Anniversary Celebration in Puerto Rico

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I have to confess… until very recently, I had been sleeping on Puerto Rico. A gorgeous tropical island on the northeast side of the Caribbean, Puerto Rico is a US territory, and thus, came on our radar when we were looking for a beach vacation to celebrate our February wedding anniversary. Our TEN YEAR anniversary! In February 2021, international travel was still heavily monitored due to COVID-19, and I was unwilling to risk getting stuck far away from our children  if (heaven forbid) one of us tested positive before a return flight home. I love traveling with the kids, but… Continue reading

Pura Vida in Costa Rica – Jaco & Playa Hermosa

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EXPLORING COSTA RICA WITH TWO YOUNG KIDS The objective for the last leg of our Costa Rican adventure was RELAXATION! Our time spent in the mountainous area around La Fortuna and the delightful rainforest around Quepos was packed full of excitement. We were having a blast! But after all that adventure, we were ready to slow things down and lounge in the sun on some gorgeous Costa Rican beaches! Pura Vida in Costa Rica – La Paz & Blue Falls Pura Vida in Costa Rica – La Fortuna Uno Pura Vida in Costa Rica – La Fortuna Dos Pura Vida… Continue reading

Pura Vida in Costa Rica – Quepos & Manuel Antonio

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EXPLORING COSTA RICA WITH TWO YOUNG KIDS We had already spent time in the Costa Rican mountains… a wonderful and busy four days in the rainforest. Now we were ready for the beach! Pura Vida in Costa Rica – La Paz & Blue Falls Pura Vida in Costa Rica – La Fortuna Uno Pura Vida in Costa Rica – La Fortuna Dos After leaving La Fortuna, eventually we reached the coast, and the Pacific Ocean stretched before us. We continued our drive down to Quepos, and by the time we arrived at the Costa Verde resort, it was full on… Continue reading

Pura Vida in Costa Rica – La Fortuna Dos

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EIGHT DAYS EXPLORING COSTA RICA WITH TWO YOUNG KIDS Our first full two days in Costa Rica had been magnificent! Full of activity and inspirational scenery. We were so excited to see what Costa Rica held in store for the rest of our trip. Pura Vida In Costa Rica – La Paz & Blue Falls Pura Vida in Costa Rica – La Fortuna Uno Day 3 The sun was peeking out between some clouds when we woke up the next morning, making for a beautiful sunrise. I don’t think I could ever get enough out of waking up to this… Continue reading

Pura Vida in Costa Rica – La Fortuna Uno

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Eight Days Exploring Costa Rica with Two Young Kids After an eventful day, visiting La Paz Waterfall Gardens and the Blue Falls, we completed our drive from San Jose to La Fortuna, ready to continue the adventure! Pura Vida in Costa Rica – La Paz & Blue Falls Our AirBnB was located just outside the town of La Fortuna, at the base of the Arenal Volcano. Arriving in the late afternoon, we drove through town on our way to the AirBnB. La Fortuna was a cute town that you could tell catered to a busy tourism industry. Lots of restaurants… Continue reading

Pura Vida in Costa Rica – La Paz & Blue Falls

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Eight Days of Costa Rica Adventures with Two Young Kids Our travel day to Costa Rica was super easy. We had a direct flight from Houston to San Jose and there was no time zone change. We landed in the late afternoon and took the hotel shuttle to our nearby hotel for the night. I guess we forgot to go over the details of our itinerary with the kids because they were supremely disappointed to not see any monkeys or volcanos on that first day. We will set expectations better on the next trip! We ate a quick dinner at… Continue reading

Living that Pura Vida in Costa Rica

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Eight Days of Costa Rica Adventures with Two Young Kids Rainforests, volcanos, monkeys, waterfalls, sloths, zip lines, parrots, beaches, suspended bridges, iguanas, hot springs… Costa Rica has an absolute riches of excitement for everyone. Halfway through 2021, with the Covid-19 vaccine rollout underway, the world seemed to be on its way to a new normal. International travel seemed like a possibility again. And so we started talking about a vacation over Thanksgiving break. (J was about to enter Kindergarten so now we are mostly tied to a school calendar for our adventures.) Costa Rica has been a destination at the… Continue reading

Exploring Big Bend National Park with Young Kids

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Big Bend National Park is Texas’s only national park. Located in far west Texas, the park is nestled in a curve of the Rio Grande along the Mexican border. Visions of West Texas usually conjure images of barren desert and tumbleweeds, but Big Bend is much more than just desert. Amongst the sweeping desert landscape, there are mountain ranges and patches of green oasis along the Rio Grande. In fact, an entire mountain range – the Chisos Mountains are located at the heart of the park. In a single day, visitors can hike a desert trail, swim in the Rio… Continue reading

Roadtripping Through Texas with Kids! Part 2

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Our BIG TEXAS ROAD TRIP started with a drive to Big Bend, via Sonora and a stop at the Sonora Caverns. Then we spent four days exploring Big Bend National Park, Terlingua, and Big Bend Ranch State Park before heading on to Marfa. Read here about the first part of our Texas Road Trip! Marfa, TX and Alpine, TX Any visit to the Big Bend area will almost certainly bring you through one or more of the west Texas towns in the area. My first visit as a teenager, we stayed a couple nights in Marathon. On this trip we… Continue reading

Roadtripping through Texas with Kids! Part 1

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Along with literally everyone else in the world, 2020 didn’t pan out exactly the way we thought it would. I remember in January talking excitedly with family about a big southeast Asia trip we were planning for November. This was a world when the biggest crisis at the time was the Australian wildfires, and we were concerned about my sister and her brand new husband who were traveling there for their honeymoon. (Thankfully their trip was a success!) Oh to be back in that pre-pandemic world.  Obviously we didn’t visit Vietnam or Thailand. We naively booked a summer trip for… Continue reading