Day 4 - Costa Rica

Day 4 was our most action packed day and resulted in a few injuries! We went white water rafting down the Naranjo River. The scenery was beautiful but the rapids were pretty rough in some spots. We 'rafted' for around an hour and a half but were ready to stop and get the heck out of there about 30 minutes into it! Below are pictures of when we fell out of the raft, they are pretty hilarious now but at the time we were all a little shaken (and injured!).

The beginning of the end - we hit that rock and tipped over. Brian is the fella in the sweet helmet-hat combo in the back of this picture. He was from Florida, travel to Costa Rica alone and was.. different.

 

Falling out in slow motion - I am falling on top of Kim and Drew is doing the same to Justin.

I have completely forced Kim under water; Drew has done the same to Justin.

Everyone has basically disappeared in the water by now (except Kim and the guide - if you look you can see Kim's knee. Her foot was trapped under the seat so half of her body was stuck in the raft and the other half under water - and remember I fell on top of her! YIKES!).

Kim --> still stuck. The rest of us are under water.
 

The group is reemerging - Kim still hanging out the side of the raft!

Fighting the rapids - Kim still hanging out... 

Sucked under again! Kim has been rescued and  back in the raft now at least!

Getting rescued!

Kim twisted her knee and ankle during that adventure and as you can tell she is over rafting! 

The only good thing to come out of this rafting trip was the awesome scenery and the pineapple. I'm a sucker for fresh pineapple! Fortunately the rest of the adventure no one fell out (again!). We went back to the resort and immediately bellied-up to the bar (apparently Banana Bungees can cure anything!).

That evening both couples had a private dinner arranged by the Resort. The food was a little too fancy for me (and mostly seafood.. umm where are the chicken fingers??). It was really nice though to just spend time together and talk with out distraction (it lasted almost 3 hours) and they treated us like royalty. Drew and I dined in a wine-cellar type setting and Justin and Kim dined in fancy Spanish conquest themed room. 

We ate by candle light! 

One more day to go :( 

Day 3 - Costa Rica!

Our third day in Costa Rica was mostly consumed by fishing. We took an in-shore charter with Luna Sport Fishing located in Quepos. For the first time ever I got sea sick and it was miserable for the first few hours, but I did my best to enjoy the time we had out there. The fishing was slow and the seas were rough but Drew and Kim managed to land two nice Rooster Fish! Drew is going to get his mounted I believe (another addition to his man room).

After we returned to the resort from fishing Kim and I went to the spa for pedicures while the guys took a nap and got ready for dinner. We went and ate at Ronny’s Place which was located on a beautiful peninsula in Manuel Antonio.

Day 2 in Costa Rica

On our second day in Costa Rica we went on a canopy tour outside the town of Quepos. The shuttle picked us up from the hotel and transported us to the park. The ride to the zip lining course was beautiful. We went through palm orchards, crossed several rivers on make-shift bridges and saw gorgeous mountainscapes. The guides on the zip lining tour were hilarious and spoke English pretty well. There were 10 zip lines and 2 repels. On one of the repels I got to going so fast that the rope burned a hole through my pants! 

We got back to the resort around noon and had lunch by the pool. We've been sipping on ‘banana bungees’ since we arrived at the resort and they are pretty darn tasty!

I also got to break in the spa on our second day!  I had a facial and a massage from a tiny little lady. At first I thought the massage was going to be a bust; but she really got down on the knots in my back! I’ve even talked Drew into going back with on Monday after fishing!

For dinner on our second night we went to a local restaurant called Cafe Agua Azul. It was an open-air restaurant that served a lot of seafood specialties. Drew and Kim got some raw tuna looking stuff and Justin got a fish sandwich. I got pineapple chicken skewers that had grilled banana wrapped in bacon and it was phenomenal!

Agua Azul (taken from their website - I forgot my camera!)

Day 1 in Costa Rica

We departed for Atlanta at 4:30am from Justin and Kim’s house. Our flight was delayed in Atlanta around 45 minutes which put us into San Jose a little behind schedule. Fortunately for us our driver Carlos patiently waited for us at baggage claim. 

5 minutes into the 2 and 1/2 drive to the resort.

En route to the resort we stopped at a bridge overlooking a muddy river where two dozen American crocodiles were hanging out. They were quite an impressive sight – but it got us thinking about our upcoming rafting trip down the Naranjo River in a few days! Eeekk!

We made it to the resort around 3:30 local time and were greeted with cocktails when we walked into the reception area!  We were escorted to our suites and Mr. Duran (our travel coordinator) really hooked us up! Here is a picture of our suite and a few from around the resort. 

View from our balcony

View from our balcony

The 4 of us standing on the balcony of mine and Drew's suite.

The main pool with a swim-up bar!

We spent the rest of the day exploring the resort, trying out the pool bar and fighting sleep… We ended up going to sleep at 8pm! Zip lining adventure on day 2!

Weekend Round-Up

This weekend flew by way too fast just like all the others seem to do. Friday night Drew and I went to Mobley's for dinner and his parents joined us on their way out of town. Drew and I both had steak and it was pretty good, but the place was packed!

Steak & Shrimp @ Mobley's

On Saturday we went to Parker's 2nd Birthday Party at Kim & Justin's new house! Kim did a fabulous job of decorating and preparing for the party; per usual! Look at Kim's hard work in the picture below:

Parker enjoying his Pizza (and being the center of attention!)

Opening his presents - he did a good job!

Saturday night we went to a baby shower at Chad and Suzanne Franke's house in celebration of Bobby & Courtney Scott's new addition (Brigham Scott will be here in October!). Courtney has also agreed to let me take maternity pictures of her in September and I am really looking forward to that! 

They got a bunch of good stuff! 

Sunday was not nearly as exciting for Drew and I, we went to church, went grocery shopping and I spent most of the afternoon writing a paper. I did take a break to start packing my things for our trip to Costa Rica; Annie was not excited about this - I guess she figured if she laid on my clothes I would take her with us! (Don't think I haven't thought about it!). 

Don't leave me mommy!

..And then he was T-W-O!

Sweet baby Parker was welcomed into our world 2 years ago today! Kim was in labor for almost an entire day before wee got to meet him but it was well worth the wait..

It is hard to believe that our sweet baby boy is 2 years old now; such a blessing he has been!