HAPPY BIRTHDAY R. AND JOHN!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy birthday!!! Wish we could be with you to celebrate and swing dance with you! Guess we'll have to settle for another kind of swinging;-)

The beautiful wood the swings are made out of is Cocobolo, the local name for the Dalbergia retusa tree. It is gorgeous with a whiter/yellow sapwood and a warm red/orange heartwood. You often see pieces that include both so that the contrast is quite striking.


If you were here, we could take you kiting in warm water! Here's Jodi with the post kite glow after a great session in Salinas Bay.

We had to anchor Gratitouille with only 6 feet under the keel to get remotely close enough for Darren to want to row us into shore. Fortunately, he loves both rowing and seeing Jodi's post-kite glow!

We could get dressed up and go out on the town for your birthdays...

Or go anchor in a secluded bay...

to explore caves...

and watch the turtles play...

But don't lean against these trees!

The name of this panga pretty much sums it up - 

We miss you much and hope you both have a fabulous birthday!!!

Lots of love and hugs,
Jodi and Darren

HAPPY BIRTHDAY C!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday from Uncle Darren and Aunt Jodi! 

 
Wish we could celebrate with you! We have been thinking of you a lot lately. Like the other day when Jodi caught a trigger fish for breakfast.

It was yummy!  If you had been here I bet you would have caught enough for all of us!

Here are some beautiful flowers for your birthday...

Uncle Darren even put one in his hat for you!

We aren't sure what kind of creature made this, but we think they look kind of like flowers too!

We have some cute and fuzzy critters here too. Here is a white-nosed coatimundi that stopped by our last anchorage to say happy birthday to you!

They are the local version of racoons but they come out in the day instead of night! Each night they go back to their home tree and come back down at dawn to hunt and forage (they are omnivores).

These little guys have good camo, I almost stepped on one before he scurried away!

I was watching for crocodiles as they are sometimes seen in the mangroves behind this beach. Fortunately we only saw one as we were rowing away.

Unfortunately, we already had the cameras turned off so we only caught his tracks by the time we got them turned on. (Don't worry moms, he was small!)

Tio Diego says Happy Birthday too!

Yes, he's still silly!

Have a great birthday, we hope to see you soon!

Lots of love and hugs,
Uncle Darren and Aunt Jodi

Happy Birthday E!!!!

Happy Birthday from Playa del Coco, Costa Rica! We are thinking of you and hoping you have a great birthday! Hopefully it won’t be full of the crazy bugs we have here, like this little guy…

Or these crickets that fly right at your face…

The stick bugs and white spiders are really cool though…

You can see where the locals got the idea to paint things with dots all over them. It’s from the GINORMOUS crickets they have here. This one was about seven and a half inches long not counting its antennae!!

We don’t know the real names of any of these yet, do you?

Here is one of the beaches we didn’t go to because it is supposed to have crocodiles. We didn’t see any through the binoculars, but we weren’t taking any chances…

Here’s a drawing of a lobster by someone who must know about the polka-dotted crickets…

Have some cake and ice cream for us! We miss you and love you lots!

Love,

Uncle Darren and Aunt Jodi

PS - Hopefully more pictures soon. Our camera broke and these are from the iThing!