Our first international family trip was to Costa Rica! We went with a tour group that included our friends the Winiarski's. It was a memorable advenure!
Ben, Max, Steve, and Saskia went canyoneering (basically repelling down waterfalls).
We picked up some tiny ice creams to eat at the hotel one night!
Max and I with a monkey!
The sun protected tourist!
Steve and Saskia each took a surfing lesson - they got up and rode some small waves!
This photo doesn't do it justice, but there were lots of HUGE alligators in the river below!
This is a blurry photo because it was taken at night in the rain, BUT a fun story. One night the three of us walked into town for dinner and had a 15 minute or so walk back to our hotel. In Costa Rica, it's common to see stray dogs and cats that are just part of the neighborhood. This black dog walked with us nearly the whole way back! Max named him Perrito (after the dog in the movie Puss and Boots). It was so much fun.
We did a tour at a coffee, sugarcane, and cacao farm. Max and some other kids got to juice the sugarcane. It was really hard work!
With some of our tour group on the hanging bridges!
Kirsten, Natalia, and I went on a volcano hike with a naturalist while the dads and big kids were canyoneering. Really interesting history and nature! Fun fact - a nearby river BOILED before the volcano started to erupt!
We went to a neat little restaurant for lunch one day and they invite patrons to make little signs that they hang up around the restaurant. It was fun!
Steve photo bombed this family photo perfectly! Haha
The girl on the left, Lucy, was part of our tour group and she's from Austrailia! The kids all had a blast playing together all week, and Lucy had brought little clip on koalas that she gave each of the kids before we departed.
