Today was nothing but travel. I will be honest. It was miserable it involved a 4 hr drive from Samara to San Jose which had us leaving at 6am. The kids were pretty horrible in the car. Smile.

I won't repeat the horrid experience at the airport. I had it typed out and then realized some things are better left untold.

Get me on the plane.

FINAL THOUGHTS

1. Ten days with your family is a long time. Don't let this blog fool you. We had moments where I was pretty sure we wouldn't make it and all four of us had our meltdowns. But getting to spend that much time with my family is something we have never done before and I wouldn't give any of it back. Ok maybe a few "special" parts.

2. While I spent a lot of time planning all the best stuff - places to stay, activities, restaurants, etc most of our best memories will probably be the people we got to know and the unplanned moments.

3. One of the most surprising observations for me was the reaction to my son and his perception of it. He got almost no attention when he had his braids in. My daughter got it all. As soon as his hair was back we had locals wanting to take pictures with him, talking to him, etc. He has cool hair, I get it. But it was a bit shocking for me to observe.

4. My daughter became very observant with the animals and their babies. Which animals have eggs and which don't was a new game. By the last day that turned into the dreaded question of "how do babies (people) get out of their mommy's tummy". My answer of "with the doctors help" only held her over for 30 minutes. If anyone would like to take that one for me...

5. If you can't tell by my blog, La Carolina is my absolute favorite place in CR. It's a short drive from the Liberia airport. We are talking about a plan to get the kids down there annually and to watch flight prices. The beaches are pretty but to us Pura Vida is about the land, animals and people.

6. If asked to compare traveling with the kids to just the two of us - different. Better in many ways but much more exhausting. We didn't lounge and sip wine at night. We slept! I don't think we sacrificed one ounce of fun and we still put our own adventurous spin on it. 

The day started off rough, to put it nicely. I won't go into too much detail but since this is my (I mean our) own blog why not tell a little.

For a month prior to coming on this trip I randomly cut all drinks, except water, out of my diet. I wanted to see what effect it had on my body and to stabilize my system before so much fruit!

The interesting part of my experiment was that for almost 2 months I pretty much eliminated my migraines. Quite shocking because I have horrible ones that can get as high as 20 something a month. I had become a bit dependent on soda and sweet tea and was trying to cut some calories.

The night before at dinner I ordered a mixed drink, with coke in it. I hadn't had a soda in close to 6 weeks. This morning I woke up with a migraine. I believe I have found another piece to my migraine puzzle....It didn't make me feel any better in the moment though.

Josh tried to keep the kids sane fur as long as possible so I could sleep. When I felt human we got up and headed over to Samara Organics for breakfast. We still had 45 minutes until we needed to be at the zip line office.

25 minutes later.... Our omelette, breakfast platter and granola/yogurt emerged. Although we literally had to throw the food down our hatches, the omelette was divine with all the fresh vegetables and eggs and yogurt was tasty. Best breakfast we have had in Samara. Just slow.

We drove over to the Wing Nuts office which was luckily right on the outskirts of town. We got there on time. We signed out lives away and got harassed up. I briefly questioned what we were thinking bringing our kids to do this as they strung them up to the beams and said "ok now flip upside down. It will be just like that in the trees." My son wasn't having any flipping. We loaded up a van with a grown family of three and were up the hill got a few minutes.

Holy Mosquitos. The other family was talking about how there weren't any bugs here in Samara. Are these people crazy? My legs now looked like I had gone through a few rounds of chicken pox.

I was happy to hear the kids would not be breaking themselves. I wasn't thrilled about the hand/glove break system for myself. Six years ago I badly burned my arm on a cable and still have the scar. As we ascended the first platform I was really having second thoughts on this. My son can't even listen when I tell him not to stick his fingers in the moving fan blades. How is he going to listen to these directions? Don't worry. Josh had double GoPros set up to record the majority of the events. He with one and my daughter with the other.

For the most part it was fine. My daughter turned upside down and giggled through the trees the entire time when they told her to. My favorite parts were private yl when they hooked the kids together and sent them down a slow line together. They loved that. Or when Josh dropped his hand break and completely flung the staff member at the end into a tree. Can't wait to see that video! But seriously some if the views of the sea were incredible. We stopped and had snacks as a group high up on one platform. Very cool. And they were very safe. I think the only outfitter in the country taking anybody that can fit in a harness. Kids loved it.

Afterwards it was lunchtime but everyone was full from snacks. We headed back for naps to refuel for the beach. I took advantage of the quiet time to visit a few of the boutiques. The Fabric Boutique is definitely my favorite shop in town. Cute bohemian beach clothes, jewelry. I got a cute scarf for Ro, some jewelry and a new coverup. Score. I tried to get them to sell me this torn fabric covered dream catcher but was told it was display. I thought I could convince them but no. They did invite me to the town's World Ocean Day celebration on Sunday. Sounded cool. Too bad we are leaving.

When the kids got up we headed back to find Pablo. We noticed he was already packing his trailer so we told him we would surf tomorrow. He asked if we had checked out that beach. We told him we had and asked if he had any clue about the police car and everyone else. Yes. Yes he did. He forgot to tell us that TWO PEOPLE HAD DIED OVER THERE. Lovely. He thinks they fell on the rocks and they have still only found one body. See that white boat over there? That's the search boat for the other body. Oh good. Glad we used common sense and didn't climb down anywhere. Oh Pablo.

We did our "normal" beach then pool routine before getting ready for dinner. Tonight we decided to hit up Lo Q Hay. We noticed them building a bonfire earlier in the day. That indeed seemed to be where the crowd was. A party was happening at 8:30. WAY past our bed time but some other families had the same idea as us and had come early too. While we waited for the kids' pizza and our tacos, the bonfire was lit and every kid on the beach swarmed. I'm not sure that was the safest reaction. Our son quickly made friends with a group of girls and spent a while chasing hermit crabs with them. What a life.

I thought the tacos were the most foodie thing I had had in Samara.

Another busy day and everyone was out quickly.

I will be honest. I have no clue what insane time the children woke up. Without the bug nets to keep them in their beds it was a losing battle. For most who know me in real life, you probably know I talk a lot in my sleep. Drives Josh crazy. This whole trip I've woken us both up every night yelling for my son to be careful of something. He seems to have no concept of danger and it scares the crap out of me.

We tried to keep them quiet as long as humanly possible. These villas are quiet and removed from the bustle but are very close together. I worried about bothering others with singing Frozen songs or debating about having to wear shoes in the streets. It was finally time for sunrise so we made our way over to the beach for a walk and shell collecting.

My daughter would only collect the pink ones. She carefully placed them in the pocket of her little designer surf coverup. Such my diva. My son just went crazy picking up the largest pieces of coral he could find. The peaceful morning walk came to abrupt end when my daughter discovered the crabs waking up and we uncovered a new fear of hers.

It was almost 7 do we thought places should be opening up for breakfast. Nope. Nothing. We stopped by Samara Organics I had heard such great things about. Not until 7:30. So we went back to wait a tad longer.

Almost 8 and we struck out again at the breakfast place. Not good. We noticed that Lo Q Hay, one if our must try dinner places was open. We ducked in and grabbed a table on the beach. That table lasted all of two minutes before we moved onto the patio. There are some sort of sand fleas here that are destroying us. I couldn't take it and moved us out of the sand. We put in a quick order for French toast for the kiddos and breakfast tacos with potatoes and rosemary for both of us. It took a while to cook but was delicious. As we waited we figured out that some of the more chill surfers ran their gig out of there. Not the more sophisticated joint with GoPro hookups on the boards like at C&C but just cool dudes. They brought the kids some chalk and let them draw on the dart board wall.

After breakfast we got geared up for the beach and split up on duties. Diego at our reception desk was in so I talked to him about getting in touch with the zip lining folks. I had emailed but not heard back. Instantaneously he had them on the phone and handed it to me - English, he said. That was easy. We were booked for tomorrow morning. Next up turtle hatchlings at the conservation center. They apparently didn't speak English so he made a quick call. He told me it would be tomorrow or Saturday. Was he ok to set either up for us? Sure. Why can't everything be this easy?

I made my way back to the beach and the family. Josh told me he had talked to one of his new friends Christian out in front of Lo Q Hay. They could take the kids out for a private surf lesson at 1 when it was super calm. One of us would be in the water too since they don't swim. No clue what it would cost back home but they offered to take them for $30 and then they can use boards for the rest of our stay. Flashbacks to my surf lesson here years ago pop into my head... That was a disaster and I thought i would die.

We played on the beach some but the waves were getting big. I was wrong. There appear to be quite a few good surfers here. Short board.

Time for some more pool and then down for naps before our afternoon outings.

Everyone woke up just in time to have some leftovers before heading back to the surf school. Josh made a trip to the never open Samara Organics that was now open for some fruit. When he got back I took a turn and grabbed a smoothie to hold be over. For $3.50 I say yummy. Quite the cool shop with fresh sandwiches, coffee and juices plus tons of natural foods, sauces, cheeses, chocolate, etc.

Turns out the surf school actually has a name. The Tico Surf School. We met up with Pablo who turns out to be the owner. I make sure he knows my kids can't swim. He assures me he has worked with small kids and tells me he has a 7 year old who can't listen to directions at all. He should be good. The first 15 minutes are spent on the land doing safety and and learning to pop up. I loved that he started by telling them that they would stand in their spot while he talked and if they moved the lesson was over. That set the stage. I've never seen them listen do intently. I was super impressed with how he talked to them and how he worked out a plan with us. Basically it would be a rotation. He would get them on the wave. We caught them turned them back out (and filmed of course.)

I knew my daughter would be good but had no idea she would pop up first time. It was ridiculously cool. It took our son a few tries to get the courage. Soon they were both up every time. Josh and I were exhausted. It was like the snowboarding stuff all over again. While it was awesome that I had a 3 year old up surfing, I was most proud at how determined and fearless they both were. How spoiled are these kids? They learned to surf in Costa Rica.

When the kids cried uncle, and the storm clouds started rolling in, we headed into the beach. As we cleaned up we talked to Pablo about the surrounding beaches. He gave me directions to Barrigona and then said "I am 100% sure you shouldn't go today. Go another day when it is sunny." Instead he gave us directions to a secret beach past Carillo. The directions involved looking for a speed bump, turning down a gravel road, finding a big wall in the middle of the road built by a Swedish (or maybe Danish?) man and then walking down a path. We found all those landmarks and headed towards the water. The empty parked police truck was a little disturbing but we kept going. At the end was a 270 degree vista of amazing rocky coastline. We weren't adventurous enough to go down and see the tide pools. We were worried to get stuck in the rain.

As we headed back towards Playa Carillo two police on motorcycle passed us. Strange. Down at the beach a group of lifeguards was walking together. Again strange since we had never seen any lifeguards. I won't even mention the ambulance we passed as we got further away.

Coming back into Samara I notice a hair salon in a small house. An idea popped into my head. If you haven't noticed the pictures, my son's hair was going downhill fast. He also had noted that no one told him he was cute anymore. If I could take the braids out I would. I couldn't. I jumped out of the car and popped in. They could barely understand me. They talked a but, accidentally sent us into a room with a woman getting waxed and sent us into town. I had no clue where they said to go. Something like La Morena. Or maybe they were just calling me that. Doesn't it mean brunette?

We drove around the Main Street and saw nothing except a surf shop called Marea. Josh wanted to know if that could be it. Uh, no. I'm pretty sure they don't do hair while selling surf gear. Well.... Why don't we go in anyway? Oh geez. So we all pile into this tiny surf shop which was also an ice cream shop. Perfect. I tried to keep my son from diving head first into the ice cream bin while Josh started wandering. Honey, I don't think this is gonna work. One child is climbing on clothing racks and the other is halfway in the ice cream fridge now. He seemed to agree and pulled them towards the door. As we were leaving I gave it a shot and asked the girl working there if she knew any hair salons to take out braids. She did.

We are now back in the car looking for a mini plaza. Josh somehow knows this place - no clue why. We find it easily and I then go on the search for Laura. I find a surprisingly upscale salon in the back with a woman I presume is Laura. She is extremely nice and says that of course they can take his braids out and condition it. Her assistant specializes in braids and can braid again if we want. No we are good. It took about an hour but he sat that quiet as could be the whole time. The two ladies couldn't have been nicer. There was an American girl in there getting a Keratin treatment and Laura's daughter who entertained the kids some - and was quite the business woman as Josh bought some bracelets for the kids. There was absolutely no way (1) we could have done that, they had special picks and (2) his hair was gonna make it one more day without moisturizer. The smile on that kids face when they were all out. He was almost asleep as they washed his hair and combed it. He was so relaxed. After well over an hour of working on him they told me $16. What? You are kidding. We gave them a ridiculous tip, thanked them profusely and left. If you are in Playa Samara and need hair or nail services, go see Laura. She's next to the big supermarket in the very back. It sounded like all the girls go there.

Newly free, our son was like a new boy. We headed for dinner at El Ancla across the road from our villa. It was a rainy night so we sat under the roof but still had a great view of the ocean. I loved their tree canopy with lights on the beach. The food was more seafood focused. I got a dish that had almost an Indian curry influence with the fish. Their guacamole was delicious and I'm totally stealing how they serve it in the avocado peel. The kids were happy with the quesadillas. Everywhere we have been we have split one meal for the kids and it has worked fine. Happy to have non-picky eaters.

I did order a drink which will be a topic for tomorrow...My first drink order other than that mojito or the fruit juices.

Everyone was pure exhausted and fell asleep quickly.