Birds and Monkeys and Animals, Oh My!

Just from our house and right around the resort, we saw all sorts of animals! It was a regular jungle out there! We also took a riverboat cruise and saw many other animals - but I'll include those in my post about our activities down there.

Loved these little bright colored crabby fellows!

They make a fabulous little splat sound when you accidentally run over them as Mom and me found out (Oh CRAP! whoops!) She was driving and didn't see it...

The birdies liked our pool

And they'd sing to us...

If you look right in the middle of the pic, there is a monkey on the edge of our pool!! He was swinging from the trees and I ran in to get my camera and since it was so cold inside and hot out, it fogged and it was slow. And this is the only picture I was able to get of the monkey who wanted to use our pool as a fountain.

One of the many iguanas roaming around.

We saw many monkeys - we didn't always have our cameras ready though. This time, we were in the shuttle and the guy stopped and we all got out to take some pics. This is a howler monkey.

And here is a white faced monkey... just like Ross' from Friends!

Here's mom taking a picture of the monkeys in the trees. You can see a little white faced monkey in the tree if you look closely - that's how close we were to them!

These are coatimundi. They are called coatis. Apparently they are a bit like raccoons and a bit like possums.

A coati family.

Some more birds that we saw frequently.

The house was beyond incredible and fabulous!! If you'll recall my post about the super duper unique house that we stayed in for the Turks trip... this one was the complete and total opposite! It was a 4 bedroom, 4.5 bath house. Every bedroom had a lovely deck and three of the bathrooms had private indoor/outdoor showers!! There was an infinity pool and outdoor bbq area. The view was gorgeous and the house was decorated so beautifully. In this particular community there are 20 houses and they are all exactly the same with maybe a few slight differences. I didn't see the insides of them, but I'd guess they were decorated in much the same way. The resort also had a beach club area with a pool and access to the beach. We were staying on the Papagayo Peninsula and to get there, you fly in to Liberia airport and then it's about 45 minutes to the resort area. It happens to be essentially next door to the Four Seasons so you have the ability to use the spa, golf course, and eat at their restaurants as well. And there is also a beach club called the Prieta Beach Club which we were able to use as well. They have a shuttle that takes you to the other areas. 

Mom and I shared this room. It was on the main floor. The other three bedrooms were downstairs.

The house from the outside in front.

Mom is standing just to the right of the front door. This is the open garage area.

The entrance from where mom is standing in the picture above. every house got its own golf cart to drive around the property.

The dramatic and gorgeous staircase! This is what you see looking down when you go in to the house.

The covered sitting area of off the dining room. It was a lovely place to hang out, but not for too long during the day as CR is beyond hot and humid (it made Houston seem like AZ).

the infinity pool and loungers and bbq outdoor kitchen area.

Mom's and my outdoor shower! I leaned over from the deck that is off our room. Omg, both the indoor and outdoor showers were amazing. They even had Molten Brown yummy smelling products to use.

Mom's goofy on our private deck.

The hallway from our room to the main living areas. The doors on the right in the middle of the picture lead to decking and the pool.

The comfy living room we spent some good times in.

Jim would cook us dinners most nights and this is the dining room.

Jim cooking in the really lovely kitchen that surprising was well outfitted... it even had a juicer!

This was the master bathroom's bathtub. I mean, seriously, what a view!

The place had gorgeous soaring ceilings and were done with bamboo.

 

 

In the next post, I think I'll show you some of the animals we saw at our house and around the resort... monkeys and birds and others oh my!

CR and Family.

I thought I'd share a few pictures we took as family shots... and then in another post I'll share the stuff we did and show you the not so (thankfully) unique house we stayed in! 

me and mom: self portrait

at the beach club near our house

My Cousin Ben and his gf, Rachel. They both live in Austin.

mom, me, jim, ben and ellen

me and mom

At dinner one night: Me, Mom, Aunt Ellen, Ben, Uncle Jim, Rachel

Me and Mom

Ellen with her daughter (my little cousin), Caitlin

Rachel, Caitlin, Me, and Ellen

Ben, Ellen, and Rachel

The whole gang: Ellen, Ben, Caitlin, Jim, Rachel, Me, and Mom on one of the many decks at our house

Awww, Ellen and Caitlin.

Me and my Momma

Me and my baby cousin who is more like a little sister, Caitlin.

Costa Rica

I realized that I hadn't properly filled people in when I was chatting with Devon and said something about my trip to Costa Rica and she was all, "wait, what trip?!" Oh, oops. Well ladies, I was in CR for a week! I'll probably do several posts b/c otherwise it will get ridiculously long...

CR you say?! How? What?! When?!

Well, back sometime last year my Aunt Ellen and Uncle Jim bought a time share like deal that instead of hotels/condos is houses. Big, lovely, luxurious houses. They booked a house in CR. They then invited my mom and dad and another couple. As time went on and the Turks and Caicos trip was a bit of a disaster, we all realized that they was no way dad would be able to go to CR and i think we all forgot about it. As it became apparent dad didn't have much time left, Ellen who had been back and forth to Houston a lot to help and be there for her brother decided to cancel on the couple and cancel the CR house. However, because she had tried to cancel 28 days before the trip they were SOL as the company has a 30 day cancellation rule and was unwilling to bend it. Therefore it became a use it or lose it type proposition. I have no idea what the cost of the place was, but I'm guessing not cheap!

As you know, my dad's service was held over Memorial Day Weekend... that Sunday. During that weekend, before my aunt and uncle flew back to CA they told us the story of CR and how they couldn't cancel so they were going to still go. And they invited my brother, me, and mom to join them. The catch? The trip was a week away. Literally, it was from June 3rd to June 10th. My cousin Ben and his gf were likely coming, but not til the middle of the week. My cousin Caitlin was still unsure, but if she went it wouldn't be til the end of the week. Since you gals know me rather well, I'll you can guess what I said. I was quite quick on the trigger to say YES! My mom was a little slower and needed a few hours to think about it. My brother had to work and was in the middle of orchestrating the sound for two shows simultaneously which is a bit of a cluster for him and he can't just drop the ball on his work. That's not so good for business... when you are in business for yourself in the theater world!

So once things settled down and family had left for the evening with the exception of Pat (family friend- more on her later) and her sister Anne and her partner who were all staying at our house, mom started to think about the timing and if it would actually work. And her conclusion? Let's do it. We were able to use dad's miles and fly at the right times on the right days and it worked out way too easily. This was on Sunday night. And it did end up being perfect timing. Couldn't have been better actually.

Pat left to go back to NC on Tuesday morning. Anne's partner, Sue, left to go back to IN on Tues afternoon. Anne stayed til Saturday and so the three of us went up to the lake that Wed-Fri and then took Anne to the airport on Saturday, the 2nd. And mom and I left for CR on Sunday, June 3rd. And spent a lovely week with family... in a beautiful location that was only about a 3 hour flight. It was the perfect time to escape reality for another week. To put off all that comes with dealing with everything...  

The view from our casa, the infinity pool and the bay we were on.

More on the house later, but this is the view from the driveway/entrance of the home. It was built in to the hillside.

Author Luncheon.

Another belated post, but this was from late June after I had arrived back in Chicago. I had the opportunity to go to another one of the Union League's Author Book Series. As you guys know, I LOVE these things! This one I knew would be spectacular... or at least I had incredibly high expectations of this particular author.

Colin Powell was the featured author! And let me tell you he did not disappoint. It wasn't focused on politics... it was more about his upbringing and rise to the White House positions. He is fascinating and so well spoken... and funny!

The General signed our books... I always love an opportunity to get my book signed and to say a little something to the person... ie, thanks for coming, i truly respect you, etc

Somehow my friend, Jamie, always gets seated at the best tables (ie the closest) and this time was no different. We were just one table away from where the General ate and from the podium where it was set as a question and answer format.

General Colin Powell has a back and forth guided discussion with the moderator (some news guy that I am now blanking on)

one table away!

The General did take questions at the end and for the first time at one of these luncheons I was beyond embarrassed for this one guy. He stood up and started off by saying, "I'm a documentary film maker..." oh no... where is this going... no where good that I can think of... he continues, "and I am making a film about the high suicide rate these days of our soldiers"... ok, maybe not so bad... but then he says, "and I would love to get your opinion and other highly respected people on the record/on film for my movie so would you be willing to sit down on camera for me?" Oh no... really?! This is so so not the forum for selling yourself or your stuff! And to his credit the General said to contact his people and then gave his thoughts on PTSD and suicide and how that it is an issue that needs addressing. But this guy wasn't done... he tried to cut back in and ask another question! Thankfully someone cut him off and the room moved on. I forgot to mention this guy was sitting at my table...I didn't know him and it didn't matter, but it was embarrassing for him, for everyone! Awkward!

Meeting the Littlest Larkin!

Friday the 13th turned out to be a pretty darn lucky morning! Dev's schedule and mine finally aligned and we were able to just hang out for a little bit at her house. Piper was in day care so I didn't get to see the big sister, but I did get to meet little brother! And, Piper did get a little package to open for herself when she did get home from her Auntie KatKat.
 

Graham was so sleepy after he filled his belly!

I have quite the similar picture from when Piper was born - except I had blonde hair then. Graham is such a sweet little guy and so tiny!

And then it was time for him to head to a doctor appointment just to double check his cough was clearing up... our visit was way too short! But, that's ok - any time is good time!

I actually stole this picture from Dev's twitter, but this is the little blankie I gave to Graham. I happened to love the colors and of course the animals and the other side is super soft... and well, everyone knows you give what you like and of course what you hope the person likes as well! right?! :)