Look who lost his first tooth!!

Yep, as much as I try to avoid facing the fact that my baby is growing up---life keeps telling me otherwise. This weekend, much to his great excitement, Wyatt lost his first tooth. (his bottom right one) Such a cutie now with his little grin. He was so excited to go to school and tell everyone. Can't believe how big he is seeming. I make him promise daily he'll never get so big he won't give me his sweet litte hugs. So far so good!! :o)

"Hello, hello. Is this thing on???"

I'm stepping up to Mr. Microphone to warn you that this may very well be the world's longest blog post. Feel free to read and enjoy or skip on to your next friend's blog--- whichever strikes your fancy. The truth is we had a wonderful couple of weeks with Darrin's family. We saw a lot and I took picture after picture. I thought I'd post the highlights-- both to share with you what we've been up to and to show you a little more of this beautiful country we live in right now.

Costa Rica is green and full of life right now. The rainy season is in full swing but most mornings are still warm and sunny with the rains not starting until mid-afternoon. So the flowers are blooming and the mountains are green and life is beautiful. In a two weeks time span we visited the beach, a volcano, a rain forest, a cloud forest, hot springs, several parks, Zamarano garden, and went on a suspended bridge tour through the forest canopy. We saw coatis and howler monkeys and birds (scarlet macaw and quetzal) and butterflies and lots of critters and bugs! Here is a review in photos!!

Things started out fairly normal with a little play day in the park. And we all played as you can see!!

Then we decided to take a road trip to the beach. And what do you see on the way to the beach? Why, crocodiles of course!! Lots and lots of big crocodiles swimming in the river under the bridge. Glad our hotel was quite a ways down the road still!!
Grandpa King enjoyed the sun and sand and waves!
So did Aunt De and cousin Audey!
And so did Grandma King!! She even tried snorkeling as you can see!!
And of course the boys snorkeled and swam and caught waves on the body boards, etc!
After three days at the beach we came home to San Jose. Then the next day we slept in a bit and then headed for nearby Volcan Irazu. Along the way we passed lots of farm land. They still do things the old-fashioned way here as you can see!
This is the lake that is now in the crater of the volcano. It emits odd volcanic vapor and has a funny sulfuric smell. But it is pretty!
I'm always ready with a quick self-portrait so someday my kids will remember what I looked like!! :o)
Wyatt wasn't sure he really wanted to be at the volcano. He was still pretty tired from our beach trip. But I think he is still cute--even when he isn't smiling!!

On the way home we stopped at one farmer's little stand to buy some fresh corn. The drive back home from the volcano is just beautiful as you can see. I love the green fields and pretty views!

Back in town we drove by another outdoor market selling onions, pineapples and bananas! These little stands are everywhere and are a very common way to buy your produce!

The next day we were off again. This time to an area of hot springs. Ahhh, those were wonderful and relaxing!! On the way, though, we drove through Zamarano and stopped to show everyone the sculpted bushes in the local park (that you may remember from a previous post of mine!) Darrin and his Mom.
Darrin with his Mom and Dad:
Then we went home for a day and had to say good-bye to Grandma and Grandpa King. The good news was that Aunt De and cousin Audey got to stay the rest of the week. So what did we do? I'm glad you asked!! We went on another road trip to the Monteverde Cloud Forest. It is about a five hour drive with the last two hours on a gravel road. It is way back in there. But it is beautiful. We stayed in a great cabin for two nights and explored the cloud forest on foot for about 4 hours of hiking trails and then later we went on another 2 hour walk that included 8 suspended bridges that were high up in the upper canopy level of the trees! So neat!

The group of adventurers!!

Once again, my famous snap of myself to prove I was really there too!!
There were all kinds of interesting plants and flowers and trees. Really, I could have filled my whole 1GB memory card with just pictures of new plants and flowers. It was so interesting.

This one is called a monkey-tail fern. I bet you can figure out why!!
So green, so pretty. Pictures don't do it justice!
One of our highlights was getting to see the beautiful but rare Quetzal bird. We were so lucky that a nature guide nearby spotted it sitting up in this tree and it stayed put long enough for us to get to see it and take pictures. We felt lucky. Bird watchers know that this is a hard one to spot in the wild!
After a few minutes it flew down to another nearby tree and De took this picture! (we happened upon a family of howler monkeys too but I couldn't get a clear picture of them!)
I mentioned that there were LOTS of creepy crawly things in the forest too didn't I? Oh yes, I could have another card of just bugs and beetles and worms. But this will have to do. In real life it was a vibrant neon green.
The trees were so tall and amazing. I felt like I was in a movie--it was almost surreal.
A pretty little waterfall at the end of our first hike!
As you can see by the looooong length of this bridge, this isn't for the faint of heart. Or anyone scared of heights. We were way up there-- but seeing things from the tree-top level was so neat after walking for several hours at the base of them!!

After our trip home, we said good-bye to Aunt De and Audey. I hoped they enjoyed their visit as much as we did. Since then I've been cleaning house, doing laundry, catching up on my e-mails (and blog) getting ready for another group next week, and helping the kids get back into the early morning school groove. Vacation is over. And life has returned. But, it was sure fun while it lasted!!

Look who got a haircut

Before

and After!

My sweet Chloe girl decided to chop off some of her long locks today. She can't stop looking in the mirror. Such a sweetie!!

ps-- I have so much to write about. We had a wonderful visit with Darrin's family and saw SO MUCH of Costa Rica in two weeks time. I have picture after picture to show you. But to be honest, I'm exhausted. So I am going to sleep and rest and post about our July vacation when my mind isn't so fuzzy!!

Our most recent group left on July 3rd. So on July 4th, we were tired and didn't feel too festive! So we opted for an easy going day (sleeping in and lounging about the house in jammies half the day) and had an evening cookout with our good friends and fellow USA Independence Day celebrators the Twitchell family. I was inspired by another website to make this yummy flag cake. (Pioneer Woman with step by step instructions!) Wyatt is more than willing to help show it off!!

But the biggest news around here is that we have family visiting. That is always a special treat!! Darrin's parents as well as his oldest sister and her son are all here visiting. Our kids are in orbit. It is so fun to have them here and to be able to show them our home and pieces of our life here. Here is Darrin with his Mom, Dad and Sister De this Sunday at church.

And here are my four with their cousin Audey-- who is only about two weeks in age older than Austin although he is obviously taller than both Z and A! (And Chloe is wearing a little shawl with matching purse and hairbow that her Aunt De made for her!)

If you don't here from me for a few days, know we are out showing off the city to family!! :o)