Day 1

Goodbye Boston...

Hello Costa Rica!

We flew into Liberia, Costa Rica, a couple of hours drive by car from the house we rented.

We had a little adventure... taking a little "detour" on a dirt road and ended up crossing a river in the rental car... oops!

We arrived at our rental in Finca Panama (outside of Tamarindo) just as the sun was setting. Grandad and Nan arrived late that night.

Day 2

Relaxation day at the house -- swimming in the pool, naps in the hammocks, reading, groceries.... what a life.

We took a quick trip in the late afternoon to Playa Tamirindo to check out the beach and estuary.

Day 3

Day 3 was a busy day.

In the morning, we went to the local farmers market in Tamarindo.

And spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon at Lola's, a beach cafe at Playa Avellanas, named after their pig, Lola. Great fun boogie boarding, walking the beach, drinking smoothies and eating a delicious lunch.

Lucas fooling around, being "grumpy grandad".

In the afternoon we all went zip lining through the jungle canopy by our house. There are seven cables that make up the canopy tour, the longest of which is 1,480-feet (450-m) long. At the end of the tour we took turns swinging on the Tarzan Swing -- Nan screamed like the howler monkeys.

After all the excitement of the day we spent the rest of the evening swimming in the pool, lazing around the pool, and reading books.

Day 4

We went to Rincon de la Vieja National Park where there is an active volcano (paths to the volcano were closed during our visit). Our hike took us through a desert area, tropical dry and rain forests (where we saw a family of monkeys hanging out in a tree), bubbling mud pots, and fumaroles.

After our hike we went to nearby hot springs and took a mud bath. The kiddos had lots of fun "painting" grandad with mud.

Day 5

Another relaxation day at the house. The morning of day 5, grandad woke up to a family of howler monkeys in the trees by our house and woke us all up to come out and see them. After humoring us for a while the monkeys decided they had enough and moved on through the forest, a safe distance from us.

We had some other creature visits during our stay including humming birds, frogs, leaf bugs, lizards, geckos and various birds and insects. I managed to get a few pics of some them.

Day 6

Another beach day... our short cut there turned out not to be such a short cut.

We spent the day at Playa Conchal a white sand beach with bits of shell that line the sand (it’s the only shell beach in the area). On one side of the beach there’s a lava-rock reef where Lewis tried some snorkeling but the water was really rough. We spent the day swimming in the ocean, jumping over waves, walking the beach, and relaxing on the beach (I even got a massage!). We had lunch at the little pop-up “restaurant” on the beach – delicious chicken kabobs.

Day 7

Our last day we got up early to take an estuary canoe tour at 6am in Playa Grande. Our guide pointed out numerous wildlife hidden in the mangrove (heron, parrots, various other species of birds, lizards and howler monkeys) but we didn't see any crocodiles (but he pointed out where they were sleeping - you could hear them "snoring").

After the tour we had breakfast at hotel Las Tortugas in Playa Grande (a surfing beach) and then played in the large waves. Nan had a blast boogie boarding for the first time.