Summer fun list progress report #2

Greetings from Gibraltar! I posted my summer fun list on June 21, and my progress report #1 on July 21. Today I'm providing my progress report #2, and linking up with several fabulous bloggers who also report on their progress. I'm in Gibraltar with very limited access to a computer. Will post my pictures from Spain and Gibraltar after we return home next week.

I thought July was an incredibly fun month, and guess what… so far August has been Amazing! I keep pinching myself and the word "Wow" pops up in my mind several times. So let's see how I'm doing with my summer fun list of 20.

Progress report #2 for my summer fun list of 20:

1. Take a trip to Costa Rica: Done as written in report #1!

2. Enjoy Costa Rica's "pura vida": Done as written in report #1!

3. Do wildlife spotting in Costa Rica: Done as written in report #1! I love the yellow and green  colours on this toucan.

4. Celebrate Canada's 150 with a BBQ with our extended family: Done as written here.

5. Attend at least one music festival at home. Done several times in June and July as written in my July sentence a day post.

6. Chill out with my friends with an iced drink, or ice cream in hand. Yes, many times. This is easy to do in the summer. 

7. Stroll or picnic in a park: Done at HTO Park, Sugar Beach, and Berczy Park in Toronto. I love the green maple leaves in the picture below. So soothing and rejuvenating!

8. Go to Spain and explore. Yes, we left home for Spain last week. We explored Madrid, Toledo and Cordoba before arriving in Gibraltar. We're heading back from Gibraltar to Spain, and have been enjoying our trip very much.

9. Travel by train in Spain. Yes, so far we've travelled by train from Madrid to Toledo, from Madrid to Cordoba, and from Cordoba to San Roque. Will take the train again to Seville.

10. Visit up to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites while in Spain: Yes, so far we've explored Toledo, Cordoba historic centre, Cordoba's Mosque-Cathedral, and the Fortress of the Christian Monarchs, as written here and here.

11. Savour Spanish paellas and tapas. Yes, they're delicious and having tapas is such a social activity in Spain.

12. Take a siesta to beat the heat. Yes, I've done this almost every day in Spain. Easy to do since the heat is very intense at mid-day and having a power nap is a great way to recharge for our afternoon into evening outings.

13. Watch a flamenco show. Pending. Hope to do this when we are in Seville.

14. Speak basic Spanish in Costa Rica and Spain: Yes, in both countries.

15. Cross Spain-Gibraltar border twice. Yes, in progress. We crossed it once last week to arrive in Gibraltar. We'll cross again to return to Spain.

16. Tour the Rock of Gibraltar. Yes, it was a wonderful excursion visiting Europe point, St. Michael's Cave, the tunnels, and zigzagging along the slopes of the Rock. Pictures to follow.

17. See the Barnaby macaques. Yes, we saw about 50 of them! Pictures to follow.

18. Play with sand and seashells at a beach: Done at HTO Beach, Sugar Beach in Toronto, and Caleta Beach in Gibraltar.

19. Look for dolphins in the Bay or the Strait of Gibraltar. Pending. We're planning to go on a dolphin safari this afternoon.

20. Stay fit by exercising up to one hour daily. Yes, proud to say I've been doing exercises daily, even during our travel. Where I didn't have access to a gym or a pool, I did yoga and stretches, and used a resistance band as substitute. Several strength exercises can be done using my body weight, with a towel in our comfortable hotel room.

I counted seventeen completed items, one in progress, and two pending. I have until September 20 to finish my summer fun list before posting my Fall fun list.

Be sure to visit the linked up blogs below for more summer fun updates. Enjoy! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Summer fun list progress report #1

Greetings! Back on June 21, I wrote a Summer fun list of 20 items to complete. Today I’m providing the first progress report and linking up with a group of fabulous bloggers to share summer list updates. Some of the bloggers live in Australia so it is winter for them. I’ve been referring to my list on and off in the last four weeks while having a lot of fun working through the items. Let’s see how I’m doing on my Summer Fun List of 20.

Progress report #1 for My Summer Fun List of 20:

1. Take a trip to Costa Rica. Oh Yes! I was interested in Costa Rica's natural beauty and biodiversity, and we got plenty of both on this wonderful trip. Check out my ten pictures from Costa Rica for a sample of what we experienced.

2. Enjoy Costa Rica’s “pura vida”. Yes as written here and here. The pools, the food, the friendly hotel staff, the warm sunshine, and lush green scenery made me feel I was on vacation. The power shortage on July 1 fortunately was over in two hours. The afternoon downpours happened in the last three days of our trip. I think we left just in time before the rainy season was in full force.

3. Do wildlife spotting in Costa Rica. Yes! I saw lots of birds, butterflies, a coati, and many more animals. My favourite on this trip was the toucan (on last trip was the howler monkey).

4. Celebrate Canada’s 150 with a BBQ with our extended family. Pending. We celebrated Canada Day on July 1st while in Costa Rica. We have another celebration this weekend to include relatives who are visiting us from Europe and Southern California.

5. Attend at least one music festival at home. Yes! I’m happy that I already attended four music festivals in Toronto in the last four weeks: the Luminato festival, Franco-Fete de Toronto festival, Oh Susanna concert which was part of the Indulge Your Senses music festival, and The Sadies concert which was part of the Shield to Shore festival. More to come before summer is over.

6. Chill out with my friends with an iced drink, or ice cream in hand. Yes, we had papaya juice with ice in Costa Rica. It was so good! We also had iced coffee drinks, and ice cream a few times in Toronto.

7. Stroll or picnic in a park. Yes at HTO Park as posted here. I hope to visit a few more parks before the end of the summer.

8. Go to Spain and explore. Pending. I feel excited thinking about it.

9. Travel by train in Spain. Pending. I booked our train tickets from Madrid to Cordoba, from Cordoba to San Roque-La Linea, and from San Roque-La Linea to Seville.

10. Visit up to four UNESCO World Heritage sites while in Spain. Pending.

11. Take a siesta to beat the heat. Pending. I’m sure I’ll do this when I’m in Spain in August.

12. Savour Spanish paellas and tapas. Pending.
 
13. Watch a flamenco show. Pending.
 
14. Speak basic Spanish while in Costa Rica and Spain. Yes, 50% done! I spoke basic Spanish while in Costa Rica. I was pleased that the locals understood me LOL. I’ll continue learning Spanish and use it when I go to Spain in August.

15. Cross Spain-Gibraltar border twice. Pending. 

16. Tour the Rock of Gibraltar. Pending.

17. See the Barbary macaques (monkeys). Pending.

18. Play with sand and seashells at a beach. Yes, 50% done! I played with sand at the local HTO beach and Sugar beach. No seashells there though so I may have to wait until we get to Gibraltar to play with seashells.

Sugar beach

19. Look for dolphins in the the Bay or the Strait of Gibraltar. Pending.

20. Stay fit by exercising up to one hour daily. Yes and ongoing. To date, I’ve been going to the gym on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, practicing yoga on Tuesdays, Thursdays, swimming on Saturdays, and running 5K on Sundays. When I was in Costa Rica, I used the treadmill in the hotel gym, a resistance band, and my body weight for my strength exercises.

More summer goodness: We took a boat cruise in Toronto Harbour at the end of June. I made visits to Thursday farmers' market, Harbourfront Summer Art Exhibitions, the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, and the Waterfront Artisan Market as written here, here, and here. I enjoyed them all!

My count indicates that so far I have six of my 20 items completed, three more in progress, and eleven still pending. I’m looking forward to going on our trip to Spain and Gibraltar to check off several fun items on my list. I’ll be posting my next progress report on August 21 so stay tuned.

Be sure to check out the linked-up blogs below for more seasonal fun and inspiration. Happy summer!

An InLinkz Link-up

10 pictures from Costa Rica

We arrived home safely on Saturday evening. Canada Immigration has a new procedure that let us use a kiosk to scan our passports, and with only carry-on suitcases, we breezed out of the airport within fifteen minutes after landing. Nice!

Yesterday morning I ran 5K, showered, had breakfast, and took my Spanish lessons while sipping my coffee. In the afternoon, I unpacked, did laundry, dusted, swept floors, grocery shopped, and checked snail mail, email, and voice mail (phew!). It feels good to be home and I’m almost all caught up.

Today I sorted my pictures from our trip to Costa Rica, and am posting a selection of ten pictures. Why ten? Oh it’s the 10th of July so 10 on 10 sounds good. Plus I do not want to bore anyone with my vacation pictures :)

Waterfalls

Pink orchids

Local plant

Local plant

Local plant

Hummingbird

Butterfly on ivy leaves

Local bird

Hello Toucan!

Pools and jacuzzis in our hotel

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then I’m posting ten thousand words here LOL. Hope you enjoy them all. Have a great week!

Power outage and a downpour

Two days ago there was a power outage in San Jose, Costa Rica. It started around 1:30 p.m. and ended around 3:30 p.m. We were at our hotel with several Canadian friends to celebrate Canada Day. One of the Canadian expats told us that power outage is not unusual in San Jose, and it's also part of the "Pura vida" in Costa Rica. Everyone was calm and waited around until the power came back. To me it was a reminder that we can't take all the modern conveniences for granted, and should always have a back up plan.

This afternoon we had a big downpour, the first since we arrived 4-5 days ago. It was the kind of rain that you can see the water bubbles hitting the ground, and hear the sound of rain drops on the roof. Very soothing when we are inside, looking out. The trees seem to happily soak up all the water that came down from the sky. The heavy rain lasted about half an hour then it was all clear again.

Our vacation has been great! I've seen different types of colourful birds and flowers. I've been savouring the local fruits like mangoes, papayas, watermelons, pineapples... all ripe, juicy, and sweet. Also have had local dishes such as gallo pinto (rice and black beans), beef stew, fish, chicken stew, fried plantains, etc., and of course Costa Rican coffee. I've been speaking basic Spanish to local merchants and hotel employees. Glad to have the opportunity to practice what I've learned online.

Happy 4th of July to my American relatives and friends tomorrow!

Pura vida in Costa Rica

We arrived safe and sound in San Jose, Costa Rica yesterday. Our hotel room is spacious and comfy. Good wifi throughout the hotel. Nice weather so far, sun and clouds during the day, high 25C or 77F, with low humidity but high UV index, and cooler temperature at night makes it great for sleeping.

Food and drinks have been very good. I got my exercise hour in the gym today. Will be pleased if I come home without new weight gain! Also lots of relaxing time by the three available pools, one of them has a waterfall. Soaking in the sunshine, listening to the sounds of water, watching the birds, letting my mind wander, admiring the local flora and landscaping in our hotel grounds, sipping Costa Rican coffee in the morning, savouring the fresh fruit here...Pura vida!

What else? I've been eyeing a few mango trees outside our windows, all laden with hundreds of mangoes. I've also been speaking Spanish to the hotel employees as much as I can. I felt confident with the basic conversations so my online learning is paying off. Last night I helped out a tourist to get two more plates of food for his family, in Spanish, as the tourist spoke English only, and the waiter spoke Spanish only.

Oh and this is my first blog post from outside of Canada! Special time for me to take note. Will post pictures at a later date.

Make it a great week, wherever you are!

Franco-Fete, Arts, and Packing for Costa Rica

It's been non-stop actions in the last five days as we're getting ready for our trip to Costa Rica.

On Saturday, I swam 54 laps in the morning, took my Spanish lessons, did grocery shopping, and notified my credit card companies of my upcoming trip.

On Sunday, I ran 5K in the morning, took my Spanish lessons, then did laundry, before going to the Franco-fete de Toronto music festival. The weather was great on Saturday but wacky on Sunday, alternating from sun, to rain, lightning, thunderstorms, then back to sunshine. I attended two concerts at the festival, and in between the two shows, went to view the Summer Arts exhibitions at Harbourfront Centre. There were many interesting vignettes to see and the exhibitions are on until September so I may return for a second look.

On the first three days of this week, I did my Spanish lessons, workouts in the gym, yoga, and stretched in the morning, then started packing and buying a few items that we need for the trip. I went through my travel checklist to ensure we have the essential documents, small amount of cash, some snacks, first aid kit, electronic devices, converters, chargers, clothing, and toiletries. For our home, I double checked to ensure all bills are paid, use up perishable items in the fridge, water my house plants, take out garbage, do light cleaning, and have someone pick up our mail during our vacation.

This morning I checked in online for our flight to San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica. I booked this trip back in March and it is finally here! Tonight we're going on a boat cruise around the Toronto Island and Harbour for a graduation dinner party.

We’ll be up early tomorrow morning to get to the airport on time for our flight. This will be our second visit to Costa Rica but first time to San Jose. We’re excited, and look forward to having an awesome trip like we did in Playa Grande.

As usual, we pack light, one carry-on suitcase and a small day pack each. The weather forecast for San Jose shows daytime high temperature around 25 Celsius (or 77F), mix of sunny, cloudy, rainy days, and isolated thunderstorms, similar to what we’ve been having in Toronto. Our flight will be about five hours long with Toronto time two hours ahead of San Jose time. I'll have plenty of time during our flight to reflect on the first half of 2017 and what's new for the second half of 2017.

On this trip, we plan to explore San Jose and its surroundings at an easy pace. I look forward to light hiking, bird watching, wildlife spotting, and relaxing by the pool. I’m also keen to enjoy Costa Rican coffee every morning and have my fill of tropical fruits. If we end up not doing much, I'll be fine with just being as well :)

We’ll return home on July 8th evening. If I have good Internet service during the trip, then I may do a quick post. Otherwise, I’m scheduling my June in a sentence-a-day post to go live on July 6th.  Please check back next Thursday for my June review and link-up with other fabulous bloggers who also write their months in a sentence a day.

Make it a great week, wherever you are!

Summer fun list

Greetings! Back on March 22, I wrote a Spring activity list of twenty items to complete. I posted my first progress update in April, second update in May, and the final update in June. I was super pleased to complete 19 out of 20 items. Signing up early for a 5K running race in September was the only item that I was unable to check off due to flooding and current cancellations of events on Centre Island. In lieu of signing up, I've been running 5K weekly 😁

Today I’m revealing my Summer fun list and linking up with several fabulous bloggers. Some of the bloggers live in Australia so it is winter for them. While my spring activities have been home-based, my summer activities will be at home and abroad. It's already mid-year, let's have some fun and fill the rest of 2017 with light, love, and laughter!

My Summer Fun List of 20:

1. Take a trip to Costa Rica.
2. Enjoy Costa Rica’s “pura vida”.
3. Do wildlife spotting in Costa Rica.
4. Celebrate Canada’s 150 with a BBQ with our extended family.
5. Attend at least one music festival at home.
6. Chill out with my friends with an iced drink, or ice cream in hand. 
7. Stroll or picnic in a park.
8. Go to Spain and explore.
9. Travel by train in Spain.
10. Visit up to four UNESCO World Heritage sites while in Spain.
11. Take a siesta to beat the heat.
12. Savour Spanish paellas and tapas.
13. Watch a flamenco show.
14. Speak basic Spanish while in Costa Rica and Spain.
15. Cross Spain-Gibraltar border twice.
16. Tour the Rock of Gibraltar.
17. See the Barbary macaques (monkeys).
18. Play with sand and seashells at a beach.
19. Look for dolphins in the Bay or the Strait of Gibraltar.
20. Stay fit by exercising up to one hour daily.

I’ll be posting my progress updates in the coming months. Be sure to check out the linked-up blogs below for more seasonal fun and inspiration. Happy summer!

An InLinkz Link-up

Travel plan 2017

Costa Rica encore!

Howler monkey, Costa Rica

It’s been a busy week here at Mi Casa. I was juggling my schedule, my family schedule, and elder care activities. Everything seems to take so much time, however, all move in the right direction so I’m cautiously optimistic.

On Friday, we’ve got some good news that enabled me to start booking our first summer trip of the year. This is an exciting moment for me since I can now see our travel plan takes concrete shape. We’ll be going to Costa Rica for nine days at the end of June. We’ve been to Playa Grande, Costa Rica before and had a fantastic family vacation. I look forward to hearing the expression “Pura Vida” and another great stay in the country.

I usually handle the essential travel bookings for my family, such as flights, airport transfer, and accommodation. I’ve created a travel checklist that I re-use and modify for each trip as needed. The modifications are typically due to the trip duration, local weather during our stay, and activities at the destination.

I’m one of those people who travel light with one handbag and one carry-on baggage. I seldom leave home with a full carry-on. The top must-haves on my list include my passport, boarding pass, some cash, and a credit card. These days a mobile device seems to be an essential item as well, although I’ve gone on trips without one, and just managed when I arrived at my destination. My carry-on includes some clothes, a pair of shoes and toiletries. I’ve experienced luggage delay for up to 48 hours before and did not suffer much.

How about you? Are you an experienced traveller? Do you travel light?

Playa Grande, Costa Rica

I had the pleasure to plan a grand family vacation. It was grand in size because there were four families and together there were sixteen of us, ranging from age 8 to middle-aged adults. We all agreed to go to Playa Grande (Grand Beach), on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, for a week.

Playa Grande, Costa Rica

I did a few things right as the designated family vacation planner and would like to share my experience with you:

1. Chose a destination that can be reached by non-stop flights from Toronto. We flew to Liberia International Airport in Costa Rica. It was simple and straightforward. Liberia airport was easy to navigate as it is not as busy as San Jose International Airport.
2. Found a villa (Villas Costa Grande) that can house sixteen people from Home Away. We had to stay in two houses, each was fully furnished with five appliances, and offered enough beds for everyone. The gated villa has a swimming pool, and is a 3-minute walk to the beach.
3. Booked airport pick-up and drop-off before leaving home. I did the arrangements by e-mail. Upon arrival in Liberia, our driver welcomed us with a big sign with my name on it. Then we piled into two shuttle vans and went directly to our rented villa...Worry-free!
4. Booked grocery shopping and delivery to the villa before leaving home. It was fantastic that this service was available. I e-mailed the list of grocery items to the property manager. She was on site when we arrived with a long bill but the fridge and freezer were full and ready for our meal preparations. Again...worry-free!
5. Chose Costa Rica which has sights and activities suitable for our various age groups. We were within walking distance to Grand Beach, and Marino Las Baulas National Park. We could also book excursions to visit an estuary, try out zip lining, hiking, hot springs. etc.

How did we do?

• We had the villa and its swimming pool to ourselves the entire week. Just luck that the other three houses were vacant during our stay. Our rented houses were spacious and the beds were comfortable.
• The beach was grand for everyone, and the pool was a big hit with the children. A maintenance worker came to clean the pool daily.
• The natural settings and bio-diversity in Costa Rica were wonderful. We had different birds visiting us every morning. We were all fascinated by the pelicans, fish, birds, iguanas, howler monkeys, alligators, crabs, butterflies, dragonflies, to name a few. Click to enlarge the pictures below.

Bird on our balcony

Birds by the pool

Iguana

• We loved the plants and trees around our place, too. The children saw papaya trees, mango trees, lime trees and various flower plants. Tropical fruits such as pineapples, rambutans were sweet and delicious.

Sweet rambutans

• We all went to visit the estuary by boat. The mangrove jungle, the narrow waterways, and wildlife kept all of us entertained for several hours.

Heron at the estuary

Howler monkey

Alligator in the river - Can you see it?

Idyllic fishing boats

• The teenagers and some of the adults went on a tour that included hiking, horseback riding, zip lining and visiting a hot spring bath. They really enjoyed their excursion.

• During our stay we only had to go to a local store for small grocery items as our fridge and freezer were fully stocked upon request. By cooking our own meals, we saved a lot of money and had a lot of fun family meal time. The available appliances made dish washing and laundry a breeze.

• We collected shells on the beach and watched a few spectacular sunsets.

Shell on Playa Grande

It was a “grand” family vacation for all of us. We shared a special time and still talk about it. As the children described in one word: “Awesome”!