Relaxing and Beaching it in Costa Rica.

There's no question...Hank LOVES
the water!

Costa Rica 2012...bit by bit. 

 Hank getting ready for his first airplane ride. 

Our first adventure in Costa Rica was a little hike to a volcano, Parque Nacional Volcan Poas. I must add that it costs $2.50 for the locals and $10 for tourists...go figure. The air was super thick and the fog prevented us from seeing the big volcano crater (at which point we wished we had only paid the 2.50). At least we were able to see the pretty lake behind us in our family pic.

Hank all ready for church our first 

Sunday there. And us in front of the LDS chapel. 

 

One of my favorite parts of the trip was mingling with the Costa Rican LDS members. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the same everywhere regardless of differences in cultures and geography. So enriching for me to see first hand. We are all God's children. 

Mickey Mouse.

My favorite part of Disneyland was Ruby meeting Mickey Mouse. She loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at home, so maybe this is why she wasn't shy meeting him. We toured his house in Toontown and at the end, Mickey was there waiting. When Ruby and I talk about going to Mickey's house she tells me, "We found Mickey!"

Ruby went right up to him and gave him a hug. Is it strange that this melted my heart?

She sat next to him while we snapped pictures. In most of the pictures she was looking up at him with a sweet face of awe.

All of us with Mickey.

Ruby loved Toontown and going through all the character's homes. She especially enjoyed playing in Goofy's backyard. This morning she asked if we could go play there. It's hard coming back to reality :). I guess Mickey Mouse Clubhouse will have to do until we get to go back.

We're home.

And it has been a little rough coming back to reality. We went to Disneyland last week, and thanks to my dad we got to spend two whole days enjoying the two parks. It was a great vacation and it was so fun to be with both my parents and two sisters...we had a blast. My parents are very generous and spoiled all of us. Ruby is still recovering from all the attention....we've had a few melt-downs today. And in case your wondering why Hugh's not in any pictures...he's in Ghana, Africa for three weeks with his program at school (we are missing him terribly), but we finally got to skype with him today and it was great to see and chat with him.

A few highlights from the trip (I'm sure I'll be posting more :)

We loved the Toy Story ride at California Adventure

When we got off she said, "That was a good one!"

The whole gang with Mater and Lightening McQueen...Ruby was thrilled to see them.

Ruby and Aunt Call with their hats from the Mad Hatter Shop.

Ruby and I enjoying our corn dogs. They are the best I've ever had! My pregnant little self may have eaten one each day. (Can you believe I'm already 6 months along!)

Meeting Princess Minnie the first day...Ruby was pretty shy and not sure what to think.

Ruby was even more shy when we met Rapunzel. My cute mom waited an hour for the line to open, and then one more hour for Rapunzel to come. The whole morning Ruby kept asking to see Rapunzel, so we thought it would be worth it to wait. Let's just say she was scared to death. Later Ruby told me, "I was shy to Rapunzel."

Ruby needed to be as far away from Rapunzel as possible.

Seeing Goofy was a different story. She spotted him a ways off and shouted, "There's Goofy!" She is still talking about him holding his ears out.

One of Ruby's highlights was dancing with Aunt Mal in the streets of Disneyland. There was something about that purple umbrella my dad bought for her...she had to have it in her hand whenever she was dancing.

And one more highlight....children under 3 are free! My dad didn't know this when he bought Ruby a ticket. By the second day, he realized that her ticket said ages 3-9. Lucky for us, Disneyland refunded my dad his money. Pretty funny and lucky!

Today is the day.

Ruby's lucky day! She gets to meet Mickey Mouse in person..."Hot Dog!"