Here we go. ...... For those who don't know, Sean, Sarah and I have packed up our home and possessions into the "COW", shipped the truck and Cleo off to Grandma and Grandpa's, (along with anything else we couldn't quite fit), Oliver to Amber's, Hayden off to Taiwan (lol) and left Lindsay and Julia in the Big T.O as we take an adventure to the Canary Islands, Spain. Why you might ask? Well for one, why NOT? We have been toying with this idea for the past few years, knowing we would wait until the kids were all out of the house, but the opportunity presented itself 4 years early and we said what the heck. It helped that Sarah was on board and willing to leave high school behind her for a year and start ... read more

Sorry for the long break but we have been sleeping, eating and drinking by the beach and not much time for internet..that and the stupid Hilton charges an arm and a leg for WiFi. You would think that a hotel of this stature would get with the times and include WiFi with the room, like every other hotel out there! NOT!!! That is just one of our pet peeves about the Hilton, but we won't bore you with those right now. We arrived at the Hilton Papagayo on Thursday after a 3 hour drive through the Arenal volcano area. We left The Springs with tons of cloud coverage, rain and humidity. The drive was quicker than thought and the weather changed quick as well, to sunny and clear. The hotel is just up from Playa Coco ... read more

We have been at The Springs for 3 days now. Day 2 we got up for our first excursion - White Water Rafting. The kids were quite excited and nervous all at the same time. Paola greeted us and drove us to the main city of La Fortune where we met some other people taking the tour. We then drove about an hour to the Rio Balsa or Balsa River! Balsa is a tree and this river has level 2 and 3 rapids. Along the drive our tour guide Jacoba explained the first half of the rapids would be to much for Sarah and Hayden and that they would only be able to participate in the second leg of the trip. There were a few tears but in the end it was a good decision. So ... read more

Our Villa We have a 2 bedroom villa overlooking the ocean. It is a far steep walk (one we haven't attempted yet) down to the ocean- they provide shuttle service. We are at the top of the property so great overlooking views. We are close to some restaurants outside the property, grocery store and a quaint coffee shop. At the beach there is one restaurant which serves breakfast and lunch. They have good food here and the beer is Imperial- but reminds me of Canadian so not my fave! There are 3 pools as well- all a fun walk to find! Beautiful property and lanscape. Monkeys in the trees outside the room and down at the Ocean front restaurant as we showed yesterday. There are tons of lizards and Iguanas all around. I am still a ... read more

After a good nights sleep (well 6 hours) we awoke to sunshine. We had an an early excursion at 7:20 to the Manuel Antonio International Park to see the wildlife. Lindsay and I went exploring for some type of breakfast as nothing is open until 7 and we needed to head out. We found a cafe down the street and managed to find good coffee and some light eats. Picked up by our tour guide and heading off to explore. On the drive we went past a restaurant called Hot Dogs and Beer- think Sean and I will check that one out later! The park is in a busy tourist area along the ocean and looked really cool. We started our tour with Jana and he was very informative. He had a scope that we all ... read more