We spent seven days in beautiful Costa Rica in June! We stayed at the Dreams Las Mareas in Guanacaste. Vince and I had taken Lila when she was about 15 months old and loved it, so we wanted to go back. We invited our friends along too! My buddy from high school, Andy, and his wife (who is basically a carbon copy of me) and their two kids, Eli and Chloe joined us. Our kids all play together really well, and us parents are good friends, so we knew it would be a great time. Luckily for us, Denver had a direct flight into Liberia which was about 5.5 hours. We then took a shuttle from the airport to our hotel which was an hour and a half ride. We booked our entire trip through Apple Vacations. We’ve booked many trips through them because they often have extra perks added in. For this trip, those perks included our shuttle to and from the airport, half price on a romantic dinner for two on the beach, access to the VIP lounge that always had higher shelf alcohols and snacks, and upgraded room amenities.

Day 1: It was mostly just travel. Our flight left around 10 am and arrived at 3:30 pm (Costa Rica is currently on the same time as Colorado so we didn’t have to worry about time changes.) By the time we de-boarded and got our bags and shuttled to the hotel, it was around 5. We basically chucked our bags into our room and went directly to dinner with our friends.

Day 2: We wanted our first full day to be one of relaxation and checking out the resort. The pools here were pretty incredible. There is a huge water slide built into the side of the mountain that the older kids loved going down. The adult beverages were fantastic, though bear in mind that at this resort in general, service is slow. The food was good and the staff was friendly, but it was slow no matter where you went to dine or get a drink. Once we learned just HOW slow the service was, we would wake up (by we, I mean Vince) at 6 am, order room service, he’d go for a run, I’d shower, the kids would still sleep or watch tv, and by 7:30 we’d have our food finally. The wait at restaurants wasn’t much better. We did get lucky this day that we got right in at the buffet for breakfast, so that worked out well, but our friends didn’t fare as well and had to wait a long time. Just be patient, or know that room service will be your friend if you order way ahead of time!

Day 3: The last time we were in Costa Rica, we took a tour through Tours Your Way, and we had such a great experience, we booked through them again. It’s run by a guy named Mainor, and his cousin, Ray is also a guide. Since the tours are private, you can customize it however you want, which was a big selling point to us with four young kids in tow. We chose to do a full day tour starting out by swimming under the waterfalls at Llanos Del Cortez. Ray picked us up bright and early from the hotel and it took about two and a half hours to drive to the falls. The nice thing is, it’s an easy hike in and out of the waterfalls, even for young kids. We took a dip, let the kids splash around, then all dried off, got dressed, and headed off to our next stop.

We then went to Tenorio Volcano National Park where we had a separate guide take us through the rain forest. We spent a LONG time in here and got to see so many amazing animals we would never see in the states. We were extremely lucky that right at the entrance to the park, hanging out in the tree was a mama sloth holding on to her baby. As we photographed her, hoards of toucans and wild parakeets flew by. Then we walked further into the rain forest in search of red eyed tree frogs and poison dart tree frogs. (We found both!) We also got to see a howler monkey who was definitely not afraid to say hi. After quite a bit of hiking and many complaints from our tiny companions, we then headed off to lunch. Ray took us to a local joint near the trail head where you first walk through a room of Blue Morpho butterflies before entering the main eating area. Our lunch was a typical Costa Rican meal – gallo pinto – beans, rice, fried plantains, and meat for the meat eaters, veggies for us. It was served with fresh squeezed pineapple juice which the kids loved.

We then took the three hour trek back to the resort and used it as a time to rest and try and spot birds from the shuttle. By the time we got back, our tour had gone 11 hours. To say the kids were toast would be an understatement!

Day 4: Also known as the “fuck this shit” day: We wanted a day for the kids to relax after dragging them through the rain forest. Instead of going to the pool, we thought the kids would like a dip in the ocean since our swim-out suite was RIGHT on the beach. It was a harsh reminder that even vacations can have their downfalls. Andy got sick and pretty much stayed sick the rest of the trip. Then, while swimming in the ocean, Vince was holding Winnie and she got stung by a jellyfish pretty severely! That cut the dip in the ocean short. You know what we did when she got stung? We channeled our inner Joey Tribbiani, and I held Winnie in the shower while Vince peed on her jellyfish sting. While she said it did help it stop stinging, we wanted to make sure we got accurate medical advice NOT from a sitcom! So the hotel medics came to check her out and you know what is a myth? That you should pee on jellyfish stings. You know what actually helps? Vinegar! So Winnie got some vinegar sprayed on her sting, I gave her baby Tylenol to cut the pain, and we spent a few hours just hanging out in the hotel room.

For dinner, the four adults decided we needed to have a grown-ups only dinner so we dropped the kids off at the Kids “Explorer Club”. They were in there all of 20 minutes before I got a call saying that Winnie was not wanting to stay there and was crying. Andy was a trooper and went and got all four kids and brought them back to our room to let them swim in our swim out suite. Since it was the day of shitstorms, that carried through to dinner. We had ordered the kids pizzas to-go from the Italian restaurant we were dining in. The server said he wouldn’t give them to us, but rather would send them straight to our room so the kids (and Andy) could have them hot, while Vince, Michelle and I ate our food. We agreed that sounded great, but the pizzas never showed. An hour and a half went by and we had eaten, gotten back to the room to see the food still wasn’t there and realized the food either never got delivered or was delivered to the wrong room. Michelle went back to the restaurant and got the manager to help and make new pizzas. We then went to bed figuring it was time to call it a day!

Day 5: We spent another day just lounging around the hotel. Most of the day was spent in the pool! For dinner, the girls agreed they’d give the Kids Explorer Club another shot so Vince and I could take advantage of our romantic dinner for two on the beach. The girls did great, but I think that is mainly because the employees just plopped them in front of a Disney movie and they did crafts. Vince and I loved our romantic beach dinner that included five courses, and ended with us watching the sun set before we picked up the kids.

Day 6: My birthday is June 12th, so for my gift from Vince, he got me a massage at the hotel. Andy was still under the weather so Vince took the four kids to the pool while Michelle and I got massages. Then for dinner we hit up the hibachi restaurant on site. (It is one of two restaurants that you need to make reservations for as soon as you arrive!)

We wanted to do an excursion of some sort our last day so we went on a Sunset cruise. This was probably one of the highlights of the trip for me, because the guys that took us out on their boat stopped at a secluded island where we collected seashells. Winnie was so excited that she collected every purple shell she could get her hands on. Lila appreciated that there were tiny hermit crabs everywhere and that she found the biggest oyster shell out of anyone. Vince booked it from one of the MANY vendors that flood the beaches of the hotel, so I don’t have a legit company link to give you.

Day 7 merely consisted of us grabbing room service for breakfast and heading to the airport. Vince got us upgraded seats on the flight home so we had plenty of leg room and empty seats next to us. Minor hiccups aside, it was a fantastic trip!