Our flight was not scheduled to leave until 1:15 AM. But, we decided to get to the airport early, in the hopes that we could get a few solid hours of uninterrupted sleep, especially for the little ones, before we needed to board our flight.
So, we got there just before 7. (Thanks for the ride, Lisa!)(It turns out that we were sooo early that we couldn’t even check our bags yet; not until four hours before our flight. Jonathan, bless that man, went and stowed our luggage in a storage area and then at 9:15ish he went and checked our bags and went through security again.)
After getting the kids through security, we grabbed some dinner and then made our way over to our gate, and we got everyone all settled in for the next several hours.
Jonas, Logan and the twins all nodded off, under benches, and eventually I slept as well. Neither Clara nor Jonathan were really able to sleep. Poor little lambs.
When it was time to board, Jonathan woke everybody up. The first thing that the children noticed is that there were no TV screens on the backs of the seats. They were not thrilled about this. They had been kind of counting on it. I think they were more excited about that than the actual trip.
Fortunately, we had two parent phones and an iPad. In the end, Jonas, Logan and Evie all stayed awake for the entire four-hour flight watching movies streamed from the American Airlines library on the iPad.
Isaac fell asleep on my lap for most of the flight. Our flight landed in Dallas at about 7 am local time (5 am for our bodies). So, we were definitely tired.
And in case you’re wondering how the twins liked their first airplane flight: they were totally into it! They loved take-off (which they alternately called ‘blasting off’ and ‘launching’), they loved looking out the window, and they loved the tiny bathroom, and they loved the snacks and drinks (which caused multiple trips to the tiny bathroom), and of course, they loved landing.
Upon landing, we made our way to the general area we would be flying out of, got breakfast at a nearby McDonald’s, and then settled in to wait for our next flight, which was about an hour later.
Clara and Jonathan both stretched out and fell asleep on the floor. At one point, a cute little janitor (who spoke almost no English) came over and put a blanket on Clara. It was so sweet.
Finally, we boarded the plane to Costa Rica! Evie fell asleep on Jonathan and she slept for the entire four hour flight, even during ‘launch’ and landing.
After getting off the plane, we got in line for customs. Shortly thereafter, a worker came through, and pulled out families with children to go to a shorter line. It was so much quicker than it would have been otherwise. We were incredibly grateful.
Pura Vida- The English translation is “pure life” but it’s more than just a phrase, it is a way of life to Ticos (that’s Costa Ricans) it’s about living your best life, not taking things too seriously, being optimistic. We heard it used as a greeting, as a goodbye, and as a response to ‘Gracias’- kind of like, ‘don’t sweat it that’s how you live the pure life’ It’s great. 
When we were back in the planning stage, trying to decide where to go, I wanted to go somewhere where people appreciate and are kind to children. This was one of my top criteria since we still have young children. The people were so kind when we were in the Philippines and in Vietnam and it made such a difference for all of us. Traveling with children can be difficult anyway, without other people shaming or judging you. Hence, my desire to go somewhere pro-children. Costa Rica absolutely delivered, starting with our experience at customs.
We went through customs, got our bags (none were lost, hallelujah!) and we went in search of the car rental company. We found it, boarded a shuttle and went to pick up our rental car. Isaac did not remain conscious for long once we got in the shuttle.
In the 15 minutes that we were at the rental place, Isaac fell asleep again, as did Logan, and Jonas was nodding off. We were soon on our way to our hotel with our little bus-van. We were fortunate to have gotten one of the three adjoining rooms in the hotel. Huzzah!
It was about 3 pm by this point, and we were all quite hungry, so we went to the Denny’s across the parking lot because we were all very tired and it was easy. Path of least resistance.
After eating, Jonathan and the kids changed into their swimsuits and they went and swam. I sat by the pool and watched and tried not to fall asleep.
We only stayed out there for about an hour because it started getting dark around six (we’re near the equator after all). Plus, it was getting close to being a reasonable hour to go to bed. So, we came back to the room, got ready for bed, and by 7 pm the kids were all tucked in and nearly all were asleep. Jonathan and I did not last much longer.
Pura Vida my friends!
