Nana and Gabrielle came to visit... such a sweet Christmas gift.. and # 25 visiting the lava fields!

Nana and Gabrielle arrived on the 10th of December for an awesome 8 day visit! We had so much fun! Here is a picture journal of some of the wonderful things we did together! 

 Nana always had someone hugging on her the entire time she was here! 

 We stayed two nights at a Tree House Hotel... The boys stayed in the sloth, and the girls in the Guatusa.
Ethan says: The treehouse was the most awesome hotel I have ever stayed in! 

On the porch of our treehouse. Every morning the staff would put food out for the birds and we got to see some incredible birds come just feet away from us! 

  

                                      
It rained alot while we were in Arenal... and we were wet most of the time... but it allowed for lots of time to talk and play and enjoy each other surrounded by the beauty of the rainforest.

There were hammocks below the tree houses... always a favorite of Dad!

We spent one day at the natural hot river in Arenal. Awesome! 

 Hiking around the rainforest surrounding our tree houses. 

 We ate dinner one night at a place called Happy Land... who wouldn't want to go to Happy land?

 This is the red-eyed leaf frog. One of the staff from the hotel brought it to us to see... It was so beautiful and really incredible to get to see. We were so grateful to get to enjoy this beautiful Costa Rican icon! 

Maddie and Gabrielle... Maddie led us in advent devos this night. 

 Out for ice cream of course! 

 Amelia and Nana in matching raincoats! 

 We took a beautiful hike to the waterfall below... Nana stopped to talk with some howler monkeys...

 Early morning cuddles.

 These bats slept on the roof of the boys treehouse during the day...

One morning we hiked around the Arenal lava fields (number 25 on our scavenger hunt).... This is a picture of the volcano behind us... It's impressive top is covered by clouds.. but the lava fields were incredible. 

Toward the end of our lava field hike we crossed through a large area of sugar cane... It was really cool! 

 After our hike we were driving down the road when we spotted one of the birds Joshua and Ethan had really been hoping to see. The blue throated Mag-Pie jay... Christian pulled over quickly and the boys jumped out of the car and were able to snap this picture.

We then headed to Manual Antonio, our families favorite place in Costa Rica... and we got to enjoy close up view of howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys and these playful capuchin monkeys. One of the monkeys stole some oreos from a lady on the beach and it was so funny to watch him in the tree eating oreos! 

 

 Nana built sand castles with the boys! 

In Manual Antonio

 Right above our things on the beach we spotted this beautiful sloth... and then watched her baby crawl out onto the branch... It was beautiful! 

 Hello Indiana! 

 

One evening Nana treated us to a delicious dinner at Ronnie's Place in Manual Antonio... and God treated us to the most stunning sunset... the sky continued to change the entire time... it was an amazing display of God's creativity and might! 

Maddie says: One of my favorite things we have done in our time in Costa Rica was going to the lava fields. I felt like we were in a movie scene.

Ethan says: It (the lava fields) was one of the prettiest views I've ever seen.

Joshua says: Walking through the lava fields made me feel like I was in a scene from the Hobbit movies. It was incredible!