More Costa Rica

Tomorrow, we travel to Sarchi. We are planning on going to a coffee plantation where they are harvesting coffee which should be fun. Also, in Sarchi is good shopping and amazing woodworking.

Here are some pictures for now. More to come...

Zipline Canopy Tour

Today, some of us went on the zipline. We geared up and took a tractor ride up to the starting point. Here we are suiting up and heading out.

We didn't take a camera with us since we weren't sure how secure it would be with us swinging through the jungle. Mom met us at the end and took pictures of the last run. Here are some of the pictures of the last run (the longest) which was over a river. VERY FUN!! We also bought the CD of the professional pictures. I'll have to post them later.

La Paz Waterfalls

Today, we went to La Paz to see the beautiful waterfalls and then to do the zip line. At La Paz park, there were animals - birds (toucans, parrots, and other birds), monkeys, frogs, butterflies, and snakes. Then, we hiked down to the waterfalls and then back up to the main restaurant for a buffet lunch. Here are some pictures from the waterfalls. There were 5 in all and the last one we were able to walk behind.

Back in San Jose

We got back from the beach this afternoon. What a fun time! Very beautiful beaches. I'll post pictures when I have more time.

For now, we are heading to Mom and Dad's host home for dinner. It should be a lot of fun since they don't speak ANY English! We'll see...

We'll check back in later...

Christmas in Costa Rica!

We arrived last night around 10pm and were greeted outside by Mom, Dad, Bec and Fernando. After a fun ride through San Jose, we arrived to their house and were able to unpack a little and finally got to bed.

This morning, some of the people that Mom and Dad live with came to visit. It was quite funny to see us tro to communicate with our LIMITED Spanish knowledge. But, the highlight was seeing Anthony receive his Playstation 3 that he had been waiting for. I think we may "show" him how to use on Sunday...

Well, we are heading to the beach for a couple of days now. Costa Rica in Christmas is tough, huh? Catch you later.

Hasta Luego!

DMiller Christmas 2008

This year, with Mom and Dad in Costa Rica and some of us traveling down to see them over Christmas, the kids decided to get together on our own to have Christmas. Earlier in the year, we drew names for Christmas presents. This past weekend, we met at David and Rebecca's house for the 1st annual DMiller Christmas.

Rebecca graciously hosted all of us - which included Miriam, Mike, Blue, Stephen, Rebecca, David, Deborah, and Chris.

This was Blue's main spot in the house. He would just stare at you until you went out to play Frisbee with him. And then, you would have to coax him back inside with a treat. I think he would stay outside all the time if he could.

During present opening, we Skyped Mom and Dad so they could join in the festivities. They also got to see everyone open the gifts that they had sent to us.

Rebecca and David were not going to get any big gifts this year for each other but David has other surprises in mind. He got her a new laptop and a new camera!

Mike received this lovely knife from David...

And this HUGE camo tee shirt that we both could fit into...

BUT, David couldn't hold it in anymore and brought out his REAL gift - a scope for shooting

ARGGHHHH...

Hi Blue!

Stephen's blanket from Mom and Dad

Say Cheese!

On Saturday night, we decided to do a traditional Christmas meal with Turkey, dressing, and all the stuff that goes along with that. Rebecca called around and found a local grocery store that said they had a package that included the turkey, dressing, gravy and a pie for around $30. Well, that sounded great to us since it meant we didn't have to be in the kitchen all day cooking turkey and dressing. So, Rebecca told them she would pick it up at 4pm.

We (the girls) went to the grocery at 4pm to pick up the turkey and all for dinner. When we got there, the lady went into what looked like a refrigerator. Somewhat confused, we just thought she was getting something else out. She brought out a box though with a FROZEN turkey, FROZEN dressing, gravy (probably frozen too!) and an apple pie. We looked at each other somewhat confused! Rebecca quickly said, "I thought it was going to be cooked." The lady (get this!) scraped off the ice from the label and said, "it is pre-cooked - it should just take a few hours to thaw." WHAT?!?! If you have to SCRAPE the ice off, it isn't cooked!

We said ok and then walked down the aisle of the store. I was laughing SO hard since there was no way we could thaw and cook a turkey in 2 hours! It was just too funny...Rebecca didn't quite think so though...So we headed back up to the deli and told the lady that it wasn't going to work since we were supposed to have this for DINNER and it was supposed to be COOKED (really cooked, and warm!). She graciously took it back and said she was sorry for any mix up and inconvenience. We took 3 rotisserie chickens instead and headed home.

We snuck the chickens into the house and tried to hide them from the boys. They thought that we were having turkey and dressing, after all.

I cut up the chicken and put it on a platter. We sat down to dinner and the boys asked if that was chicken or turkey. We said "well, weren't we supposed to have turkey, what do you think?"
I think the 6 legs and 6 wings MAY have given it away though.

We all enjoyed the chicken and the rest of the meal and it definitely made a funny story for the years to come.

On Sunday, after church, we finished off the leftovers from dinner from the night before and then headed outside for some Miller Kids pictures.

Just the kids - Miriam, Rebecca, Deborah, and Stephen

David, don't you want to throw this Frisbee instead of that football?

I just love playing Frisbee!

Thanks for a fun weekend David and Rebecca!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!