Happy Birthday to Me

Today was a wonderfully relaxing day. I spent the afternoon outside with my boys watching them play and have some fun while my loving hubby was inside cooking me my birthday dinner. He brought out the bubbly.
The boys are always so excited when we get to have a "fancy" dinner and the best part about it is the fun glasses that they get to drink out of.

My hubby made me a great steak dinner and it was divine.

He went all out by making a cake for me too. It was so good and tasty. I thought that he did a fabulous job.

Thankfully he didn't but on the number of candles that I was turning because I don't think that I could have blown them all out. LOL I am happy to be turning 32. The last 32 have been wonderful, trying, uplifting, blessed, joyous, amazing, adventuresome and so much more that I am looking forward to the next 32. For me there is no better way to spend a birthday then with my family. I am a very low key person so this was perfect. Thank J for all your hard work. Love You.

Family Day

For those that don't live in Alberta we have a special holiday in Feb. called "Family Day" This year we decided that we would head down town to see what was going on. We met up with our dear friends and did some walking around and exploring.
We had some great fun skating by the legistlature building. It was a beautiful day and so wonderful to be outside. Rylan and Stefan got tired of skating but were more than happy to go around the rink Stefan sitting and Rylan holding on and being pulled around.

These boys love to skate. They would have spent the whole day there.

Even Stefan gave it a try with his cute little bob skates. He liked it for about 5 min. and then he fell. :)

This is the legislature building in behind the trees. I just can't get over how beautiful it was and it was a great way to spend the day as a family.

Everyone Loves a Good Foot Message

And these are the reasons why I blog. How else am I going to remember the night that Jamie decided to treat the boys to foot messages.
Their reactions were so great. The laughter was awesome. I wish that I could have taken a video of it.

Even Stefan got in on the laughing. These are some great kids and they really enjoy life.

Rylan is so cute in this picture he is completely at ease with it and still reading his book. Too Cute.

Day Five - Final Full Day of Fun :(

This was our final day of hoopla before heading back to reality. We had just the morning to go out on an adventure so off we went to rent some very taty dirt bikes that after riding on them we were surprised that they survived to bring us home. LOL We tried not to stop very often as Tyler and Michells would die and it would take us about 10 min. and a whole lot of sweating to get it doing. LOL In case you are wondering yes those are the same helmets from going on the zip lines so I guess because they figure they will save you life when falling from 100's of feet that they will save you when going 100 km an hour. LOL
We took a trip up and around the other side of the valcano which involved an hour drive on a very bumpy dirt road but the end result was worth it. The view was amazing. While we were up there it even put on a little show for us with lava flowing down the the side and rocks tumbling down. It was very loud.

More risk taking as I was riding on the back of our bike I had to capture a picture of T and M on their bike. It was such a blast and more great memories.

I had to capture a picture of my "old man" it is amazing how much hair he has lost over the years. That is quit the reflection coming off that bald spot. LOL At least it didn't get really badly burned. How I love this man with or with out hair. He is still the man of my dreams. :)

This was such a beautiful spot. We loved just sitting with our feet in the water and enjoying the piece around us.

On our journey we came across this shanty with a sign that said fresh cold coconut milk so we had to stop and try. There was this really cute little girl that tried her best to speak english. Her mom came out with 4 whole coconuts and with a very large knife cut them open.

It was so interesting and it tasted really good.

We were very sad to leave Arenal and one day we will go back. But we were on our back to San Jose for the night before our flight left in the morning. We had a taxi to take us back and at a stop we went to this was the friend that was waiting on the back of the bathroom door. It was amazingly huge about 4" long and just a tad bit scary.

Our final view of the jungle. I was excited to be going home to my children but the adventure of travelling is in my bones and something that I am always more than willing to do. It is also something that out kids have and thankfully they are full of the thrill of the adventure too so we are always planning our next trip. Keagan has it in his head that he wants to go to Africa so we are planning how we can start saving our pennies. Who knows if it will ever happen but you just never know. :)

Our final picture. This ride was a little bit more crammed than the last but still fun.

The beauty of the sun set from our hotel room in San Jose. We will be back.

Our hot rod that took us home!!!

Day Four Adventure Day

This was our more adventuresome day but thankfully it didn't feel like the day went by super quick infact it was just right.

Our day started at 7:00 am being picked up at our hotel and taken for our first adventure of going on zip lines through the jungle.

Before our tour we went for a walk through a beautiful jungle and while there we saw a ...
Red Dart Frog and so in true mommy fashion I had to take a picture for our boys. It was so neat but they are very tiny. They look so much bigger on National Geographic. :)

We got to ride in a trailer pulled by this really cool tractor. This was not what I was expecting by so fun. It took us up the side of the valcano.

This is were we got suited up. The water fall behind me is call La Fortuna. It was so amazingly beautiful. I will be honest with you I was beyond nervous and was really questioning what I was doing, I am a mother of six and it felt like a huge risk but it was also something that I felt that I need to do to over come some fears and discover that I am still Tracy the fun loving girl that likes to have fun and try new things. There are times that life gets so busy that I forget who I am. I wouldn't change my life for anything but it is great to through a few adventures in there.

This was our crazy family. Before our first jump. Incase you are wondering those helmets are just for looks. LOL If you are falling 100' feet they will not save you. :)

My first ride and it felt amazing and thrilling. I thought for sure that the height would be an issue but because the tree tops are so high and close to you, it just doesn't feel that high up.

Jamie was so excited to try. I am so glad that he gave me that little push to try it.

There was quite a bit of hiking involved as we made our way from one zip line to the next. It was so neat but very tiring. This one part of the trail when we had to walk across a suspension bridge.

This was the longest line. It was 948 meter long and took you right out into the open with an amazing view of the waterfall. We figure that we were about 250 feet up. Awesome!!! Our next adventure was going quading throught the jungle. It was so neat but very dirty as I am sure you can tell from Jamie's face. We went through some great mud puddles.

This was one of many stops where we got to have another view of the water fall. We would like to go back so that we can explore some of the lakes that are hiding up in the hills.

Another stop was at the tarzan swing. I wasn't willing to try it but the boys were. It took a little bit for Jamie to make the jump because he was scared the rope wasn't going to hold him. LOL

But he finally made the big splash.

And of course in true boy fashion they had to do some cliff jumping.

And finally another National Geographic moment. These are those ants that you see carrying pieces of leaves that are ten times their size. They went on forever and all the way up this huge tree.

The end of a wonderful day. We took a taxi up to the valcanoe and watched it erupt. It was so neat the only problem is that it was too dark to take any pictures and we only got to see it happen once as the clouds moved down too low. But it was so neat to watch. Then to finish off the evening we went to a natural hot springs. The water was flowing so quickly that I thought for sure we would get washed away. There were a ton of people enjoying the warm water. All said and done this was an amazing day and one that I will not soon forget.

Day Three Arenal

Our day began with a 6 hour drive from the southern coast to the northern center of Costa Rica. We were very excited about seeing some different parts of the country. All I can really say is that the roads of Costa Rica are horrible, very bumpy and extremely curvey. LOL
This is grandma (brides grandma) looking at the only fresh water crocidiles. We had to walk along a very narrow part of the road to the middle of the bridge to get the best view.

The pictures just don't even do them justice. They were HUGE. The biggest one that we saw must have been at least 16 feet long. Amazing.

This was the funniest part of the whole day. On one of our potty breaks Jamie and I decided to buy a pop and when we asked for them they opened up the bottles got two bags and poured the pop into the bags handed us the bags with straws and called it done. LOL We were shocked and laughed for about 20 min. after getting back on the bus. These are the type of experiences that you just can't describe but that you have to keep the memory of. We found out later that when the pop is in a glass bottle they will do that every time because they get a deposit for the glass. Great memory. :)

Our "private" bus to our destination. It was a great trip with many of laughs. At least we had enough room for everyone to stretch out.

Our sweet ride!!!

Our hotel room wasn't as fancy as the last one but really for Jamie and I, we are not picky about where we stay because we would much rather be out exploring then hanging in our room and at the end of the day as long as we have some were to lay our heads that is all that matters and it needs to be clean. LOL

Our first dinner at Arenal. This ended up being our favorite place to eat. The food was wonderful. Each time we would get their traditional meal of rice, beans, salad and some sort of meat. It was great.

We had to take a picture of how close we were to the valcano but we weren't too sure if we would ever see the top of the valcano as the clouds were always covering it. This was a great town. We loved it because all the stores that we went into were the same stores that the locals shopped at and so we never felt like we were getting taken. We also felt very safe walking around and exploring.