Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from 2012

The Caribbean side of Costa Rica during the rainy season

We had a wonderful trip to Costa Rica and I want to share some of the highlights with you. We visited in late September-early October, which is usually considered to be the rainy season in Costa Rica. After some research, we determined that the East Coast of Costa Rica was going to be our best bet at this time of year. And we were not disappointed. We arrived in the evening, after a long day of travel, so we decided to spend the first night in the capital, San Jose. While we wanted to visit Costa Rica for the nature, we were glad we got to see the capital and some of the local culture. Before heading to the East coast, we spent our first morning visiting the city center, checking out the old building, watching street musicians and getting our first taste of Costa Rican fauna: the butterfly museum. It was an exciting experience for the kids. So many butterflies! In the afternoon, we left the city and headed to the South-East corner of Costa Rica, Puerto Viejo. It was a nice first stop o

Lassen Volcanic camping trip

After our fun trip to Yosemite , our second camping trip of the season was at Lassen Volcanic National park, and it was a great end of a fun summer. On our longest camping trip yet (3 days), we had the chance to visit most of the park highlights. First, we visited Sulphur Works, with boiling mud pots and geysers. It was a fun and relaxing hike, and a great way to get to know the park. On the second day, we climbed Cedar Cone , an old volcano that offers amazing views from the top. The hike is quite challenging due to the sandy aspect of the climb. But Daniel did great, climbing faster that some of the grown up around us (and despite wearing a shoe that was way too tight, as we discovered later!) The reward as the top is astounding views of the surrounding mountains and lava flows. The spent the afternoon after this long hike splashing in the river by the campground, which the kids loved! On our last day, we drove all the way to the other end of the park, to Drakesbad Ranch,

Yosemite trip

Last week, we had another big milestone in our family life. After last year's first quick camping trip at Pinnacles , we went camping for 2 nights for the first time. And it was a great success. We were lucky to get a reservation at a campground in Yosemite, on a weekend where the weather was perfect, if not a little too hot. We spent a weekend exploring the valley, hiking, looking for wildlife (not very successfully though) and enjoying the outdoors. It was fun! Even though Daniel had a short phase of accidents after a long hike to the top of Bernal Fall (bitten by a squirrel - or so he thinks, and a fall leading to a cut gum), he quickly recovered and enjoyed the rest of the trip. A few minutes later, he was again climbing on boulders, running around, and enjoying being outdoors to use his endless energy. The hardest part was leaving. Everyone was heart-broken, but Daniel had the hardest time. It seems to be a pattern for him lately, and I think this had to do with the age (a

Hawaii trip

We just came back from a short (too short!) but fun trip to Hawaii. Even though it was only 4 days, we needed the break and it turned out to give us a good reason to relax. We went to Kona, to a resort that was very suited for kids, which therefore means easy for the parents. And it was really perfect for the kids: - several pools with 4 slides, one of them 70 feet high. - one tram to go from one side of the hotel to the next - a boat service on an artificial river - a dolphin show several times a day - a protected lagune (easy to snorkel, even for a 4-year old) where a variety of fishes and many turtles find their way What else could we want? It was truly paradise on earth for Daniel. He spent a lot of time testing the slides and, after quite a bit of nudging at the beginning, fell in love with snorkeling. He would keep going back to the lagune to look for more turtles, more fish, more new things to experience. Charlotte enjoyed jumping in the pool too, although she was