Costa Azul

The first weekend we were in El Salvador, we headed to a beach called Costa Azul (Blue Coast) with Ricardo's father, brother and sister in law. We were only there for one night, but it was such a paradise that we felt like we were there for days and days. We arrived around 2pm on Saturday and went directly to the pool. Diego and Alexia were ecstatic to be at the pool, next to the ocean and in the arms of their loved ones. The whole time we were there we just hung out in the pool, walked on the beach, ate delicious food and relaxed.
I will let the pictures share the delights of the weekend:



Costa Azul is about 1.5 hours from San Salvador. Diego was mesmerized during the ride, seeing tons of coconut trees and spectacular volcanoes in the distance


Diego kept asking why so many people are allowed to be in the back of pick-up trucks in El Salvador!

This dirt road led us to the beach. It was very BUMPY!

Alexia and Tia Dani ready to hit the pool within minutes of arriving at the house

PARADISE!

Diego swimming with Grandpa

Diego was nervous during their first ride on the four-wheeler. After he got over his initial fear, he wanted to go on it over and over again.

Diego and Tio Robi cruisin' along the beach

This pool is awesome because it has several different levels, making it a blast for kids

Alexia, on the other hand, was not nervous at all and loved the four-wheeler from the very second she sat down

Monkeying around on the hammocks. There were three hammocks next to each other and they ran from hammock to hammock, swinging away...

The following pictures are from us enjoying the evening and the spectacular sunset:

A family ride on the four-wheeler.

Enjoying delicious ceviche and raw oysters

Goodbye Costa Azul!

We're back!

We returned late last night from El Salvador. We had an absolutely wonderful 11 days away. There are many pictures to share and stories to tell, but just wanted to post a couple of highlights. In the coming days I will try to do several posts with different stories/pictures from our trip. Ricardo's mom arrives tomorrow for a week long visit so we are looking forward to that and will surely be busy with her!

Alexia with Tia Dani (our sister in law)

Diego with Tio Robi

Ricardo's dad ("grandpa")

Ricardo's grandfather ("Abue")

A family ride on the "moto" at the beach



Afternoon coffee with special friends

Playing with Auntie Valeria and Auntie Mariana

My high school girlfriends and all of our children (with two more on the way)

Photo update

I am supposed to be watching a movie with Ricardo, Brendan and Noelle, but I decided to update the blog real quick since I won't have time this week. Noelle, Brendan and Alina flew down from New York to visit us for the weekend. Noelle is a dear friend from high school in El Salvador and even though we have remained close via phone calls and emails, it has been many years since we've hung out. It has been such a treat to have several days to take it easy, hang out, talk, reminisce and watch our lil' girls blossom their own friendship. Alina and Alexia are only 4 days apart and are having a BLAST together. Alina is just as much of a firecracker as Alexia so they just crack us up all day long.


Right before bedtime tonight, the girls decided to play in Alina's pak n play:

After church today we picked up some burritos at Willy's and headed to a park to swing, play and have a picnic:

On Friday morning, A & A were having their breakfast. Diego asked if he could pull his chair over and sit in between them. He loves having Alina here and is really sweet with her.

We put the kids to sleep on Friday night and the four of us had a wonderful dinner by ourselves.

The goods on the grill

A&A playing together in Alexia's crib









OK, this was a BIG day for us! Last Tuesday, Tio Diego was traveling from El Salvador back to Paris and had a layover in Atlanta. He was traveling on standby and was not able to make his flight so Ricardo went to pick him up from the Marta at 10:30pm. He spent the morning with us and the kids and I took him to the airport at 1pm on Wednesday. The kids were giddy with excitement when they woke up on Wednesday morning and I told them that Tio Diego was asleep downstairs. It was so special to have him here and we thoroughly enjoyed the few hours we had with him.

Last Monday was a very fun, but very sad day for us. We drove up to spend all morning with Taylor, Israel and Elijah. The Irby's moved to Bosnia on Wednesday for a long term mission and we're not sure when our next time together will be...hopefully within a year. We had a blast and really treasured our last morning together.

Last weekend we went to the farmer's market and bought awesome seafood to make sushi. Here is Chef Rick making the masterpieces:

Sorry for all the randomness, but I didn't want to leave anything out. We are heading down to El Salvador in a few days so I will try to post from down there. If not, there will be plenty of photos and tales when we return!