicoya peninsula. We had an adorable little house with the perfect pool for Natalie and Liam. The two beaches in the vicinity were also ideal for swimming and we had one of them mostly to ourselves. We had grown weary of eating out with our kids every night, so having a kitchen and the independence that affords was a welcome break. Natalie helped me celebrate my birthday by doing a zipline canopy tour with me in the nearby jungle. Howler monkeys and parrots greeted us in the morning and at sunset with their calls. One of our favorite Liam phrases is, "Hear How monKEYs!" His vocabulary has exploded during this trip and it is fun how many of his words are related to the jungle and tropics. Time to go home and teach him words like snow, ski, moose, cold. I will be sad to no longer hear him say, "I see GeCKO", "Where did dolphin go?", "I hear parrots", "Do you see Hum Birds?". We have been a bit scatterbrained on this trip (as traveling with two little kids can do to you) and have left a trail of forgotten belongings behind us as we have moved along. Most were minor, but Natalie's blanket was unintentionally forgotten in Samara. Lucky for us it is going to be returned to us at home. But, in the meantime her security and familiarity to help her sleep in new beds was gone. I felt terrible and indulged her in an entirely too expensive stuffed toucan which has been named Flappy. We are amused that Natalie traveled down to Central America with a white bear that she named Louie (after the polar bear at our zoo) and will be returning to the land of cold with Flappy the toucan. Louie was left in Belize with other luggage because "he would be too hot in the rest of Central America". Boy, Flappy is in for a shock when he gets home. His orange bill sticking out of Natalie's backpack has generated many smiles.