Easter in Costa Rica

The Easter Bunny came to Costa Rica! Isn’t he cute?

He brought a bucket with lots of goodies including a Chocolate Bunny, Cadbury Creme Eggs, Peeps, Fun Dip, Huge Pixie Sticks, Dog Bones for the girls, and the newest issue of Dwell! (Chocolate and Dwell=one of my ideas of heaven)

Have I mentioned that our guest rock?! They do.

The other great thing about Easter this year is that it marks the end of Semana Santa (Easter Holy Week). I’m all for people having religious holidays and all but there had been an insane amount of Costa Ricans at the beach this week. I mean tons. Not only tourists but also life guards and ice cream vendors. Plus the water pressure went way down. Now I can go to the beach and maybe see 10 other people, take slightly more powerful showers, and drive into Jaco without feeling claustrophobic.

Hope you had a Happy Easter if you celebrate it!

Baby O & his parents (Brad and Chandler)

I won’t wake up at 3am and drive 2 hours to the airport for just anyone. Luckily Brad, Chandler, and Baby Owen are a few I would.

Our last visitors have arrived and we’re thrilled to have them. After grabbing some breakfast we all headed back to the house to be greeted by the girls (who remembered them and gave Owen a few drive by kisses) and then crashed for a few hours.

After waking Jim and I found that Brad and Owen had already walked to the beach and back and had showered a few times already to stay cool. (It is hot as all get out here. I mean, seriously, HOT.) Jim and I headed into town to grab groceries for dinner. We either missed the farmer’s market or it didn’t happen today (as it is Good Friday) but we picked up some goods from the store and the fish guy.

Came back to Chandler and Baby O in the hammock and soon we headed to the beach were Jim surfed while the rest of us (including Sasha and Lita) walked and played in the waves.

After washing up, Baby O went to bed and the rest of us ate Corvina (Sea Bass), Broccoli, and Potatoes followed by some of Jim’s Birthday Passion Fruit Pie with Vegan, Refined Sugar Free Coconut Lime Ice Cream.

Brad joined Owen and after a game of rummikards Jim and Chandler headed to bed. Even though I was exhausted, I stayed up. Why do I do this? I don’t know, but I wanted to catch up on some of my favorite blogs.

I’m thoroughly impressed by how cheerful Baby O is. At 11 months this is not only his first trip to a different country, but his first where we took a plane. We adore him. (His folks are alright too.) It’s awesome to have them here and I’m excited that moving back to Boulder on the 22nd will allow us to have them be more a part of our life again.

Jellies

Last week, while taking my daily walk along the beach, I noticed an abundance of tiny jelly creatures on the shore. As you can see they are mostly clear with bright blue tentacles. They varied in size from about 1/3 of an inch to a full inch. I went back the next day with my camera hoping to capture these strange little guys, but most had been swept back out to sea. The photos show only two of the handful I found. Their shape and color is so intriguing to me. So different than the chubby, round, clear ones we had in Saudi growing up.

Raw Breakfasts

My sister Kylie (A.K.A. Zippaloo) of AllThingsFood, like me, enjoys eating a high Raw diet but has implemented eating 75%+ Raw one full day each week. Here are a few breakfasts inspired by her:

Here’s a great recipe by Kylie on how to make your own Nut or Seed butter.

Raw Oats

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup Oats
• 1/4 Cup Water
• 1/3 Cup Nut or Almond Milk
• Optional: Agave, Raisins, Dates, Nuts, Seeds, Coconut, Ground Flax Seeds, Chia Seeds, Cinnamon or other Spices

Directions:

• Put everything in a bowl and cover overnight.
• In the morning you can add fresh fruit if you’d like.

Note:

• Play around with the ratios of water and milk to find what you like. (I’m still doing this.)

Yes, that is papaya you see! I’m starting to finally like it!

Not Pictured are my breakfasts of Chia Pudding. Either the photos look awful or I forget to take photos at all. But I’m digging Chia Pudding a lot lately. I make it with Almond or Soy Milk, Chopped Nuts, Coconut, Goji Berries, sometimes dates or agave, and lots of spices (Cinnamon and Cardamom are two favorites).

I’m not all that hungry most mornings for a heavy duty breakfast, but I know it’s important to eat something, so I do and pair it with some Coconut Water. (I hope I can find some good stuff when I’m back in the US!) I eat every few hours so what I don’t get in terms of protein first thing in the morning, I get soon after. I am really into seeds and nuts though, so as you can see I add them in chopped, drink their milk, or eat their butter (which I’ve started making thanks to my Kylie).

Costa Rican Sunsets and Evening Critters

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