Saturday, June 20, 2015

Costa Rica!

 On the plane!


 Room service for breakfast on our amazing balcony, with this view. To die for. And huevos rancheros.







 Ziplining!!! It was so fun!!!



 Laying on the beach eating chicken nachos and endless beverages



 Driving through the area of Ganacaste, learning about the culture, food, work, and crops.

 Guanacaste tree, for which the region is named
 Tour on the river, seeing all kinds of animals and birds, baby crocodiles, butterflies, JC lizard, etc




 Hugo Cruz, our tour guide. His accent was so beautiful!
 Our first time in the ocean. We swam in the warm water, and floated in the gentle waves. So relaxing! So perfect
Raimo's award night-- He won this trip for his great successes in 2014 with Pfizer (quite an accomplishment for his first full year--only 27 people won Pinnacle Award out of over 300 vaccine reps).


 I loved all the bright colors in Costa Rica. Took these pictures for my mom because she has a miniature ox cart like this that she brought home from her mission to Costa Rica 30 years ago.



 We happened to walk out to the beach right at sunset one day. What luck! It was so lovely watching the sun go down.


 You can't tell, but there are giant black crabs all over the left side of this rock







 Tamales for breakfast! Seriously? I'm moving here!!! And I really liked it wrapped in this leaf rather than corn husk




 Swimming alone!



 Last dinner
 It rained almost every day in the late afternoon
 We danced of course when the band started playing. It was so fun!
 Had to post a hair-au-naturale photo--humidity gives me volume and half-curl with a wave
 Hiked 700 steps on our last morning before our flight

 It overlooked the peninsula Papagayo where the Four Seasons is nestled between two beaches... see it??


 Last dip after our hike




I wish we could have stayed longer! We had an amazing time and are so grateful to our parents for watching our kids, especially Raimo's parents who drove down to our house from Utah. I keep finding new shoes, trinkets, clothes, crafts, and activities in our house from all their time spent with grandparents. I know Rose and Finn enjoyed it. Raimo and I haven't taken a big trip like this since we went to Finland in 2010, and before that our honeymoon in 2008. This trip happened to fall on our 7 year anniversary, and so it was a fantastic celebration. The Four Seasons blew our minds! I have never experienced such luxury.... truly a vacation we will never forget!