Last Day in Costa Rica

We hung out by the pool, at the house, getting organized and packing up to leave today. We have to check out by 11 so we will head towards the airport, get gas for the car, have lunch then return the rental car and get the shuttle to the airport. 

We went to lunch at the little restaurant where Maria and I had stopped after dropping Jim to the airport, killing time before we got Jay. They have a little display Maria took the girls over to see. 

This was Sophie's virgin piña colada!

Paige got a daiquiri. 

After lunch we went to the airport, shopped at duty free and a few of the other little shops and then boarded our flight home. Another amazing vacation in Costa Rica!  Looking forward to next year. 

99% of photo credits go to Maria!  

Jay's last day

Jay's only here for 5 days, so he leaves today.  I'm taking him over to Tico's at 11:30am and he's getting a ride to the airport.

Maria and I got up and did our workout this morning and Jay went for a run down to the beach.  It was HOT again and we were all sweaty and gross.  After workout I had a quick shower and got ready to go to the beach.  Jay and Paige started walking down the hill and we would meet them down there with the car, towels and boogie boards.  Mom, Maria and Dad walked down too but went through the condo building property next door which has beach access and they pretty much caught up to Jay and Paige, who had left 10 minutes before, by taking that short cut.

There were a couple of small rays (the size of a dinner plate) that we saw swimming around us a few times and once they came swimming right between Mom and Maria who were maybe 10 feet apart. We were standing in waist deep water just beyond where the surf broke.

We dropped Jay off for his ride to the airport, stopped at the grocery store on the way back to the house and hopped in the pool - where we didn't get out for about 6 hours.  

We started drinking in the pool (sours for me, pina coladas for Mom and Maria) at noon . . . which is NOT a good idea in general and was NOT a good idea in this instance either.  I don't remember dinner but I'm told I was very entertaining.

*****************Patty's Notes************************

Dana makes THE BEST pina coladas.  Jason kindly left us a bottle of Ron Zacapa rum.   I suggested we take it home for him as it's somewhat expensive.   Dana said, "We could go and buy another bottle of $14 rum or we could use this.   This will be better."   It was!  As soon as Jay left the sun came out and it was too hot to actually float in the sun.  We were all hugging the areas of the pool that were shaded.  We had a lovely dinner  - burgers by Dana, home made fries/fried potatoes by Maria, salad by Dana.  Poor Maria stood by the stove making fries for an hour.   She suggested we turn the A/C on, but we opted for opening all the glass walls instead.   Today (the next day) when we were trying to remember what we had left in the fridge for lunch (so Dana could stop on the way home from the beach),  I asked Dana how many tomatoes she had used in the salad last night.   She said, "Maria made the salad."   I said, "You made the salad."   Oops, she didn't just goon us, she gooned herself!  A good time was had by all.

The sun is back!

Unfortunately Jay left and the sun has returned!

Today is our last full day and it looks beautiful.  I'm not sure why, because I don't remember, but I'm feeling a little foggy this morning.  I woke up late (6:45am).  I REALLY don't want to do a workout today but we do it anyway and feel better for it!

After our swim we get ready for the beach and head down for an hour or so.  The girls play in the waves on the boogie boards and play on the rocks looking at sea urchins while we stand in the water just beyond the surf. There was a visitor in the pool today, in the infinity edge basin.

Dad scooped him with the pool net and dropped him in the garden..not far enough away!

Mom, Maria and Dad walked back up to the house with Sophie while Paige came with me to the grocery store to buy bread, water, coffee and pineapple juice - the last trip to the grocery store on our last day!  We have bacon at home, so I'll make BLTs for Paige, Dad and I.  Sophie is having leftover pasta, Maria is having eggs and fried potatoes and Mom had the rest of the leftover paella.  We'll do our best to use up as much food as we can, but we're going to Angelina's for dinner so there is definitely going to be some food left behind this year.  A few frozen burgers, a frozen pizza, and (gasp) a bottle of tequila that is 3/4 full and half a pitcher of sours!  (Mostly due to the fact that Maria has learned she loves homemade pina coladas as much as sours!)

The afternoon is spent alternating between floating and lathering on sunscreen.  The sun is so hot.

I'm being told all kinds of stories that "should go in the blog" this afternoon that I can't remember from yesterday - I think if I can't remember them they shouldn't be included, lol.  But instead I'll hand over the computer later to Mom and Maria to add the stuff that I can't remember and then I'll edit discriminately!

Last dinner at Angelina's. 

Tuesday, a mix of sun and cloud

I dreamt about The Room last night, so weird.  We woke up when the girls came up to our room this morning at 6:15am to ask if they could watch their iPads.  Last night when they were going to bed they had 20 minutes left of the show they were watching, which was too long to let them watch it to the end so we told them they could watch it in the morning - ugh.  At least they asked.  I got up, got dressed in my workout gear - I DO NOT plan to miss another day while we're here and went down for toast and coffee.

It felt extra humid doing our workout this morning, but it was arms and abs today so not too bad.  For some reason it never rains during workouts!   We finished off the workout with a walk down the hill to the store to pick up coconut milk for pina coladas later - our rainy day drink.  Paige and Mom came with us and on the way up we saw Jay and Sophie coming down walking to the beach. We forgot to do our sweaty selfie this morning so took one in the pool afterwards.  Maria took one and then Paige wanted to take one, but it was from above and she pinched her fingers together on the screen - there isn't any reason why you should have to zoom from that distance and angle.  I deleted that photo.

After a quick dip to cool off Paige and I went down to the beach to find Jay and Sophie and we spent some time down there with them before coming back up to the house.

We got back to the house and it was cloudy again and just started to clear up before we went for lunch. We had been sitting by the pool for an hour and I said to Mom "This is the kind of day where you get burnt to a crisp" because its cloudy with some sun so you don't get hot which is what usually reminds me to put on sunblock.  So I got a bit of red today, but caught it in time with sunblock that I'll be brown tomorrow.  I hopped out of the pool feeling like we're going to miss the sun for the day while we're out for lunch and it started raining as we arrived to Tiki's.  Perusing the menu I decided on the lettuce wraps with grilled shrimp and Mom decided on the shrimp basket but said she had looked at the lettuce wraps too - so I asked her if she wanted to share.  Jay commented again on how I ask everyone else to share but him (who doesn't like shrimp).  So Dad said to him "Do you want to share a shrimp basket?"  Sure Dave. "Ok, but we'll have to order two because I want one for myself" lol.

After lunch we came back to the house and I started to write out the blog for yesterday, but the sun came out - so I put my computer down immediately and said "The sun is out!  Girls, come, the sun is out!" lol.  So then we enjoyed some pina coladas by the pool - in the pool when the sun peaked out and on the deck when the sun was hiding in the clouds.  We could hear big thunder at points and the bay across from us was gone (they were getting mega rain), but we only ever got spit on. 

Sophie and Paige were doing some magic tricks with cards, which they don't actually know any magic tricks with cards.   After a couple of 'tricks' I said "its either magic or its stupid and that's not magic - go do not magic to Daddy, he leaves tomorrow and I have 3 more days of not magic"  Jay said "Not magic?" Yeah "Not magic is so easy" and after a little while Jay said "This is a long not magic show"

Rainy day!

I got up just after 6am this morning and came down dressed for workout, it had rained overnight so the courtyard was wet.  I got a coffee and made my piece of toast and ate while Maria was working and making some calls.  At a little after 8am I went and got changed into a swimsuit and Jay and I took the girls to the beach while Maria continued to work.  No workout today..first day down here I have missed!

It rained all day today so I don't have too much to write about - I continued to play The Room, Jay watched Netflix, Dad played Stormfall, Mom played Candy Crush, Maria kept busy on her iPad and the girls watched either YouTube or Netflix in their rooms.  Its a snow day at home though, so not too much to complain about!

When we came back from the beach I blogged the weekend with the very few notes I had and the help of Maria's photos!

The plan is to go to Tamarindo today so that Sophie and Paige could do a little shopping and we could go to The Ocean for lunch and take Dad there.  As we drove into town the sky opened up and it started to POUR so we all got wet but luckily there was a parking spot across the street from the restaurant so we didn't get soaked.  We enjoyed a nice lunch while it rained and rained and then walked, through the rain, down the street to the few shops the girls wanted to return to.  Paige got two necklaces, courtesy of Maria, and Sophie got a very nice little dress that looks super cute on her, also from Maria - they're now used to getting a little vacation gift from her!

The tide was also really high up we noticed from last week when we were here. 

On the way home we passed a field full of cows under trees to keep out of the rain.  Dad said "They have some mangy looking horses here"  "They're cows". lol.  There were some horses too, but the cows look really skinny!

When we got back to the house later we again talked about the plan for next year.  And agreed that this house is really ideal because even though its raining we can sit out on the pool deck under the covered area and still enjoy the view and the sound of the ocean.  So that settles it, the plan is to rent here again next year.  The only issue we've come across is timing...we can only take this house Dec 1 - 15th because as of the 19th it moves into the Christmas week (where the rent is double per week) and they want to rent that week starting the 19th so then they can capitalize on the New Years week as well.  Right now Air Canada flies to CR on Fridays direct...but they haven't got the schedule in for December 2017 yet.  Also Maria has to check some stuff for her work to make sure that she can make the 1-15th work as well.  It would be basically the same as this year, Sophie and Paige would be off for two weeks and then back to school for a week before Christmas Break - I actually like that better school wise because they'll get back into the swing of french and school, even if they aren't actually doing too much that last week before Christmas they're not actually off school for a month.

I made paella for dinner and as we were sitting down to eat Jay said again that he thinks the table in the dining room is made out of a solid piece of wood and Dad said "I think I saw a seam there"  Yeah, just like you thought you saw a horse!

I finished The Room - 7 hrs and 50 mins it took me - that's how much its rained over the last 2 days! lol.  I also finished 2 books and am into chapter 10 of a 3rd.  Its too bad because Jay has had terrible weather the whole time he's been here.  We're really hoping he takes he clouds with him when he goes home on Wednesday!

A firefly landed on the couch, which was the excitement for the end of our evening. Very exciting day. Lol. 

The Weekend..

SATURDAY


We did our workout this morning, up bright and early again.

The girls wanted to go to Numu for lunch again for the cucumber rolls and the swim, so that's the plan.  After lunch we stopped at the ATV place to book another ATV adventure for tomorrow morning, Mom wanted to do it later this time so its at 9am instead of 8am!

After a quick stop at the grocery store for who knows what we come back to the house and relax for the afternoon.  We did see Luis, our water person for Angelina's at the grocery store and told him we would see him tonight if he's working.  Basically, as soon as we come in the door for lunch Dad heads in for his nap, we make a pitcher of something (because the weather has been warm but cloudy we haven't been in the pool as much and so aren't drinking the sours - we're into the pina coladas, so Sophie usually get the first glass out of the pitcher and then we add the rum).

I don't know what made me look it up but there is a The Room 3 now!  Its a logic game where you have to search for clues and missing pieces of puzzles to get through 4 or 5 levels and escape.  It takes hours and is a lot of fun.  Maria texted Jim about it and he downloaded it - said the first level of The Room 1 took him 45 minutes.  We have a great outdoor space at this house so even if its raining we can all be outside sitting by the pool still enjoying the view.  We've had a lot more cloudy days on this vacation - which we were due for - we've been lucky booking at the end of the rainy season the other times we've been here and have had hot and sun every time.

Just before we were about to go out to dinner Sophie said "Mom, try to lift me up" and she can lower her centre mass so that it makes her so much heavier than her 53 lbs.  Then Jay said "let me try to lift Mommy" so I squatted down like a sumo wrestler with my arms up, laughing.  He said "Oh, don't do that"

Then we were laughing up the stairs because the girls were asking how much I weighed and Sophie said "More than 70?" She's my favourite and Paige said "More than Daddy?"  Somewhere between 70 and Daddy I replied. 

I'm not sure why Maria's photos are all so blurry!

We went back to Angelina's tonight for dinner.  When we were approaching the stairs there was another couple walking up as well but Paige got up in front of them so she was the first up there.  When the hostess came over and asked how many in our party I said Nine, joking that the other couple was with us.  Then Dad and the guy had a little exchange about when the bill comes we'll send it over to them as a party of 9 and they were saying the same thing.  The hostess was going to seat us and moving us to a new section we hadn't been in before - I saw Argerie, our server from the last two times - we said hello and then I said "Is this still your section?"  She said no, that she was over here - so we said to the hostess "We have to sit in her section, can we sit over here?"  Sure, so we sat in the same spot as the original night.

Dad's burger looked so good and he raved about it so much that he and Mom ordered it to share with a salad, Jay and I each ordered one with fries and shared the burrata salad, the girls shared the cheese pizza (and demoed it), and Maria had the snook and shrimp special that Mom had had the other night.  The burger was amazing, it had old white cheddar and pickled onions and arugula on it.  I've never thought to put arugula on a burger but it was excellent.  I ended up giving a quarter of my burger to Dad, so he was happy to get a little more too!  

We were talking again about how there are very few bugs down here and how great it is to travel with Maria because the few bugs that there are love her the best.  She said "I know, I have 3 bites on my butt from being out last night..and one of them's a big one"  And Sophie chirped "But we don't need to see it!"  lol.

The girls were tired so after their pizza was done (we order theirs with our apps so they can be fed first) she laid her head down on Mom's lap and was getting a nice head scratch.  Paige saw and was jealous, I told her to lay her head down in Jay's lap and she did - but he wasn't paying attention and didn't scratch her head - so she said "Its not working!"

A walk back up the hill to the house - we had showed Mom and Dad the shortcut we took in the car when we had to detour when we took Jim to the airport, I walked the whole way up the hill but when I was almost to the end of the shortcut Mom pulled out of it just in front of me at a trot "Hey!  Cheater!" So then I started to jog as a joke to get ahead of her and she started to jog and so I started to run and beat her! HA!  When we got in the house and in the pool I said to Paige "If you like to see me run Paige, you should see Gram and I trying to run a race, that's really funny!"...good news is no one witnessed it :)

SUNDAY

I have no notes for today.  So I said at one point "I have zero notes for today - maybe Jim WAS the life of the party!"

We woke up today just after 6:00am, had my coffee and toast and Maria said "We going to workout?"  Ugh, this is one of the only days I haven't felt like working out, but yes!  We're doing it.  Its HUMID this morning during our workout and we're sweating like crazy.  And we forgot to do our sweaty selfie this morning!  It was sufficiently sweaty.  I had a quick shower and we got ready to go ATVing.

We got to Tico's and they were just setting up the ATVs, not automatic this time, but really easy to change gears with an arrow up and down.  We did a different tour today that took us up and around the back areas of Flamingo which was interesting to see because we've never ventured really off the main road in and out.  He also brought us up our road and around the back of this ridge as well which was cool.  We also went to Potrero and Playa Penca.  We had seen a lot for sale at the beginning of our ride and I had pointed it out to Jay, the guide must have seen me so he asked if we wanted to go back and see it again.  

I took a couple of photos and texted the number later - $560,000USD or $280,000USD for half of it...JUST a bit too much.  lol.  We finished our 2 hour tour and headed back to the house to have a swim and pick up Maria to go for lunch. 

Back to The Beach House today for lunch, I ate half my steak quesadilla and one of my onion rings and took the rest home to warm up with the nachos we're having for dinner.  Maria got the clubhouse again, Mom and Dad shared a Club and Jay ordered the Grown Up Grilled Cheese which has bacon, tomato and avocado on it (but was missing the avocado).  Sophie and Paige got grilled cheese with fries and Sophie sulked the whole time because yesterday I had told her we would go to Numus and pick her up some cucumber rolls before coming to The Beach House and she could eat them for lunch because its the same owner so they probably wouldn't mind - and then we didn't do that.

This afternoon was cloudy so we spent it under the overhang reading books, playing games and generally chilling out.  Jay decided he needed to move so took Sophie down to the beach with him for a bit.

Mom made nachos for dinner, which were delicious, especially after all of our pina coladas! 

I decided to go for a dip in the pool after dinner with my final pina colada and it ended up with a water fight with Sophie in and around the pool.