Party of Five

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Vacation!

It's been a week now since our family returned from our respective vacations - Jeritt and me to Costa Rica and the kids to Iowa. We're not sure who had more fun, the kids had a blast visiting Grandma and Papa C. and Uncle Adam and Aunt Jill. But I can safely say we had better weather. Jeritt and I had a wonderful time, exploring the country and spending time at both the beach and the rainforest. But by the end of the week, we were so ready to be reunited! Here are pics from both of the trips.

Playing in the snow in Iowa.

We have an aspiring ballerina on our hands!

Trying on Grandma's glasses.

Reading books with Papa.

On the deck of our resort in Costa Rica.

We saw these animals a lot in the rainforest.

The photo doesn't do this justice, but this was the road our sturdy Toyota Corolla barely made it down. We had no idea how bad it was until we were already committed, but we never could have made it back up. There is a reason everyone drives four-wheel drive vehicles in Costa Rica!

A good road in comparison.

It's hard to tell at first, but each of these little pieces of leaf is being carried by an ant. This went on forever!

Trying to capture the distance of the ant army, but I couldn't even get it all in one shot.

The hot springs near the Arenal Volcano.

Lake Arenal. It was quite cloudy, but still beautiful.

The view from the house we stayed at in Arenal.

Where we stayed in Arenal.

The beach at the resort.

These guys were pretty common in the area.

Getting ready for a boat/snorkeling cruise.

Sunset on the ocean.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Our Baby Girl is Four!

Yes, I'm a little late on this post. Ella actually turned four on January 10; however, Jeritt and I just returned from a week-long vacation to Costa Rica (pictures to follow in a later post) and I'm just now posting about Ella's birthday. It's pretty crazy to me that the tiny little baby I remember holding for the first time is now a little girl going to preschool and growing like a weed (still 90th percentile for height!). Sigh... I'm getting emotional:) Anyway, we celebrated twice in one week - once with a birthday play date at home that included her buddies, and then in Iowa with both sides of the family. Ella had a great birthday and we're so excited to see what four brings!