Doing All The Fun Things While On Vacation

Honestly, two weeks is just not enough time off.  While I look forward to the kids going back to school and getting back into our routine and our normal activities,  the two weeks off just flew by and I feel like it wasn't much time off at all.

We did make the most of our vacation, doing all the fun things like going to the museum, bowling and even a Mickey Mouse themed birthday party.  And we all had a blast.  It was a lot of running around and go go go but I loved almost every minute of it.  Of course when dealing with kids,  life can get a bit stressful especially when you add as many kids to the mix as I have this summer.  But again, being out and about proved to more fun than just being at home.

BOWLING

LASER TAG

VIRTUAL REALITY/ARCADE

THE MOVIES

PARTY TIME

THE INCREDIBLES

TRAMPOLINE PARK JUMP CENTER

MALL PASEO DE LOS FLORES

SKATEWORLD

THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

Our Family Getaway

It's always nice to just get away, to just pack up and leave normal life behind.  Chilling on a sandy beach, relaxing by a pool with a nice cool drink in hand.  Life is always better at the beach.  We recently took another family trip to one of our favorite vacation destinations, Puerto Viejo Limon in Costa Rica and the trip did not disappoint.  The hotel was great.  The beach was amazing.  And of course, the food was on point as usual.  We had a few hiccups but that did not stop us from having a blast at the beach.  It was the perfect little family escape.

A Fun day At School/Time To Party

Every year, schools in Costa Rica plan a super cute celebration for the kids right before they go on vacation in July.  It's their winter break party and it happens every year the last day before the kids go on a mid year school vacation for 15 days.

Every school does their celebration differently and each year it varies what type of party the kids will have.  This year at the kids' new school, there were a lot of fun activities and games.  Each class was given a participating country in the World Cup where they could decorate their class with French decor, wear Germany colors or paint their faces in the Costa Rican flag colors (just to name a few).  Kids were treated to burgers and juice bottles, played Just Dance and watched movies.  It was an awesome way to kick off the start to winter vacation.

Planning Another Beach trip And Appreciating The Arts

Let me be the first to say congratulations to my daughter and her class for their magnificent performance at the school's art festival on Wednesday.  They did an amazing job and now they're heading off to the city wide competition to perform their poetic piece.

Another piece of good news I wanted to share involves my family from Boston.  My nephews will be coming to visit me for 2 whole months and we have a ton of fun activities planned in preparation for their trip.  We will be heading to the beach at the end of the month as our first fun family outing and I could not be any more excited.  Beach getaways always get me excited to be honest.  I booked the Blue Conga Hotel in Puerto Viejo and we'll be going for 2 nights and 3 days at the end of the month. We haven't been to Puerto Viejo as a family in over a year and my nephews (and my mom who will be coming with my nephews and staying for 2 weeks) have not gone back since their first visit in 2012.  I am looking forward to the trip as it'll be a time to recharge and unwind.  Besides, what's not to like about going to the beach?  The sand, the surf, the food; it could not be any more amazing.

Let's Plant Trees

Ok, maybe not actual trees but baby plants that may one day turn into trees.  It's important teaching kids from a young age about how to take care of our planet.  And what better way to start teaching them the importance of caring for our planet than by having them plant 'trees'.  Mother Earth needs all the love and care she can get and we know we can never have enough trees.  Trees are important for the planet and for human kind and now our little ones know too.  Besides, what kid doesn't like gardening. They get to play with dirt and get their little hands dirty all while having fun.

Career Day 2018

Ask almost any kid growing up in Costa Rica what they want to be when they grow up and the answer will most likely be a soccer player.  Living in a country heavily influenced by 'futbol', as is the correct term in almost every other country than the USA, it is more than just a game it's a way of life.

When it came time for the kids to pick a career for the day, where they would get to dress up as said career, I knew both my boys would want to be soccer players.  My middle son especially LOVES the sport.  And dressing as a soccer player is so easy as he already has a uniform.  But when it came time for my 4 year old to choose, I wanted him to be more unique.  As I knew majority of the kids would dress as a "footballer", I thought it would be a good idea to show him a few options and have him choose.  And he chose wisely.  As he loves music and to sing, he chose to be a musician for the day.  More accurately, he chose to be a Rock Star.  Check out my little Carlos Santana look alike.

And as it turned out, there weren't actually THAT many soccer players on career day after all.  I did see a lot of doctors and nurses though, as well as  few police officers.  But there were a few standouts, like the astronaut, the chef, the construction worker, the president/business man and the teacher.  The kids for sure had a blast and it was all in good fun seeing what all the different careers kids chose for the day. 

Happy Dad's Day

How different today seems to me than Mother's day.  If you don't have a father figure in your life, you might have completely forgotten what today was.  There wasn't as much hoopla as there usually is for Mother's Day.  Not a lot of fanfare and certainly not as much excitement for the day, although it is just as important to celebrate fathers as it is to celebrate mothers.  But somehow, the day just does not seem as important.

Granted, everyday is father's day especially for those dads that go above and beyond for their family.  The ones who take the time to be a dad and know what being a father truly means. For those dads out there, they don't need a day to feel special.  They are celebrated each and everyday.  Just by being  there for their kids day in and day out makes everyday a great day to be a dad.