Costa Rica 2007!!

I know its taken me forever to get this update on here ... but here it is. As expected, Costa Rica was amazing and of course we had a wicked time!! Our journey en route to Playa Hermosa was certainly not without adventure, though. We (Chris, Ryan, Ash and I) spent the night in Birch Bay at Ryan's cabin so that we could get an early start on the day. We ended up leaving around 4:45 am to catch our 7:15 am flight out of Seattle. Turns out that WASN'T enough time. To make a long story short, we ended up missing our flight by about 3 minutes thanks to the weather and some stupid woman at Continential airlines. It was far too early for that type of mayhem! Good thing this was Ash's first first international experience. .. we had to make it one to remember. They ended up getting us on the next flight free of charge so we were able to make our connecting flight in Houston. Thankfully, we made it safe and sound without any other hiccups!

Our villa at "Villa Sol" was sweet! It was huge with two patios (no soaker tub, which Chris was a little disappointed about), but nonetheless a gorgeous villa with an incredible view. It's situated on the mountain, so we had to take the shuttle to the beach everyday. We kept busy everyday holding down the lounge chairs by the pool (I know it sounds extreme, but it was hard work); whenever we felt overly ambitious, we partake in the organized activities: snorkelling, aqua fit, kayaking, beach volleyball, boat tour etc. Have to admit, after my snorkelling experience in the Dominican, I wasn't so much it that, but the kaying tour was awesome! We saw dolphins when we were out in the kayak. It was particulary cool when I got HUCKED out of the kayak by a huge wave! Thankfully, I only got a mild concussion! LOL, just kidding. Chris and Ryan kept busy with diving. They went three times and claim that it was pretty impressive ~ but not very clear. Can you imagine seeing a manta ray? Makes my hyperventilate even thinking about it. No thanks!

I have to admit the food was a bit of a let down, but the non-stop flow of alcohol certainly wasn't! Sitting at the swim up bar proved to be an excellent way of meeting people. We quickly befriended a couple of super cool chicks from Atlanta (Jess and Lisa) on our second day there. It worked out wicked for me since I was flying solo with three dudes and was missing some females to hang with! We ended up hanging with them our whole trip and teaching them the proper use of "eh" ... American's just love that saying, eh? Props to them for "becoming Canadian" before we had to part ways!!

Costa was smoking hot!!! It was nearing the end of their summer so it was relatively brown and not as lush as the last time we were there, but I'm not complaining. It was about 35 - 40 degrees every day. I can proudly say that this was the first vacation that I have gone on where I didn't burn myself (well, okay, a little bit on the first day). Unfortunately, my poor brother can't say the same. He got SCORCHED on the second day there. It was so bad that it turned into second degree burns!! He got a scolding from me! SMARTEN UP and put on a 100 more applications of sunscreen silly boy! He was in the water all day sipping on some liquid lunch (a.k.a Imperial beer) and just seemed to forget to re-apply!!! Anyways, he had to pay the price for the rest of the trip. Poor guy! Chris and Ryan also got a little torched when they went snorkelling, but neither of them will admit to being burnt! They're mighty brown now though!

We ended up renting a car on one of the days and went to a few surrounding beaches (Conchal and Tamarindo). Soooooooooooo nice!!! Getting there was a bit of an adventure, we had to drive past an animal farm on the road and drive through a river that had taken out half the road!! Good thing it was a rental car and not our own. Before we returned the car we decided to take in a little zip-lining action! The pictures from that are priceless! Great times!!

Without further a due, here are the pics! I've attached a few pics from our last trip to Costa as well ... from the south! That was from "before my blog time"! They're just wicked pics though so I thought I'd share.

Sunset in Dominical

Sunset in Playa Hermosa!

Surfer mania! I love this shot!

Sexy photo!!


This is definitely one of my fav's!

This is an active volcano "Aernal"

SCARY!!!! Good thing there was a cage around
this bad boy!

This is a sunset at Playa Hermosa
(where we just were)

Tooo cannnnnn sam!!!

Ever seen a sloth before??

My surfer hubby!

and his poser wife! That's me!

Banff & Canmore Advenutre!

Argh ... just haven't had any time to get any pictures posted lately. Kinda fell off this blogging wagon quite some time ago, but I MUST get back on.

Most of you know that Chris was pretty much travelling for the month of January. He did a one week stint in LA ... was home for a day and a half then off to Germany for just over two weeks. As if that's not enough, the day he flew home from Germany, he burned rubber to the Vancouver airport in time to catch another connecting flight to Calgary for another two day stint! Man oh man! At least it was for a cool commerical - a Hummer commercial. This travelling part sucks! I ended up flying to Calgary to hook up with him for two days at the end of his job. It was certainly time for a romantic rendezvous ... since we hadn't seen each other for a virtually a month and I had never been to Banff ... I thought it was a great idea! So off I went! We had a wicked time ~ Amazing scenery, beautiful accomodations, excellent food and the best company in the world ~ my hubby! Attached are a few ... okay a bunch of pictures from our trip to the Rockies!

Stay tuned for our next adventure ... Costa Rica!!! We're leaving on Saturday for a week!! YAHOOOOOOOOOOO!!! From snow ... to sun!! Love it!

LAKE LOUISE!

BANFF/CANMORE!

Christmas and New Years 2006

Well ... alas I have some photos from our Christmas and New Years this year. As mentioned in my previous post, we spent Christmas with Chris' mom this year in Gibsons. We had a fabulous time, albeit very busy!! As ususal in the mayhem of trying to pack at the last minute, we accidently forgot our camera at home. Thankfully, Santa Chris and Tre gave Mama Ritcher a new camera this year, so all of the photos below are from her. Further to her request, I am only "allowed" to post "some" of them. Here are my favourites:

Mama Cornish, Richter and Mama Hahn
got the same PJ's this year. Love them!!
Oh, that's my new white coat too!!

I got totally SPOILED this year. This is
my new field hockey bag

And this ... is my N-E-W stick!
I was CLEARLY very surprised.

I went with a "scuba" theme this year for Chris!
Here is he modelling!!

Chris playing with his new underwater camera!

Chris bought me a new iPOD shuffle. I had
no idea what it was ... hence the stunned
look on my face.
Awww ... the new underwater watch!

For New Years Chris and I headed up to Kamloops, Vernon and Enderby to visit with the McCaskill clan as well as my aunt and uncle. First stop, Kamloops. We arrived at Sean and Tammy's around dinner time on Friday. Just in time for some yummy chinese food! Mmmmm. Unfortunately Chris and I didn't last too long that night since we were both bagged tired. We awoke the next morning to some premier "Sean McCaskill S-P-E-C-I-A-L french toast". Gotta admit they were pretty damned special! Now lets hit the slopes so we can burn off all that syrup! Next stop ~ Sunpeaks! We were only going to get a half day in so we booted up the mountain only to find RIDICULOUSLY long line ups! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Chris had on his "papa" hat and taught 4 year old Cole how to ski. How cute is that? Awwwww! I tackled the lineups and slopes solo, but not for long. I took a pretty good tumble on my third run while trying to be speedy gonzalas and did a number on my shoulder. Lets just say I was pretty confident that I had dislocated it .... but I continued and toughed it out since the pain subsided somewhat. I only lasted about 4 or 5 runs before I was about ready to murder someone if I stood in those line ups any longer. Made for short and expensive ski trip. Gotta say that loved Sunpeaks though (the little bit that I saw of it). Next time we'll make sure we go mid week and NOT during the holidays.

How cute is this?

Little drummer boy

Mr. "Manny"

That night we headed up to my aunt Marlene and uncle Gord's place in Enderby. It was their 25th anniversay so we arrived with a big bouquet of flowers and some yummy champagne. Lets celebrate!

We were both totally looking forward to the yummy dinner that we knew would be awaiting our arrival ... and it was every bit as delious as we had imagined! Mmmmm ... spicy breaded chicken stuffed with turkey dressing, rice pilaf and brocolli and cauliflower with cheese sauce. Delicious!!! So the wine and champagne start flowing, and well, didn't really stop until 3:30 am!! Yikes! Thankfully we went to bed when we did cause Marlene promised Chris a big breakfast which she had to live up to it! That she did! She cooked up yet another feast. Gotta love it when you aunt is a chef! Chris had to ref a game in Vernon that afternoon so we all headed out for the game.

Chris and I headed back to Kamloops for an amazing prime rib dinner and a low key evening with Tammy, Shawn and the gang. Sadly, Tammy and I hardly made it til midnight. In any event the party came to a grinding halt at around 12:30 a.m. cause it was clearly bed time! A great time was had by all! Thanks for a great visit guys!

Happy New year!!!

Happy Holidays ... a long overdue update

Well, for the four of you that check my blog on a regular basis, you'll see that I CLEARLY fell off the blogging wagon. Hopefully things will pick back up in the new year.

So, what has happened with us since, oh early November? Well, since I can hardly even remember what I did yesterday, trying to think back over the last two months may be a bit of a chore ~ but I'll try. So ... November ... hmmm ... well, baby Bella was introduced to the world. Congratulations Ivy and Jamie!!! She's a doll!!! What a great little present in time for Christmas!




Can't forget a little updated pic of my other favourite little munchkin ... Damiano!


We also got to visit with Linds. She was in town for a few days when she came back from Hawaii! Its always great to see her! Check out the pics from our night out.

Oh my ... don't even ask! Look how tanned Lins is! WOW!

I won the hula hooping contest that night!

Oh ... Chris and I both got a year older. You know what that means ... me closely approaching the cougar status. Chris already considers me a cougy, but until I start wearing tight leather pants and develop some sagging tits, I'll never be a cougar in my eyes! Plus, I'm married ... go figure. We had a quiet celebration this year at Moxies (remember those pictures of me on the chaise couch from my wedding, that's Moxies) with Erin & Geoff, Dee and Kyle and Sam & Luis! Couples central! Food was great, company was even better! Unfortunately, I wasn't very camera happy that night so I don't have any pics to post. Our birthday presents to each other was a little rendezvous in Whistler. We booked a great place through our RCI points and got to enjoy the lap of luxery for three days. It just so happened that it was the BEST snow fall in a long time ~ what prime timing, right! WRONG! For Chris, the avid skiier this was excellent news, for me, a novice at best, this was not such gret news. You see, I have no idea how to ride in powder since I have NEVER had the opportunity to do so in the past and well ... lets just say that I struggled. I had a great day of riding on the first day (before the powder dumped) ~ it was cold, but nonetheless I had a confident day getting back into the swing of things. I can proudly say (that after a few beers) Chris convinced me to ride from the top of Whistler to the village! Yahoo ... what an accomplishment. Okay, so then it dumps and dumps and dumps ... and now I'm screwed. Now that I'm all proud of myself for picking up where I left off last year, I have another new obstacle ... powder! Suddenly I couldn't even connect two turns .... argh ... I'll digress before I even get started. Suffice to say that I did NOT have a good day. We made up for my hurt ego that night over a great dinner, a yummy bottle of wine and an overflowing bubble bath in the most amazing soaker tub ever!!!!!! Are you supposed to put bubbles in a jet tub? Hehhehehehe ... we had so many bubble we didn't know what to do with ourselves! Here a few pics from Whistler.

Moby's new toy!

We got back to Van in time to participate in the festivities of Jon Jon's birthday. Chris had to ref a hockey game that night so he didn't make it. Was a great little surprise birthday ... good work Eileen! I paid for that night the next day, yikes!! What can you expect when you start drinking at noon (we had our work Christmas party earlier that day).

Well ... I'm doing pretty well so far with my memory. Hmmmm ... what else??

So now its December .... ummmm ... well, Chris went to LA for a few weeks of work which is great since he typically doesn't work at all this time of year. If he were typing out this blog, he'd have a lot to tell ... but I'll sum it all up for him .... he worked for a few days and in all his spare time ... he hung out at the beach, went surfing, went to Disneyland for FREE, went to the aquarium, went to a jam session with Smashmouth and some other budget band ... that's bout sums it up! Rough life huh? I stayed here ... worked and finished our Christmas shopping. He worked ... and I spent all the money! Muahahaha.

Now for my favourite time of year ... Christmas!!! Its here ... and .... oh wait ... its gone already :( Chris and I went over to Gibsons to spend Christmas with his mom. She was very busy working at her store ... so Chris and I decided pull a "While you were out" on her! We stripped the wallpaper off in her hallway, put on a fresh coat of paint and put up news door casings and baseboards. Turned out really well! She was totally shocked when she came home, but of course she loved our handy work! The rest of Christmas was very relaxing, visited family, ate lots of yummy cheese and dranks lots of wine!! Was excellent. Lets not forget to mention how spoiled we got this year! Jeesh!!! Its overwhelming how generous our families are! Thank you!!!

So here we are ... a few days before News Years! We are heading up to Kamloops to go skiing, hang with our family and with our friends Tammy and Shawn! I'm really looking forward to it! Stay tuned for more pictures.

I hope you have all had a great holiday season. Thinking of you at!!!

PS: I hope you all remembered to have a drink for us!