theparkerfamily.org

Tag: Travel | Guanacaste

last photo in Costa Rica

December 14, 2010

If there was one feature of the resort that sparklet loved above all others, it was the golf carts that they sped you from place to place in.

Being simple city folk, we didn’t use them much at all — but when we did, she was giggling like a schoolgirl with the wind blowing through be hair.
photos: playa conchal

December 14, 2010

I finally got around to taking pictures of the resort on the morning we left, which just happened to be the only overcast day during our stay at the beach.

There are days where the photos look better than the reality, and days where reality looks better than the photos. This was definitely a case of the latter.

See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
photos: playa conchal
video: fireworks

December 13, 2010

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iTi6jkoJ5s
table service

December 13, 2010

The hospitality in Costa Rica has been incredible.

We’ve eaten dinner out every night, and each time the Ticos have gone out of their way for sparklet — from meals off the menu, to special accommodations, to near constant attention.

In fact, we’re pretty sure that sparklet’s going to want to bring at least one of the waiters home. Oh, and one of the hostesses too if there’s room (the one named Katherine, appropriately enough).

While she’s been down here, Sparklet’s developed a couple of quirks at the dinner table.

She’ll pass objects around the table, in a very prescribed order and will forcibly intervene if (a) we mess it up, or (b) if she’s ready for the object to move in a different direction.

During dinner, if mommy and I hold hands, she’ll pull them apart and insert her own. Then she spend a few minutes rearranging all six hands — including her own — in different orders and positions.

And, when she’s done eating, she insists on feeding us whatever is left — even if it has already been chewed.

It’s been a good vacation.
last day at the pool

December 13, 2010

See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
last day at the pool
found: one of the girls

December 13, 2010
sprinklers

December 13, 2010

This morning, sparklet awoke to find the grounds crew experimenting with the sprinklers out front of our unit.

Ever the willing helper, she marched out the front door, inspected the sprinklers heads, and then stood over the controls until the ground crew came over to show her the ropes.

And then, like all good grounds keepers, she cried when the sprinklers shut off without her direct authorization.
first look at stephanie and jorge’s wedding

December 12, 2010

there are still 2900+ more photos to review, but here is a first look at the photos from stephanie and jorge’s wedding. more to come, to say the very least.

See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
first look: stephanie and jorge’s wedding
Is there a Wedding Photographer in the House?

December 12, 2010
Steph and Jorge’s wedding photographer is going to be a no show tonight — so it looks like I’m going to “get” to shoot my first wedding.

The maid of honor (not ours, but theirs) mentioned it in passing to the lady sparkler and my beloved volunteered me for the job — not that I wouldn’t have offered myself, but it’s awesome that my bride came up to me at the pool bar and said:

Hey, I just told someone you could be the wedding photographer tonight — hope that’s okay.

UPDATE: I’ve collected my thoughts and all my gear, and i’m actually feeling pretty legit — I’ve got the same camera a wedding photographer friend of mine uses for her weddings, four memory cards which can hold about 1200 photos, two batteries, and two pretty serious-grade lenses (both normal, and wide angle).

That said, I’m seriously freaking out shot two things — well, three actually: 1) I’m shooting a wedding; 2) I’m going to blow through 1200 photos before the reception even starts which means I’m going to have to empty memory cards onto my computer while I’m still shooting and my laptop doesn’t have a battery; 3) I don’t have a legitimate flash, so shooting the outdoors-afterdark reception is going to suck something fierce.

UPDATE 2: The “shoot” is over, and I have to say that wasn’t nearly as stressful as I thought it would be — though through no part of my own:
- one of the bridesmaides had a professional grade flash (not to mention my exact same camera) which is the only reason we have photos from the reception.
- that same bridesmaid was able to shoot the bride getting ready, so we got pictures from both halves of the preparations without it getting awkward or me being on two places at once.
- friends jumped in several times throughout the night, dumping photos onto the computer and picking the camera themselves. and at one point we had amassed enough equipment that we had all three of us all shooting at once.
- the bride and the groom were both incredibly flexible and were eager to line up the shots themselves, so all we had to do was point and shoot.
I haven’t run through them all yet, but between the four of us we amassed over 3,000 pictures, and they all look pretty good considering.

I promised the couple I would post everything by Christmas, but here are a few of the ceremony in the meantime.
found: super boxer girl

December 12, 2010

yup. my daughter is a super hero. with my boxers for a cape. i wish i was smart enough to be making this stuff up.
photos: birds

December 12, 2010
cougar

December 12, 2010

sparklet had developed a bit of a reputation down here, specifically when it comes to younger men.

She’s taken a special shine to one of the bride’s cousins — a man half her age — and hasn’t been shy about showering him with rather physical displays of affection.

UPDATE: I thought they had something, he left town it the morning without so much as a word — only a secondhand goodbye through a despondent mother of the bride. typical.

See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
sunday morning
when pizote attack

December 12, 2010

this might be our last blog post ever.

our positions, on the patio of our villa, were overrun at 10:41 am local time. we kept the pizote out of the interior — sparklet was napping inside — but we weren’t able to hold the perimeter against the pizote’s vastly superior numbers.

UPDATE: nevermind. turns out they were just anti-revolution demonstrators, only interested in protesting our efforts to free cuba. once they knocked over our drinks, they moved on — it’s all good.

UPDATE 2: the pizote came back through for a mopping up operation early on our departure day, but we had no revolutionary drinks to topple so they just ran right on by.

See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
pizote, playa conchal, costa rica
el pato is dead, long live el pato

December 12, 2010

sparklet’s favorite pool toy is missing.

we’ve put out an all points bulletin for “un pato de juguete de color naranja y blanco, con rayas como una cebra” but given the complexity of the request, we’re fearing the worst.

good-night, sweet pato — may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
found: jorge

December 11, 2010
stephanie and jorge’s rehearsal dinner

December 11, 2010

See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
stephanie and jorge’s rehearsal dinner
out: lunch with the bride stephanie

December 11, 2010

See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
out: lunch with the bride stephanie, playa conchal, costa rica
found: sand castles

December 11, 2010
cuba libre

December 10, 2010

we thought we were just drinking rum and cokes — a habit we picked up in belize — but according to the costa ricans we are actually drinking what’s called a “cuba libre”.

of course, i don’t know who exactly we are freeing cuba from — Fulgencio Batista or Fidel Castro — but i am happy to say that we’ve been doing everything we can to bring libre to cuba.

just another dozen or two more and cuba should finally be safe for democracy.
out: la playa con tia rebecca

December 10, 2010

See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
out: la playa con tia rebecca, playa conchal, costa rica
faces

December 10, 2010
firsts: ocean

December 10, 2010

first feet in the ocean, paradisus playa conchal resort, guanacaste, costa rica

See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
firsts: ocean, playa conchal, costa rica
travel: playa conchal, costa rica

December 9, 2010

See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
long exposures of stars at night, playa conchal, costa rica
found: ominous sign

December 4, 2010

it’s 4:15 am. we’re leaving for costa rica in a couple of minutes. in the “you are here” text directly under it’s clock, my phone is telling we are in the Orlovskaya region, a small oblast in southwest Russia.

even my phone thinks it’s way too early in the morning to up.

UPDATE: I left my phone on the flight from DC to Miami, and didn’t realize it until I was 40 gates away. I ran back, tried to get about a half dozen people to help, and finally got on the plane with AA’s Miami operations manager. No phone. The Russian this morning really *was* a bad omen.

UPDATE 2: I’m sitting on the flight to Costa Rica, and who to my wondering eyes do I see — but my new friend the American Airlines Miami operations manager. With my phone. She said it was in the overhead compartment of the earlier flight (which is funny, because I never was) and gave me a little eyes-down-nose-over-spectacles astonishment to be more careful with my belongings. And, that’s okay by me because it looks like she might be right.

UPDATE 3: It’s the layover of return trip to DCA now, and I’ve still got my phone — but I just left my wallet, camera and computer unattended for 10 minutes next to an ATM I had attempted to use. In semi-related news, it’s increasingly hard for me to believe that there is no competency test before you’re allowed to reproduce.
preview: costa rica

September 20, 2010

friends of ours are getting married this december — some of the very same friends who shared this charming RFK moment with us many years back.

he’s costa rican, she’s from ohio.

i’m not exactly sure how long they debated about which hometown would hold the wedding, but i’m guessing it took about as long as us deciding to attend ourselves.

the wedding is in the Guanacaste region of northwest Costa Rica, and we’ll tack on some time before hand around the volcanos of Arenal.

and, sparklet’s getting a passport.

part of the reason we’re going is because sparklet will be at such a good age — 15 months, which is old enough to walk and old enough to be amazed by the animals and old enough to eat sand.

we’ve already filled out her passport paperwork (that’s the photo we used, above) and we’ve bought us some plane tickets (sparklet get’s her very own seat).

now, we just need places to stay, some way to get around, and some really big suitcases.