One of my pre-K friends, Genevieve, had a donut birthday party! It was fun to catch up with some of my pre-K besties since I don't go to school with any of them now.
No traditional birthday cake at this party - donuts for everyone!
Here's (most of) the gang back together! Ridley, Clare, Gabi, Genevieve and me!
Even the little sisters were at the party! This is Ridley and her little sister!
I'm usually on the go (like Owen)! But I'm pretty good at stopping to smile for a picture here and there!
We had dino/flower day at school - I went the dino route! My smile is still missing some teeth, but luckily I found the two front teeth that Santa brought Owen last year!
I was happy that the neighborhood pool opened on time this year! And brought my dino friends and Barbie with me!
I had a playdate with my friend Maggie (and her little sister) - it was a good day to get some sun!
Grandma and Grandpa Young's porch is always comfy for reading a book!
Mom took me to get a pedi and mani! I have a new favorite activity now...some might say this picture is captioned "living my best life"!
Here's something fun that Owen and I made - a Domino chain!
This took a little practice to get my cartwheel on the balance beam right, but I did it!
We both played another season of soccer! We've tried out some other activities but soccer seems to be one of our favorites!
I got Grandma B and Grandpa Mark out on the soccer field during half time!
I played on a U6 team - my last season of both boys and girls! When the ball came near me, I was focused!
I had fun on the team - the other girls on the team were pretty good (like me!)
Lots of strong kicks and fancy ball handling!
I figured I'd keep my old coach with us for another season! He was pretty good...
Another season in the books!
Owen played half of each game at goalie again this season. He had some great saves!
But he liked being in the action on the field as well!
Sometimes it got a little boring at goalie!
Owen's team had a great season - they only lost one or two games!
Here's the Red Bulls! Dad helped to coach the team again this season!
Owen recruited some friends to help him cheer for my team! I think they were mostly off playing soccer themselves though...
I hung out with my friend McLaine while our brothers were playing their game! Can you guess which one of us hadn't yet played her own game? Hint - it wasn't me!
Here's one of my goals! This particular goal was #5 for me during the game!
Owen was goalie when the other team had a penalty kick and Owen stopped them from scoring!
After our time at the beach, we drove inland to the town of La Fortuna, which is where Arenal Volcano is located!
It was a long and twisty road around Lake Arenal to get there, but we took a pit stop at a restaurant where we met some new friends!
The house we rented was awesome - mostly because we had our own pool!
We started our first adventure day with a rainforest hike with our tour guide!
We went across several hanging bridge and found cool things in nature like a hollow tree and a trail of ants!
And a waterfall! We saw some people getting ready to repel down it - maybe next trip we'll try that!
After our hike, we got all of our gear on and took a tram way up above the trees!
It was a clear day and we could see the top of Arenal Volcano!
There was a giant hand at the top for a photo op with Lake Arenal!
Then it was time for zip lining! I was a little nervous but didn't hesitate at all. We did get to do a practice run so that helped me get more comfortable!
Owen was nervous too, but once we got going, it was hard not to have fun sailing over the trees!
I had a guide go with me on all of the zip lines because I wasn't heavy enough, but Owen was able to go by himself on a couple!
Whew, a busy day of adventure at the volcano!
We did a little souvenir shopping - couldn't quite fit what we wanted in our suitcase!
Adventure calls for a giant milkshake and our favorite meal - the "casado". Chicken, rice and beans (plus salad and plantains that we didn't eat) - Owen found he liked to mix it up all together!
Sandia is even better in Costa Rica!
Our next adventure was a rafting trip on the San Carlos River!
It was pretty calm overall, but there were a handful of exciting (but super small) rapids!
We saw all sorts of creatures - crocodiles, lizards, howler monkeys, iguanas, and bats!
Can you tell someone was relaxed?
Our last adventure day was a visit to La Fortuna Waterfall! Here we are at the top and the bottom - only 500+ steps down (and back up)!
The waterfall was a little too powerful (and cold) to swim at the base so we went downstream a ways for some swimming!
The house manager where we were staying cooked us dinner one night and then breakfast on our way to the airport. We preferred the pancakes to Pinto Gallos for breakfast!
Our parting view of Arenal Volcano and La Fortuna on the way to the airport to head home!
After our rafting trip, we stopped for a local snack and there was a "friendly" goose!
Our favorite game in the pool was "jail"! The waterfall made an excellent jail!
