The day we arrived, at a park near the MacKinnon's home.
The first steps into the Caribbean! Fun with friends!
Everyone had so much fun playing at the beach in the sand and boogie boarding. Luke learned how to ride the waves. He'll probably want one now, but we'll need more people living in places with an ocean to go visit if he's going to use it!
The sunset was magnificent! I would take a picture and then 2 minutes later it was more beautiful and I'd have to take another picture! It was dark by about 5:50pm and we were still trying to pack everyone and the beach gear in the van! We wanted to soak in every minute of the beauty and playtime before leaving.
We stayed on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica for two nights in a beautiful hotel. The cabins were open air so each bed had its own mosquito net. Really, my worst nightmare...to think that I had to sleep under a mosquito net to protect me. (I'm so sweet...they just love me!) Praise God that he protected us and no one got bitten in bed!
The boys had a blast playing pool at the hotel. We waited through a rainstorm one morning and it was so peaceful!
Eating pizza and having family devotions each night on the porch of the girls' cabin!
Pineapple growing on the hill by the canopy tour site! So cool for all of the kids to see. Luke's "war paint" is from the achiote fruit. The tour guide showed us that the seeds are used as the coloring in cheddar cheese and popcorn among other things. He and Joshua used it as the indigenous tribes used to do before a hunt. They were officially "zip-line ready".
Everyone loved zip lining in the rainforest! What a beauty to behold - if you could take your focus off the fact that you had to hold your feet a certain way and your hand ready to brake when told by the guide waiting at the end of the line. There were 23 lines so it took a few to get the hang of it...then it was easier to see the beauty surrounding us!
The following day, we went to the Jaguar Rescue Center in Puerto Viejo. There were no jaguars but a lot of other wonderful animals. Each had it's own story about why it was there. The hope is to rehabilitate each animal and return them to the wild. The eyelash pit viper snake is very cool looking. We saw this snake the day before in the wild when we were zip-lining! It was much nicer looking closely at it at the rescue center where it was caged! We learned that the anteaters really eat termites and that they are arboreal.
We saw three different species of Toucans. They were beautiful! I'm most proud of the bottom picture I took of the Killbill Toucan!
There was a monkey room where we were able to play with the baby monkeys. There were howler monkeys, capuchin monkeys and squirrel monkeys. It's hard to see, but Annie got to hold a little capuchin named Papito. He fell asleep in her arms. Amelia fed a howler monkey while he sat in her hand! Everyone got to pet and play. A capuchin climbed on Mason like he was a tree...it was adorable.
We had a picnic on the beach before we drove back to San Jose... Maddie played some beautiful worship music for us!
Daily devotion time each morning was such a blessing. I love that Luke was able to learn from Joshua and Ethan. What wonderful Godly peers as well as role models for him. Robin overhead the boys while they were praying for me. So, so sweet that she was able to snap this picture of them praying together. I'm so grateful for the time we were able to spend being loved on by our sweet, sweet friends!
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| At the croc bridge |
Below are some pictures of the Pacific Ocean before we headed back to San Jose. It was a beautiful day!
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What a fantastic trip!!! Ben Cox
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