The Foulger family's CR adventure: January 2009

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Gabi's 1st Birthday

scooting around on her Birthday, waiting for the fiesta to begin

" are you looking at me?"

sisterly love

Lisa made a cupcake tower birthday cake and the whole family enjoyed decorating the house for the party!

We made a chocolate fudge swirl cake too and McKenna used her bead art to make the cake topping.

preparing to sing Happy Birthday...we sang in english and spanish so twice the fun!

Gabi starting to dig into her birthday cupcake!

"this frosting is the best part!"

" and the pink icing makes for nice lipstick"

some of my party guests-David, Sue Lyn and Seann Stubbs

Lisa and Gabi, the big 1 year old

family photo - Jan 25,2009

the Moms some of the Dads

the kids taking a break from rough-housing

Here's some pics the week prior to Gabi's birthday ...playing around the house. Gabi loves to hold onto things and walk, not yet taking steps on her own yet but sooo close!

Gabi playing with our household helper Vilma.

One morning in the midst of breakfast Gabi decided to slip in a nap, much to our surprise!

such a peaceful sweetheart

a sign of too much partying!

Celebrating a few days early while Nana Leen and Papa Bob were visiting, Gabi

enjoyed tres leches a Tico dessert with a Strawberry Shortcake candle.

"this dessert is pretty tasty!"

this little face is hard to resist...even cake-covered! Mom got a little too close with the camera.

good to the last drop....or last finger full :)

some photos of playing around

Even though Gabi is petite she sure has some big cheeks!

and she's often smiling, definately a light in our lives!!!

Gabi's a target for much affection...sometimes too much!

Gabi's very vocal when she wants something, also reaching out for things is something she's good at these days!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Arenal CR vacation

We headed to Volcan Arenal following our Manuel Antonio trip and decided to hit the ziplining tour again, not getting enough of it the first time out. While a different spot and a massive volcano in our sight, we once again were amazed at the beautiful lush rainforest setting. In addition to ziplining at the Ecoglide tour, we did the Tarzan swing which was awesome! We jumped off a very tall tower and swung through the jungle.

Here's McKenna glancing back before taking the Tarzan swing plunge.

Just getting ready to start ziplining at the base of Volcan Arenal

Tatum zipping solo....."this is very cool!"

Papa Bob and McKenna awaiting Taty who's zipping to them

Papa Bob's smooth ziplining

confidence is on the rise, a couple experts smile for the camera

McKenna's zipping solo so quickly it's hard to catch her!

McKenna takes one last glance before taking off from the platform

Arenal volcano, the tip covered in clouds

We took the hanging bridges hike where we crossed many suspension bridges and enjoyed hiking in the primary and secondary jungle. Behind our group was a tour group of NY college students.

View of Volcan Arenal in the far distance, partially covered by clouds

Foulger girls on one of the many suspension bridges

a beautiful waterfall

One of the many colorful wildlife we saw on the hike, we ran into the most venimous snake in Costa Rica early on in the hike, fortunately he was encouraged off our trail before he got too close

Saturday, January 24, 2009

We headed to Manuel Antonio with my parents for a week long vacation after the New Year. Below we're having dinner at Cayuga Inn, a local typical restaurant outside Quepos. We had a great time, we zipped, we lounged, we rafted, we hiked, we swam, we played cards and we watched many local wildlife in the jungle and most of all recharged our batteries!

we took the Canopy TiTi tour and enjoyed our first time ziplining, what a rush!

Tatum and her guide

"this is awesome!"

McKenna in motion

ready to take off

Lisa ziplining, what an awesome experience!!

Papa Bob zipping!

Brad ziplining

Today's Gabi's 1st birthday (Jan 25th), photo below is not her but surely she and the monkey share some behavioral traits! Before everyone rises I'm using quiet time to capture one of our recent vacations to the National Manuel Antonio Park earlier in the month. We had a fantastic time and really enjoyed seeing more of the beauty CR offers, we're so fortunate to be living here!

exploring white-faced monkeys on our boat tour

Tatum's not too sure about how close the monkeys are getting
"ok, maybe it's pretty cool, they are pretty cute"

McKenna wasn't expecting a monkey for a hat

far better to feed them by hand then wear them as a hat!

three more monkeys looking for relatives on the monkey tour

Lisa and her Mom on the monkey tour boat ride

Poncho the resident main honcho iguana at our resort getting his sunning in for the day

an iguana at our hotel, they ran comfortably with the guests

a picture perfect beach at Damas Island...kind of felt like we were on our own private beach

taking a stroll to Damas Island, you can see the ocean in the middle of the photo-Nana Leen, Gabi and Taty walking through a grove of palm trees to get there

Tatum lost a tooth while playing in the ocean, amazingly she came away with the tooth and looked forward to seeing if the toothfairy visits CR

Gabi loved sitting at the beachline where the waves reached and playing in the sand, tasting her fair share :)

Gabi is still very flexible....and the envy of the yoga fans worldwide

we enjoyed playing cards on our balcony overlooking the beautiful hotel gardens

McKenna and Lisa sporting our matching beach wraps. In the background hanging across are some of the paintings that we watched an artist make. We ended up bringing a couple home as souvenirs-doing our share to help the local economy.