Pura Vida

We never do this. We never leave our kids. We can count the number of times we leave our kids with a sitter in 1 year on one hand. We never vacation without them either. We are believers that they are ours to take care of. We appreciate and need others help, but we don't expect others to take on our current role. They will only be little for a short while, and while they are....we will be by their side. BUT, we decided that for our 15th anniversary we needed a vacation without the littles. Our neighbors and friends, Brad and Becky, convinced us to join them in Costa Rica and so for nearly a week in April we vacationed sans kids in a beautiful Central American country.

We spent the first several days in the jungle at a thermal hot spring called Rio Perdido. There were 20 individual huts and a beautiful restaurant and spa. We fell in love with the staff, the food, the amenities and especially the land. We hiked, swam, ziplined in a canyon and were an arms length from howler monkeys. I cannot say enough about Rio Perdido and Ben loved it so much that upon returning home he contacted the owner to see about investment possibilities.





After a short roadtrip with stops at a local cafe where we REALLY stood out, and some shopping in town, we found our way next to the beaches of Papagayo. We stayed at an all inclusive resort where we drank lots of fresh fruit smoothies, kayaked, swam some more and had a great time visiting with the Millers. The water was blue and the sand was soft black volcanic sand. We relaxed and slept in and remembered for a few days what it was like before we were parents.







The years have been good to Ben and I and Costa Rica for our 15th anniversary was defintely a great way to celebrate. Thanks to my parents who stayed with the girls and rushed them to soccer, gymnastics, school and everywhere else around town. We hope to return again to the Ticos land before we celebrate anniversary #30.

Pura Vida!

March was once again Madness in 2016

March is always such a busy month with Isabelle's birthday and Spring Break back to back, but when you throw in Easter too it is non-stop go go go.  This year for Spring Break we took a road trip to New Orleans with Grammie and met Tara for some Arthur Murray dancing.  The girls loved seeing all of the costumes and even "worked" a little helping collect the judges scores, etc.  We ate yummy food and saw some wild NOLA sites like you would imagine and had a great couple of days in The Big Easy.  Grandpa and Grammie hosted our Easter festivities where we colored eggs, had a giant egg hunt with prizes at the end, ate yummy food and loved being outside in the Spring air.  We snapped a few pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses and even took a decent family selfie before going to church on Sunday.

In between all of the celebrations we also went to Girl Scouts, had play dates, dressed up for Dr. Seuss day and even matched our teacher one day at school.  We cheered for Alee and Nick as they ran a marathon (WOW), watched Presidential debates, fought fevers and germs and played with our dolls.  A big highlight was going to the Houston Stock Show and Rodeo and eating all kinds of foods, seeing tons of animals, riding rides and listening to Billy Currington at the concert.  We went to a Broadway show of Mary Poppins, had pedicures, went to ballet class and soccer and gymnastics and had Isabelle's 10 year old Well Check which led to THE TALK.  It was a crazy busy, fun, exhausting, memory making month.  I don't think NCAA Basketball was mistaken when they named it March Madness!