Panama trip

The girls finished school Dec 10th and to kick off their 6 week holiday break we headed to Panama City, Panama. Brad had been there on business previously but for the rest of us it was our first time there. One of the highligts of the trip was visiting the Panama Canal. We spent time at the Miraflores Locks museum and were impressed to see the United States engineering behind the amazing canals. We were able to look up names of the workers via records there to see some Siegel (Lisa's maiden name) relatives that worked to build the canal. It was awesome to watch boats pass through the canal, definately an enginnering feat to be proud of. We stayed at Playa Bonita and enjoyed the beautiful Pacific ocean cove and resort vacation. Definately a great way to kick-off the holiday season! On our flight to Panama Gabi's waving

Panama City skyline.....many sky scrapers and more under development as the Panama Canal extension has boosted the local economy

theater in the Old City

historic building in the old city

Catholic Church

narrow roads.....the old city was constructed by the French as they worked originally to build the Canal

apartments

at our InterContinental hotel there was a magnificently decorated Christmas tree that we all enjoyed especiallly Gabi

Gabi loves her big sister McKenna

Tatum loves to pose for photos these days

Gabi wants to wear Mom's sunglasses

the girls loved the beach entry swimming pool

Gabi sporting a pony tail, she is getting more hair!

<> naptime at the pool

We met Pedro from Colombia, he enjoyed playing with the girls- here they're golfing

Gabi enjoyed swimming with Dad

Gabi playing with the sandtoys

more swimming

We took a break from the beach to do some shopping at Albrect Mall, the penguins dressed up for the holidays were very cute....Gabi was taking a snooze

comfy bed on the grounds of Playa Bonita

the hammocks were a hit

Gabi trying to take a leap from the bed, her big sisters save the day

evidence of Gabi eating sand

playing at Playa Bonita

more evidence of Gabi eating sand

sisterly love

wow! those waves come rolling in fast

collecting seashells

fun in the sun

looking out from our room balcony

another view from our room

At Miraflores Panama Canal watching the boats pass through the canal

Panama Canal opened in 1914

Day trip to Sarchi

a stop in nearby Grecia park

a very tall Christmas tree with coca-cola ornaments in downtown San Jose...the Costa Rican's sure love their cola

Grecia church

in Sarchi the girls stop next to the wheel of the world's largest ox cart -hand-carved and beautifully painted

Tatum sporting her rain boots, perfect for the drizzly weather that day

full view of the LARGEST Ox cart in the world

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Cutting down our Christmas tree

just down the road from our home is a Christmas tree farm so we headed over to pick our tree. we discovered many Costa Ricans come early and pick out their tree, reserve it, then pick it up when ready to put up.....even so there were many to choose from and we found one!

it was a nice sunny warm day, first time we've cut down our tree in shorts :)

and had a palm tree growing in the Christmas tree lot

loading up the tree in the mini-car, amazing how they strapped that big boy on!

upon getting home....the tree just fit

the girls picked out the tree decorations and we had fun decorating our very colorful tree

McKenna and Tatum just returning from school to discover Gabi playing with the Christmas tree decorations

Gabi's officially started crawling at 10months. It takes much to motivate her considering she has many willing arms to pick her up these days, but she's realizing she's onto a faster mode of transportation and there's no holding her back.

the camera case was the object of fascination this time

next was the ball

got the prize!

"Are you watching me?"

Our 1st visitors - Nana Leen & Papa Bob from AZ

Tatum's school class had a family picnic that we all attended- the kids posed after swimming and playing in the zoo gardens of one of Tatum's classmate's Grandparents

some playtime out in the yard

We took a trip to Inbioparque, an environmental, animal, flora,park to share some of our local wonders with Nana Leen and Papa Bob

Nana Leen was convinced to cross the rope bridge

here's a few of the butterflies we saw in the amazing butterfly garden

we visited the petting zoo

the gardens were so lush

We enjoyed a wonder family dinner at Hotel Bougainvillea in Santo Domingo and had a chance to tour their beautiful gardens...what a treat!

This bromeliad is one of the largest ones we'd all seen and served as a beautiful backdrop......we'd have taken more photos if our camera battery hadn't died :(

We took a very scenic day trip to Guapiles through the Baurillo Carra rainforest-here we stopped for lunch in a typical Tican restaurant

the restaurant had a turtle cage that caught our interest

Gabi convinced Nana Leen to watch the turtles, she was fascinated!

Lisa's parents' visited in early November-Brad, Gabi, Lisa and her parents visited Poas Volcano and enjoyed a clear day with spectacular views! McKenna and Tatum were in school.

Bob and Aileen pose with a poor man's umbrella plant, one of many beautiful flowers in the area.

Halloween in Costa Rica

We attended a Halloween party that school friends hosted which was great fun! Bobbing for apples, musical chairs, hunting for hidden treasures and good food along with 40 costumed kids and their parents made it very entertaining! This all took place after Gabi's bedtime so we entertained her (kept her awake) with the orange baloon. No trick-or-treating this year.

McKenna, our China doll

Tatum, our Princess

Brad and the girls ready to set out for the Halloween bash