Costa Rican Royalty

We are back from our vacation and it was wonderful! I cannot say enough nice things about Harold's family and of course, the beauty of Costa Rica.

We arrived late Tuesday night and spent Wednesday walking in the city, people watching and feeding the pigeons. We also booked a two night stay at the Royal Corin Resort & Spa, in La Fortuna, right next to Volcano Arenal.

The hotel and volcano views were amazing. Our room's balcony overlooked the pool and volcano. Volcano Arenal is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and we could hear it grumbling and erupting every day that we were there. On our first night, we even saw a neat display of red hot lava rocks - as exciting as this was it was also scary to be so close to an active volcano!

I had never stayed such a luxurious resort and we were treated like royalty... true to it's name! The rest of the trip we stayed with Harold's aunt and uncle who are very poor and their living conditions were not at all what our girls were used to. On the bus ride home I told Harold that our girls were going to throw a fit about having to go back to his aunt and uncle's house... but they never did.

I don't think they paid too much thought to the hole in their uncle's ceiling that let in the rain at times or the big mud pit by the back door due to a cracked up tile kitchen floor. We were constantly showered with attention and love. Any chance they had, all the other aunts, uncles and cousins would come by to say hello - before breakfast, at lunch and after dinner. They would all come by to hug the girls, stroke their hair or just smile at them. Thanks to the fact that our girls are still not fluent in Spanish (grrr!) there was not much that could be discussed but the love they had for our kids was more than evident.

And isn't that what every parent really wants? To know that your kids are welcome and loved. Our girls may not have been showered with gifts but they were given enough hugs, kisses, hair strokes and back rubs to last them a lifetime... and that's the best royal treatment anyone can wish for.