Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica

On Friday we traveled to the Arenal Volcano. It was interesting to go through the little towns and see a different area of the country. We drove along Arenal lake to Fortuna and stayed at a hotel that was just below the volcano and had lots of thermal pools, a water slide and beautiful grounds.





On Saturday we headed to the other side of the volcano and stayed at the Arenal Observatory Lodge. It is the closest place you can stay to the volcano and has a good view of the volcano.



Arenal is one of 7 continuously active volcanos in Costa Rica and the only volcano where you can see flowing lava most of the time. However, it was cloudy the night that we were there so we didn't see any. We could hear the volcano spitting rocks down the side. The observatory also had a lot of wildlife and was in the rainforest.




We all took a hike to a waterfall on Sunday morning.


On Sunday afternoon we headed back down to San Jose through lots of little towns and beautiful Costa Rican hills.




We enjoyed our time in Costa Rica and loved spending time with the Scoffield family.



James and Maija

Sun, Surf and a Canopy Tour

We have spent the last couple of days mostly hanging out in the nice hot weather. We have spent a lot of time in the pool...


and did some boogie boarding in the ocean.


This morning Arden, Brian, Ward, James and I we went on a canopy zip line tour and had a great time.

We also continue to have great sunsets and took a fun family photo last night before dinner.




We have had a great time in Jaco. We are leaving here in the morning to spend the next couple of days up near the Arenal volcano.

Maija

Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio

Yesterday we drove an hour south with James' parents to Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio to see the native Costa Rican animals. The park is a rainforest & tropical wetlands. We did an hour and a half walk with a local guide and saw many native animals including the following:






White Faced Monkey









Jesus Christ Lizard (named this because it seems to walk on water)












Sloth
















Red eyed Tree Frog












The hike ended at a beautiful white sand beach where we swam and relaxed (until I got stung in the hand by a flying ant! OUCH)




After the park we went to lunch at a restaurant overlooking the ocean where we had yummy fresh Mahi Mahi.


And as always we had a beautiful sunset

Perfect Vacation Day...

It's been a nice relaxing day here. Weather was great We spent the day swimming in the pool, boogie boarding in the ocean, sunbathing, napping, reading and of course lots of eating. It's been a nice, relaxing, perfect vacation day.








Sunset was beautiful again.









We took a few photos before dinner.

The Jaco Flower "Shop"

We arrived in Jaco, Costa Rica this morning. We flew over night from Denver into San Jose then rented a car for the 2 hour drive to the Pacific coast. It's nice to have some warm weather although it has been hot today. I won't complain....it's always nice to be at the beach. We are staying in a condo that overlooks the beach, it's just outside our gate.



We are here with most of the Scoffield clan. Olivia (6), Madison (6) and Keily (4) decided to find some flowers as we walked back to the condo from lunch. They have set up a "flower shop" right in front of the patio doors, complete with a sign and name tags for each of them.



So far, they have only sold to Arden (Olivia's dad) and James. It is really cute though to see them walking around the pool with their signs and flowers calling "get your flowers....".


The girls also think it is really funny to put a whole bunch of hats on James. They do it and then giggle and giggle. They are very cute and we are happy to be spending the week relaxing with family.



And here was the sunset tonight....