Signs of Spring!

These darling yellow pumps just scream "SPRING" don't you think?? I was wandering through Macy's trying so hard to use my 20% off coupon and naturally was drawn to the shoe department. These cute guys just reached out and grabbed that coupon from me, hey, what could I do! I have even found a great Lucille Ball dress to go with them, now if we can just hold the snow at bay for a few more days!!

The Rest of the Trip.......Pura Vida!!!!

I love this photo of the shadow of our plane. We were leaving the jungle and heading for dryer ground, back to San Jose and then on to the volcano. Here is the Arenal volcano. This was probably the highlight of the trip for me (well besides the crab in my shoe!). When we have been here before it is almost always covered in a thick layer of clouds, this was spectacular just to be able to see it during the day. We checked into our rooms at the Observatory Lodge, this was the view from our room, no kidding full out glass windows with such an awesome view!!! We could see large bolders bouncing down the mountain side, sometimes breaking open to reveal the orange lava inside, we could also hear this incredible rumbling noise as they careened down, full speed ahead!!
The evening came and WOW, what a spectacle!! We were able to see the orange/red lava traveling down the side, exploding on the way and making quite a beautiful sight!! Try going to this web site and you will see what we saw (my photos all turned out very black!!)http://www.arenal.net/photo/latest/2007-07-22-observatory-lodge/ I kid you not, this is what it looked like. I watched until after 1:00 a.m. and then only slept with one eye closed so I could enjoy a once in a lifetime experience!!! There was a darling shop called the Lady Bug, it had cute pottery, art, trinkets, etc. Couldn't resist getting my photo by their cute sign!
I should have ended with this story, but oh well, still not good at placing my photos!! We stayed in a beautiful hotel the last two nights in San Jose. It is two mansions that they have converted into an incredible hotel. Very reasonable at only $85 per night!! This link will show you some nice photos.http://www.hotelgranodeoro.com/printable.htm I am a bathtub junky! When we arrived our room wasn't ready so we put our stuff in Joe and LaVon's room, ahhh, they had a HUGE bathtub, wow, I was so excited! I also noticed Gary and Annie's room also had a HUGE bathtub. Well we stowed our stuff and went out to explore. We went to a tiny town called Escazue to shop......well no shopping at all, but dad enjoyed walking and walking and walking up and down the streets, some very steep. I was able to keep going because I knew I could soak in that huge tub later that night. A few hours later we were back at the hotel, got our luggage and moved into our own room. Dad went downstairs to get the key to the safe and I walked into the bathroom to take a look at our HUGE tub........well, the photo is what I saw!! No tub, not even a small tub. I may have had a hard week, who knows, but I actually began to cry, can you believe it over a stinkin' bathtub!! Then I did what any blonde would do, I walked out of the bathroom, took a breath and walked back in the bathroom to see if I had somehow missed the tub, really!! I did this two or three times, and every time it was still an over sized giant SHOWER....This had to be the only bummer of the trip and it wasn't even that big of a deal!!

Dad having a great time on the Tarzan fall! A free fall of about 15 to 20 feet and then a huge and exhilarating swing until they grab your feet to stop you. A lot of us lost our shoes and socks as the guys tried to pull us to a stop!
Happy Sue, after the free fall!
Totally freaked out Sue in the middle of the fall!!!

The butterfly farm had a lot of beautiful and colorful butterflies all around as well as a lot of flowers. I will not post my 300-400 flower photos, just let me know if you ever need a foliage shot for anything, I'm sure I've captured it on my camera!!

I have oodles of photos, too many to post. We had a terrific trip, dad had it planned down to the very last detail, something only he is perfect at!! The weather was wonderful, great food and fun with our friends. Now kids, let's put our heads together and figure out how to get the family to Costa Rica! Pura Vida!!!

More of the Adventure.....

This is the beautiful Marriott in San Jose. It is a couple of miles from the Temple and is always a great place to begin and/or end our stay in Costa Rica. Everything is out in the open and the weather was PERFECT! A view from the little "puddle jumper" plane we took from San Jose to the Osa Peninsula.

Here's the cute little plane with Joe and LaVon nearby. We had great seats-right behind the pilots and were able to watch them, not a lot of security on these airlines!

Randy is always in fear of losing luggage (well I am too!!) We all took North Face duffles, not to exceed 25 pounds and we carried them on the flight from Salt Lake to San Jose. Well as luck would have it, we had a slight problem...... here is a photo of dad's bag, yep the red one, let me just add we are ON the plane taxing down the runway when I snapped this picture!! Poor dad, the flight was too heavy and his bag (only 21 lbs) just wouldn't fit!! He was pretty nervous, but they promised it would be on the next plane. It actually didn't arrive for about 4 or 5 hours. Once he got the bag he was able to relax!!

What.....?? There's a crab in my shoe!!! or Another Costa Rican Adventure!!!

We had the privilege of taking another vacation to Costa Rica. Something tells me this will be a month long post! Be patient! We first went to the Osa Peninsula, very much a jungle! This is where we stayed, dad and I were in the bottom room and Gary and Annie were above us. At least there were screens on the windows this time! After a HUGE down pour, and I do mean huge - it's like the rain drops are as big as a baseball and it is very warm rain. Also after a full moon and a rain these beautiful (?) orange and black crabs are EVERYWHERE!! The paths are full of them, they are scurring all over....well we got back to our bungalo and had a visitor, I know the photos aren't great, but you get the idea. I reallly wanted dad to sweep him out and finally he did get a broom and we let the little guy outside.

I had washed my shoes out and set them on the bathroom floor and then decided, hey I think I'll hang them up, maybe they will dry out a little. I picked them up and thought there was a pebble rattling around in one of the shoes and as I looked (in very limited light) I saw a black and orange claw come creeping out of the toe of my shoe. Now mind you I remained very calm because we have people above us trying to sleep and said between clenched teeth "Randall, please come here I need help, there's a crab in my shoe!" He shook and shook the shoe and that little critter was NOT giving up his home that easy! So we ran hot water over him and wahoo, he decided get outa town! Dad manuevered him into a glass and we sent him outside with his brother, cousin or what ever! I managed to go back outside later only to have a few of them scurry right back in, yep, we had the broom handy!
This was how dad did some of his laundry!! The dark you see really is the great out of doors, very primitive, but highly functional!

Here is the one and only spidey we saw on the whole trip! I think he's a gem! (not on my shirt, only posed behind for a great photos!)
Here's the bed in our bungalo complete with bug net, and yes we used the net every night. I tucked mine in so you can imagine what a fight I had every time I needed to get up and go to the bathroom.....I know my kids are laughing now!
Here's a shot of our cute bano during the day, it really was a fun experience!
Sorry, I don't know how to get rid of this duplicate of dad!! Just enjoy it and know that there will be a lot more photos coming!