These Shoes Were Made For Walking, or, Costa Rica Recap: Part II

After our super busy first full day in Costa Rica, we were happy to relax a little bit and slip back into some sort of schedule. (Interpretation: HOORAY FOR NAPTIME!) We decided not to river raft with a bunch of the family (Baggins can't wield a paddle quite yet) and instead spent the day lounging around and playing in the swimming pool while Daddy got some work done courtesy of the wifi in the lodge. The next day, we went on the 2 hour nature walk around the absolutely BEAUTIFUL grounds of the lodge.

Baggins and I took a short detour from the rest of the group while he finished screaming, but we were able to meet up with them again for the second half of the walk.

 Just, you know, a regular day.

We hiked down a million steps to this pretty waterfall while Daddy and Baggins stayed at the top. Let's not talk about whether I sort of fell down the stairs like an old person. (I am an old person.)

The whole hike was beautiful (and FREE!) but I have to admit we were pretty thrilled when a "Jungle Bus" (trailer behind a tractor in real life) picked us up at the end. It would've been a long walk home!

Baggins was so darn excited to be out of that hot baby sling he couldn't even stand it.

We wandered back up the hill to our villa and settled in for a quick nap. Here is where I brag a little more about my packing genius. I was pretty worried about what to do with Mister in terms of sleeping arrangements on the trip. Our kiddos have never slept with us, and I didn't think an international vacation was a good place to see if sleeping won out over the novelty of poking Mama and Daddy's faces all night. I knew he'd just hop out of a regular bed and wander around, and there was no way I was hauling my beloved (but bulky) pack and play all over Latin America.

The geniuses of the internet led me to this portable little tent. It folds up to about the size of a frisbee only a few inches thicker. AH-MAZ-ING. Worked like a champ, and kept the bugs out, to boot.

After nap time, the whole family went down to the hot tub to play around. It's much too long of a story to go into, but just know that at one point, Tommy had a life preserver around his waist tied to a rope anchored by Paddy as he leaned waaaaaay over into a potential snake bit to rescue a beach ball. I love my family and trust me, we are so funny you'd never believe it.

That night, we elected to eat at the lodge restaurant as it was our last day in the Arenal area. (Plus, Kari sprained her ankle at the pool and we didn't want to piggy back her all the way to the villa, her tiny frame notwithstanding.)

At dinner, Benner continued his love affair with ketchup (Uncle Ashton is so proud right now) and Bug continued her love affair of looking right past the camera.

That night, while Paddy and I packed up our things in preparation to leave the next morning, we saw (and he killed) this little piece of the underworld IN OUR BEDROOM:

Let's not talk any more about that.

The next day, it was off to the beach!