Costa Rica 2013

This place is amazing!!! And we were lucky enough to be able to visit it again (see 2011 here).

Here's a video that pretty much sums up our incredible trip!
(Thank you to Tina for letting us use her GoPro--it rocked!!)

This was a Garrison trip planned by Ben's dad and Tina but ironically, my family planned a trip to Costa Rica the very same week.  (This took out our babysitters) but allowed us to meet up for a few days and they joined in on some of our activities--which was so fun!

Day 1 we started with river rafting down Sarapiqui Jungle Run.  It was so awesome!  Class 3 and 4 rapids.  TONS of fun, rowing, yelling, and laughing. 

Day 2 we went canyoneering bright and early (which just means hiking down a canyon and repelling down waterfalls).  They ranged in height from 20-200 meters.  SO much fun!!

They dam up the river behind us and then let it crash onto us for a while... love this part.

Day 2 (Monday), we also went zip-lining. We took the Sky Tram gondola up with the best views of Lake Arenal, and then zip lined down 8 cables ranging from 30-760 meters long and heights of 20-200 meters!  So relaxing yet thrilling. 

Day 3 (Tuesday) we went horseback riding (POOR horses... they were so poorly taken care of that it took some of the fun out of it) but it was still so pretty and we hiked to a waterfall to swim for a bit. 

It poured on us on the way back but it was still enjoyable.

These however, were not enjoyable.

Tuesday afternoon, we went kayaking on Lake Arenal.  This was one of my favorite parts.  So peaceful, beautiful, perfect overcast weather, and tons of laughs. 

Wednesday morning, we went four-wheeling around the volacano.  

Our days were jam-packed but we loved it.  Two activities a day made us sleep well at night!  We went caving later Wednesday and this was another favorite activity.  

The cave was so long, so cool, we were able to really explore (unlike a lot of caves in America where they block them off and don't let you touch anything)... 

Lots of nasty spiders (that we almost touched on the walls several times):

And TONS of bats.  The masks were to keep the poop out of our mouths when we looked up at them. 

Thursday we had a relaxing day with nothing planned.  Thankfully, because this was the day that Ben got SUPER sick.  He stayed in bed all day long and we both read a few books:)  So grateful it happened on our down-day. 

Friday we went to The Springs Resort & Spa (where the bachelor Brad Womack took his ladies a couple seasons back). It was an incredible hotel and had it's own zoo and river rafting, with tons of natural springs. 

Ben was still super sick (and continued to be sick for weeks after our trip)--but this was the perfect trip! We had so much fun with our family and loved doing all these wild adventures together.  Costa Rica is so beautiful and we will visit again I am sure!   Hopefully next time with the kids:) 

PURA VIDA!!