Hiking Volcano Rincón de la Vieja, Costa Rica It's just fun to say that you are on your way to hike a volcano for the day. Volcán Rincón de la Vieja was our primary reason for going to Guanacaste -- Tamarindo Beach was a nice bonus. We wanted the family to learn more about Volcanos and to
Milking Cows in our Back Yard Behind our house is a small dairy farm (about 12 cows), so we see cows wandering around all day. I was talking with the person that runs it (practicing Spanish, but also to meet the neighbors) and he invited us to watch while he milked the cows. So Savannah and
Collared Aracari and other animals in our yard Today while we were studying at home, we saw: 10-12 Collared Aracari: A Golden Hooded Tanager: A Spotted Woodcreeper: Plus a sloth and about 50 vultures and many other birds that we see regularly like the Cherries Tanager and Great Kiskadee and some hummingbirds that we haven't
Neighborhood Animals in La Fortuna Carson asked how he could earn some money, so I told him if he spotted a sloth near our house and showed it to the family, then he could earn a few dollars. I didn't really expect to see any, but Carson did it. While studying in our
Lake Arenal Lake Arenal looked so beautiful at a distance while we hiked near Arenal Volcano, so we wanted to see it up close. Yesterday we drove to it, hoping for some amazing views. Instead, we found really windy roads, surrounded by trees that blocked all possible views of the lake. Well,
Arenal Volcano National Park As we finished breakfast, six toucans flew up to our house. An amazing way to start the day. Despite the overcast, slightly rainy day, we decided to head to Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal (Arenal Volcano National Park). Clouds are almost always covering the peak of the volcano, for a few
Animals We've Seen Here are some of the animals that we've seen so far: A Three toed Sloth A Keel Billed Toucan Some White headed capuchan Monkeys Egrets These were all taken by me, Carson Golden Hooded Tanager Cherrie's Tanager Great Kiskadee Iguanas Gecko Sparrows Pigeon Toad Vulture Chicks
Playing in the River Machuca Leaf-cutter ants on the trail we took to get to the river. We heard there were some good swimming holes on the river next to the community we're living in, so we took a trail and found one. Then we took a different trail and found some
Crystal Peak, California We went on an off-road adventure with Grandma and Grandpa Knight to Crystal Peak, outside of Verdi, in California. The kids are all into minerals and they each found great samples of clear quartz crystals. Looking for the birds. We saw quite of bit of quartz on one of
Oxbow Nature Preserve We spent our last time with Gene and Bea at the Oxbow Nature Preserve, taking one of the most colorful nature walks you can imagine. It was gorgeous, especially considering this is in the middle of a desert.
Horseback Riding at Rocking S Ranch, Winchester, VA We drove about an hour and a half northwest to get to Winchester, VA to visit the Rocking S Ranch. Bill owns the Rocking S Ranch and was our trail guide (and he took most of these pictures). He was very friendly and made us feel welcome. He adjusted each
Horse riding class at Stonelea Farms I had seen some horsemanship classes offered through the Fairfax County Parks and Rec department, but they're all for kids. Before I signed up one of the kids for a daycamp type thing, we thought it would be better to try Stonelea Farms homeschool class, to gauge interest.
Mount Saint Helens - Volcano in Washington When Keith was young, he and his family went to Mt St Helens, not too many years after it has erupted. So on our way to visit Angela's sister, we wanted to see it. We stopped at the visits center near the base of the National Park. They
Capilano Suspension Bridges, Vancouver, BC North of Vancouver is the Capilano river, surrounded by beautiful evergreen forests. Years ago, lumberjacks built a suspension bridge to cross the river. Now you can tour the area through a series of suspension bridges connecting tree houses and highlighting the Christmas lights and decorations. Tucker was fearless on the
Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC, Canada We have been wanting to visit Angela's sister and one of her friends in the Washington state for quite a while. Fortunately, we had enough frequent flier miles for round trip tickets for our family. We flew into Seattle, where Angela stayed for a few days while the
Cox Farms We went to Cox Farms with some friends last Thursday. It's a big pumpkin patch amusement place in Centreville, VA. We met our friends at our PE class in Chantilly last year. They live in Reston, VA, and we wish we lived closer to them, cause their boys
Natural Bridge, VA On our way home, we stopped at Natural Bridge. This is a little display right before we got on the trail down to the bridge. After the picture was taken, I heard a couple of girls laughing about 'blah blah slaveowners!' That's all it's
Bethany Beach, DE On the drive to the beach, we had to cross over water and had to go on these crazy bridges. The drive there was beautiful, as always, the countryside is full of green fields and lots of old farmhouses. In order to find parking, you have to get to the
Rock Creek Gardens We went for a walk around the neighborhood this evening and saw the Rock Creek Gardens -- a community garden area. There were so many varieties of flowers, vegetables, and herbs growing. Despite the rabbit fencing around most of it, we saw several small rabbits hopping around enjoying the feast. Adjacent
carson Walking around the neighborhood We went for a walk through the neighborhood this afternoon and caught this candid picture.
Rock Creek Park Nature Center and Planetarium We have wanted to visit the Rock Creek Park Nature Center and the associated planetarium for quite a while. Now that we are just a few minutes from it, we decided to try it out. Overall, it didn't live up to the hype. Fairfax has a lot of
Exploring Rock Creek Park We are temporarily staying in an Airbnb in DC. So our first weekend here, we went for a walk in Rock Creek Park - about 1 short block from our place. It has beautiful trails and streams. Is this how you imagined the middle of Washington DC?
