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....

Costa Rica in February

Did anyone really think we would stay home for longer than two months?

We actually had the Costa Rica trip planned before we went to Australia. We are meeting up with almost all of James' family for 10 days in Jaco, Costa Rica. Departure date is Saturday Feb 7th with return on Monday Feb 16th.

Yesterday they had an earthquake in CR. Sounds like where we are going is not affected....let's hope. See the link below for info.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/01/09/crica.quake/

We will be continuing our blog of our travel adventures then....

The Final Aussie/Korea Blog

In the past 23 days:

- We have completed 8 flights (4 international and 4 domestic) which equals 25,878 miles flown per person. All with no lost luggage or delayed flights.
- We drove 3,716 km (2,309 miles) while in Australia- on the wrong side of the road
- We went diving at the Great Barrier Reef
- We saw 20,000 year old rock art in Kakadu
- We were down on the beach with Australian Sea Lions and saw many other native animals like Koalas, Kangaroos and Wallabies
- We drove the Great Ocean Road and saw some of the most spectacular coastal scenery
- We spent 3 days in Sydney which is one of the most beautiful cities we have seen. We climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge and went sailing in the Sydney Harbor
- And last but not least we spent 5 days in Seoul traversing the city by foot and subway and experienced Korea and all it’s interesting food, sights, sounds, smells and cultural differences.

We are now on our way home (last flight home from Seoul to Seattle tonight). We have had a great trip, have met some amazing people and seen some spectacular places. For those of you who have enjoyed traveling by proxy with us through this blog, we will be accepting donations for our next long trip. Yes, we already have it planned…..

James and Maija

Sightseeing in Seoul

We have had a good time in Seoul and have been all over the city on the subway. We have done a lot of shopping at the different markets and it is shopping like I have NEVER seen...the markets go on and on forever (somewhat like the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul if anyone else has been there). It is almost overwhelming how big the markets are.

On Saturday night we went to the Korea House for traditional Korean food and saw traditional Korean dance. The dances and costumes were beautiful.

We have been to the sauna here in our hotel but it is not a real JIM JIL BANG, more like the spa you might have in your gym locker room. After shopping yesterday we went to the JIM JIL BANG downtown for "real" Korean sauna, and yes, it was exactly as the article described down to the "uniforms" (see prior blog/article about Korean spa).

Here are a pictures of our sightseeing:

Gyeongbokgung Palace









Downtown Seoul




Jogyesa Buddist Temple