The Smith Family: Costa Rica part 1

Being that I have about a zillion and four photos from our trip that I'd like to post, I am overwhelmed at which ones to post and which ones not to. So randomly I'm selecting pictures not necessarily my favorites just so I can move on with this months excitement.
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On the morn of Sept. 20th, the birthday boy, his birthday girl mom and the rest of the clan piled into a jet plane and sailed the blue skies for the first time in all of his four years of life. Outside of the womb anyway. He couldn't have been any more anxious about taking a ride on a REAL airplane and was so excited about all the details of the day.
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As for me, my heart was as full as it could possibly be on my birthday. It was all a flutter as I boarded that plane just as my belly was four years earlier when a nearly full grown baby was stirring inside of me. At the time I had no idea what an incredible little being was preparing to emerge from me. A person so full of spunk, thoughtfulness, and love. And such a fun boy! This would be our first baby that we'd be surprised at birth by the gender. I was the least bit concerned about the gender and was just so grateful to have the chance to be mama to another little person whom God entrusted me with.

So to celebrate the fourth birthday of our sweet little guy, we made plans to venture back to the amazing country of Costa Rica. And it wasn't too bad of a birthday gift for me neither. Now that my brother Brian, sister in law Kelly and two darling nieces are living there, it was the perfect opportunity and reason to take a visit.
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We had such an incredible journey and are already dreaming of when we can go back again. Costa Rica is like eye candy to us. Everything is so green, lush and full of life. We couldn't believe how dull Florida looked on our ride home from the airport. Our eyes were so adjusted to seeing color and lots of it! There is beauty everywhere and especially in the people who live there. Oh my goodness they are so genuinely nice over there. Not only do they have such big hearts but are overall very happy content people. It seems that it didn't matter their circumstances, they were just as grateful and full of joy as they possibly could be. The kids did a research project on Costa Rica after returning home and learned that they have one of the longest life expectancies. No surprise there! Stress doesn't seem to be in their vocabulary like it is here. After spending some time there we have a deeper level of respect for the country and it's people. And we understand much more now how my brother managed to pack up his family and leave us to move to another country. We can't blame him a single bit and we feel very blessed to be able to go there and visit them. Hopefully as often as possible!
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Colton has already let us know that if Uncle B. is still living there when Colton becomes an adult then he's moving there too. After hearing my brother say the same thing after he visited Costa at a young age, I know that anything is a possibility. I am already preparing myself mentally to be a supportive parent no matter how far my children choose to move. As hard as it may be for me I would never want to hold them back from living our their dreams. My mom was always Brian's number one supporter about this dream of his and I know that she is smiling from heaven and as proud as she can be that he followed that dream and made it come true. Life is just to short not too! I know that God has a plan for each and every one of my four precious children and I'm excited to see where He takes them. And I have already promised myself that I will stand strong and be their number one cheerleader through it all!
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Here are random pics from our trip, not really in any order. I seriously took more photos than I knew what to do with. It was slightly mind boggling going through them all and trying to decide which ones to keep and which ones to toss. I'll try to post a part 2 of our trip to add more photos. We were able to do some really neat things. I especially need to blog about the birthday boy's adventure in zip lining. That kid is crazy!!!
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For Fletcher Eli and I, 9/20/10 will be a birthday we will never forget!

After getting off the plane and getting our rental van, we stopped for a bite to eat at a restaurant and they even sang us "feliz cumpleanos". It was a fun start to our trip.

We arrived to B and K's house really late that night. But the toucans and howler monkeys woke us up bright and early to the most beautiful view.

There house looks out onto the beautiful pacific ocean. They frequently see humpbacks frolicking in the waters from their back porch.

uncle b. and fletch (and little domi) woke up early to play some cards

the view from their bedroom balcony

bright beautiful colors everywhere

more birthday celebrating

manuel antonio beach

isn't this piece of driftwood beautiful?

in the rainforest there is so much to see

yummy lychee's

Not sure what this pose is all about but it makes me laugh. She is only seven right?

monkeys everywhere

check out that monster forming behind them

so glad C got a little surf in too. He loves it.

fletch and his buddy "uncle" Clint

some monkeys are almost too tame but it was super cool to get to see so many of them up close

G bought this necklace made of coconut the day we arrived at Costa and took it off for the first time yesterday, exactly one month later. Guess she really loves it.