Monkeys, Iguanas, and Sloths - OH MY!

"Rich coast," that sure is an accurate description of the country of Costa Rica. We spent the week exploring rainforests, hiking volcanoes, and seeing lots of creatures. It's definitely a beautiful place and we had a great trip. Here are some highlights....

We hiked down to a huge waterfall. The sign at the entrance said, "DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS HIKE if you have any health issues, especially heart problems." I ran right by it and hiked down 486 steps - yep, me an my mini legs just chugged right to the bottom. My hand turned white a few times because my mom was holding it so tightly - maybe she thought I'd fall off of the cliff. On the way up, I hitched a ride with my dad in the backpack. My dad - carrying me - passed every other hiker on the trail. He's a stud.

We hiked the rainforest in the nighttime. The sounds were really cool but not knowing if creepy things were crawling right by you was a little unnerving. We saw several two-toed sloths, agutis (raccoon-sized rat-looking mammals), a huge yellow tarantula, and white faced monkeys.

We hiked a cloud forest in the day and saw holler monkeys, toucans, bell birds, a million millipedes, and quatis (another type of mammal).

We took a sky tram to the very top of the rainforest and walked over suspension bridges. As I ran at full speed across the swaying bridges, 300-500 feet in length, suspended several hundred feet in the air, I heard my dad say something about me aging him that day. (Note - not many pictures from the bridges b/c they were chasing me). My dad did not find this fun.

We road horses through the rainforest (do you see a rainforest theme here). We saw more cool creatures Okay, so one of us might have fallen asleep on the horse - but sheesh, wouldn't you after all of the adventuring. My mom said this activity aged her - apparently holding dead weight while riding a horse on steep terrain isn't as easy as it looks. (Aren't vacations suppose to be relaxing!??! Relax mom and dad, we all made it home alive!)

Our lodging near the volcano had an outdoor bathtub on our patio so me and my duck got to bath in the jungle with a view of the volcano - not bad, huh!

And no trip would be complete with out a few jumpers...

 

 Our favorite family picture from the trip....

I Love Happy Birthdays

With so many family members, it seems like it's always someone's birthday. I sing "Happy Birthday" more than any other song, and April is no exception. It's a relatives birthday every day from April 15-April 20th. So we spent the evening celebrating my Aunt Karen's birthday and hanging out with my cousins while my Nana and PopPop were in town. Check it out...

Fun with Grandma & Grandpa

(oops, forgot to hit "post" on this last week so it's been sitting in the draft box - sorry!)

We scored a "bonus visit" from Grandma and Grandpa last week. We played hard and made sure we didn't miss a second of fun.

Grandma, mom, and me started the trip zipping around town taking pictures of all the monuments and memorials with my cousin Mallory's Flat Stanley (see Flat Stanley on FDR's knee) while dad and Grandpa went to work for the day (Grandpa had a business meeting).

Day two we headed to the zoo where I ran for almost 4 straight hours. Where are the animals? you ask, well, this is the Pizza Park at the zoo and it's one of my favorite things. It's a giant pizza that you can play on. You stack mushrooms and pepperonis and slide down giant cheese or climb on a tomato or crawl through an olive - it's awesome.

I exhausted everyone so we all took a nap in the beautiful weekend weather. Ahhh, relaxation. Then once they were up it was lots of good reading time.

Then we headed to Roosevelt Island for a 3 mile hike around the island. A 5 foot snake slithered in front of me and my dad on the trail. Based on his high pitched response, it was luckily I was there to protect him.

We took a bike ride to the park and enjoyed a picnic - well, they just stuck food out for me as I zoomed by heading to the slide. Like I said, this was a total bonus visit!

 

The Hunt

 Me and thirteen of my little buddies had an Easter egg hunt at our house this week. While some might think the competition was fierce with so many hunters, it was more like a leisurely stroll. I, for one, was content to find an egg, sit down, open it up, and enjoy the treat inside. Then, if I felt inspired, I would stand up, look around, pick up another plastic egg and repeat the process. This may be why the hunt took about 30 minutes  - with several eggs remaining in plain site until the end.

We also did an Easter craft using plastic flower pots. The one pictured was a definite prize-winner. Most of ours had an extra eye or two and their ears were more creatively placed on the bunny's head. Another attraction was the water jug. My mom put peeps inside the water container and even though I emptied out the entire jug of water on the lawn, I couldn't get a peep to come up - so weird.

Today we went to church to celebrate the reason we have Easter, took a nap on the hammock, opened up the prizes in our Easter baskets, played outside, and went for a bike ride. On the perfect scale, today rated a "10."

                          

My dad and I got remote controlled helicopters in our baskets. I'm sure this seemed like a good idea when the bunny put them in the basket, but now our home has fast-flying objects whizzing around with almost no pilot control AND my parents have turned it in to a competition to see who can land the helicopters on various ledges around the house (I know, no one is surprised by this). I also got a golf club shaped like a carrot stick. This too, I'm sure seemed like a good idea at the time. I have spent the day whacking everything in my path - of course I'm trying to hit the golf ball, but my aim could use some work. "That's what touch up paint is for," my mom says....

My mom got an awesome new women's basketball. I'm sure she'll love it if she can ever get me and my dad to stop playing with it.

Happy Easter!

Flying Sharks and Other Stuff

Spring has definitely arrived in DC and we are taking full advantage. We've already logged 60 miles on the bikes as a family and we try to spend as much time outside as is possible. This weekend we road down (okay, so I hitched a ride in the bike trailer) to the National Kite Festival at the Washington Monument. We had a 7' shark kite. He looked pretty tough until the 80' American flag kite showed up; oh well.





There wasn't much wind when we first got there so my dad spent a lot of time running and jumping while tossing the kite in the air - don't tell him but my mom and I laughed a lot. Thanks to his persistence the shark soared into the air and then the wind picked up, so it was a successful kite-flying day. I took the kite reins a few times but when the wind started to blow and the kite flew up high I decided it was best to throw the kite handle in the air and run the opposite direction. This caused my dad to resume his running and jumping behavior, but this time it was to try and catch the kite string as the kite flew away...classic.

When I am indoors, I've become a bit obsessed with my Matchbox cars. I insist on lining all of them up in the exact middle of our floor. This means every single person must walk around or step over them to get by - I have made a perfect obstacle. My parents don't find these skills as clever as I do.





Flowers are popping. Hope everyone is enjoying the start of spring!