Catching up!!

Trying to remember June & July

Monday - 18 June - Lego Land - on the bus at 8 & a full day of rides, shows and adventure, we all loved the roller coasters the most.

Tuesday - 19 June - walked all around the Disney park area following Ben trying to find out how to get onto the monorail ! Shopped at Downtown Disney for hours then Ben went back to the motel with our purchases and the kids and I went to California Adventure Park - well it was quite an adventure with the California Screamer roller coaster being the highlight, the big swing carousel was pretty good too. Will was not impressed that I wanted to go on the Ariel ride but I hadn't found any other princesses so she was it! I think he may actually have enjoyed it! Finally he convinced me to go to the new Cars area were the ride wait times were ridiculously long so we went to a Bugs Life show which was surprisingly good. Then onto some water ride that I had my doubts about - it was getting late and cool and people were coming out wet! Anyway the wait was a lot longer than anticipated, we made some new friends & shared the ride with them, and yes I got soaked, Will got a little wet & everyone else was fine! Had to buy a towel and some dry pants but it was worth it! Then we had some dinner & found a spot to watch the World of Color Spectacular - and it was! It didn't start til after nine, but it was amazing! Well by the time that finished and we got back to the motel it was nearly midnight, I was still cold & wet & I still had washing to do! Mothers jobs are never done!

Wednesday - 20 June - had a slow star and after breakfast caught a cab to the Crystal Cathedral, which was pretty impressive, walked over to a shopping centre and had lunch & caught a cab back to the motel. Then got the bus back to Disney Land where we did all the rides we missed the first day, explored ToonTown & finally met Mickey Mouse! Ben was itching to get back and put his feet up so we got the kids dinner and made our way back to our room. Once he'd had a rest the two of us went out to have dinner at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company - damn fine food too! Slept well again!

Thursday - 21 June - left Brione sleeping & went to California Adventure Park at 7 to try and get on the brand new Cars ride, already there was a big line up but another gate opened & I managed to be at the front! When the gates opened on the dot of 8 there was a mad rush of people not running (!) to get to the ride. It was difficult to keep up but then we were stopped by a roped off area and the crowd was walked to the line up for the ride, people were still pushing & shoving but it was a little controlled. We got to the ride & found there was already a two hour wait, better than the 6 hours two days previously! That people actually wait that long I found incredible! Anyway we were bemoaning the fact when a single rider lane opened with a five minute wait and we walked on through - didn't matter to us we were in seperate cars, worked out better actually as Will and I were racing each other! It was a great ride but as usual over in a flash! We then rode on California Soaring which was pretty impressive as we were strapped in lifted up and flown over the countryside, felt like we were really hang gliding. We were back at the motel to wake Brione and grab breakfast before ten, amazing!
Sorted and packed all the clothes again, ready for the next adventure.

Went to the Medieval Times dinner & show, amazing horses & pretty skilled horsemen dressed up as knights having jousting contests & the like. No cutlery for dinner, but that's ok when you're eating dragon!

Friday - 22 June - all packed up, luggage stored & checked out by 8 to catch the bus to Universal Studios - what an amazing place, they really had the best rides. House of Horrors, down really long ridiculously steep escalators x 5, Transformers (4D) brilliant, The Mummy, did a Studio tour which included a 4d King Kong experience! A long wait for the Shrek 3D thing, then walking around found a performance by Marilyn Monroe & another by Frankenstein who scared the pants off Will who was laughing so hard when he fell over as he turned to run, too funny. The day went so quickly and after tea down the alley we were back on the bus for a tour of the Sunset Strip, saw the Hollywood sign from quite a distance & took photos of some of the sidewalk stars! There were many characters walking down that street oh my!
Beverly Hills and Santa Monica Boulevarde, Rodeo Drive and back to Anaheim to collect our luggage and catch a private hire car to head out to the Hilton at the airport where they couldn't find our booking! Eventually their computers woke up and they found us a bed at about 1am, crazy huh!
Had to be up really early to head of to COSTA RICA!

Saturday - 23 June - up early again & at the airport at 5 to catch the plane to Costa Rica!
LA Airport seemed very odd with minimal security & checkin procedures and when we asked where to put the bags we were told "just over there" no obvious area so we dumped them and stood back to watch. Eventually a guy with a trolley came along and picked them up & we could only hope we would see them again!
We had some breakfast & the plane to Dallas Fort Worth Texas left on time. Once there we had to catch a sky train mono to D terminal which was fun and we had a short wait for the connecting flight to CR. the time came and we all piled on only to be told half an hour later that the plane had some problems and we would have to take a different one, so we all got off again! Happily there was only a two hour delay and not an overnighter like in Auckland! Hope that is the end of our delays!
We arrived in San Jose at about 9:30pm, walked through customs - oh more lines again of course! - changed some money and became millionaires as $10,000 Colones is about $20! Walked out of the airport to be accosted by about thirty guys trying to get us to take their taxi, thank God we had someone coming to get us and we didn't have to wait long for them to show up but I was very anxious as we were two hours late and I didn't know if they had received the message I had sent from Texas. We were driven (crazily, any side of the road around potholes & pedestrians!), through winding, rough dirt streets to our B&B which was very comfortable. Our first experience of Costa Rican toilets where all paper is put in the bin not down the loo as their system can't cope with it all! Everything is fenced & very secure, everything, even the smallest homes have massive barred gates and windows!

Sunday - 24 June - up to the alarm again to pack and breakfast before our transport arrived at 9:20am. Our first Costa Rican food of fresh fruit, fried banana (plantains I find out later), some beans in a pasty shaped pastry, though one had egg in it. Ben & I enjoyed it but the kids were not fussed! Our hosts spoke no English so gracias was all we could say!
The bus arrived and we collected a few other people, English speakers thank God, and we started our journey to Monteverde. The drive gave us our first daytime look at the place and the most striking thing I found was the contrast between the really well built homes and the little ones made out of whatever could be tacked together, and that they were all so fenced in!
We made one stop along the way where half of us had to change bus & we found the back end of one of our bags had fallen apart!
Our driver was speedy Gonzales & we bounced right on up the mountain to Monteverde in record time I am sure. No roadside protection of course and very narrow rough dirt roads and when you look over the side of the road it was straight down a lot of the time!
We were taken straight to our home stay house where we met Flor & Ramon & some of their family as they were all there for lunch. As we were early it felt a bit uncomfortable like we were interrupting, but there were children there and as usual they broke the ice & luckily spoke English as Flor y Ramon spoke none! We all went for a walk to the little shop & bough some bread, butter, ham, cheese, tomato, avocados & cokes for lunch. The brand of bread was called Bimbo, so we had a good laugh about that!
Later in the afternoon the kids had a lay down & ben & i went for a walk to explore. Thankfully early dinner was provided & after cold showers we were in bed by 8 with the alarm set for 5:45 as we needed to be at school by 7 on the first day!!

Monday - 25 June - a big cooked breakfast was layed out for us at six & Ben was having a breakdown trying to eat everything the kids wouldn't so as not to offend Flor! Well I wasn't even going to try there was so much, I found it quite different but all very yummy.
We checked the map and set off on our short walk to school where we were joined by many dogs & other pedestrians. We were welcomed to the school and taken to the library for a 4 page exam where all we could do was fill in our names & mark our score as zero!
Then we were taken to another office where we each had an interview to see what we wanted/needed to learn. Ben & I were given a great teacher, Yanneth, and she was so patient with us! After assessing our limited vocabulary we learnt a few phrases & then started on the alphebeto!
We had a fantastic view from our window and could watch the clouds just wander in and wrap around the building and wander out again, it really was a very beautiful setting.
That afternoon we went to the library to do our homework, it took us hours! Went for a walk & found a serpentario where we saw many interesting snakes & turtles. Then onto the bank where it took us an hour to get some money out - note to self - if travelling order new Visa cards so the magnetic strip &/or chip are in good working order!

Tuesday - 26 June - traditional breakfast of beans and rice and off to school for an 8 o'clock start.
more details later


Wednesday - 27 June - more details later

Thursday - 28 June - more details later


Friday - 29 June - last day day of school at Monteverde, Ben managed to distract our teacher most of the morning with pictures of Australian animals and fruits and discussing and googling their animals and fruits!
Took a tour of the Cloud Forest Reserve which was really nice but very similar to the rain forest around Cairns. The kids were not impressed, but Ben was in heaven talking with a knowledgeable guide (Ricardo, i think) about the trees. He was the son of one of the Quakers who had moved from USA & developed the reserve at Monteverde when Costa Rica abolished its armed forces
Last night with Flor & Ramon.

Saturday - 30 June - finally had a little sleep-in at Monteverde, packed up & was collected by transport at 1:30pm, travelled down the steep dirt track back to the freeway and into San Jose at about 5pm. It was raining. Rebeca & her parents & sister Carolina were at the Gran Hotel to meet us and we piled into two cars for the two hour trip to their home in Cartago. We were very welcomed & embarrassed that they had given us Oscar & Ana's bedroom to fit us all. They have a beautiful two story home very elegantly decorated.
Many of their family came to meet us, Ana's parents & Brother & Rebeca's other sister Maria Jose &her boyfriend, Roger (row-hair), Carolina's boyfriend, David (dav-id) They had bought beer (bere) for Ben, Imperi-al), and wine for me, Rebe remembered what we liked! I had to excuse myself and go to bed about 9:30 but Ben stayed up with them for a few more drinks & laughs at our Spanglish!
I slept Extremely well that night.

Sunday - 1 July - had a little sleep in & woke up to another beautiful day & breakfast of eggs. Visited their beautiful church, Los Angeles, where the shrine of ........
We tried a strange drink of crushed ice, milk powder and flavoring with a marshmallow on top - sickly sweet, even Will couldn't eat it all.
Took a drive up volcano Irazu which was approx. 3400m high windy & freezing cold, maybe 2degrees! The road up very winding with amazing vistas at each turn. Will got a little car sick on the way done but managed to keep it together. We went back to Rebeca's for a restful afternoon instead of visiting a nearby lake. Back in Cartago it was about 30degrees!
We went to Mass with Ana & Oscar where I was surprised to find the structure was pretty much the same as at home, just in Spanish which I could only understand about 0.01%!! Ana & Oscar are Eucharistic ministers so it was pretty special to be there with them. It is such a beautiful church, I took many photos!

Monday - 2 July - packed up & got ready to leave for the beach. Went to the bank, of course the line was twenty people long & it took about an hour to get some cash out!
Finally we were on the road to La Fortuna, San Carlos, but didn't get very far before the police pulled us over as the rego plates on Oscars new car hadn't been delivered & his papers had expired. Poor Oscar, they were going to take his car off him! He rang the agency who had told him it would be fine & they drove out to deliver new papers to where we were pulled over & they paid the $800 fine!
Off we went again driving through some incredibly beautiful landscapes. The clouds came in & it started to rain! We stopped stopping for lunch at Pizza Hut in & to look at a church in Cerciro, with incredible shaped shrubbery all around it when we were nearly hit by lightening, very frightening & the house it hit started smoking! We got out of there pretty quickly!
There were spectacular views the whole way as we drove higher up the mountains. Unfortunately as we got closer to the volcano the clouds came down and we couldn't see the peak. After getting instructions we found the Arenal Lodge and started up the driveway finding another very steep, narrow, winding road through the rainforest that we thought would never endrobably went for about seven km! Finally we arrived and it was incredible! We had the largest adjoining apartments, massive bed and jacuzzi and of course perched on the side of a hill with the most amazing views. A big blue and yellow bird / parrot came to greet us - papagajo - and we took many more photos, not at all put out that the clouds were hiding the volcano. Once we had a look around, walked up the hill & unpacked the car we went down to The reception area ordered drinks - margaritas for the girls - and hopped in a warm Jacuzzi. Could not believe i was sitting in a hot spa, in the dark, on the side of a mountain on the other side of the world, listening to many different frog sounds, sipping on a margarita, waiting & watching for a volcano to erupt!
How did this happen?!?
Eventually had to get out & dry off so we could go to dinner. It was about 8:30pm I think & I had the nicest pepper steak in memory. Hadn't had steak since I left home! Slept incredibly well that night :)

Tuesday - 3 July - Up & packed again, another decent breakfast and as the volcano was still shrouded with cloud we decided to head for the beach at Guanacasta - sorry, playa ( said plar-jar), can't say beach here as that is a prostitute! Not too cool to say...
Another beautiful winding drive down the mountains to the flat country before arriving at Playa Coco & finding our apartments at Coco Marindo, a great place to stay. Once unpacked we went for lunch (subway?) & shopping to fill our fridges with food! Then we went for a walk to find the playa & found a very dirty fishing bay with rubbish everywhere, Rebeca & Carolina were so angry & disappointed, we didn't really know what to expect so the forest coming straight down to the beach on cliffs & islands in the bay was all quite beautiful even with the rubbish! Caro went with her dad to collect Anna from the bus & search out a cleaner beach., she came back quite excited and we were all looking forward to a day at the beach while we swam in the beautiful pool & relaxed. We had hamburgers for tea & another good nights sleep.

Wednesday - 4 July - after another cooked breakfast we packed the esky & headed for the playa, it was beautiful, the sand was dark but clean & very fine. Ben & Will got in the water & the rest of us set off to explore the shoreline finding many shells and sea urchins with beautiful blue dots on them. At lunchtime we headed back to the apartments and swam there all afternoon & Carolina went to find another playa. We had the best spaghetti for dinner - hope I remember to get Ana's recipe before we go!

Thursday - 5 July - off to look for the more beautiful beach & oh my, it certainly was
Incredibly clean water, we could see the bottom even when it was deeper that our middle! The sand is black as black and sparkly and fine and so clean. Very strange to rub your hands with black sand and it doesn't leave a mark! We wore ourselves out swimming all morning and came home for a beautiful lunch of chicken & rice & salad, a wine and a siesta - bliss!
Swam at the pool in the afternoon & went for a long walk just before sunset, finding another lovely playa & getting back around 8 pm. Oscar made piña coladas and we had so much yummy left overs for dinner. Another beautiful evening.

Friday - 6 July - Rebeca' birthday :)
The dads and the kids went off to the playa again after breakfast & the mums stayed back to pack & clean. For some reason the water went off so there wasn't much cleaning to be done. In the end I took a six liter bottle and filled it from the pool to flush the loo and finish the kitchen!
They got back from the playa at about ten, still no water so they washed the sand off in the pool! & we were on the road by 11:30ish.

Hermosa
Liberia - massive costa rica flag at the airport we drove past.
Canas - at the base of the hills
rio Seco -
puentajenas

Day 2 - Monday - LEGOLAND

LA Day 1 - Sunday

By the time we got to our motel "Desert Palms Hotel & Suites" & into bed it was just after 4am! I set the alarm for 9 & threw them all out of bed so we didn't miss breakfast which finished at ten! Mean hey? Love it!
Did you know sausage at breakfast is a very flat hamburger?!
The kids made waffles after filling up on scrambled eggs and fried potatoes!
It was about 11 before we got ourselves sorted & off to Disneyland.
The weather was brilliant & the lines weren't too long, mostly we walked around checking things out but we did a few rides and had some hilarious photos which I will post as soon as I can. Of course we were pretty tired but the sun doesn't go down until about 8 so we were a bit tricked and still didn't get an early night, slept like the dead though...
After dinner Will and Ben went to bed &...
OMG Brione & I caught a cab to where one direction are playing tonight "she heard them"!!! A little any time someone opened the door LOL, & she got a book & some bracelets, crazy!!

How hard is it to make time for this?!!!

www.photos.LEGOLAND.com
A669-L4MY
We left katherine/Darwin on Friday flying in to Melbourne where we spent the night at Airport Holiday Inn. Up really early to catch plane to LA via Auckland. So we were not far from Auckland when they told us the connecting plane had engineering problems & we would have to stay there the night : /
Well we had a great room and a lovely dinner provided but the wake up call at 4am was a shocker but we were on that shuttle bus at 4:30am, no probs.
Then started the check in & customs queues again, but by way of apology they gave us vouchers for breakfast as well.
We have had a lot of queuing and are getting quite good at it! Brione and Will spend the time pushing and smacking each other like the only loud, giggling, naughty australian children in earshot!!
Finally left auckland at 8:30am, Sunday, another hour delayed. The flight went really quickly for all of us & not too uncomfortable either. When we got into LA 11.5 hrs later, after crossing the international date line, it was 1:30am Sunday! Confusing hey!

Will's words

10 minutes until we go to lego land and I am so exited and sorry for not blogging after Auckland.

Wills words

Okay so we are in Melbourne and it is 9:52 and I am lying in bed. We were on a plane for ages and right now I am so tired and I will blog tomorrow.night everyone.

Will's words

Okay so three days to Melbourne and next day off to L.A and Disney land 😃 By Will

Haiku moment

flutterbugs jumping
excitement & fear compete
world travellers depart

3 more sleeps...

Thank you Nessy for the postcard.
"Sun Become Day, Day Shall Provide"
Soolaimon of course...
Neil my man...

"An early venture into World Music, this was part of a suite of songs known as "The African Trilogy." Diamond studied African culture at the Kenyon Mission, the United Nations and the African Studies department at UCLA. "Soolaimon" can mean "hello," "welcome," "good-bye" and "peace be with you.""

Peace be with you all
Xx

iPad education!

Blimey this is hard to figure out but I better get it sorted before we go...

Well only a week until we leave & the clothes are still all over the lounge room floor & the stress levels are building - as is the excitement.
Next Friday we fly to Melbourne staying there the night before flying to LA on Saturday with a 2 hour stopover in Auckland (so the kids can say they have been to NZ!). One week there & then off to Costa Rica...

Because Costa Rica is located between 8 and 12 degrees north of the Equator, the climate is tropical year round. However, the country has many microclimates depending on elevation, rainfall, topography, and by the geography of each particular region.
Costa Rica's seasons are defined by how much rain falls during a particular period and not to the four seasons in the Northern Hemisphere. The year can be split into two periods, the dry season known to the residents as summer, and the rainy season, known locally as winter. The "summer" or dry season goes from December to April, and "winter" or rainy season goes from May to November, which almost coincides with the Atlantic hurricane season, and during this time, it rains constantly in some regions.
The location receiving the most rain is the Caribbean slopes of the Central Cordillera mountains, with an annual rainfall of over 5,000 mm (196.9 in). Humidity is also higher on the Caribbean side than on the Pacific side. The mean annual temperature on the coastal lowlands is around 27 °C (81 °F), 20 °C (68 °F) in the main populated areas of the Central Cordilera, and below 10 °C (50 °F) on the summits of the highest mountains.^[25]
Costa Rica Weather Averages ^[26]

Months	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
High Temperature (C)	27	27	28	28	27	27	27	27	26	26	26	26
Low Temperature (C)	17	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	17	18	18	18
Precipitation (mm)	6.3	10.2	13.8	79.9	267.6	280.1	181.5	276.9	355.1	330.6	135.5	33.5
Average Percent Sunshine	40	37	39	33	25	20	21	22	20	22	25	34

The excitement builds!

Well, a little more than three weeks & we will be on our way!  I have started this so we have somewhere for our dear friends & family to check out what we are up to in real time & hopefully I will be able to add something most days - the new age travel diary!!