Jake Outings

Summers sure look different around here than they did a few years ago. The teens are often gone doing their own things, so Jake and I adventure together, just the two of us. Hey, it's cheaper that way, I guess!

Blackberry Farm was still a hit this year. I wonder how many more times he'll want to go? Jason and I keep saying this summer how sweet it is that we still have one little one (though he doesn't like being called little!). We're enjoying his sillyness, innocence, and remnants of his little-kid-ness for as long as we have it, knowing the days are numbered.

Phillips Park pool and our friend's pool have been frequented.

We met a friend of Jake's at a huge indoor slide park.

And Six Flags, which is always a favorite outing for Jake, right behind summer vacation in fun for him.

I sure love this kid!

Youth Camp

I went to Youth Camp again this year (for the third year in a row, but who's counting). I do love being there with my teenagers, and I do really love the camp we go to, which is on Lake Geneva. Each day that I'm there, I find a half hour or so to sneak away and walk along the lake (there is a public path that goes around the entire lake). It was quite rainy one day, and we had a tornado warning, which was very scary for some of the girls, but overall I think it was a success. 

I'm always thankful for the other leaders there!

The best days are the ones that overlap with the boys!

I sure love these teens!

Graduation Party

After Costa Rica, we had one more thing to do to wrap up graduation- a party! I was planning to keep it really simple, but then Ali had a few ideas, and so it became a bit grander. The biggest add was a balloon arch- how hard could it be?- I thought. Well, it was time-consuming, but easy enough to blow up the balloons  (thanks to help from the teens) and string them together...but connecting it to the wall was another matter. Lots of time, help from Jason, tape, and prayers later, it was up and beautiful!

I loved how the memories table turned out too.

They had tons of people come, and I wasn't expecting that to make ME feel so loved, but it did. We sure have a great group of friends.
 

San Jose

On our last full day, we drove back to San Jose and went on a little walking tour of downtown. It was the only time to rain was kind of a bummer, but the kids were good sports. We saw a couple of markets, parks, and theaters, as well as two truly beautiful churches. Honestly, overall, it was kind of an underwhelming city (it's not what people come to Costa Rica to see), but I think it was good for the kids to see what other cities look like so they can appreciate ours!

We decided to stop at McDonald's for lunch to compare...menu items were familiar, and it tasted exactly the same as at home!

We left for home the next morning, tired and happy- it was a great trip!

Tamarindo

For the last part of our trip, we drove several hours to Tamarindo, a town on the Pacific Ocean. Everyone loved the beach- it was one of our favorite parts of the trip. Our hotel was up on a hill about 5 minutes from the beach, but there was a shuttle that ran hourly into town and to the beach. They also partner with a Beach Club that we had access to, which was so nice: we had a bar so we could get ice water, bathrooms, lounge chairs, and a private beach area. The trees went so close to the water that we could easily be in the shade while still fully at the beach, and the water was so warm. The beach had pretty impressive waves, lots of seashells, and we just really enjoyed ourselves. 

We typically spent the morning at the hotel pool, went into town for lunch, and then went to the beach until dinner, and then went back to the hotel pool. Rough life.

Animals and Flowers

We kept a list of all the animals and birds we saw on our trip:

Animals: Ant Eater, Black Spiny-tailed Iguana, Lizard, Cows, Horses, Termite nests, Long-nosed bats, Crocodiles, Howler Monkeys, Rat Bull Snake, Emerald (Jesus Christ) Lizard, Blue Jean Frog, White Linated Bat, Black and Green Frog, Tilapia, Toe-toed Sloth, Glass Frog, Godi, Red Frog, Coati, Eyelast Pit Viper, Land Crabs, Catfish, and Kitten.

Birds: Chicken, Buff Rumped Warbler, Great Kiskadee, Yellow Bird, Peacock Bird, Great Curassow, Parrot, Tucan, Aningha Aningha, Tiger Heron, Lordas Parakeet, Scarlet Rumped Tanager, Yellow Tanager, Hummingbirds, Vultures, Swallows, Russet Nape Wood Rail, Jackamar, Boat Billed Heron, Stripped Owl, Blackbelly Whistling duck and ducklings, Green Heron, Chackalaka, Black Throated Oreal, Common Black Hawk, Tri Colored Heron, Warbler, White Ibis, Osprey, and Scarlet Macaw.

Here are some of our favorite pictures:

And we loved trying to capture how pretty all of the flowers were: