did you miss these two smiling faces?????

Because we sure did!!!! by the time we left Costa Rica we were absolutely dying to see these two little sweethearts. It was after 1 a.m. when we finally made it back to Cris' sister's house, and we resisted the urge to wake them up :) Juneau did wake up in the middle of the night and mass hysteria broke loose. she was so confused and it took her quite a while to settle down. but in the morning, all was well, and we had two very excited little girls on our hands.

Our last couple of days in Costa Rica were amazing. we were able to truly relax and really enjoy hanging out with eachother, and with our friends. I can't tell you how awesome it was to truly be able to sleep in without a care in the world for 6 days in a row. this was our first vacation in years where we didn't feel like we needed "vacation from our vacation". we left costa rica rested and refreshed.

dinner on our last night at the resort

"Gyno Girls"

our husbands being goofy

The drive home was nothing short of adventurous. We did get to cross one big thing off our bucket list --- Get a Speeding Ticket in a Foreign Country. ok, ok, that wasn't really on our bucket list, but we did get to have that fabulous experience. In the end it wasn't all that bad. Our 40,000 colones ticket somehow dropped to $40 u.s. dollars when the upstanding police officer found out we didn't have 40,000 colones on us, and we were leaving first thing in the morning.

It's shocking that we were actually able to speed during our drive home, as a good portion of the main road looked like this...

and we often encountered these guys roaming the main roads....

Eventually we finally made it to Arenal Volcano, which was definately worth the drive. We unfortunately didn't have much time to hike around the area, as it was already starting to get dark. but we did enjoy a wonderful dinner with a beautiful view of teh volcano.

The girls had pretty much the best time ever with Aunt Coral, Uncle Ed, and cousins Alex, Lyndsey and Brent. They even had a guest appearance by Grandpa and Grandma Stickley, and Great Grandma Nova over the weekend.

In this first picture of Nova you will see the much beloved "Baby Bear". When Nova is traveling Baby Bear does not leave her side. He is a little backpack with rollers, and she absolutely loves him. There is nothing cuter than shrimpy little Nova pulling Baby Bear through the airport. While she was at Coral's house Baby Bear went everywhere with her...even the playground.

Nova was sooooooo worn out after a long day of play she fell asleep mid-frenchfry-bite

Jbug and Nova picked a bunch of dandelions....and then decorated a pine tree with them :)

The girls had an amazing week with their cousins, and it made our week even better to not have to worry a bit about them.

Before heading back to colorado we got to spend the day and night at my parent's house. My brother and sisterinlaw brought their kids over for the night as well, and the 4 cousins had a fabulous time....I'll post some pics of that craziness tomorrow.

meanwhile, we are glad to be home, and starting the massive unpacking project.....

special special thanks to the Matus Gang, Stickley Grandparents, Saccenti Grandparents, and Mammaw for making this amazing week possible for us. we love you all, and we are so thankful that God blessed us with the greatest families in the world.