{"id":30990,"date":"2015-12-16T20:31:40","date_gmt":"2015-12-17T01:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=30990"},"modified":"2015-12-16T20:31:40","modified_gmt":"2015-12-17T01:31:40","slug":"photos-from-thanksgiving-in-costa-rica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/photos-from-thanksgiving-in-costa-rica\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos From Thanksgiving in Costa Rica"},"content":{"rendered":"

My parents, GeorgeB and BarbaraB, will be married for 50 years on December 26. For half a century of marriage, you deserve more than a one-day celebration, so we kicked off the fun early. First, my mother received her Wendy Brandes anniversary ring in October<\/a>.\u00a0 Then, for Thanksgiving, my parents took the entire family went to Costa Rica.<\/p>\n

My father rented a beautiful villa near Quepos<\/a> that fit all of us: GeorgeB; BarbaraB; MrB; me; my sister, Terri Berry<\/a>; Terri’s husband, Tim Berry; the two<\/a> little Berries<\/a>; and Kenny, Tim Berry’s brother.<\/p>\n

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The view from the pool.<\/p><\/div>\n

On our first full day, we explored Manuel Antonio National Park where we saw sloths …<\/p>\n

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Sloth being slothful.<\/p><\/div>\n

… white-faced monkeys …<\/p>\n

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This isn’t the monkey that we saw steal a snack out of someone’s hands.<\/p><\/div>\n

… and white-faced monkeys posing for the paparazzi.<\/p>\n

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Say “cheese,” monkey!<\/p><\/div>\n

There were more white-faced monkeys when we took a boat tour of a mangrove forest on the second day.<\/p>\n

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Mangrove monkey.<\/p><\/div>\n

These monkeys are really cute … until you zoom in. Up close, they look a lot like Lord Voldemort<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Seriously!<\/p><\/div>\n

We then spent a day with a personal guide who took us horseback riding …<\/p>\n

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My horse kept embarrassing me by stopping for snacks.<\/p><\/div>\n

… led us (on foot) over a narrow bridge that reminded me of the bridge scene in Shrek<\/em><\/a> …<\/p>\n

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It wasn’t scary, just narrow.<\/p><\/div>\n

… and took us to a waterfall\/swimming hole.<\/p>\n

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My nephew jumped off the waterfall. I did not.<\/p><\/div>\n

After the horses, bridge and swimming, we were on our way to lunch when we had a minor mishap.<\/p>\n

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We fell into a ditch!<\/p><\/div>\n

I suspected that the horses standing around our van were laughing at us. The guys who ran over to help us were definitely amused.\u00a0 I amused myself by taking a selfie while the guys dug us out of the ditch. Yep, I’ve decided that during minor transportation emergencies, my job is to take a picture of myself.<\/p>\n

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Why the long face? Ha ha.<\/p><\/div>\n

Zip-lining<\/a> is a must in Costa Rica. I loved it.<\/p>\n

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Whee!<\/p><\/div>\n

Take a close look at my shoes in that photo. We had to leave the house early that morning and I was running all over the place looking for my sneakers. Finally, I gave up and put on my fancy-looking — but comfortable — rubber-soled shoes from Opening Ceremony<\/a>. I figured if I can stand for hours at concerts in my Opening Ceremony shoes<\/a>, I could zip-line in them.<\/p>\n

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Shoe glamour shot with (from left) Kenny, GeorgeB and MrB.<\/p><\/div>\n

When we got back to the house, I found my sneakers. My nephew had plugged in an iPad to charge … and set it on top of my sneakers. Lesson of the day: Always look under an iPad if you’re missing something important.<\/p>\n

On our last day, we went out on a big catamaran. A vacation isn’t a vacation<\/a> to me unless there’s some kind<\/a> of boat trip<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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On board, before shipping out.<\/p><\/div>\n

We went snorkeling and then slid down the boat’s steep and terrifying slide. You could also jump off the roof of the boat. There was a dude who helped position you properly for the slide and gave you a push, so I managed that just fine. But on the roof of the boat, I had to propel myself off and I was scared to do that. Terri was scared too but she eventually jumped. My 7-year-old nephew jumped more than once. An 11-year-old boy came back four times while I was standing there petrified. (He said, “You’re STILL HERE?!”) People did somersaults off the boat while I stared over the side of the boat. For the second time during the trip, I thought of Donkey in Shrek. <\/em>I was like, “Don’t look down … don’t look down … Shrek, I’m looking down!!!” My brother-in-law Tim, who came back up for a second or third jump, finally said the magic words: “Just look straight ahead.” I said, “Can you repeat that sentence until I go?” Tim said, “Look straight ahead, look straight ahead, look straight ahead, look straight ahead …” and I finally jumped. Whew.<\/p>\n

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Terri took the photo. That’s MrB standing there, missing the whole thing.<\/p><\/div>\n

I wouldn’t have been able to relax and enjoy the sunset if I had chickened out of that.<\/p>\n

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In between all the classic Costa Rican activities, we had a classic Thanksgiving dinner.<\/p>\n

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Made by our villa’s chef.<\/p><\/div>\n

The only negative thing about this experience: Now I want to spend EVERY Thanksgiving in Costa Rica. GeorgeB and BarbaraB, you’ve created a zip-lining monster! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My parents, GeorgeB and BarbaraB, will be married for 50 years on December 26. For half a century of marriage, you deserve more than a one-day celebration, so we kicked off the fun early. First, my mother received her Wendy Brandes anniversary ring in October.\u00a0 Then, for Thanksgiving, my parents took the entire family went…<\/p>\n

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