Our family vacation to Costa Rica was really fun and everyone enjoyed themselves. Getting ready to go on the trip on the other hand, not so much fun. The week before we left I got sick with the flu and was completely out of commission for the rest of the week. Charlie was out of town and Maya stayed with Grandma and Nani until Saturday night before we left. Luckily for me, Charlie didn't want me to touch anything, so he packed for all of us - yippee for Sapna! I had to cancel my trip to Dallas for Heather's baby shower and I missed Amy's surprise birthday party, too. Luckily with everyone's help, we made it to the airport and off to Costa Rica for a week. Here are some of the highlights:
Sunday, July 19th:
Departed for CR. We arrived in a town called Liberia which was about 30 minutes from our villa. On the way to the villa, we had lunch at a local restaurant and tried out local Costa Rican food. It was all pretty good - chicken, rice, beans - even Maya liked it! We headed to Guanacaste, an area on the northwest coast of CR. The villa was located near the city of Coco and the villa, Villa Estrella was located in a gated subdivision called Ocotal. The villa was absolutely gorgeous! It had 7 bedrooms and about 9 bathrooms, huge kitchen, several balconies, game room, pavilion, work out center, and a beautiful infiniti pool overlooking the ocean. We had 15 people and occupied all the rooms except one. The villa came with an entire staff including chefs, bartender, waiter, driver, security guard, and property managers. All our meals and drinks were included (and we are glad we chose the beverage option because we sure did use every penny of that!). We got to the villa just in time for everyone to get in the pool, have dinner and decide what to do the next day.
Monday, July 20th:
Happy 30th Birthday to Amy! I am sure she is loving this call-out. All the ladies stayed at the villa and hung out at the pool. Maya had such a great time in the pool. The girl loves being in the water. She fights to get out of the water everytime no matter what the body of water - the bath, the pool or the ocean. Everytime she went on the patio she pointed and said 'bath". We took a few floats for her so she could enjoy the pool like her cousins. The guys went on a local fishing trip and caught our dinner, mahi mahi. The ladies headed to Coco for some shopping when the boys got back. The staff made Amy a birthday cake and we all helped her celebrate that night after the kiddos went to bed.
Tuesday, July 21st:
Today the entire fam went on an excursion. We went zip lining first. Grandma was gracious enough to stay behind and watch Maya, Madi and Hailey - they went to the Monkey zoo. The rest of us suited up and repelled from 11 zip lines. The guides were really good and after we got over the initial nervousness about jumping off the trees, everyone had a great time. Maya and Hailey would have enjoyed this we think, but it was a bit scary being that high up and sometimes the steps/staircases were steep. Definitely a great excursion. The service at the villa was so great. They packed snacks and a cooler for us for the day and after our zip lining, they even opened it up for a full bar. The bartender came, too! That's a first. The next part was an hour and a half ride to the wildlife boatride. We stopped in a little town called Ortega to have lunch. The food was really good. It didn't look all that great, but we chowed down before heading to the Palo Verde National Park. We were the only group on our boat ride and again, the bar and snacks went with us (this is pretty much how the rest of the week was, too. Service, service, service). The main attraction on this boatride were the crocodiles, but before that fun began, we saw a few monkeys, iguanas and unique birds. Then the finale. The guide takes out a pouch of raw chicken, attaches it to the end of a stick and waved it in the water. It only took a couple of minutes before our boat was surrounded by 4 very hungry crocodiles. It was pretty crazy. We took so many pictures and videos of the crocs coming up out of the water to get their pollo. We'd never seen anything like this before. I was sure to keep Maya well away from the side of the boat. She looked at them, but we never got a reaction from her.
Wednesday, July 22nd
Today half the group went on a deep sea fishing trip. Maya stayed behind with the rest of the girls as she would have preferred being in the pool (or shall we say bath) anyway. PawPaw got us a really nice boat that was air conditioned, had sleeping quarters and a kitchen. It was a beautiful boat and we felt like we were in a yacht! We all took Dramamine before we went and boy did that get to us. We all literally slept all day except for when there was a fish! Bryce caught the first one, a black tuna. Mason was up next and reeled in, with help from Mark and PawPaw, a 50 lb mahi mahi. It took him like an hour to reel that guy in. Next up was Charlie until we saw how big the fish was, so we let PawPaw get this one instead. At first we thought it was a marlin, but it was a sailfish. Sailfish are one of the fish you have to catch and release in Costa Rica, but he managed to get it in the boat long enough for pictures and to measure his prize catch at 97 inches. Less than an hour later, Charlie caught another sailfish measuring about 80 inches. It was a pretty good fishing trip considering how many fish were caught of this size.
Thursday, July 23rd:
Today was Charlie and I's trip to San Jose to visit the stem cell clinic. We decided not to take Maya on this excursion and we were glad once we boarded the tiniest plane on the 1 hour flight. I think I sweated the entire time and we had to make a stop in Tamarindo (see Friday's post) on a gravel runway. Nice. We hired a driver to take us to the clinic and he gave us a city tour before and after the meeting. San Jose is nowhere near the ocean. It is nestled between mountains and is the capital of CR. He showed us around the city and saw highlights like the President's house and the US ambassador's house (which was actually much nicer than the CR president's house!). Maya had a great time with the family and they all went to a local beach. Maya literally came back to the house with black sand in places where you could not imagine. She had so much fun though!
At the stem cell clinic, Charlie and I met with two of the doctors. We had had alot of our questions answered prior to the visit by another one of the doctors, so really this was a chance to see the clinic and the people there. We had learned a few things between the first stem cell miniconference and the SMA conference, so we did have a few new questions. The transplants are done in the hospital, so we didn't take a tour like I thought we were going to do. Rather we went to their business office. Long story short, we don't think now is the time for Maya to get any stem cell treatments at this facility. There are a few reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is that from our research we learned that the stem cells should be injected into Maya's spine, basically a spinal tap, since the cells should be transplanted to the area of the body needing the "fix". The clinic has started doing spinal treatments, however, they do not do them on children under 7. The risk of children under 7 contracting meningitis during the procedure is too high for the potential benefits. Plus, they have never treated SMA before and they basically told us they had no idea if it would work or not. They stopped treating ALS, which is similar to SMA, since it was wasn't working, so how are we to trust that this treatment has any hope? We just don't know, but we are not willing to risk Maya's (other) health for it at this time. So for now, we sit tight with Maya using the VPA/Carnatine medicines and pray that the FDA will approve the stem cell clinical trial later this year. Even if the trial is approved, SMA Type 1 patients are first in line for the trial. It could still be another 10 years minimum for it to happen in the US, but if there is a similar breakthrough somewhere besides the US using the same stem cell therapy protocol as the US doctors are using, we will definitely consider it. The doctor in California has apparently found a way to treat SMA mice without causing cancerous tumors so let's hope the government allows him to move to the next step!
Friday, July 24th:
Happy 30th to me! I woke up to the kiddos singing to me bedside. Grandma was nice enough to have Maya sleep in their room last night and tonight for my birthday so I could get a day off! We headed to Tamarindo today to visit a "white" sand beach. All the beaches near Ocotal are black sand, so we had to travel an hour and a half to the nearest normal beach. We took Nago, our bartender, with us! A few of us, including myself, took a surfing lesson. I wasn't going to at first, but Charlie insisted I do something fun on my birthday. A half an hour later, I am on a surf board trying to stay standing on my surfboard...and then I believe what happened next was me going face first into the sand about 5 times. Nice. One of the times my surf board took me out and then Bryce, too. I did manage to get up on the board once or twice. It is definitely hard work getting on a surf board and carrying it in the water, especially with the crazy tides we were going against. The guides were talking about how strong the tide was today all month long. I am so glad I did it and it was a great way to celebrate turning 30. We spent the rest of the time on the beach jumping the waves, without the boards. It was so much fun and the entire family got to enjoy it. I think we must have stayed out there for 2-3 hours jumping them over and over. Everyone took turns watching Maya, but every now and again, we brought her about knee deep to jump some waves, too. She kept on signing "more, more". Uncle Shawn got her so close that she actually had water on top of her at one point. She didn't cry at all - just laughed and asked for more. She had a great day - again, because of the big bath she got to play in. On the way back to the villa from Tamarindo, we essentially made the bus our very own 80's music discotheque. I can't tell you how much fun we had singing and dancing (yes, dancing!) to hundreds of 80's songs. Its so funny how we can remember like every word to an 80's song and which movie it was from and now I can hardly even tell you the title/singer of a song on the radio today! Thanks Shawn and Mark for bringing the tunes. It definitely made the trip! All in all, one heck of a birthday and will be remembered!
Saturday, June 25th:
Our last day in Costa Rica and we made it a lazy one. Charlie hadn't had a free day all week! After having pooltime in the morning, we all got ready for family pictures and headed to the local beach. We took a few family photos and Maya even got her own photo shoot! After our last dinner, the staff brought out a huge birthday cake for PawPaw, who was celebrating his 61st birthday on the 26th. We celebrated tonight since we would be leaving in the early AM.
We can't say enough about how much fun we had. Thanks so much to PawPaw for taking us all on this memorable vacation. It was so different from the family trips we had taken in the past and at times we were even hesitant about staying at a villa vs a resort, but it turned out to be so worth it. The staff treated us like kings and queens and never let us lift a finger. They didn't even let us open our own soda cans if that tells you anything! It was so nice to be able to put Maya down for a nap or all the kids to bed and still "stay out" and enjoy the adult time! Even PawPaw was already talking about the next time we come back so that is a great sign that everyone enjoyed this trip! I will post pictures soon. We used so many cameras on the trip, so I don't have all the photos, but hopefully it in the few weeks we can consolidate and get some on our photo website. I will let you know when they are up!
Sunday, July 19th:
Departed for CR. We arrived in a town called Liberia which was about 30 minutes from our villa. On the way to the villa, we had lunch at a local restaurant and tried out local Costa Rican food. It was all pretty good - chicken, rice, beans - even Maya liked it! We headed to Guanacaste, an area on the northwest coast of CR. The villa was located near the city of Coco and the villa, Villa Estrella was located in a gated subdivision called Ocotal. The villa was absolutely gorgeous! It had 7 bedrooms and about 9 bathrooms, huge kitchen, several balconies, game room, pavilion, work out center, and a beautiful infiniti pool overlooking the ocean. We had 15 people and occupied all the rooms except one. The villa came with an entire staff including chefs, bartender, waiter, driver, security guard, and property managers. All our meals and drinks were included (and we are glad we chose the beverage option because we sure did use every penny of that!). We got to the villa just in time for everyone to get in the pool, have dinner and decide what to do the next day.
Monday, July 20th:
Happy 30th Birthday to Amy! I am sure she is loving this call-out. All the ladies stayed at the villa and hung out at the pool. Maya had such a great time in the pool. The girl loves being in the water. She fights to get out of the water everytime no matter what the body of water - the bath, the pool or the ocean. Everytime she went on the patio she pointed and said 'bath". We took a few floats for her so she could enjoy the pool like her cousins. The guys went on a local fishing trip and caught our dinner, mahi mahi. The ladies headed to Coco for some shopping when the boys got back. The staff made Amy a birthday cake and we all helped her celebrate that night after the kiddos went to bed.
Tuesday, July 21st:
Today the entire fam went on an excursion. We went zip lining first. Grandma was gracious enough to stay behind and watch Maya, Madi and Hailey - they went to the Monkey zoo. The rest of us suited up and repelled from 11 zip lines. The guides were really good and after we got over the initial nervousness about jumping off the trees, everyone had a great time. Maya and Hailey would have enjoyed this we think, but it was a bit scary being that high up and sometimes the steps/staircases were steep. Definitely a great excursion. The service at the villa was so great. They packed snacks and a cooler for us for the day and after our zip lining, they even opened it up for a full bar. The bartender came, too! That's a first. The next part was an hour and a half ride to the wildlife boatride. We stopped in a little town called Ortega to have lunch. The food was really good. It didn't look all that great, but we chowed down before heading to the Palo Verde National Park. We were the only group on our boat ride and again, the bar and snacks went with us (this is pretty much how the rest of the week was, too. Service, service, service). The main attraction on this boatride were the crocodiles, but before that fun began, we saw a few monkeys, iguanas and unique birds. Then the finale. The guide takes out a pouch of raw chicken, attaches it to the end of a stick and waved it in the water. It only took a couple of minutes before our boat was surrounded by 4 very hungry crocodiles. It was pretty crazy. We took so many pictures and videos of the crocs coming up out of the water to get their pollo. We'd never seen anything like this before. I was sure to keep Maya well away from the side of the boat. She looked at them, but we never got a reaction from her.
Wednesday, July 22nd
Today half the group went on a deep sea fishing trip. Maya stayed behind with the rest of the girls as she would have preferred being in the pool (or shall we say bath) anyway. PawPaw got us a really nice boat that was air conditioned, had sleeping quarters and a kitchen. It was a beautiful boat and we felt like we were in a yacht! We all took Dramamine before we went and boy did that get to us. We all literally slept all day except for when there was a fish! Bryce caught the first one, a black tuna. Mason was up next and reeled in, with help from Mark and PawPaw, a 50 lb mahi mahi. It took him like an hour to reel that guy in. Next up was Charlie until we saw how big the fish was, so we let PawPaw get this one instead. At first we thought it was a marlin, but it was a sailfish. Sailfish are one of the fish you have to catch and release in Costa Rica, but he managed to get it in the boat long enough for pictures and to measure his prize catch at 97 inches. Less than an hour later, Charlie caught another sailfish measuring about 80 inches. It was a pretty good fishing trip considering how many fish were caught of this size.
Thursday, July 23rd:
Today was Charlie and I's trip to San Jose to visit the stem cell clinic. We decided not to take Maya on this excursion and we were glad once we boarded the tiniest plane on the 1 hour flight. I think I sweated the entire time and we had to make a stop in Tamarindo (see Friday's post) on a gravel runway. Nice. We hired a driver to take us to the clinic and he gave us a city tour before and after the meeting. San Jose is nowhere near the ocean. It is nestled between mountains and is the capital of CR. He showed us around the city and saw highlights like the President's house and the US ambassador's house (which was actually much nicer than the CR president's house!). Maya had a great time with the family and they all went to a local beach. Maya literally came back to the house with black sand in places where you could not imagine. She had so much fun though!
At the stem cell clinic, Charlie and I met with two of the doctors. We had had alot of our questions answered prior to the visit by another one of the doctors, so really this was a chance to see the clinic and the people there. We had learned a few things between the first stem cell miniconference and the SMA conference, so we did have a few new questions. The transplants are done in the hospital, so we didn't take a tour like I thought we were going to do. Rather we went to their business office. Long story short, we don't think now is the time for Maya to get any stem cell treatments at this facility. There are a few reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is that from our research we learned that the stem cells should be injected into Maya's spine, basically a spinal tap, since the cells should be transplanted to the area of the body needing the "fix". The clinic has started doing spinal treatments, however, they do not do them on children under 7. The risk of children under 7 contracting meningitis during the procedure is too high for the potential benefits. Plus, they have never treated SMA before and they basically told us they had no idea if it would work or not. They stopped treating ALS, which is similar to SMA, since it was wasn't working, so how are we to trust that this treatment has any hope? We just don't know, but we are not willing to risk Maya's (other) health for it at this time. So for now, we sit tight with Maya using the VPA/Carnatine medicines and pray that the FDA will approve the stem cell clinical trial later this year. Even if the trial is approved, SMA Type 1 patients are first in line for the trial. It could still be another 10 years minimum for it to happen in the US, but if there is a similar breakthrough somewhere besides the US using the same stem cell therapy protocol as the US doctors are using, we will definitely consider it. The doctor in California has apparently found a way to treat SMA mice without causing cancerous tumors so let's hope the government allows him to move to the next step!
Friday, July 24th:
Happy 30th to me! I woke up to the kiddos singing to me bedside. Grandma was nice enough to have Maya sleep in their room last night and tonight for my birthday so I could get a day off! We headed to Tamarindo today to visit a "white" sand beach. All the beaches near Ocotal are black sand, so we had to travel an hour and a half to the nearest normal beach. We took Nago, our bartender, with us! A few of us, including myself, took a surfing lesson. I wasn't going to at first, but Charlie insisted I do something fun on my birthday. A half an hour later, I am on a surf board trying to stay standing on my surfboard...and then I believe what happened next was me going face first into the sand about 5 times. Nice. One of the times my surf board took me out and then Bryce, too. I did manage to get up on the board once or twice. It is definitely hard work getting on a surf board and carrying it in the water, especially with the crazy tides we were going against. The guides were talking about how strong the tide was today all month long. I am so glad I did it and it was a great way to celebrate turning 30. We spent the rest of the time on the beach jumping the waves, without the boards. It was so much fun and the entire family got to enjoy it. I think we must have stayed out there for 2-3 hours jumping them over and over. Everyone took turns watching Maya, but every now and again, we brought her about knee deep to jump some waves, too. She kept on signing "more, more". Uncle Shawn got her so close that she actually had water on top of her at one point. She didn't cry at all - just laughed and asked for more. She had a great day - again, because of the big bath she got to play in. On the way back to the villa from Tamarindo, we essentially made the bus our very own 80's music discotheque. I can't tell you how much fun we had singing and dancing (yes, dancing!) to hundreds of 80's songs. Its so funny how we can remember like every word to an 80's song and which movie it was from and now I can hardly even tell you the title/singer of a song on the radio today! Thanks Shawn and Mark for bringing the tunes. It definitely made the trip! All in all, one heck of a birthday and will be remembered!
Saturday, June 25th:
Our last day in Costa Rica and we made it a lazy one. Charlie hadn't had a free day all week! After having pooltime in the morning, we all got ready for family pictures and headed to the local beach. We took a few family photos and Maya even got her own photo shoot! After our last dinner, the staff brought out a huge birthday cake for PawPaw, who was celebrating his 61st birthday on the 26th. We celebrated tonight since we would be leaving in the early AM.
We can't say enough about how much fun we had. Thanks so much to PawPaw for taking us all on this memorable vacation. It was so different from the family trips we had taken in the past and at times we were even hesitant about staying at a villa vs a resort, but it turned out to be so worth it. The staff treated us like kings and queens and never let us lift a finger. They didn't even let us open our own soda cans if that tells you anything! It was so nice to be able to put Maya down for a nap or all the kids to bed and still "stay out" and enjoy the adult time! Even PawPaw was already talking about the next time we come back so that is a great sign that everyone enjoyed this trip! I will post pictures soon. We used so many cameras on the trip, so I don't have all the photos, but hopefully it in the few weeks we can consolidate and get some on our photo website. I will let you know when they are up!
3 comments:
Wow! That sounds so awesome! I can't wait to see the pics. I am glad you guys had a great time. I am so intrigued by this Villa thing - maybe our next group trip? Happy late 30th Birthday too!
Oh my gosh, this sounds like an amazing trip! What a fun family y'all have. I'm with KC, the villa needs to be our next trip for the gang!
Your trip sounds amazing! It brought back so many memories of James and I's trip to Liberia in January! It's an awesome place and I can't wait to go back! I'm with Sarah and Christine on the group trip idea!!! Happy late Birthday!!!
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