Friday-Costa Rica!

 

Monkeys, Crocodiles, Iguanas....OH MY!!!

 

We were very lucky to have met Jack and his wife (the ones originally from the Netherlands) because they referred us to a private guide who offered similar excursions that the hotel sold.  Instead of being carted around on a bus with 30 of your newly formed tourist friends, we were in our private SUV with our own personal guide, Noelberto! 

 

Costa Rica is known for its volcanoes, rain forests and adventurous excursions like zip lining, hanging bridges, challenging hikes, white water rafting, etc.  We realized well before we booked the trip that we would not be able to do any excursions and we were content with enjoying the resort.  We were pleasantly surprised to find out that we could take Wesley to the Palo Verde National Park (with guide) and take a trip on the river boat to see some really awesome wildlife!  Noelberto picked us up at 8am from the hotel, just me, Chris and Wesley!  We drove for about 45 minutes through Costa Rica.  Wesley was happy to fall asleep for a quick morning nap-perfect!  Chris and I learned quite a bit of Costa Rican culture, customs and history from Noelberto.  A large part of their economy is Sugar Cane...sadly the people that work in the sugar cane fields have a very demanding, horribly physical job which we witnessed.  The Nicaraguan border is about an hour away and they come in daily on busses arriving by 5am to beat the heat and work for about 5 hours each day non stop to clear one parcel of sugar cane.  We saw them finishing for the day and they were just pitiful looking; filthy dirty, sweaty, sunburned, etc.  It is very taxing manual labor and apparently it pays very poorly as well but the Nicaraguans are not typically educated and don't have many other means for work.  It was really sad to see the workers in the fields, cutting the cane by hand.  A different world!  It was also strange to meet Noelberto, one of five children who all still lived in the same village in Costa Rica yet seem so privileged.  He was educated, had actually spent time studying in the US and Canada and was very successful with his business being a private guide.  I can't say it was any more expensive than if we had taken a group tour but yet it was so much more enjoyable and very interesting hearing a true Costa Rican's perspective.

 

Noelberto was very knowledgeable about the Palo Verde park as well...here he is giving the passengers on our boat a lesson in the ecosystem.  We saw so many species of birds: tiger herons, blue herons, other types of herons...crocodiles (huge 16 foot crocodile in the mud!), gorgeous iguanas sunning in the trees, cows (they don't look like American cows), and lastly and most importantly...MONKEYS!!!!!  There are two prevalent types of monkeys, howler monkeys and white faced monkeys.  The howler monkeys tend to sleep during the day so while we saw them, the weren't very active and usually asleep in a tree.  The white faced monkeys on the other hand were so cool...Noelberto has had enough experience with them to coax them on board.  They jumped on the boat several times right from the trees and while very skittish, got close enough for Wesley to giggle about and point to.  He is a big pointer these days letting us know exactly what he wants!  While we couldn't bring home a monkey...we did bring home a "gecko" (stuffed!). 

 

 

Our guide, Noelberto, giving us the run down on the wildlife.

The "river boat" that we rode on.



The "cows" of Costa Rica.

The "white faced monkey" hanging on the boat!

Monkey Business!

More Monkey Business---right on the bow of the boat!

After the boat ride we had about an hour ride back to the hotel.  We had the option to stop for lunch but little W fell asleep very soon after hitting the A/C in Noelberto's SUV.  We decided to skip the lunch out and head back to the hotel instead so Wesley would enjoy a good nap in the car.  That was the beauty of having our private guide...we could do whatever we wanted and Noelberto was great with Wesley.  While he didn't have children of his own, he had many nieces and nephews (sound familiar) and enjoyed having Wesley on board.  Most of the roads in  CR are not paved so while it was bumpy, Wesley didn't seem to mind.  It was very surprising to see how poor Costa Rica is...the homes were open air and seemed dusty/diryt.  It was the dry season so I can only imagine how muddy it gets in the rainy season.  We only saw one part of CR as they have varying elevations/mountains and terrains as well as varying climates.  We really loved everything about it and would go back in a skinny minute!  Maybe when Wesley is older we can go back and enjoy the canopy tours/zip lines---assuming we aren't too old! 

Once we got back to the hotel, we headed straight for the pool!  Wesley's favorite spot!  Here he is being a total goof...

Later that evening, we headed out for our last dinner.  We had yet to take one photo of the family so here it is...not great but at least we have it.  Wesley didn't part with his snack cup much of the week...I was okay with that because he truly never embraced the food.  He had pancakes every day and would graze on other items but that was the same for lunch and breakfast.  I am certain that we/he abused the snack cup but we were on vacation! 

Our last dinner we were lucky to have our favorite waiter of the week, Allan.  He also was a father of a 2 year old and LOVED Wesley.  He would go out of his way to come by our table and play with him.  We traded stories and laughed a bit but it was nice to have someone serving us that understood why we had trucks, pipe cleaners (by the way, best $1 purchase ever) and dinosaurs at the dinner table!  The staff was overly helpful and understanding yet appreciative.  Nicest staff I have encountered at a hotel chain!  While Hilton may not have the best locations, they have a top notch staff.
Our last evening....



The sunscreen worked!  No burns (or tans for that matter)!  One HAPPY, HAPPY family!!! 

Thursday-Costa Rica!

 

I Promise I Am a Morning Person!!!

 

The first photo below just cracks me up.  I am not sure who is more tired, Wesley or me!  There was a one hour time change which Wesley never really caught on to so we were up early every day.  This particular morning we decided to take advantage of one of two hiking trails on the property.  It was a pretty steep hike up (although pretty short, thank goodness) and by the time I got to the top with 25lbs on my back, I thought I would die!  Chris kept offering to take Mr. Excitement but I kept insisting--I needed the workout and Wesley was actually pretty content contrary to what the photos may depict.  We saw some cool birds and there were great views from the hill but we were disappointed when we couldn't find any monkeys.  The day had just begun!

 

 

Whose idea was this to go on a hike at 6:30am?

View from the hike!  Ironically, looks much like a boat we saw on our honeymoon.

I promise this was NOT Mommy's idea:)

Just a view from the beach!

While Chris and I were responsible parents the entire week, we still found time to enjoy ourselves.  The resort does not serve any alcohol until 11am but they do provide 2 beers per day in the mini fridge.  We got into a routine early in the week: put Wesley down for a nap and enjoy our book/tablet while enjoying one cold beer on the porch while he took about a 90 minute nap.  The problem is as the week progressed, the mornings got earlier which led to an earlier than usual nap and an earlier than usual start at the pool.  This also meant that our one beer had to last a lot longer...have no fear-Julio was there!  We mentioned Julio earlier-our favorite bellman/tram driver/pukey blanket  finder/father of a 2yr old/etc...he would check on us often and always stop to chat if we were sitting on our porch.  He would always ask if we needed anything so we finally caved in and asked how to get more beer for the fridge.  No sooner than we had asked than he had returned with about six beers-plenty for the rest of the week.  The resort is an all inclusive where tips are not necessary.  The staff loved us because we were happy to tip and make the stay more enjoyable or easier with Wesley (they were very helpful in accomodating us with child)!  While we thought Julio really liked us, I am sure he liked the tips more.  We were happy to have someone looking out for us...he even told his buddies on the other shifts about us and they also checked in. 

This particular morning we arrived at the pool just as the bar was opening so Wesley was one of the first customers.  We made MANY friends at this pool; it was the biggest and most central main pool but also had the swim up bar.  Wesley loved jumping from seat to seat as long as there were no customers.  Here he is trying to use his charm for a cold one!

What does a kid need to do to get a drink around here?

Make it a double!!



And make it snappy, por favor!



It's Costa Rica...why do I need an ID?

Not a bad view from the pool!
 

This night we went back to the Italian restaurant, "Del Fuego" which required a ride on the tram.  We were greeted by Alonzo, a good friend of Julio's.  We told him where we were going but he passed the restaurant---because he wanted to show us the Howler Monkeys that were milling in the trees just down the way!  He stopped the tram, showed us the monkeys and even mimicked the call that they make.  It was awesome...we saw them in the trees, in the wild right at the resort!  So cool!
We had a great dinner, ran into more folks that Wesley had made friends with and then called it a night.  Another wonderful vacation day in Costa Rica!!! 

And the Parent of the Year Award Goes to...

Anyone BUT Us!!!

 

I thought it pertinent to interrupt the Week of Costa Rica blog entries for an important and serious update.  I mentioned in a prior post that Wesley gave us a bad scare as we were landing in Costa Rica and that we thought it could be related to the Peanut Butter Crackers.  Wesley had his 15 month check up the week after we returned.  We told our doctor of the incident which quickly earned Wesley a blood test for peanut and tree nut allergies.  The blood draw was not a fun experience for Wesley or me but we got through it and he was a champ. 

 

Chris, Wesley and I went for a run on Saturday AM and when we returned we had a message from the pediatrician.  She called on Saturday because she was so concerned about the level/severity of peanut allergy that Wesley had that she didn't want to wait until Monday.  She told us that Wesley has a severe allergy to peanuts and a likely allergy although less severe, to tree nuts.  She advised us to get in to see her asap to get set up with an epi-pen.  We had an appointment today with her and learned just how lucky we were with the episode in Costa Rica.  I don't know what I was thinking to take peanut butter crackers, except that I really thought we had introduced it enough times.  Our doctor explained that the reactions get progressively worse with each exposure.  It scared us for sure, but now we know how to avoid it.  Chris and I just went through our pantry getting rid of the more obvious peanut items, peanut butter cookie mix, Girl Scout tagalongs, belgium waffle mix, gigantic tin of peanuts (one of my clients is "Birdsong Peanuts" so my Christmas gift is going back to the office!), etc.  As you can see it is mostly "sweets" which we could stand to get rid of however, the less obvious are the granola bars that Chris and eat almost daily in our lunches.  Hind sight is truly 20/20 or better...give your child cheese ritz bits crackers when flying to a second world country--not peanut butter! 

 

We have rearranged the pantry, ditched a lot of items and done a bit of research.  We have to take this very seriously and while we are nervous, we understand that parents and children live with this pretty easily.  Just wanted all of you to know...the more people we arm with this information, the less likely he is to come in contact with a peanut.  Looking back, we were naive and frankly-stupid, but were lucky to have had a mild reaction on the plane.  We don't want to push our luck!

Mid Week-Costa Rica!

Lots to See and Do!!

 

We headed out for our morning jaunt and had another "gecko" sighting.  You can see in the photo, the views were always gorgeous looking over the cove and on the boats on their moorings.  As I mentioned, it was quite hilly going around the resort so we got our workout in by pushing Wesley in the stroller.  The hills were not so inviting for him to get out and run around.  While there were a few nice grassy spots and the flat beach, there were otherwise not many places to let Wesley run free.  He had plenty of energy so we decided to check out the "Kids Club" at the resort.  Because he is so young, we couldn't leave him (which we didn't want to do anyway) but it was a great spot for us to be inside in the A/C and play with toys!  They had tons of toys for children and were happy for us to enjoy them! 

 

 

Enjoying the morning ride and view

Trying to burn off some energy!

The "umbrellas" on the hill by the beach.

Happy Boys!!! 

Wednesday-Costa Rica!

 

Doesn't Get Much Better!

 

The morning walks were gorgeous...the first photo below is on the hill above our room and overlooks the main pool area/restaurants and beach.  You can barely see the pools in the photo but this is where we spent most of our time.  The walks were always full of new birds and nature...cool temps and a great way to start our days.

 

The Hilton was great about having scheduled activities each day around the pool...spanish lessons, water aerobics, towel animal making, nature hikes, bingo, etc.  Wesley's favorite was Water Aerobics!  At 11am each day the music would blast at the pool and the instructors (male) would use their Costa Rican charm and lead guests (obviously usually female) in a water aerobics class.  Wesley loved the music, loved watching the women dancing and would wave his hands in the air while sitting in his float observing (this was in the same pool as the swim up bar which worked to our advantage!)

 

We seemed to find a routine by the first day and stuck to it.  As I mentioned, Wesley did get 2 naps a day which were necessary.  The sun and heat was very powerful and hot.  We are proud to say Wesley didn't have one ounce of burn on his delicate skin (I was peeling by the third day!) because I was so worried about him that I forgot about myself.  Truth is, even leaving the room for breakfast was hot and bright and you couldn't be too careful with the sun.  We would go for a morning swim or beach stroll.  Wesley didn't LOVE the beach but it was very different from home.  While we were on a very protected cove on the Pacific coast, there were little to no waves and the beach had very dark sand.  We saw some stingrays in the water and fish milling around but we still spent most of our time in the pool-that was Wesley's preference!  It didn't help that the sand was hot as hell and we didn't have great shoes for Wesley.  He has good "stride rite" shoes that he has been fitted for but we thought we could pick up a pair of off-brand summer shoes for the trip.  I even tried them on his little feet while we were in Target but by the time we got to Costa Rica a week later and his pudgy "fred flinstone" feet swelled with the heat, they didn't fit!  (I think the Fred Flinstone feet are from his Daddy!) By Wednesday we felt bad and dorked him out by making him wear socks and his good "stride rite" brown shoes to dinner!  I am sure it won't be the first time we are ill-prepared or that Wesley looks silly as a result of his parents' poor judgment! 

 

One thing that was great about the resort is that not only were the staff overly pleasant but so were the guests.  As I mentioned, Wesley had made a name for us by the end of the first day.  We would see people randomly around the resort and they would say "Hello Wesley"!  One night we were getting off of the tram and another couple was getting on and they also said hello to Wesley, remembering his name.  While he was far from the only child at the resort, I guess he was memorable!  We had two families that we spent a bit of extra time with.  The family next to us had a son, Ryan, who was exactly Wesley's age.  The couple was traveling with their parents and the dad's sister.  We would see them often and hang out at the pool a lot.  They were from Canada which was actually very common, we met more Canadians than Americans.  The other nice couple was a family originally from Oss, Netherlands...of course we talked about Chris' brother in-law, Johan who is also from the Netherlands to gain some common ground.  They were older than us, had grandchildren older than Wesley but were such a lovely couple.  Jack was retired from Glaxo Smith Kline (I think) and was now "just on the board".  His wife was absolutely adorable with her dutch accent and they adored Wesley.  At the same time they were so understanding if he had a moment/tantrum and were overly supportive of our decision to bring him to Costa Rica.  They currently live in northern CT and have for many years but were obvious world travelers.   I honestly looked forward to seeing them each day and chatting with them.  While they were easily in their 70's, they did many excursions and would come back to share their day with us.  Since there was only one restaurant for breakfast we would typically run into the same folks each day.  They would look out for us and vice versa...NICE, NICE people!  The staff at the Hilton were no different...always accomodating, always pleasant and would very much go out of their way (especially for Wesley!) 

 

On a walk, a view overlooking the pools and beach!

I ate my weight in snacks this week!

Hangin' in the shade...it was too hot in the sun for me!

Tuesday-Costa Rica!

 

Gecko...Iguana...It's About the Same!

 

This resort was an all-inclusive.  Not something that Chris and I would typically look for in a vacation; we would prefer to go off of the beaten path and find the hidden/local spots.  But when planning our trip we realized that Hilton does not have properties in the greatest of locations and so when we found this one, we thought it might actually work out well with the baby.  And boy did it!!!  You will see on Friday's entry that we did a really awesome excursion but other than that, we chose to stay put at the resort for the whole week. 

 

The resort was actually very big.  The majority of the rooms were set up cottage style.  Two "hotel rooms" were placed into one cottage with an adjoining door if you chose-just like any hotel.  We only had one side of our "cottage" and it was very much like a hotel room which was great for us.  I admit, it would have been great to have an extra room for Wesley so we didn't have to worry about waking him during naps but we managed just fine and Wesley kept to his schedule with 2 naps every day! 

 

 The vastness of the resort enabled us to venture around without feeling we were stuck at a resort the whole time.  The resort had open air trams/mini-buses that transported guests all over the property all during the day and evening because it was so large.  We were very lucky to have a cottage literally 30 yards from the main pool and restaurant so we rarely rode the tram.  Our location was so convenient and we noticed they purposely put the families in our area.  The far side of the resort had another pool and Spa but was "adults only".  We were happy to be in the middle of the fun!  There were 4 restaurants on the property and one required the tram but that was mostly because it was so hilly, not because it was really far.  We actually would take a long walk every morning (or hike as you will see later) as Wesley still woke very early and because we were always looking for wildlife.  Costa Rica is known for their birds, monkeys and iguanas!  We saw all three by just milling around the grounds!  Howler monkeys reside in the trees and make a lot of noise but there are also other types that live in Costa Rica.  The birds are amazing...types you would normally see in a cage or pet store were plentiful in the wild-the cockatoos were awesome.  One of the greatest things we saw were the IGUANAS!  Wesley LOVED seeing them but decided on his own name.  He recently learned the word "gecko" after visiting Mimi and Pop's house.  They have many geckos in sculpture form all over their house and Wesley was quick to point at them and learn the name, "gecko".  So when he saw his first iguana in Costa Rica, he quickly decided it was a gecko.  We loved it and certainly didn't want to correct him so for the rest of the week, we saw geckos although they were really iguanas!  There is a special iguana, "Dino", that the dive company on-site would feed everyday.  He would come around lunchtime everyday for his banana!  Those simple little distractions were so great for Wesley and he thoroughly loved seeing the nature, the animals and boy did he win over some staff!!!  By Monday, Julio was way on board with our family but other staff and even other guests were calling Wesley by name--the little blonde boy from Virginia had quite a reputation!

 

The photos below are actually from the first full day...look on the hedges to the right and you will see a fairly large iguana enjoying his lunch on the flowers.  Wesley and I were in the pool watching the show!  Daddy was still a tad injured so he was behind the camera.

 

Notice at the back of the hedge...our iguana/gecko friend is hanging out!  Wesley is pointing at it.

A little closer for us!

Our Jurassic Park! 

Costa Rica, Baby!!!

 

Crazy or Crazy!

 

As many of you know, Chris has had his share of travel for work over the past couple of years.  It finally paid off with enough Hilton points and Delta Skymiles to take a trip to Costa Rica-free!  I am getting ready to ramp up with my job (the few months before July are extremely busy) and Chris is probably going to be furloughed come April.  So, sort of last minute, we decided to book the trip.  Most people that we told thought we were leaving Wesley at home...they were crazy to think we'd leave him, we were crazy to take him to a second world country.  Truth is, we took every precaution we could think of and it was AWESOME!  The decision was either to go on a trip with Wesley or not go at all---not a very tough decision! 

 

We flew out at 5:40 am on Sunday.  Thank goodness we didn't try to go Saturday because it took us all day Saturday to plan and  pack.  We woke Wesley at 4am as we were headed out the door, still in his PJs.  He was a real trooper!  I had loaded up on toys/junk at the dollar store so we had plenty of surprises to keep him occupied on the flights.  He slept on all 4 flights coming and going although not the entire time.  We flew into Atlanta and had breakfast then a bit of time to run around.  Wesley entertained most of the passengers in the terminal while we waited for the second flight.  He was a bit cranky getting to sleep on this flight but did so for almost 2 hours. 

 

Towards the end of the flight and for the landing, Wesley gave us a very bad scare.  I made a big mistake (looking back) by feeding him Ritz Peanut Butter mini crackers.  As we descended, Wesley threw up, got totally sweaty, his heart was racing, he was grabbing at his tongue and he was crying on top of it.  We could not get off of the plane fast enough!  We got to the customs agent and started asking for medical help.  Fortunately, we carried Wesley's albuteral/steroid inhaler in our carry-on and quickly gave him a few blasts.  We were rushed through customs and Wesley seemed to start improving.  We decided we probably didn't need to rush off in an ambulance.  Luckily, we had arranged a car service prior to arrival so it was VERY comforting to see a sign when we got through security that said "Mr. Christian Johnson".  The man was quick to load us into his mini-van with our baggage and start our short trip to the Hilton Papagayo.  By this point, Wesley was doing pretty well.  He had the air conditioning blasting on him and had stopped sweating, breathing heavy, etc.  He was defintiely tired but so were we!  I definitely think we were safe to not have taken him for medical attention...he did scare us, though!

 

We arrived at the hotel and were happily greeted by the staff including one of our favorite bellman/tram drivers, Julio!  I was mortified when Julio started grabbing our luggage and picked up the open ziplock bag of Wesley's huge blanket stuffed into it because he had thrown up all in it on the plane!!!  He had already picked it up before he realized what it was and then he started apologizing to me because I felt so bad and was apologizing---it was pretty funny!  Turns out Julio has a 2 year old himself and was very understanding of our circumstances!  It was great to meet him as he took care of us the rest of our stay and loved Wesley! 

 

Wesley was very hot by the time we got to our room (our room wasn't quite ready so we hung out at the restaurant beside the pool) so we gave him a cool bath and put him down for a nap.  Truth be told, we all laid down for a little nap.  I don't think Chris or I planned to crash but after such a long day, it was almost necessary. 

 

We had a great dinner at one of the four restaurants and actually turned in pretty early.  We had a great porch that we did hang out on while Wesley slept during his naps and a bit before we retired each night, but this night we succumbed to our day of travel!  We were excited to explore in the morning and since we were sharing a room with Wesley, we knew we'd all be up early! 

 

Below is our first experiences with the wonderful pools at the resort.  There were 3 different levels or pool areas that we got to explore all week.  They were different depths, some had waterfalls, one had a swim up bar, some were endless, and all were pleasant!!!  Unfortunately, the day before we left Virgini Beach, Chris got "run off of the road" by a car while he was running and ended up with some pretty bad scrapes/wounds on his hand and knee.  As a result, he opted to stay out of the water the first day to let his injuries heal.  So, I was lucky in that I got to take Wesley swimming all day on Monday.  Here are a few photos below showing you just how much fun he had swimming in the pools and playing in the sun!!!  The week had just begun and we were so happy!!!

 

(I broke the trip up by day on the blog because there is so much to share--this is day 1 and 2-more to come!)

How Wesley "rolled" most of the week! 

Does my face say "happy", or what???

Time for lunch!!!