As much as I’m sure you enjoyed the special ramblings of Ken, I think we can all agree he was a bit verbose. There should be a word limit… And for a guy who rarely speaks, he had a lot to say.

Joking aside, I enjoyed the glimpse into what he thought of our trip to the volcano. Despite his detailed account, he missed a couple things that happened that week. I’ll catch you up, don’t worry 🙂

Noah and I caught sight of the eclipse on Monday the 21st. Although not in person, we streamed it live from PBS and I caught a couple shots of Noah’s reaction:

He never saw an eclipse before, it was a cool experience. We also did some work learning about the sun and the moon prior to watching (if I were evaluated on this lesson I’m sure I would have scored high – there was writing, drawing, a bit of a lecture, and technology integration).

We also spent our usual time around the pool and town. I took some snaps because I realized I haven’t shown you our area that much.

Noah also spent some time writing postcards. One is to his friend Jackson from kindergarten, the second is to a friend’s daughter (her kindergarten class is collecting postcards from around the world), and the third was to ourselves at my mom’s house. We wanted to have a stamp/card of our own!

Around the condo we see a lot of wildlife. We’re starting to learn the various birds and animals. Noah and Ken are expert spotters at this point. I’m half blind (regularly AND even more so with my eye drops), so I smile and nod, but the majority of the time I have no idea what they are pointing at.

We made a quick recovery from our Arenal Volcano trip and were excited to take our first boat ride around the Pacific. We chartered a boat from Pacific Coast Discovery, and were scheduled to surf, stand-up paddle board (SUP), snorkel, and enjoy a beach lunch. We had an amazing experience.

Out of the gate, the guide and captain were super. They made sure to take us right to the humpback whales! Noah and Ken have never seen them before, and we were able to see 3 or 4 different mom/calf pairs within the first 45 minutes!  Our guide asked us for our camera, he put on a pair of flippers and a snorkel, and dove in to capture a video of the whales. Talk about specialized service! However, I forgot to push record… I know, I know, I messed up. But I’m hopeful we’ll get another chance to capture them!

As we continued on we spotted sea turtles. Eddie (our guide) suggested that they were fighting. Ken suggested something different. Either way, we got to see these big, beautiful creatures.

We boated along, our guide describing the landscape, various beaches, different animals, and the weather. He is so knowledgeable and between him and Noah, I learned all I needed to know! We made our way to the estuary and through the mangroves. Here, Noah spotted a hawk and herons. We didn’t see parrots, but heard them for sure!

After boating around, we went to our surf spot. They couldn’t anchor by the beach, so Ken got on his board and paddled to shore, Noah got on his board and Eddie paddled him in, and I was left on the boat. I’ll pause here a moment to share – I don’t like the ocean. Yes, I’m aware we’re in Costa Rica. Specifically on the beach. But as a child I never liked the ocean. I don’t like the creatures. I don’t like the waves. I don’t like the salt. When Ken and I visited Mexico for the first time, years ago, I wouldn’t let go of his hand and only went in up to my knees. Returning to this point in our boating adventure, I’m stuck, 50 yards from the beach where my son is going to surf for the first time. So… I dove in. I had the waves to help, but I swam from the boat to the shore. Unassisted. (I imagine all of your applause and praise).

Eddie took a few moments to explain the simple mechanics of surfing to Ken and Noah, but he shared that it’s just best to get out there. Do it. So they did. Noah was awesome! He stood up on his first try!

His second he crashed. This caused him to take a break from surfing and give Ken a try. Ken tried. Really hard. Many times. He did eventually stand up. I can’t knock him for it. I refused to even try.

Noah got back on and completed another 2 successful rides.

Ken was beat up, I was hot, and Noah had a healthy dose of fear/fun. We had to get back to the boat. So, Ken paddled, Noah was pushed, and I had to swim. Against the waves. Another 50 yards. To be fair Ken offered me his board, but I have ZERO balance and foresaw myself falling off the board more than I saw myself paddling back to the boat. Swimming was it. Clearly I made it. But it was a challenge.

We then made our way to the secluded beach for lunch. Eddie was not only our guide, but our chef as well! Here, I made use of the noodles to float around while Noah and Ken SUP’ed.

After our lunch we boated to our final spot to snorkel. We saw an octopus, various fish, and a TON of sea urchins. This snorkel stop was short lived for a few reasons: 1) the day was almost over and 2) Noah kept getting water in his mask. But for the 30 min we were there, it was beautiful.

Eddie told us about some other local beaches which would be good for Noah, and he explained how to get to them. We’ve been a little nervous to explore on the golf cart because the area is so hilly and the breaks are so small, but Eddie assured us that we could easily get to Ocotal. Ken and I decided we’d venture that way soon.

We arrived back at Coco tired, worn out, and ready to relax. For the rest of the afternoon we lounged around, Ken bought dinner in town, and we slept. On Sunday we did a whole-lot of nothing! My muscles were sore.

On Monday (LABOR DAY), we packed up our things and headed out to Ocotal. The ride was easy, only a few hills, and the sun was shining. When we arrived, we checked out a few of the tide pools. Noah and Ken were having a blast discovering all the animals.

We then went to a roped off section perfect for swimming. Ken and I decided to ease Noah back into snorkeling here. This way we could maybe take a snorkel trip in the future. It was perfect. The beach was smaller, less people, few waves, and just enough fish to make snorkeling interesting.

 

We were having a great time and then dark, angry clouds approached. Ken and I decided to have lunch (that I packed) and see if they would pass. They didn’t. In fact, it got worse. The islands that we could once see in the bay were now gone – darkness came, and so did the lightening and thunder. We hurried back to the golf cart and it started to POUR. The roads were quickly flooded; the storm was on top of us. I gripped the wheel, white-knuckled, and we made our way back to Coco.

We made it back safely enough, but it was an experience.

This last week we did a lot, but also the usual. Our pool time, walks to the beach, and general family bonding are a constant. Ken taught Noah how to play dominoes, we find new foods to try out, and I am cooking up a storm.

I can’t believe over a month is gone, and that we have half the time left. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Until next time…