Snowed In

We did a pretty good job of avoiding cold weather this holiday season. We escaped the East just before the huge snow storm before Christmas, took off to sunny Costa Rica, and I skipped out of Houston to Phoenix just before a big freeze. This past weekend we got about a foot of snow in Richmond and it shut almost EVERYTHING down. It was insanity. Central Virginia isn't really equipped to handle the snowstorms like this; between the 18 inches (that we missed) in December, the 12-14 inches this weekend, and the ADDITIONAL expected snow this coming weekend, Richmond's getting a lot of snow - more than ever expected. We heard when we moved here, we would be lucky if we got one snowstorm per year (some 4th year dental student families said they got snow last year and that was the first time they'd seen it in the 3 years they'd been here). 

Church was cancelled on Sunday and so was school on Monday. We obviously enjoyed the downtime and watching people get stuck in the snowdrift at the mailbox - right out side our window. We really just wish that we lived closer to a mountain so we could enjoy the fresh powder!

Winter Travels - Part 4 - Phoenix in Plaid

Our final destination was a weekend jaunt to Phoenix, where Aaron’s brother, Eric married his beautiful bride, Darien on Saturday, January 9^th.

Aaron made the trek from Virginia to Phoenix and I came from Houston. We were both set to arrive on Thursday night  around the same time – me on a direct flight from Houston and Aaron changing planes in Atlanta. Unfortunately, the weather in Atlanta was bad and Aaron’s flight was cancelled. He found out the night before so he was able to find a different connection and ended up being on my flight from Houston! He didn’t want to miss any school that day since he was already skipping all day Friday but in the end he only ended up missing an hour and a half because of the cancellation. So it wasn’t a  bad situation at all.

Friday morning we went on a hike up on a mountain near Darien’s parents’ house. It was a neat, low-key hike where we just got to visit with everybody. Following that, the girls got their nails done and the boys played tennis. That night we had a rehearsal dinner at Darien’s parents’ house.

Saturday was the morning of the wedding! Eric and Darien got married in the Mesa, Arizona temple and it was a beautiful ceremony. Following pictures, we had a break to have a lunch, go shopping, get lunch, change, head to the reception venue and help setup and then take pictures.  The ring ceremony, the dinner, the dance party, everything was a blast and so very well put together. 

Aaron had to leave earlier than the rest of us on Sunday (we all left Monday morning) to get back to school so we missed him at present opening and Nate’s birthday dinner.

We were so glad to see the Laird clan even it was for a short time. We had a so much fun! Thanks Nate and Lacey for putting us up in your hotel room and chauffeuring us around!

Winter Travels - Part 3 - Costa Rica!!!

This vacation was a blast. I tried to keep it brief. I couldn't. Deal.

 Our trip started out with a 430am flight out of Houston with a connection in San Salvador, followed by a 2 hour car ride to our condo. Aaron and I took advantage of the downtime.

On our way, we stopped off to see a bridge where alligators live...

This is the view from our condo....lovely.

 

The next day, Christmas Day, we went white water rafting!! It was an all day adventure that started with breakfast at an authentic costa rican bungalow in the mountains.

I am so bummed there was a spot on the camera lens - I really like this pictures. Before we loaded into the rafts, we took some pictures on this big bridge.

Ready to Raft!

We all got to take a turn on the duckie-kayak. This is my mom and the rest of us not too far behind.

My grandpa did not have the abdominal strength to hold himself up in the raft. So in most pictures, he's just laying back, enjoying the ride, and smiling huge. This is the best one.

We also stopped at a waterfall and took some pictures.

These pictures of my grandpa make me crack up everytime I see them. Here's one more for good measure.

The next day was a golf and beach day...no pictures I guess?
We did eat dinner...it was gross. BUT, we got serenaded by a mariachi band!

The next day we did a Vanilla Factory tour that was AMAZING. Complete with delicious treats at the end.

Vanilla Beans

Cocoa Beans

We went on a walk through the plantation.

Aaron and I have this plant in our living room in Richmond. In Costa Rica it's not a houseplant!

Trying out the treats

Our next stop was a tour through the rainforest. We had a guide with us who had a telescope (or something like it) to pick out animals for us. It was kind of hokey and really slow. Apparently this park is the most visited and busiest in Costa Rica.

An awesome stop sign in the town of Quepos. 

The next day, we arranged to go white water rafting again. We liked it so much the first time that the guides agreed to let us go with them again on a different, more difficult river. Grandpa stayed home for this one. After rafting, we tried a different beach that we ended up loving and going back to a few days later.

This precious little section is called El Chorro. It is only a few inches wider than the raft so it takes careful maneuvering to get down it.

Aaron and I made down El Chorro fine. My parents were a little crooked I guess because the guide told them to move to one side. The other guy in the kayak ahead of us called this move "super athletic." Apparently, he was impressed with how my dad jumped so quickly on command.

We also got to jump off a rock.

We were basically in this canyon the entire time. It was awesome.

There is one section of the river that boats always get stuck in. My parents' guide took the traditional approach to this - have everyone move from side to side until they boat wiggles out. Our guide got out and tried to pull the boat while telling Aaron to stand up or something ridiculous. Eventually as we were going down, everyone landed on me and I had a HUGE bruise after the fact.

We also tried dinner at a place called Kapi Kapi. It was SO GOOD. We went back two days later.

The next day we went horseback riding through plantation to a secret waterfall and then took a mud bath. I'm sure I've already overloaded this blog with scenery pictures so I'll only do a few. The mud bath was SO FUN and so refreshing.

Afterwards we had "river shrimp" at this local Costa Rican place. CHECK OUT THAT SHRIMP!

Our final full day in Costa Rica we spent on the Zipline and then at the beach.

At the beach after ziplining, my mom and I went parasailing. It was SO COOL and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

My grandpa and I sipping drinks on the beach.

Also, grandpa had this bathing cap that he wore in the water. I almost peed my pants from laughing so hard when he had it on. OMG it is ridiculous.

Dinner at Kapi Kapi again!

We spent our New Years Eve packing up, doing a little sightseeing in San Jose, and then catching our flight back to Houston.

Winter Travels - Part 2 - Texas

Aaron, my grandpa, and I flew out of Baltimore on December 15th. We spent the week-ish working at my parents’ dental office and celebrating Christmas. I work with my mom doing business stuff and Aaron worked as an extra “float” dental assistant for the Christmastime rush. Grandpa made dinner for everybody at the end of the day. At first, when this was our plan, Aaron didn’t really seem to want to work over the break. However, I could tell that everyday when he came home he was so excited about what he was doing and that we actually applying what he had learned in dental school to a real life setting. He was always coming home and asking questions. I could tell that he really enjoyed it. 

We celebrated Christmas on Sunday, December 20th, since we were going to be in Costa Rica for Christmas Day. We had a good time opening presents with everybody. I (Aaron too I guess) made my mom a book of our blog that we kept of our trip to Europe this summer…she loved it! And we also got my dad “the best headphones ever.” We got grandpa a short-sleeve Hawaiian style shirt for Costa Rica and he wore it probably four times while we there. We did pretty good I think! I also got some new clothes, jewelry, a sunrise alarm clock and a facial! Aaron got a new suit from my parents and a new iPod from me! Lucky us!

Grandpa Opening His Shirt From Us

Me opening goodies from my stocking...Yes, I chopped off my hair and I LOVE IT. AND my sweater kept my mom laughing ALL DAY....props to Emily and Megan for this gem of a sweater from DI....It is truly the gift that keeps on giving. Singing cats are my fave.

Aaron modeling his new suit by the Christmas Tree.

We also got to talk to my brother, Colby, on that day. He’s been on his mission in Fresno, California since April and he is doing really well – he was even made a zone leader recently! We all went up to my parents office and we were able to conference call him from all of the office phones. It was so good to hear his voice and to hear about how he was doing. He was really strict with the time and stuck to the 45 minute rule though. It was also really cool to hear him and Aaron speak Spanish to each other!

I also made this beautiful apple-pear pie for Christmas dessert, please admire!

We also taught my Grandpa the wonders of technology...He got a new cell phone for Christmas and my mom also tried to teach him how to use the Nintendo DS. We try to keep him with the times...and only moderately succeed.

After we got back from Costa Rica, we rang in the new year exhausted from all of our adventures. Aaron and grandpa returned to the East Coast on Sunday the 3rd while I remained with my parents for two more weeks to work some more ( I do their end of year tax preparation and some close-out and it’s much easier to do if I’m there) since I don’t start school until January 19th (Aaron started back on the 4th).

Winter Travels - Part 1 - New Haven

I have not been very good at this blogging thing...in my defense, I'm still in Texas, I just got back from Phoenix, and I'm working until 9 every night...bringing home the bacon. It's hard to fit blogging in. I have to get our Christmas break posts up before I go back to Richmond on Monday and start school again on Tuesday so I'm going to try really hard to finish. If not...oh well. They'll make it up eventually.

SO our next stop after our trip to New York was to see my 1st cousin once removed (I just say cousin), Justin, his wife, Randi, and their new little girl, Stella. On Sunday, we had pretty crummy weather but it was good to just catch up and spend time with each other.

On Monday, we took a tour of Yale University with a tour group, mainly geared toward prospective students, but informative and interesting all the same. The campus was BEAUTIFUL. I loved it!

 

The campus library was designed like a cathedral...so cool.

Yale Law School

 Wait...we're at BYU?? JK!

We loved spending time in New Haven...Monday night we drove back down to Maryland to my Grandpa's in preparation for our flight to Houston on Tuesday.

PS - I hate the stupid timestamp on our pictures and as soon as I discovered it was there...which wasn't until after we were in Costa Rica...I asked Aaron to figure out how to take it off all future pictures so hopefully it's gone now.