Costa Rica

We went to Costa Rica near the end of February. We had the best time together!

This is on our flight out to Costa Rica.

We enjoyed smoothies with fresh pineapple and other fresh fruit every day. The pineapple was next level sweet and the fresh fruit and smoothies were heavenly!

We loved the batidos - these were everywhere (basically a fruit smoothie)

Notice the lizard on the screen

Mom thought the BM sign was funny

Having breakfast together. It was dreamy.

Reading by the pool. We were about 1/8 mile from the beach here.

We tried something new! Dad liked it, Mom thought it was okay (but fun to try something new)

Funny Signs

In Manuel Antonio National Park

Manuel Antonio was incredible. The water was so warm and pleasant. There were also a ton of animals. We probably saw 10 iguanas - and they were big!

We also saw tons of monkeys - probably 50. they were so cute. They really did get into people's bags though. This monkey grabbed a tube of stuff out of this person's bag, then climbed a tree. The monkey dropped the tube, and mom went and grabbed it. The monkey and its friends started screeching at mom, but luckily didn't attack. Mom put the tube back and zipped up the bag.

Cute monkeys!

On our way back out of the park, the monkeys were more aggressive. We were trying to walk by and one of them scratched dad (luckily he was wearing a shirt). This is on a video.

Stopped to take picture in Jaco (Hah - co)

Someone was selling fruit by the Jaco sign and mom wanted to try. 2 thumbs down on flavor, thumbs up on trying some new fruit!

If you look closely at this picture, you can see a snake eating a frog. We watched this for a while. So crazy!

Jeff swimming laps in our hotel near the airport

Mom was wanting some healthy food so she ordered a salad - this is what they brought. We started to learn that a salad means there is some lettuce in the meal.

The fresh fruit was heavenly. This was a pool by a place we stayed. The people owned a farm and brought us lots of fresh fruit. The pineapple was truly to die for. This was in La Fortuna.

We had our own private hot tube at our AirBnB which was nice and so beautiful. It rained here quite a bit. It was so beautiful (although sadly, we weren't able to see the Arenal Volcano because of the clouds)

While in La Fortuna, we ziplined around the Arenal volcano and over the rainforests. It was incrediblly beautiful. It also was pouring rain which made it an experience. We met a cool couple from Germany and another couple from Mexico. We had a lot of fun chatting with them as we went through the 7 ziplines.

 

While in La Fortuna, we did some white water rafting and had such a great time. It was so adventurous

While driving from place to place, we stopped along the Tarcoles river and saw tons of huge crocodiles. This picture was from pretty far away. We also found out crocodiles can be in the ocean  when these rivers run into the ocean - terrifying!

When we stayed south of Manuel Antonio in Savegre de Aguirre, there were a few sloths. This one was so cool. We saw it on the move a few times!

The beach was out of this world!!

We ate at this restaurant a couple of times. On the way there, it rained harder than we ever remembered it raining before. Crazy rainstorm!

 

We went to church in Naranja. It was a very nice meeting and the people were awesome. Dad understood most of it. Mom understood some at first, but it got to be too exhausting to try to pick out words. So fun to talk to people though!

One of our very favorite places to go was Blue Falls of Costa Rica. First, we hiked down to a volcano that was incredibly beautiful. Then, there were hikes to each of these waterfalls. The hiking was incredible and somehow, we kept being amazed at each waterfall. Jeff swam in every pool below the waterfall, Mom swam in a few of them. This was such a highlight.

Dad floated down this waterfall.

No filter, no editing

We saw this sign while hiking down to the volcano waterfall.

Getting to and from the Blue Falls waterfalls was a trick.

The road was SO steep. The sign doesn't truly do it justice. It was raining and we were really nervous that our little Suzuki car wouldn't make it up the mountain. We were praying hard! We saw someone off the road at one point. Such a treacherous road!

We had the most amazing trip together. Costa Rica was out of this world beautiful, the people were friendly and we just enjoyed being on a vacation together. 

Happy 15th Birthday Austin and Scott!

These two boys are growing up! Both Austin and Scott have hit growth spurts in the last year. They are in their 9th grade year and both decided to take an AP class - AP Human Geography with a favorite teacher, Mr. Mohler. They both really enjoy Coach Jex (the health teacher) and Austin especially likes his math teacher, Mrs. Wallace because she actually teacher the math!

Scott and Austin got a fancy breakfast this morning with strawberries, sausage, and poppyseed muffins.

Austin

Scott

Scott reading his birthday card from Gma and Gpa Durtschi

Scott was very excited to get a new fancy basketball

Austin loves his new Saints ball cap.

Austin chose chocolate eclair cake.

Scott chose grasshopper pie.

These two boys have gotten SO BIG and it is throwing mom to have such big boys. They are eating like it too!

 Austin and Scott bring so much energy and fun to the house. They always have interesting things to talk about. Austin is always trying to get someone to play catch with him and can often be found throwing a ball at the couch. Austin also likes to dribble constantly in the kitchen. Both boys are killing it in school as well as church. Scott just finished being the class president and Austin took over this year. We love these two boys, they make life so fun!

Happy 11th Birthday Ty

Ty turns 11. This is a wild one because Ty will become a deacon in just a few days even though he is barely 11. For breakfast, Ty wanted eggs, fresh pineapple, bacon and poppyseed muffins!

Ty was so excited to get this new Zelda game - Tears of the Kingdom 

Ty chose his standard funfetti cake (sprinkles just on half of the cake at the request of Dad).

Grandpa Durtschi gave Ty these pitvipers to Ty for his birthday. All of the teenagers were VERY jealous!

Ty is still wearing onesies most days. He occasionally mixes in regular clothes. Kids at school ask Ty why he wears onesies and he just says, "Because I feel like it." Other kids have begun wearing reindeer onesies and other onesies to school. Pretty funny!

We got to go to Melissa's house on Ty's birthday.

 We love our quirky boy so much! Happy 11th birthday Ty!

Happy bday Jeff- 43

Happy Birthday to the incredible Jeff. He is never scared to look weird in a picture. I love him for that. He keeps life so fun for all of us. He works SO hard for our family and we all adore him. Thanks for being the best father and husband!!