My Favorite Things: Costa Rica

Nate and I just returned from a 12 day trip to Costa Rica.
Here are the highlights!

Wildlife:
It was a wild experience (pun intended) to see animals in their natural habitat.  No zoo, no cages, no animal handler nearby.
Just as God created them to be:
Crocodiles laying along the muddy riverbank sunning themselves,
Parrots resting side by side in the branches of a tree 100ft above the road we traveled,
Butterfly's fluttering above our heads as we walked,
A tarantula motionless next to a bench until prompted by a few well tossed  stones to see if it was alive,
Iguana's in impressive numbers scurrying along roads and pathways.
Mind you, sometimes I would prefer if certain things were in cages for my own piece of mind, especially when you enter into the insect world.  However, it is stunning to realize that I was seeing with my own eyes creatures roaming free that I had only seen on television or from a safe distance at a zoo.

The Land:
Costa Rica has so much to explore and we were lucky to be able to visit a local volcano (Poas) and lagoon, take a hike in the hills of a small town, and we ended the trip with an overnight stay to the beach.    So many things to be able to see and experience in one country with just a short drive.  A big difference from Indiana!

The Food:
An amazing part of the trip is that I didn't have to think about or cook a single meal for 12 days.  So great!  Especially since it would have been for a group of 13!

But to make it even more fantastic, the food we did have was phenomenal.  The couple in Costa Rica who hosted us and helped lead the trip from their end were both amazing.  Julia was an outstanding cook.  Many days she would make lunch and/or dinner for us as we were working or site seeing.  So we would return to mounds of fantastic food and I readily admit I ate way more than I should have!

Adventure:
If you know me fairly well, you know I am not afraid of heights.  And this came in handy as our group was able to go zip-lining (otherwise known as a canopy tour) which was a lot of fun and easy to catch onto.  Your gloved hand providing friction on the line is your brake.  Your body tucked in and leaning back is your accelerator.  Other than that, you just enjoy the ride.  Right side up, upside down, or side to side.  We had a lot of fun and our entire group participated, no one sat it out.  So now that I have been para sailing, skydiving and zip-lining, I think bungee jumping is next?

Other Misc. Favorites:

A couple of our students volunteered to play a game in a park that a local had invented.

Having moments alone with Nate to relax and enjoy some couple time.

Our wonderful hosts: Harry and Julia.  

How We Met

I was walking with Nate the other day and thinking about our story of how we met, dated, got engaged and then married.  I was reviewing mental snapshots from different dates and adventures we had during that time and I hadn't thought about in awhile.  And blurted out "I'm going to do a photo scrapbook of our story!"

I then immediately felt guilt and regret because, let's face it: I just lied.

I over committed in my exuberance to document our story.  I wasn't really going to scrapbook.  Do you want to know how many scrapbooks I have done to date?  Zero.

I have a wonderful one that my mom did for me when I graduated from high school, with great family pictures and memories as I was growing up.  I love it and I think it's a great idea.  But realistically, the percentages of me doing one are very small.

But I thought the idea was still good.
After all, I have to explain how I got my new last name.
So here it goes.
A piece of our story...

The beginning:
We met through a couple named Chuck and Kristi.

Chuck is Nate's cousin and the two of them grew up in the same hometown.

I had met Chuck and Kristi when I was attending college and they were living in the same town and we went to the same church.  The church had a program that matched families in the congregation with college students that were interested in being more connected with others in the church and the community.  Soon I also started babysitting for their son several times a week and did that for the next two years while I was a student.

Over that time, I formed a friendship with them that continued after I graduated and still continued when the couple moved a few hours away.

This friendship allowed Kristi to inform me years later that Chucks's cousin Nate, was moving to my town to attend seminary.  Kristi was very confident that the two of us could be "great friends" and shared this often during visits we had.  When Nate moved to town, during his visits to see them, she also mentioned me to him.

But the timing was never right as we found out later on, one or both of us would be dating different people.  And for myself, I had bouts of dating weariness when single just seemed better.  Perhaps other single women out there can attest to that, when you hit your stride in single life and life is good, it can be difficult to give that up for the unknown of letting someone new in.  I can speak for myself that the stakes are also higher when it's family or friend connection.  So I was perfectly content to nod and smile at the mention of Nate, but had no intention of pursuing it.

However, Kristi's persistence paid off and a year or so later after her campaign started to make us great friends, the timing was finally right for Nate to decide he wanted to meet me and for me to be open to accept.

After an email to break the ice, our first outing as great friends was decided on and we made plans to meet that weekend and travel to an area fall festival.

It was the end of September, 2009 and I was also busy celebrating the weddings of Amanda and Jessi!  As you can see my best friend Alisa and I had classy travel arrangements to get to Jessi's Ohio wedding thanks to her pilot dad.  Thanks for the lift!