You're Doing What? {Costa Rica Day 1}

"You're doing what?!"

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that over the last twenty four hours, I could pay for a checked bag.  Instead I'll just roll this stuffed carry-on down the jet bridge.  But, we'll say it again, "We're going to Costa Rica tomorrow!"

There are many days where I think I may be losing my mind, but booking an international trip 26 hours beforehand may make me certifiably crazy.

 So, here's how it happened. Remember how I said we spent our ninth anniversary at Chuck E. Cheese?  Well, all day as I was driving around in beautiful, sunny fall weather, I couldn't help but miss driving up to DC with Sam last year on our anniversary. We took our big trip to Europe in June as our annual celebration, so we didn't plan anything, even dinner out, for our anniversary. Big mistake. We know going forward to at least plan something, so we don't end up on a last minute flight to Central America. :)

Sam and I chatted while he was at work, and although we had Alston's birthday party and Dad's visit the upcoming weekend, the following weekend we had free. So, Sam gave me the go ahead to look for a little weekend trip. Maybe to DC, maybe to Charlotte. And this is where the "If You Give a Pig a Pancake"-ing really begins. Well, if we are going to do DC, why don't we just mix it up and go to NYC for the weekend?  I start looking at hotels and airline award mileage charts. There's a quick flight out of Roanoke, but not with American, so we can't use my accrued miles. And my gracious, even two nights in New York is outrageous, before even factoring in food or entertainment. So, I start thinking, well, if we are going to spend that much, we might as well go somewhere warm. So, I start looking at deals for Florida. Hmmm, we could do Miami or Tampa. But, why redeem miles for those when we have such affordable flights out of ROA via Allegiant Air?

That's when I see a little blurb at the bottom about fall mileage specials to Central America.  Just out of curiosity, I decided to click on it, y'know, just to see.  Well, it turns out we could go to Costa Rica (which has been on our travel bucket list for the last five years) for HALF as many miles as it would take for us to fly to NYC.  Come again?  Then, of course, it just made sense to do a little peek on Hotwire to check out hotel prices.  And... we could stay at a 4* all-inclusive for the same price a night as a hotel in DC, and about $150 less per night than New York.  Sam was all for the "little weekend trip" to somewhere driveable, but I had a sneaking suspicion that adding another "big trip" to 2015 may not be something he'd go for.  So, like any wife that's been married nine years, I sent him a halfway kidding message to test the water.  :)  I was fully expecting his response of "you've lost your mind."  What I wasn't expecting was his next line.  "But, if we can make it work, let's do it."

What are we, crazy people?  We have jobs, kids, dogs, a house... we can't just up and go to another country.

And then we did.

We checked with Rachel to see if she could stay with the girls the few school nights, and she could.  We asked the Fertittas if the girls could stay with them for the weekend, and they said sure.  We verified with Kasey that she would be willing to work with Rachel's work schedule and help with anything Harper would need for school.  Yes, yes, and yes.  Then, on Monday morning, we checked with our respective bosses to ask off for Wednesday-Friday.  Another green light.  I asked my work partner if she could take two appointments I had with customers, and she was happy to.  Everything was falling in to place! Just to go ahead and start daydreaming, I pulled up the weather in Guanacaste, Costa Rica to send to Sam, and that's when I saw it.  Highs in the upper 80s, low 90s and... 100% chance of rain and thunderstorms every. single. day. for the next ten days.  What?!  No wonder it was all so cheap, it's the rainy season!  I pulled up TripAdvisor and quickly messaged the first ten tour groups listed to 1) ask if the weather was really as bad as it looked and 2) find out if they could even accommodate us for an excursion on this short of notice.  And maybe they were just being salespeople, but each and every one of them messaged me back nearly immediately and relayed that yes, it is the rainy season, but it usually only rains for a bit in the afternoon.  And of course they could schedule us.  They'd be happy to take our money.  :)

So.... on Monday evening at 5:55 p.m., before running out to the girls' friend Bryce's fourth birthday party, we booked the flights with my American Airlines award miles.  And then, I pulled up my eBates app, routed to Hotwire, and booked three hotels--our resort in Guanacaste, Costa Rica and hotels in each of our layover airports of Miami and Charlotte.  On Tuesday, we worked full days, came home and threw some clothes in our suitcases, grabbed our passports, and met Rachel and Mimi at the airport at 6:45 p.m. to check in for our 7:50 flight.  What. a. whirlwind.

This time around, the girls were quick to give hugs and "have a good time"s, whined about getting to go next time, and then happily hopped back in the car.  The novelty of Rachel's new car and Syd riding along with Mimi was plenty to keep them happy.

The airport was absolutely dead, but it still took us a little while to check in.  Apparently, the merger between American Airlines and US Airways was finalizing on Saturday, and we were returning to the States on Sunday.  Since it wasn't showing the return flight under their current system, it kept asking if we had visas to stay in Costa Rica indefinitely.  Eventually a manager figured out what was going on and overrode the request.  And that was our one and only snag of the entire trip.

While sitting at the terminal, I sent my TripIt (one of my must have free travel apps.  You need it for your next trip!) itinerary to my mom and dad so they'd know where we were each leg of the trip.  We had six flights with three hotels, so it was a lot to type out in an email.  It was so nice to just add them as "viewers" to our trip.  About three minutes later, I start laughing as I see an incoming call from Dad.

"Kid.  What on earth are you doing?!  Why are you going to Liberia??!"  The airport serving the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica is called the Liberia airport.  But, poor dad thought I was headed to Liberia, Africa.  Ha!  The nice thing about that misconception is when I said, "oh no, Dad, we're just going to Costa Rica," it didn't so quite so ridiculous, especially since this wasn't planned when he was just at our house two days before.

This flight timeline is the complete opposite of our Europe flight strategy.  We had plenty of time in between flights (sorry, guys, no running through the airport stories this go round!), and actually had an overnight layover in Miami before our flight into Liberia the next morning.  My only required amenity for our hotwire search here was an airport shuttle, so we got a 3.5 star hotel near the airport for $68, and it ended up being Element by Sheraton.  The shuttle was a bit slow (it was about 1 a.m. by this point), but we were so pleased with the accommodations.  Super spacious, comfy beds, and a really nice continental breakfast.  

Our one larger bag was checked all the way through to Costa Rica, so it took no time to pack back up our carryon and catch the shuttle back to the airport.  Wayyyyy better than crashing on the floor of the Miami airport for nine hours.  We are rested up and ready for you, Costa Rica!

Is That My Wife? {Costa Rica Days 2 & 3}

Helloooooooo, Costa Rica!

One of my favorite parts from any trip is the final descent into our destination airport, especially if it's in daylight.  I love having my face smashed against the window glass to catch a first peek at our newest adventure.  (By the way, I'm not a window hog.  It's just that Sam always needs to aisle to stretch out his granddaddy long legs.)

Our flight into Liberia International was easy as pie, and after standing in line at customs for an hour, we were so happy to see Julio waiting for us with a sign for Issys Tours.  When I frantically emailed around for tour recommendations and real weather conditions, I came across Issys on TripAdvisor.  They had great reviews and their prices for transfers seemed reasonable, so we set up our transportation and a tour with them.  So within minutes, we had our luggage and were in an air conditioned vehicle with cold bottled water on our way to the Occidental Grand Papagayo Resort. 

I'm a little bit of a (calculated) risk taker when it comes to vacation, and this one wasn't any different.  I actually booked our hotel through Hotwire, so all I knew about it prior to handing over our payment info was that we were staying in a four star all inclusive beachfront resort.  That's really all you need to know, right?  We aren't loyal to any one brand when it comes to accommodations, so it was fun to roll the dice and see where we would be staying.

This getaway was planned more for relaxation and adventure than for traditional touristy sightseeing, so we didn't mind a bit that the Grand Papagayo is a secluded resort.  And as much as it felt like blasphemy to our two sweet girlies at home, we loooooooved that it was adults only.  Sorry, babes!  We kept saying how much the girls would love it and we'd love to take them to Costa Rica sometime.  It just won't be here. 

As thrilled as we were to see this amazing view, we were most excited about the fact that it was 85 degrees.  And not a rain cloud in sight.  Yay for horrible meteorologists! 

After resting up and getting settled after our first full day in Costa Rica, we were up early on Thursday morning for our private "Adventure Multi-Tour" with Issys.  Julio was at our resort bright and early to pick us up for a day of fun.  In our minds, Costa Rica and ziplining have always been synonymous, so as soon as we pulled the trigger on this last minute trip, I made sure we'd have to opportunity to try it out.  

The adventure park was about an hour from our hotel, and we enjoyed seeing the small towns as we worked our way out of the more tourist-saturated areas.  It was easy to tell when we were outside the scope of local transit because the roads became bumpier and bumpier.  As Julio said, we were getting the "Costa Rica back massage."  :)  Small price to pay for all the fun that lay ahead.

We checked in with a few other folks, and got to meet some of the guides.  One asked if we spoke Spanish, and Sam said, "pequeno."  Those that speak Spanish just started laughing, because instead of saying "poco" meaning "a little," he literally just said "small."  It was even funnier when the guide said, "no, you're not small."  I can understand a bit of Spanish, but I wasn't admitting that for fear that they would only give safety instructions and precautions in Spanish.  I didn't want my life to depend on my meager high school Spanish skills.  After they fussed about us coming to Costa Rica and not speaking Spanish (noted.  Fair point.), I think they were somewhat excited that they could totally make fun of us and we would be none the wiser.  

 

First up, horseback riding!  Somehow I ended up with the biggest, feistiest horse (I'm trying not to take that as an insult.), and Sam's....was not.  He said he felt like an elephant riding an ant. Ha!  Sam grew up riding horses (his parents still have one), and I took horseback riding lessons as a child, so it was fun to ride again.  Even if it did sound like Sam was slowly murdering his poor, much too small horse.  Still, it made for an enjoyable way to get up the mountain, and the twenty minute ride was much easier than a walk would've been.

And now for the main event... the ziplining canopy tour.  We were handed some leather gloves and some brief instruction on how to hold our hands and brake ourselves.  Yes, we were fully in charge of stopping ourselves from slamming into a tree.  At first that had me a bit panicked, but it was really quite simple.  We'd have the next hour to work our way through ten platforms with ziplines up to a half mile long, traveling at speeds up to 50 mph

Though there were five other people ziplining with us, Sam was the first down the line for the majority of the rides.  I think so that he wouldn't tip the line if he went after someone since he was by far the biggest of the group.  Because of that, there were a few rides that I was a couple people behind him, and he'd wait for me on the next platform.  After a few times, I felt like I was getting the hang of it.  Sam had already taken off on one of the longer lines when one of the guides asked the other gentleman in our group if he'd like to go upside down.  He quickly answered, "Absolutely not."  And then for some ridiculous reason, I volunteered to try it.  In shock, they let me do it.  And one of the guides quickly hopped on the line ahead of me so that he could hear Sam's reaction when he saw me flying in upside down.

Sam said he was just waiting at the next platform for everyone else when he looked and thought, "Holy cow, someone's upside down.  Who had on the blue shirt?  Wait a minute.  Is that my wife?"  Bahahahaha.  He couldn't believe I did it, much less to be the first one.  I'm still kind of shocked, too.  Let me just say that I did momentarily think I was going to die.  Soaring through a canyon with the weight of your body resting on the harness around your hips is a bit terrifying, but it was nothing short of a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Of course, not to be outdone, Sam did it on the next line.  :)

 

We hated for our ziplining time to come to an end because it was just that fun.  I would do it again in a heartbeat, and would easily say it's a must-do if you're visiting CR.  (Update:  It was actually so fun that we bought a Groupon to zipline in North Carolina and do a horseback trail ride this Spring.  Why not be tourists here, too?)  

The water slide was next, and it was fun, but more painful than the ziplining.  Cement water slides aren't for the faint of heart, as you can hear.  

To warm up after the freezing cold water slide, we went to the hot springs for a mud bath.  I can smell the sulfur again just typing that.  Our guide told us all about the healing and anti-aging benefits of this particular mud, but I kept wondering if they are secretly laughing that we are there smearing the bottom of a river all over ourselves.  Either way, we rinsed off and laid in the crystal clear hot springs for thirty minutes, just relaxing and enjoying the scenery.

 

Lunch under the lanai

I'm not sure that I would've picked to do our big excursion on the first full day we were in Costa Rica, but it was fun to start the trip off on such a high, and we could not have had any better weather.  It was sunny and beautiful the entire time we were on the mountain, and as soon as we left, we saw an afternoon storm roll in, but we never felt a drop.  Plus, we were left with three days to recover.   :)

A day packed full of fun, and still back to the resort in time for dinner.  High five. 

Cheers to Nine Years

So much love and so many adventures have filled these nine years of marriage!

So, we celebrated this milestone big time by going to dinner at...

CHUCK E. CHEESE!

#thisis30. We are new to this whole school thing, but we knew right away we wanted to be involved, and part of that has been joining the PTA. So, of all the nights for it to be PTA night at this germs little kid kingdom, alas, it's on our anniversary.

Even though it was far from a date night, the girls had a blast, and Sam and I enjoyed putting a face with Harper's little friends' names. Plus, we will have plenty of years of quiet dinners at preferably nicer restaurants without arcade game, so we will celebrate this season we are in now and say "cheers" to how far we've come together. 

8 Years Strong

I almost don't want to write a blog post on this because I just don't feel like I can do the last two days justice with my measly words. But, my heart is overflowing.  And though this month only marks our 8th anniversary, eight years has been long enough to know that there are seasons to marriage-- easy, happy, comfortable seasons, and ones that maybe...aren't.  So, I want to make sure to capture this sweet adventure of ours because it has truly been one of my most favorite memories with Sam.  Ever.  And I'm praying that at some point down the road, on a day when choosing love isn't easy, I can look back on this little, amazing blip on our marriage radar, and remember how much fun we have together.  How taking time to invest in our marriage is worth it.  And, how good I am at planning surprises.  ha!

Incidentally, all this fun began with a nonchalant comment from Sam and a post on a Facebook yard sale page.  Romantic, I know.  A few weeks ago when we were watching a Sunday night football game, Sam mentioned that it would be fun to go to a NFL game.  We have been to a few NBA games, we've been to a several MLB games, but never a football game.  I agreed it would be fun to catch a Panthers or Redskins game sometime.  I didn't think much else about it until I saw a post for two Monday Night Football tickets for sale-- for the night before our anniversary.  With Sam's crazy work schedule right now (like 80-hours-a-week crazy) and things a bit unsettled at my job, we decided to postpone our annual anniversary trip.  But, who says we couldn't get away just for the night?

 

After I saw that post, I started looking at tickets on eBay, to get an idea if that was a good deal or not.  I knew that NFL tickets could be expensive, but once I started looking around, I found that they were actually very reasonable for the Redskins vs. Seahawks matchup (probably because Washington's QB is out for the season.  and they're horrible.).  After I saw what good seats we could get, Operation Anny-Moon was born.  :)

I scoured my email inbox for anything that may have Sam's boss David's address on it.  Finally I found an email that Sam forwarded me last year that his boss had been copied on, so I sent him an email to ask if Sam could have off a half day for Monday, and the full day for Tuesday.  I let him know that Sam had no idea I was asking, but I wanted to surprise him, but I knew how busy things had been at work, so that I understood if it wasn't possible for him to have off.  I was so excited when he emailed back a few hours later saying that he would make it work for Sam to go, and that he would just block his schedule instead of marking it as vacation so that it wouldn't tip off Sam.

 

The other tricky part to this equation was that baby Alston was due on our anniversary.  Sue and Dave have been so nice to keep our girls a lot over the last few weeks, but I knew it could be pushing it for Sue to have them so close to Alston's arrival, since obviously she would want to be there with Corrie and Jeremy for his birth.  So, I asked Tabatha if she would mind to be a back up in the event that Corrie went into labor, and she was so kind to agree, which meant I could put a big check mark next to the "Girls" action item!

  

I got the best tickets I could-- the 14th row.  I found a nice hotel-- a cute boutique hotel on Capitol Hill.  I ordered a cute Redskins shirt.  I notified my boss and coworker about my time off.  It was a stressful two days putting this little getaway together, but it was so. much. fun.  It was so hard to keep it a secret from Sam, especially on Saturday, when he spilled the beans that he had been hoping to surprise me with a weekend away for our anniversary.  Oh My Gift of the Magi.  As hard as it was not to tell him then, I just responded with how sweet that was and that we would look into it. Sneaky me.

I didn't mention my plans to our girls until Monday morning, and it turned Harper into a super cling-on.  A really sweet one.  She was pouting about my leaving, so I was trying to distract her by asking what she thought she would do at preschool, and she replied, "I'll just be missing you so bad." Pitiful girl!  Though after she found out she'd be headed to Mimi's, the idea wasn't so bad.  The weather was beautiful, and I happily drove out to the Appalachian Power SML Dam (which I had never been to, and that showed in the number of gravel roads I traveled in error), and I pulled up, nervous to surprise Sam.  It is not your average workplace, so I couldn't really plan what my "ta-da!" moment was going to be like, so it was funny to me that when I arrived, he was stuck on the top of the dam.  His boss called him and asked him to look over the back of the dam, where he then saw me waving obnoxiously from the parking area below.

We took backroads through central Virginia, making our way through delightful farm towns, and drove the four and a half hours with no cell phones, no radio, no DVD player.  Just daydreaming, laughing, talking.  It was beyond nice.  We found our way to our hotel, checked in and changed, walked around the block for dinner at The Dubliner (as in the Dublin-er, not to be confused with the Dub-liner.  Inside joke.).  After waiting for-ev-er in parking traffic, we made it into FedEx Field just after kick off.  And it was fun from beginning to end.  Though expected to be a blowout, it was a competitive game, and Sam and I had a blast cheering together (Go Alfred Morris!)  and meeting some fun Seattle fans.  

A little clip of "Hail to the Redskins" after a Washington touchdown.  

As fun and loud and fast as Monday was, Tuesday was just the opposite.  We slept in, leisurely strolled through the National Mall, taking in monuments and museums along the way.  I have always wanted to go to the Holocaust Museum, but knew it would be a somber, saddening time, so I didn't know if I really wanted to do that on our anniversary.  But, we did.  Our three hours there after lunch were not fun-filled and carefree, but mindblowing.  I have been unsettled ever since.  And though it was probably not a conventional anniversary date, it was heart-changing.  Viewing the disgusting truth of the Holocaust helped put our lives and love in perspective.  How fortunate we are, and how responsible we are to teach our precious girls differently.

Our time in D.C. was so short, but oh so sweet.  I came home exhausted, but in love.  And that's a pretty great way to ring in a new year of marriage.