Most Beautiful Place on Earth

Welcome to Finca Manglar!  We were greeted by the nicest man - the caretaker of the farm named Evelio.  He didn't speak a word of English, but we understood enough.  He said he LOVES tourists and gave us all hugs and ice cold pipa frias (cold, young coconut water).  Sooo yummy!  This is a working farm with horses, cows, chickens, ducks, and roosters, with a place for tourists to stay and enjoy the immersion in nature, far from paved roads.  The views were breathtakingly beautiful, especially in the morning.  The mist rising from the mountain...ahhhh. There wasn't electricity; only solar powered lights to find the stairs and use the bathroom.  The beds all had bug nets on them, although I didn't think the bugs were as bad as the house at Isla Cabuya.  It felt like an adventure, but without the adrenaline.  Just peace.  I even found myself reading a book in the hammock!  That never happens at home!  So loving this slower pace!

 

 This environment produces a clear mind for studying math!  The whinnying of the horses, the trickle of the stream, the insects humming....

 Soursop fruit makes delicious juice!  The farm had lots of fruit trees.

 The kids spent a lot of time trying to catch fish in the stream.  They'd hold their little tupperware bowl in the water and wait for just the right moment to pull it up.  I felt like we were living in Little House on the Prairie.  The kids were enjoying everything about nature and didn't need any other entertainment (except a few games of Uno with Lincoln!)

Doh!

When Mario had the van towed, he took it to a repair shop and had all the little things fixed (the loose bumper, the peeling strip on the passengers side that stopped the door from fully opening, the bearings, the rear axle, etc.)  He brought it back a few days later all nice and new.  It had seriously been about 3 days when this happened:

 We were headed to a vacation within a vacation to Finca Manglar - a remote farm in the middle of the woods where no one but National Geographic photographers go because it is so beautiful - and had a little mishap driving off the ferry.  The ferry was just a flat boat with two tracks for wheels that could be lowered with a chain.  A little boat hooked onto the side of the ferry drove it to the other side, where the ground was so muddy that two wooden boards were placed from the metal planks to the firmer ground.  The trouble was that Adam couldn't see from the drivers seat where exactly the boards were placed.  He relied on the guy who seemed to be guiding him off the ferry, but apparently he wasn't, because the van slipped immediately off the plank and into the mud, and in the process ripped our newly fixed bumper.  Doh!  Adam rolled up the sleeves of his white church shirt (we drove straight from church), and everyone tried to push him out, but to no avail.  The ferry turned around, drove across the river, picked up a 4WD vehicle, and drove it back to pull us out.  It's always an adventure!

I love that the kids are used to things not going the way we planned.  They just got out of the van and started playing on the river bank. Brigham did pretty good at balancing these rocks!

Complete Serenity

Ah, heaven right here.  We walked out of our yard and this was our street!  Not much traffic:).  We'd walk past the starfruit trees and other beautiful foliage to the beach.  We went every single day.  

Can you believe this place?  Miles of perfect sand and no other humans in sight. The break wasn't great for surfing or boogie boarding, but the sand was amazing and we were SO happy to be at the beach!!!!

Can't think of a better place to do school than on a beautiful beach in Costa Rica.  This was actually a consequence for Lily, since she didn't get it done at home, but it's way more fun to do in the sunshine that at home anyway, right?!

 

 There are endless activities with sand.  I don't know how many days we've been to the beach, but we keep finding new things to do.  Adam expressed his artistic talent with some fun sculptures!

 I absolutely LOVE how we can be home trying to clean up and do school and keep the littles entertained and feel a little stressed, and then we get to the beach and it all melts away.  The kids disperse and entertain themselves for hours.  They are SO happy at the ocean!

 There had been a huge storm a few months earlier that washed a bunch of huge trees on the shore and even washed out the road, leaving the inhabitants stranded for a few days.  This tree became our "spot" every time we went to the beach.  Jade was trying her hand at sand sculpting.

 I went for a run and found all these sand dollars!  This beach was full of them!  We collected some everyday and ended up with about 25!  We'd play in the ocean and let our hands slide through the sand as the current pushed us sideways and found a bunch of live sand dollars too!

 Sand!  Glorious sand!

 The weather was cloudy for about a week straight, so we didn't even need sunscreen. That's so nice:)

 This little girl LOVES to swim!

 So beautiful.  So peaceful.  So happy.  We are so content here!

After watching the beautiful sunsets, we'd come home, make dinner while the kids would shower, eat, and then the kids would read their copies of the Book of Mormon.  We all had a goal to finish before the end of our trip.  They're doing awesome!

 These cute kids loved doing the dishes!  They are learning to get along with each other and I love it.

One of the benefits of this trip is the opportunity to be bored. The kids have found the most creative ways to entertain themselves!  Jade took the fluff out of one of her pillows to be Lily's old lady hair and used towels for her clothes.  I love it!