Samara - The Drive Down

Hi there, Tiffanie here with a post from our beach day on Tuesday.

Leaving the home in Nicoya -

Ready to leave. Everything looks normal here, Officer (right?) Just don't anyone say "Hey kids!" to the crowd in the back or it'll totally blow our cover.


Woah, woah! How many kids you have in there? There are 14, Mr. Officer, sir. Those children two years and under are secured in car seats on the van benches. The rest will have to fend for themselves as they are all in a pile in the back. What are ya gonna do? We gotta get to the beach somehow, and we can't leave them or make them walk, right?

First, gotta fill'er up. Then to the Maxi Bodega (CR version of Walmart) for 4 loaves of bread for sandwiches and lots of Pozuelo cookies. The kids were jammin' to Ace of Base while we ran in for food. Made us Mom's laugh. They are having fun, we love it.

Driving through the city of Nicoya - this is the main road through town

It's about an hour drive from Nicoya to Samara. It is a beautiful drive, similar to going up a canyon in Utah in that you're winding your way around the corners and streams. Different in that in Utah you're going up or down the mountain. Here on the drive to Samara, you are going up and down the whole time, like a roller coaster, going up the hill and then down the hill and up the little mountain and down over the bridge, I almost felt dizzy on some of the really curvy parts.

I also was quite distracted by the scenery - I'm too much like my Dad that way. I was in my car following the RMs, and they were frequently out of sight cause I was looking around and (tisk tisk) trying to take pictures. Listen, it's not my fault... there's no space on these roads to pull over for a quick stop, nor is their any shoulder to squeeze onto for a moment to snap a photo, so I did the best I could snapping with one hand holding the camera and the other hand on the steering wheel. I really wish I could have stopped, it was beautiful. Like a fairytale. Maybe like a tropical version of the rolling hills of England, cows grazing, beautiful slopes and hills, small cottages t

They have small trees that double as their fence posts, so that's what the blurry images getting in the way of these gorgeous hills are. Look close, can you see the hill behind? It was so pretty. I wish I could go again and walk and take pictures with a really good camera. Maybe I can find some online quickly...

I also thought someday I'd love to come here at night, take a blanket, and lay down on one of the hills and just stare at the stars. I'm sure they've got to have a lot of stars visible here, there are hardly any houses or lights. It was beautiful. Could be my promised land if I was a Pilgrim looking for a place to freely live my life and worship God. But I'm married to a Puritan, so I'm a Puritan also. Do you know what the difference is between Pilgrims and Puritans? Corey will tell you, or I can too. Listen to Michael Medved's Thanksgiving Lecture. Corey is a Puritan, and thus so am I, that's why we're off on another adventure next week!

Samara Beach

Today we went to Samara Beach - wanna know what makes for a great day at the beach?

3 Mom's from Utah

Bread, PB&J, 8 packages of Pozuelo Cremas cookies, diapers, wipes, folding chairs, um, what else did we pack?


Oh yeah, 19 kids.
It looked like a school class field trip! Love it.

Kids eating dirt (mostly that was just kids under 2 years old)


Kids having a mud-ball fight, since there's no snow.


James playing hop scotch!


...and kids just getting dirty! Yeah!


I took lots of pictures, wanted to get some uploaded before I go to bed. I'll post more tomorrow!

Holiday Swim

After our Thanksgiving meal and before the desserts, kids and adults took a break in the pool, doing super soaker splashes, diving, and family races. Here Sergeant Dannan has his swimming soldiers standing at attention before he called out their diving orders.

Then Corporal Jacob joined in the fun.

My kids favorite part was when Dannan and Jacob rocket shot them through the air into the pool - You really get a lot more height when you're thrown from someone standing on the sides of the pool as opposed to when the strong Dad is in the pool. They had fun flying!

Los Hidalgos

Rachael calls these wonderful people her Costa Rican family - her Costa Rica Sister, Cindy, and her Costa Rica Mom, Hermana Hidalgo (doh, I don't know her first name!)


Cindy had two kids, I can't remember their names either, and Hermana Hidalgo is feeding my baby Lily here. It was great to have them over for the visit. Their son David, sulking on the stairs there, didn't eat anything, cause he wanted rice and beans and didn't want to try this strange food - stuffing, what's that?!?! I thought it was funny, cause we try to get our kids to eat all different kinds of food without complaint so that they will be able to eat with members on their missions without offending their hosts "Listen, you'll probably have to eat strange food on your mission, rice and beans! Learn to eat it now, you won't always be able to have chicken and gravy" I guess Costa Rican's work on that too, but they have to tell their kids the opposite thing "Listen, you'll probably eat strange food like chicken, gravy, and stuffing on your mission, so learn to eat it now - you won't always be able to have rice and beans!"

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving morning, and the women are still working hard to make a special feast for all of us. Everyone was looking forward to trying many scrumptious dishes.

The kids had had a great sleepover and are ready for another one. They woke up and went swimming first thing

All the kids heading to the pool.

The kids found a little little black snake - looked like a black worm except for the tiny tongue that kept smelling the air. I couldn't see it's eyes it was so small. Cute little thing, if you can call a snake "cute"?


The men grilled up the chicken for the feast. We decided to go with chicken instead of turkey cause they got the turkeys marked up in price big time cause they know we Americans have a holiday to celebrate. So we went with chicken, cause it was less expensive.

Around 3:00 everything was ready to be served, a Thanksgiving feast in a tropical paradise next to the pool with Christmas music playing on the laptop. :)


Thank you Rachael and Melanie for all your hard work!

The toddler table, enjoying chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green beans. Save room for some pie!

The Meyers twin babies in their chairs eating some green beans, with the older kids group in the background on the pool house which is their diving board.

Hey you guys! How's the grubb?

Up next: After dinner activity (swimming of course!)

Here is a closer picture of a howler monkey...these are the litte guys that visit us often. One day a daddy howler was carrying a CUTE little baby monkey...it was SO cool to see them so close! love you all!!!!!

This is a common house gecko.
We see them often and the children LOVE to catch them!!! They are nice and cute and usually really little. The picture to the right is of the little tree frogs that jump down from the ceiling in the bathroom at night. They are cute...and fortunately harmless!