Traveling to Costa Rica with Two Young Kids

I am continually disappointed that we have not developed a way to teleport.  I find planes and airports to be nothing short of torture.  Luckily everyone working in the airports was incredibly nice to us. We survived despite delays and a dramatically shortened layover.
Alajuela welcomed us with rain showers.  There is nothing quite like some added obstacles when driving in Costa Rica.  The nice man from the Solid Rental Car informed me that the roads had just been paved (a major plus), however they hadn't quite gotten around to the line painting yet.  You win some you lose some I guess? 

Crocodiles at the Tarcoles Bridge!!!!

Breakfast before our drive!!

Gabby begging for pipa, which ended up spilled all over the car.

The view from our porch.

Our hotel the first night was surrounded by views of mountains and volcanoes.  I was actually able to find the restaurant we ate at last year.  We ate and then got back to the hotel and were in bed shortly after dinner.  The next morning brought our real test...THE DRIVE.  We left around 800am to head down to Pavones.  To put this in perspective, distance wise it would be similar to Cincinnati to Columbus, but time wise it is more like Cincinnati to Northern Michigan.  These were the highlights: getting lost, puking, crocodiles, and groceries.  Even with all that excitement we still made it in 8hrs.  This is pretty much a miracle given the previous year took closer to 12 hours.  Now it was time to settle in to our new accommodations.  It is far hotter than last year, but who can complain with a view like this!