Trip to Arenal

Last weekend we had some unexpected visitors - Karen and Mary. So we headed up to Arenal with the EESAYs for a quick weekend trip. We started with a stop in Sarchi so the girls could get some small trinkets for the folks back home. Then we headed up through San Ramon and out to Fortuna. Along the way, we went through some beautiful countryside...complete with winding mountain roads. That was where we stopped for the second time. The first picture shows the essense of that stop...the EESAYs cleaning up from a car-sick Pi. Apparently, playing Nintendo in the backseat after eating Cheetos is a bad idea...go figure. Finally, we got to Fortuna and stopped for some dinner and then headed up to Los Lagos. I think we got up there about 9pm and lucky for us...the clouds had blown out and we could see the Volcano. So we hopped in the car and sped over to the bridge on the backside of the mountain. We were lucky enough to still be able to see the lava before the rain blew back in for the night. The drive in and out was fun...you can ask the girls ;-)

The next morning we got up and headed out for a hike at the hanging bridges park. Always a great time. Kade did much better this time and didn't cry at all. He even was going over the bridges by himself by the end...way to go Kade! Payton is still in the backpack and loving the ride! The last time we did the hanging bridges Jen was in great shape and wasn't winded at all...but this time she was obviously a little more tired but still did a great job all things considered. The EESAY girls also joined us for the hike...I won't comment on where Mr. Kentucky Royalty was at the time. After the hike we headed up to the Arenal Lodge for lunch...we were again lucky and the clouds blew out so we got to see the entire Volcano in daytime too. Lucky, lucky, lucky.

That afternoon we spent a bunch of time at the Los Lagos pool...which is probably the most kid/family friendly in Costa Rica. As usual, Kade had a great time and Payton really loved the warm pool. Kade finally went down the slide all on his own and absolutely loved it...although he did not want to go down again without Dad because he was underwater a little too long ;-)

Then on Sunday morning, Karen and Mary decided to go zip-lining while the rest of us hit the pool. They had a great time but Mary was a little unsure about the whole thing. The good news is that she DID survive to tell the tale! After the pool we headed back to San Jose and had a rather uneventful drive home. All in all, a successful weekend trip. The next day Karen, Mary and Jen headed down to the beach Punto Loena I think...apparently having another nice day...except for the drive back where it was raining heavily in the mountains and that always makes for a fun drive.