Costa Rica- "The road well traveled" PT 4

After three amazing days in La Fortuna we smashed all of our bags and bodies into our three cars and drove on to Manuel Antonio/ Quepos on the central Pacific of Costa Rica. Our friend at Kokoro told us the best road to take- since there are so many options. What looks like a fairly straight line can really be a road with huge potholes or missing road pieces or that twists and turns and leads to car sickness. Even with that, what we thought would be a 5 hour drive really was more like maybe 7. As we passed through the outer area of Monteverde, a beautiful cloud forest area, Rory called us on our cell (each car had a cell phone) and told us they needed to pull over. We were the lead car with the GPS so we pulled over to the side of the road on a shoulder. After they had a quick potty break they were back on the road, but by then we realized we were stuck. Sunk into the mud. We tried all sorts of ways to get out-- I even jumped out and ran to the opposite side of the road (because I was wearing bright orange) to make sure any oncoming car will know we have a problem. Soon a car pulled over and pulled out a tow strap. We hooked that up and pulled out. This must be fairly common occurrence in Costa Rica. After about 3-4 hours on the road I realized we better stop for a potty break and just get the kids out of the cars for a minute. We found a little town - it was bout 1PM Many of the towns people were walking around the town center park. This park had a big gazebo. After realizing that the kids cant play on the grass because there is broken glass shards throughout it -- and that there are no public bathrooms to be found AND that we better not leave the cars-- too much possibility of having everything stolen, we were ready to pack up when one of the local police officers starting pointing to us to look up in the trees. There were 2 sloths, I think a 2 toed sloth and a 3 toed sloth. And 2-3 different types of huge iguanas roaming around. It was great fun to see our first sloths-- right there in the middle of this little town. It is a lesson that even though things can be tough and a little trying (for many of us still looking for the potty) but that if you just look up there it can be worth it. So finally back into the cars and driving a little further down the road when I finally said-- we have to stop!!. We pulled into a little soda-- a road side food stop-- and had the best fajitas ever!! Once again -- taking joy in the journey! As we got close to the Pacific the landscape started looking drier. But still tropical. It is amazing to drive through acres of palm tree plantations. Kristi had pre-arranged for us to take items to a branch in one of the little towns that we were passing through. And finally we all arrived at dinner time in Quepos. JR had found Villa La Macha online. (Rebekah posted pictures from the Villa La Macha web site) It is a wonderful vacation villa down a dirt road that you really need a 4 wheel drive to access. It is perched atop the hill above the ocean. The main house has a swimming pool, kitchen a great front deck and pool deck, 3 bedrooms -- one of which was an amazing master bedroom. The guest house has a wonderful guest apartment and a 5th bedroom by the garage. There is a house manager- Joda, his mother and wife who came everyday to cook and clean and do our laundry. And at night we had a night guard who would stand just out side the garage for the entire night with a flash lite and at times a machete. I dont have a lot of pictures as my camera always was misplaced-- please view Kristi, Jennine, Rebekah's and Rachael's to the side of my blog. I do plan to pull some of Rod's pics to post on here soon-- but there are 100000000's to go through. My next post will be about the wonders of Manuel Antonio.

Royce Family Jungle Adventure Pt 3 La Fortuna

Originally when researching our family trip we looked at cruises (too hard to nap the babies) hotels (too expensive to feed all of the ages and not flexible enough) and rental houses (just right). We had searched many houses and I believe I printed off just about a ream of paper in researching options through Florida, the Caribbean, and finally Costa Rice. Jennine had first found an amazing house in the Dominical area but it was a rather difficult beach access. Now knowing the country a little better, the Dominical area would have also added maybe an hour to the trip. JR found some great options in Manuel Antonio and farther north but when he found Villa LaMacha we knew it was the right fit. And the reviews said it came with cooks and house keepers included! The owner normally books a Saturday- Saturday and since we were Wednesday - Thursday he was only willing to book the partial Saturday- Thursday for us. Then he said he would possibly allow the additional first 3 days only 30 days prior to arrival. Most of the group wanted to see a second location (and we eventually talked the rest of the group into it). We chose La Fortuna for our first 3 nights; It was a different environment then the Central Pacific area. I had perceived from pictures that the area around the volcano was flatter, but in reality, there are beautiful rolling hills and the roads perch atop the hills and wind up and down and into the valleys. The weather was a little more chilly then usual as a cold front had come from the north. But to us it was temperate.

After much research on Trip Advisor We arrived a little after dark at Kokoro Resort. It is 3 years old with separate cabins for the rooms and an open area reception/ dining area with a wireless computer set up. In the morning they feed the birds left over fruit from breakfast and the variety of birds flocking really add to the atmosphere. The live Arenal Volcano looms in front of us but it is covered by clouds. Only once at night could I see the glow of lava when the clouds slightly parted. At Kokoro the separate cabins were great for our group. It gave everyone a chance to be together as their own small family unit but close enough that with baby monitors we were able to be at the pool or in the hot tub or eating breakfast while babies napped and still feel safe. The first night Kristi and I ventured to the hot tub with Emerson and found a frog doing laps. Not ready to touch an amphibian (since many are poisonous in this country) we asked Felico to get it out for us, He said it was a very common occurrence. They love the warm water. That night we tried Costa Rican take out pizza. It was ok- certainly not the best pizza.

The next day we drove to La Fortuna Waterfall. I found the information about this waterfall through a web video I found http://www.travelcostaricanow.com/ . These two guys live in La Fortuna and through their videos chow many great travel tips for Costa Rica. What I wasnt prepared for was the steep hike down into the canyon to be at the base of these falls-- actually it was more the steep hike back UP the canyon that got me. But led by Kameson we all made it! This is where we saw our first monkey- a howler monkey. The falls were beautiful and everyone had a great time playing in the river or in the sand. A couple of girls stopped and talked to us. They guessed we were Mormons right off because we were so family oriented. But they also assumed that both Rachael and Rebekah were married to Giovanni. They had see too many episodes of Big Love and didnt realize that show doesnt depict our specific beliefs. We set them straight that there is one husband for every wife. The next day we spent at Los Lagos Resort. They offered a group rate for us to Zip Line and the day at their hot springs with a (petting) zoo included. We chose them for their great price but also because they allowed Jameson to zip line (he is 6 yrs old) It was an awesome experience. As I am a little afraid of heights and to be connected high over the canopy was an amazing experience. And it was fun to do it with our group. The girls did the morning and the guys with Jennine took the afternoon slot. The babies played and napped at the pools for hours.

We decided to try and see the volcano from the west side but it was also socked in with clouds. But we did catch an amazing sunset over Lake Arenal and the boys got a 4 wheel adventure in. Some of us even saw wild pigs. Then it was in town to eat at La Parada -- another recommendation from Trip Advisor travel forum. We ate most of our purchased meals at "sodas". These are road side stands that serve home cooked meals. Kind of like a "cafe" here in the US. The next day we bid farewell to Felico and his black panther and hit the windy mountian roads to Manuel Antonio. We loved La Fortuna even if we didnt have our lives in peril from a potential pyroclastic volcano blast. On to temp our fate on the roads and what should be a 5 hour road trip. My next post-- The road of opportunity.

Royce Family Junlge Adventure Part Dos- traveling with the babies

After our last family trip of almost losing Rory and Jennine on Hawaii flight delays, we were able to book all of us on the same flight (with exception of our Italian family on the inbound portion). This gave us plently of hands to hold and entertain babies. One of our tools are I-phones downloaded with kid and baby friendly games or a small travel TV with kid size head phones. Also a lightweight comfy blanket to cuddle up in. But we did learn that only one lap child was allowed per 3 seats.







We arrived late at night in San Jose and took 2 full taxi vans to our hotel - The Adventure Inn. They had some creative art work hanging in their breakfast area- Toucans made of tires. After a traditional Costa Rican breakfast of beans, rice, eggs, fruit and juices (or should we say fruit puree) we stuffed all of our 30 apx bags, 4 strollers, 5 car seats and 17 bodies into 3 cars and headed north west through a beautiful country side, through cloud forests and arrived in La Fortuna at our Kokoro Resort. My next post will detail the La Fortuna experience.

Royce Family Jungle Adventure!! pt 1

Our family returned late last night from a great family vacation in Costa Rice. Being concerned about posting that my house was empty for the past 11 days I didnt want to update my blog until I returned. Now I plan to post away! I plan to post various aspects of how we travel the way we do with resources, experiences we had and pictures of the trip. I will be doing this spread through multiple posts so if you read my blog check back often. Also, you will be able to click to any of my kids blogs to the right and see the trip through their eyes. Both Kristi and Rachael posted from their I-phone while we were there. And I am sure that Jennine and Bekah will also be sharing.

Pt1 -- Why we travel & finding the DEAL! --
Rod and I had our 4 children very close together- 2 boys and 2 girls in a span of 6 years. I was born and raised in a small town in southern Idaho. Living on a farm gave us very limited travel opportunities because we always had to be responsible for milking or feeding animals or a planting a crop et.... Rod grow up in the beach in southern CA and he was always tied to his family business. But as we grew we were both able to experience new places -- fishing off the coast of Oregon, British Columbia. But then Rod served a mission in southern Germany and we returned when early in our marriage to visit the area.
Royce Family European Vacation Pt 1 & Pt 2--
One day about 12 years ago I saw an internet advertisement for travel between Denver to London for $199 round trip. Rod happened to be in Lake Powell at the time and un-reachable. But I knew we would regret it if we didnt jump on that fare. So I bought tickets for all of us --for (16 Rachael, 14 JR ,12 Rory ,and 10 yr old Bekah). That meant we had to get passports . We drove to Denver because the flight from SLC to Denver was more then the flight Europe. We then flew into London and backpacked through europe, staying in youth hostels and bed and breakfast and used Eurail passes- often sleeping overnight on the train. In 2 weeks we visited London, Brussels, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Venice, Austria & Germany, through Paris and on the chunnel back to London. Of course the trip was not without issues like the time we ran for a train with 3 of us making it and 3 of us not -- with mom holding all of the tickets and passports as we passed over a border check. Not to mention the occasional arguments, not only between the kids but also the parents as travel can bring stressors that we dont have in our day to day home lives. But it also brings amazing experiences-- the first time tasting a weisswurst in a bum from a street vendor in Germany, beating the hodlum pick pocketeers on the streets of Paris and having our children meet the people that Rod worked with on his mission and see his love for them. A couple of years later we followed that trip with a return Christmas trip to Germany/ Austria. This time renting a van -- highlited by an overnight sleeping adventure in the car in Innsbruck, Austria on New Years Eve. Europe is a favorite travel spot for us. Not only because we love the variety of life from Germany to Poland to Italy, but also because we have a little bit of our family that lives in Milan. And as our family has grown we have also traveled to Hawaii. First on a family trip 5 years ago to Maui with Kristi and then as we added Giovanni, Jennine, Jamison & Chanel three years ago a trip to Maui and Kauai.
So now our family consists of 5 couples ( 10 adults) 2 kids and FIVE lap children. (that is what the airlines consider children under 2 that you dont buy a ticket for. So this was a prime time for our family to have a trip that would be adventurous for the adults and safe for the little ones. And COSTA RICA was the right place!
I had been searching the internet for airline deals and vacation house rentals on places such as vrbo and Home Away Our goal was to find a house that was beautiful, beach location, pool and 5 bedrooms that would consider renting to a group that had FIVE babies. Some places said no- their locations had dangers or that the septic tanks couldnt handle that amount of people.
I searched airline deal sights such as travel zoo, travelocity, Expedia.
About 2 months ago in October I was watching a SLC to Paris fare on Travelocity and on that list gave all of the fare deals out of SLC. And there I found SLC to San Jose, Costa Rica for $188+tax Round trip. And there you have it. All family members were in. We found someone selling a voucher for the airline on Craig's List and KSL classifieds that helped off set some of the pricing and purchased our tickets to paradise!

Happy Birthday Little Lottie

Grammie has been thinking about you all night and how one year ago you were born and you joined our eternal family! We love you sweetheart and cant wait to see you (and your mummie & daddie) this week and give you slobbery kisses on your neck! Maybe Grammie will sneek some red licorice to you!

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