Well technically we got home 2 weeks ago, but naturally I am just catching up! Here are some photos from around the house since we’ve returned 🙂

On the way home from San Jose Pookie made some very important transactions. She paid the tolls with her very own money and actually purchased her own water bottle on the ferry in spanish!! Yes, it was her very first solo transaction all in spanish and she wasn’t intimidated in the least bit. She came back with a grin ear to ear and begging to do it all over again. So proud (as usual) of her little fearless, loving self.

There she is on the ferry heading back after her big purchase 🙂

So we woke up and decided we were going to go to the Parque Divertido (which is an amusement park we heard about in San Jose). Pooks was super excited (since we just got done telling her all about the rides the night before), we drove there, pulled into park, and found out they were closed! They only open on the weekends when school is in session. Major parent fail! Thankfully it was redeemed by some quick thinking and lot of hyping. A quick u-turn and off to the Children’s museum we went!

We came here 2 years ago when Sabs was in my belly and Pooks was just a wee bit. We didnt make it very far inside b/c Pooks was devastated that they put a stamp on her hand and just couldnt get her little 3 year old self over it. It was crowded with field trips and she was not having any of it, so we left after about 45 minutes. We couldn’t understand what all the hype was about b/c the museum seemed crowded and dingy and the area it was in was pretty ick looking. Fast forward 2 years and here we are at the most incredible Children’s museum i have ever been to. Yes, it kicks San Francisco’s butt, NY’s little hiney, and Italy too! Wow, we really didn’t know how huge this place was and what was a 45 minute trip last time, was over 3 hours this time around!

The museum is massive, the staff is incredibly friendly and helpful, it was insanely diverse with space,science, health, nature, exhibits, etc. It was both indoor and outdoor. It had huge pint size supermarket where the kids are given money and sent off with a shopping list to do their very own food shopping. They then checked the kids out with the money and sent them back to put all their groceries away. In Italy they had a similar exhibit except it was all ripped apart from kids running through and not putting things away and was maybe 1/4 of the size. Here the kids we taught to put their things away which was great for keeping it all organized and also teaching the children respect and manners. It was literally spotless. Sophie could have spent all day food shopping.

They had an illusion room where we were brought inside in a small group and the whole little house was lopsided. This was another Pooks favorite. They had a real plane, helicopter, train, and bus that kids could explore both inside and out. They had a playground, dinosaur exhibit, toy room, coloring/building station, and a pint size kid town with a real little police station, school, fire station, etc. that was full of costumes for the kids to try on and play pretend. Ah, this place was seriously A M A Z I N G! I still can’t believe we had no clue how huge this museum was the last time we were there. Shows how much a toddler tantrum can skew things, also guessing a mega preggo belly didn’t help the situation last time around. This time it wasnt overly crowded and all the kids were super sweet and respectful of one another. Oh, and it was $12.00. TOTAL. $12.00! Anyway, on to the pics!

The inside portion is a bit dark for photos so some are a little blurry but I just love Sabs face in the pics below. She was so amazed by the coin drop. I think we did it about 6-7 times.

Controlling the rocket ship into space

Digging up fossils and learning about diff cultures

Preparing and eating some food in the little interactive kitchen (complete with fridge of food, stove, drawers of utensils, pots/pans, etc.).

Inspecting sea creatures

Interactive health station

Milkin the cow!

Fun and art zone!

Flying a plane

House of illusions!

Playground time

Food shopping fun

Kiddie town

Ah, it always feels good to be back on our ole stomping grounds. Everyone was still battling the dreadful cold (aside from Will) but we were all ready to get out in the CR sun. We chowed at our favorite hotel breakfast, did our traditional work out room play and scale weigh ins, picked up our usual starbucks, then headed out for some fun house playtime. We wrapped up the day with some yummy gelato and a run around the park.The girls made buddies everywhere we went. Ooooh how i love them so.

We wrapped up our fun NY adventure with some Chipotle for lunch and mailing out all our returns. The journey back to CR was perfect. The girls napped a bit on the plane. Pooks got her little “yellow sparkly water” (ginger ale) which is her special plane drink. Everyone was perfect.

Our hotel in Atlanta was super comfy, and we all watched this obstacle course competition while eating unusually delicious hotel food. The girls were both cheering on the competitors and it was just so much fun! It is rare to have the entire family engaged in show so we soaked it all up. It was prob around 8pm or so when we got to the hotel and we had to leave early the next morning for our flight to CR so we literally just hung out in the room, ate and slept. Flight to CR was on time an girls were fantastic!

We had one little slip up which thankfully ended fine. Momma was walking behind carrying Sabs and a bag. Dada was in front with the rest of the carry-ons, and Pooks was skipping in the middle of us down the airport hallway. We were heading to baggage claim in train style with Dada conducting and Mama caboosing. Sabs decided she wanted to skip with Pooks so i plopped her down and off the went in between dada and momma. They turned the corner and i was lagging slightly behind them. All of a sudden i hear a little voice yelling “No Sabs, NO!!!”. I picked up my pace and wrapped around the corner. Dada turned around at the same time. Pooks was on the top of a staircase shouting for Sabs, Dada was on the bottom step of an escalator going down and there was little ole  Sabs hanging on for dear life on the middle of the moving escalator. Naturally I bolted down the moving stairs and swooped her up. She was perfectly fine but whew that was a close one. Literally as soon as they turned the corner there was an escalator. Dada figured i was watching the girls b/c he was in front (which i should have been but i was a bit out of sorts with the cold and just lil slow moving literally 3 seconds behind them). Good ole Pooks saved the day screaming from the stop of the staircase for Sabsy. So indicative of their personalities…Pooks sees an escalator and waits for me, Sabs hops right on.

Anyway, aside from the escalator mishap, all travels were fun and uneventful. We landed in Liberia and the airport was easy and quiet as always. The girls ran around like little nutballs, and Pooks helped the man roll our luggage out. We rented a car and drove to San Jose (about 3.5 hours) to spend a few nights in the city. We stopped at our Pop’s ice cream shop (a little tradition along the ride), and when we arrived at the hotel, Lisette, (the reservations manager who always takes care of our family), was waiting with two bags filled with candy and toys for the girls. Ah, home again, home again. This hotel is literally a second home to our little peanuts. The know everyone and run right in claiming their stomping grounds. Next up, some SJ fun!!!!