Leeza made her first trip on her brand new US passport July 18th-July 25th when we flew into Liberia, Costa Rica to stay at the Exclusive Resorts PARADISE in Peninsula Papagayo in Costa Rica with my parents, my brother and his wife and 2 girls, Giulia (12) and Georgia (10), my sister Stacey and her husband Jan, and their boys Jan jr (10) and Will (5), Noelle and her hubby Chris and Holt (15 months) and my awesome adventuresome sister Nicole. We stayed in 2 houses next door to each other. To say it was an amazing vacation doesn't sound adequate enough!!
Leeza was in the pool/hot tub 24/7 and came home and swam the length of our pool a few times with Emilie. She did NOT like the beach, however. The sand was black, and the waves were huge. She said "it freaked her out". However, she did love floating in the infinity pool in the beach club in her life jacket, and playing with her cousins non stop, and just having a relaxing time with my family. I MISS IT SO MUCH!!
We took over 400 pictures, so it's hard to just pick a few out, but Leeza was a GREAT traveler, and though she never slept on the plane (and we had to wake her up at 4:15 am the morning we left), she was a sweetheart and a good girl. THANK GOD!
One miracle thing that happened was that the only time Leeza did fall asleep was during our descent into Costa Rica, for about 15 minutes. Her beloved elephant, that I slept with for 6 months before I met her so that it smelled like me (for attachment purposes) accidentally got dropped under the seat of the plane when she fell asleep and we got off and didn't notice it. It wasn't noticed until Sunday night when it was time to go to sleep. OH NO! Thankfully, she was so busy and exhausted each night and she slept right in between Joe and I in the most comfy bed EVER, that she didn't freak out too bad each day.
Upon leaving Liberia at the airport, we asked the airline rep at the desk when we were checking in if they had a lost and found. He checked his list and "Elephante Rosa" was on the list! He came from the back HOLDING ELEPHANT! Leeza was ESTATIC to say the least! He was a lil dirty and has since been washed in the "sanitize" option on our washing machine but Leeza is a happy girl and has slept like an angel in her own bed since. In fact, it's 10 am and she is STILL ASLEEP right now. :)
Leeza is really attached, and always has been since first meeting him, to my brother Carlton. She LOVES Uncle Carlton. One day, we were all getting off the shuttle at the beach club and she said "These are all my kids" and I said, "oh ok" who is your husband" and she said "Uncle Carlton". Sean thought that was "sick" but I thought it was funny. :)
I feel very very blessed that all our family gets along so well. The cousins are all at such a great age that they all get along, and all my sisters, and brother in laws get along SO WELL. We all REALLY like each other, which makes for a really wonderful time together.
There was a total of 18 of us. Leeza started asking if everyone was her cousin too..like the shuttle driver. :)
We played the game "Apples to Apples" two nights and divided up into teams. Sean was the judge. He was HILARIOUS! It was a ton of fun. We also had one movie night and watched the movie "Up" which was really good. I love that Leeza's attention span has increased so much to enjoy movies, and long plane rides, and reading longer books. I also love her flexible nature. She still took a nap everyday in Costa Rica, but she can hang like a big girl and she is amazingly easy going and flexible. She is actually a real joy to travel with. :)
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