Manuel Antonio

We left Playa Coco and went straight down to Manuel Antonio on our tour of Costa Rican beaches. Here is Creed in his bed, in the shower.

Here is Laney in her bed, the walk in closet. They loved having their own little spaces and I loved not having them in my room. Even though they got up at five everyday at least we all slept well in the night They think vacations need to start early every morning.

We stayed in these really nice condos with lots of iguanas and beautiful flowers.

The breakfast place there had little racoons that came every day for breakfast. The cook always fed them and the kids loved them. I did not appreciate them as much as the kids did.

Here is one of the beaches at Manuel Antonio. The sand was beautiful, but the waves were a bit strong for us to swim in.

My dad in Manuel Antonio Park. It was pretty and very green. There were some nice beaches in the park as well. We did not see too many animals, a couple of sloths and a boa. Both were pretty far away so no pictures.

They loved the pools. The baby one and the big one and spent hours swimming a day. I now know why people with kids go somewhere with a pool on vacation. It is so much fun and pretty easy now that they can go in on their own. I am glad they are not too afraid of it.

Playa Coco

We took off for Playa Coco a few days after my parents came to enjoy a little fun in the sun. I was so excited to spend some time at the beach. We had such a great time. This a picture of when we first got there. The water was pretty calm and the kids loved swimming in it. They were a bit hesitant at first getting through some of the waves to get to the smooth part. Once they figured out you just bounce up and down with the waves they loved. The sand was dark and the were covered in it whenever they were not in the water. 

Them messing around at the beach house we got to go to everyday. We would swim in the ocean and play in the sand and the go to the pool.

This was Laney's first swim with just her vest and not holding onto anyone. They are really getting comfortable in the water.

Of course, there was lots of playing in the condo too. My kids know how to have fun with anything, even an egg carton.

Arequipenens

Arequipenes love ice cream. I mean they really love it. Within the first fifty feet of the mall there are three stands. Then there are multiple others throughout the mall and all over the streets. I am amused by it because it is cold here. How they always be eating ice cream? It is cheap which is really nice. Plus, a lot of it comes in small cones, which is very nice for small children. I have been buying an ice cream cone to start out my grocery shopping. It is a habit I seem to have come by too quickly. Even if it is cold it is hard to resist chocolate and ice cream. I guess I am not the only one who feels this way.

The kids are inseparable

I am so glad my kids like each other and want to play together since they are with each other twenty four, seven. When we moved to Peru we decided to let them share a room. In costa rica they had different rooms until my parents came the beginning of December. Creed was thrilled to move into Laney's room. When they started school Creed had a hard time being in a different class then Laney. He would cry sometimes and they knew if they just took him to Laney he would stop, so that is what they did. Once summer school started, the beginning of december through January, they were together. All of a sudden Creed stopped complaining about school and wanted to go. Now we have moved to Peru and their school has not started yet, so it is just the two f them. They talk a lot of Spanish to each other plus they are together a lot, which equals a lot so Spanish. Of course, they do squabble some, but it is usually when Creed will not do something Laney told him to. Or when Creed refuses to give Laney a hug. Tough times, I know. We shall see how school goes and they are put in separate classes.

Our first couple weeks in Peru

We have made it to Arequipa, Peru and have our own place. The first week we stayed in with a host family from our school. It was a mom and her daughter. They were super sweet, but it was hard living with someone else especially with two little kids. Her daughter got sick and was studying for some huge exam and my kids were yelling out in the night and getting up at five am. We ended up looking at fifteen houses/apartments. The kids were dragged all over the place and did amazingly well. A bunch of the apartments were on the fourth floor, which I was not so excited about. Trying to get two kids up and down seemed like a lot of work. We decided on our number one place and were told it was no longer available. The funny thing is is that it was in the paper every day after that. Our teacher thinks it was the kids. She says people here do not like to rent to families with kids. We ended up using a realator who was a friend of our host family. Jason did all the work and did it all in spainsh. It was very impressive especially since he had to talk on the phone (which is very hard in another language) and get directions in a city he was new to. To add to the drama there was a bunch of rain, more than they have had in fifty years. Crazy! We got into our new house and I was a touch bummed there was no bath tub. I love bath tubs and it is a bit chilly here. I should not have complained because once we were in the house we realized there was no hot water. By Saturday Jason let me go stay at a hotel and take a shower. I was sick and had not had one in a few days. When I called home Sunday morning I found out there was NO water. Jason and the kids came to the hotel to take showers. I guess the whole city was shut off due to all the problems with the rain. The hotel must have had a tank. By the end of Sunday I was so thrilled to have water and by tuesday we had hot water.