Our Guanacaste Vacation

This trip was taken back in July, and I've already posted about it so enjoy the pictures.



In San Ramone at our first pit stop to have breakfast.



Wearing sweaters as the day started out cold and we were on the road by 6 am.





Buffet style breakfast


It was an enjoyable first meal (that is until Princess spilled her whole plate of food on the floor)



Outside the restaurant and 'gift' shop











On our way to Guanacaste



Africa Mia







Africa Mia gift shop















The tour begins



Camel



Ostrich



Antelope



It was a scorching HOT!!! day



Princess was afraid of the animals...



Fatty was not



Boar







'Chickens'



Our tour group



Bongo










A warthog? maybe



More ostriches



He was so in awe of all the exotic animals



Princess enjoyed the animals too



These geese or ducks, whatever, kept following us on our tour



Zebras



Vaca watusi



















Antelope







Giraffe



Check out that snake like tongue



















Time for lunch. After a LONG day (or what seemed like it) in the sun walking around Africa Mia, we headed to our destination, Termo Mania, Miravalles for lunch and to check in.











Buffet style lunch



Lunch was "muy rico".



One of the many pool areas... this one has the slide















The Mickey Mouse pool



See Mickey? ^



The scenery



The volcano at Miravalles







The cabins



Our cabin, second from the left







Our room











So we checked in, changed our clothes and headed out for a self guided tour of the farm... "La Granja".











On our way...



On our way...



This way to 'La Granja'











Mr. Toucan (not Sam)!



A strange looking horse



What's there, Princess?



That's a big bull







The bunnies



"Hey it's Donkey, from Shrek". Or so the kids thought, LOL







A pregnant sheep























That's not real... looks like it though











On our way back from visiting the farm, we stopped by the museum







































That evening before dinner... pool time fun



















The bar area



The next day at breakfast



















Getting ready to head out to our next pit stop























This place had it all... sulfur fumes (that rotten egg smell), a sauna, volcanic rocks and mud (good for the skin), mineral baths, thermal pools, wild animals (not really).



This 'wild animal' was not afraid to fly up to someone and perch right there on their arm.



The place looks down right spooky in pictures, but it was really beautiful.















Up we go



And down we go











Poor Princess, she burned her foot on one of the rocks. It was downright boiling in some places, watch your step!







Someone's idea of the ideal body, maybe?



Dream on guys!!!



Enjoying the mineral pools







Getting a mud bath















Fatty HATED getting that muddy. I guess all that mud made him feel icky all over. I thought kids loved getting sticky, icky and dirty?











All clean now











Booby made some friends



Heading back to Termo Mania for lunch and then to check out



On our way back to San Jose, the bus got a flat tire so we made an unexpected pit stop, at guess where: this place (you might remember this humongous bull from another post).






It was a wonderful trip. Immensely enjoyed by all. We had our ups (swimming at dusk, THE FOOD, etc) and downs (mainly Princess crying and behaving badly) but it was so well worth it.

Dance Moves

Learning a new dance move is hard, especially when you're trying to teach yourself.

I am a dancer. Not professionally or anything. It's just in my blood. I danced in high school, took classes, did performances and such, but never really pursued it much after I graduated. Except for the occasional party, I really didn't have much time or energy or motivation to work on my dancing.

But I LOVE to dance. I hear a song and in my head I am making up dance moves to go with that song. I hear a song and my body automatically starts moving with the beat. I am a rhythm machine. Any chance I get to dance I take it. But I've never actually performed in public, like a well put together dance routine.

Until now. I plan, if I can muster the strength and get the moves down, to perform a well put together dance routine at my big 30th birthday party bash.

Today I started seriously practicing and trying to put together a few moves. My 2 songs of choice so far are by Beyonce, Crazy In Love and Single Ladies. If and when I get these two songs down with the right moves (some copied, some my own), I might throw in a reggae tune in there to show case my uh, hmmm, Caribbean roots. LOL.

It is tough let me tell. Not having the right dance space to practice is hard. Dancing on tile floor is not ideal at all. And using the laptop to copy moves is not easy either. But I will get it done. I've been slacking as I wanted to at least be halfway though my routine by now, instead of just starting. But things are looking up. I learn pretty quickly and being in shape helps a ton.

I hope it all goes as planned. Wish me luck.

My Kids Are Heathens!!!

Once upon a time, one of the only times I could expect my two little (former) angels to be on their best behavior was when I took them out someplace.

Once we were out and about, my kids were so well behaved, I dreaded going back home. They loved being out and I loved taking them out and as my reward, they were good in public.

That's all changed now. Wanna hear a 'funny' story to prove my point? The other day I had a mountain of errands to run. Instead of dropping them off at home first, I had to drag them along. Back in the day, that would have been a good idea. Not that day. At the supermarket, they really put me to shame.

They ran all over the store. They wanted in and out of the cart. Fatty was biting everything I placed in the cart... the bag of salt, the bag of tortillas, the bag of cleaning liquid. *Ugh*!

He actually stuck his finger in one of the eggs through the plastic wrapper and BROKE it! I still had to buy the package of 15 eggs with one broken egg just because it would have been wrong to put it back after the fact.

Princess cried for EVERYTHING. She wanted everything.

Her and Fatty were crawling on the floor all over the supermarket. And while I was busy getting groceries, they both hijacked the shopping cart and ran it into a shelf piled high with chocolates. Chocolates went everywhere. I spent a good 10 minutes cleaning that mess up. And of course Princess comes running to me to tell me that Fatty did it! It's always Fatty's fault.

They left my side 3 times. I had to abandon my cart each time to run after them, once outside where they decided to go just so they could ride one of those little electronic buggy's. OMG! It was the single most stressful supermarket trip I have ever had.

And that is just how they've been recently. I can't expect good behavior in public anymore.

I could feel the eyes boring into me and on my heathen children. But I refused to hang my head in shame. As part of motherhood, you learn to adapt and deal.

One day, Princess slapped me in my face in front of one of Boobie's teachers, all because the teacher was trying to talk to her. And she did not like the attention or the fact that I was talking to the teacher, so she lashed out.

She clings to my leg in public when people try to talk to her. She gets super feisty and just uncontrollable when attention is on her and then she takes it out on me.

Fatty, my always tranquil, always super friendly child has become a wild one. I had no idea he had it in him.

I don't remember Boobie being this uncontrollable at this age. Then again, I only had one kid then. Not 2 little ones... 2 toddlers at that. One kid is manageable. Two kids are just plain tiring.

I have a long couple of years ahead of me.

What to do. What to do?