Our house in in shambles

Because we're moving to North Carolina in 4 DAYS!!!

I think we've done and seen the best things of this area.  Well... I guess there's always a thing here or there that we didn't get to, but I feel pretty content.

So the next few days will be full of packing and doing random last minute things... like trying to cook food and eat/give it away so I don't let any of our perishables go to waste.  I hate wasting food.  

That's all I have for ya.  Good night.

The Museum of Science

To Do: go to the Museum of Science in Boston

Check.

I don't really know what this display was about, but it looked cool.

The main exhibit was Geckos!  There were some beauties on display, and it was fun to a.) find them in their cage, b.) watch them, c.)and then read the little plaques about them.

This guy is actually shedding his skin, if you can see.  He has a clear coat covering his skin, and it will shed off soon making him a handsome choice for the lady geckos out there.

Rob in front of some gecko eyes.

The End.

The Crane Estate

Ipswich was our adventure after Rockport.  We went to the Crane Estate... and it was awesome.  We had tried going in the Fall, but it was closed for a wedding (I bet it was a beaut).  I really wish we could've come here before now because it was so cool and we didn't have as much time as we would have liked to discover this property.  But... glad we made it once.

It started with a bit of a hike. 

We had some beautiful views of the windy rivers that decorate the land.

And then we made it to the grounds. 

I thought this guy was cute.

At the end of the LONG lawn of rolling hills is this beautiful little gem of a beach.  

It was so windy I couldn't stop laughing, thus ensuring that Rob and I did not get a good picture here. hah.  Oh well. 

More wind.  It was reallllly windy.

And this is the modest home of the Cranes.  Check out that yard.  It was even longer than this picture makes it look like.  We had fun running down the hills then walking up the hills.

I decided I'd never want to live in a home this big, but I wouldn't mind having their backyard.  Just in case the opportunity arises that I'd need to make that kind of decision...

Rockport. One last go at it.

Rockport is one of our favorite places.  If you ever visit MA, you must come here.  Since we've been having beautiful weather, Rob and I decided to go for one last visit. 

I am in love with all of those colorful... things.  Come to think of it, I'm not positive what they even are.  I know they go in the water.  Well, at least I think they do.

One last stroll down the Historic Bearskin Neck Colony.  Apparently all of the cute shops (a lot of art shops, some random souvenir shops, candy shops, fudge shops) close down in the winter because it's cold and there's no visitors.  It was a beautiful day so some of the local shop owners decided to open, but many were still closed.  No fudge for us. 

Rob loves lobsters.  The animal.  Not the food.  This is a cool place where you get to pick out a live lobster or crab to eat, but it wasn't open.  Oh well.  The picture was all we were really after anyways. 

And then we went to another adventure in the town over...

New England Aquarium

Rob and I recently went to the New England Aquarium and enjoyed seeing lots of different wildlife.

We spent quite a while just watching the penguins.  They're pretty funny to watch.

There were lots of cool fish.  This tank behind Rob had a million fish in it... or something like that. 

There's a huge tank going the height of the building that is in the center.  It kind of reminded me of Hawaii.

And when we came home, we still got to enjoy interesting wildlife.  He's a strange dog.  Seriously.

check this out

Mr. Robert was featured in Pepperdine's online business magazine, Launch!

It was funny to read because sometimes Rob would be like "I didn't say that" in places where he was quoted, but... that's besides the point.  I'm just really proud of him and think he's pretty spectacular. 

... and in life's news... not much is new.  Rob and I road tripped to North Carolina on Wednesday and got back last night.  But we have no pictures to prove it.  It was a good time though. 

Pura Vida: a commonly used Costa Rican phrase meaning "pure life", "plenty of life", "this is living!" "going great" "real living", "cool"

The rest of our Costa Rican vacation was filled with lots of miscellaneous activities and lots of relaxing by the beach and/or pool.  

One day we went zip lining.  As you can see from the secure fit of my helmet, safety was key.  I even had to wear a hair net under the helmet to prevent spread of head germs.  Rob had a hat on, so he dodged that bullet.

If you look closely, that's Rob on one of the lines.  

It was kind of scary at first (for me... I'm kind of afraid of heights) but it turned out not to be bad and we had a really nice time.

Our resort offered complimentary cooking classes with restaurant chefs, so we attended 3 of them.  We got to go back into the kitchens and make different dishes.  We made baked sea bass, risotto, and some rice concoction.  They were all delicious and saved me from buying lunch on that given day.

A guided nature hike was also a complimentary activity offered by the resort.  We finished it right as the sun was setting.  

Okay, we're on a roll for complimentary resort activities... 

We also went on the "tour of giants" where a guide took a group, with each couple driving their own golf cart, around the golf course and stopped at lookout points and when we saw wildlife (i.e. monkeys and iguanas).  It was excellent and oh so pretty.

A lot of the time we just relaxed at the beach and/or pool.  Rob read 3 books!  I read half of a book + 2 People magazines. 

Rob isn't much of a morning riser.  I, on the other hand, love to wake up early (providing I get adequate sleep the night before).  

One morning I was pleasantly awoken by a stampede of children that just checked into the room next to us the previous night.  Seriously, there had to have been a small army in there.  (Due to this, Rob and I got a complimentary room upgrade... very worth it.)  The other morning I was awoken by the loudest screeching birds (parrots?) flying around outside.  

Well, I guess I didn't exactly choose to wake up, nonetheless, it turned out to be a great thing.  I left Rob peacefully sleeping and went down to the vacant beach for a walk.   The sun had just risen and it was so peaceful and beautiful.  I also brought the camera and channeled my inner wildlife photographer.

This was a pretty bird who I watched fish for breakfast.

This was quite the site.  I was just walking and I saw a curious looking circle of shells.  The shells were small... like no bigger than an inch.  And they were all hermit crabs!!  I observed them (haha, who am I?) and I gathered that 2 of them were fighting, and the rest were probably there to watch and cheer on the one they wanted to win.  Or something like that.  It was bizarre. 

And the coolest thing... monkeys!  I've never seen wild monkeys before, so I was fascinated by them.  I could've watched them for hours.

These are Howler Monkeys.  There were a couple baby ones swinging around... they were too cute.

And these are White-Faced Monkeys.  There was a whole group of them traveling down the beach.  And if you can't tell, I'll point out that this one had a baby strapped to her back!!  It was the best thing I saw the whole trip.

It ended too soon.  But at least we have the vacation bug out of us.  And at least we came back to a mild winter in Boston, so it wasn't too much of a shock.

hike costa rica!

This time last week, Robert and I were relaxing in the beautiful country of Costa Rica.   We decided to take a last minute trip there, and we had such a good time!

While there, we went on a couple of different hikes.  We rented a car, so rather than going on the excursions offered by the hotel, we copied the agendas and did them on our own.  It was much, much better this way.  

Our first hike was at the Rincon National Park. 

We hiked through thick, treacherous forest.  

Found a lovely waterfall.  We knew a waterfall was on the path, but since it was the dry season, we weren't expecting it to be so big and...full of water.  It was definitely the highlight of the hike. (it was a lot taller than this picture shows.)

We observed dangerous volcanoes. 

...which reminded me of going to an exhibit at Disney Land.

And enjoyed the various giant tree species.  They were so huge and amazing.  I'd like to have one of those puppies in my back yard.

Next hike, a few days later... Destination: Rio Celeste Waterfall Hike

On our way there, we stopped at this cutest little restaurant in a mountain town.  The hills were all covered in rainforest.   

Also, that smoothie there in front of Rob... delicious!!! I think it was banana, papaya, and pineapple.  And it only cost $2!

Rio Celeste Waterfall, the highlight of the hike, was spectacular.  The waterfall is an aqua blue color, a result of a volcanic chemical reaction from the Tenorio Volcano.  It is considered one of the Seven Wonders of Costa Rica... and it did not disappoint.

Later on in the hike,  you get to see the exact point where the water turns from crystal clear to aqua blue.  Super strange, and super cool.

We stopped at a lookout spot and made friends with a group of like 20 Costa Ricans who said they were all cousins. They took our picture and we took theirs... and when I took their picture and counted "Uno, Dos, Tres", they mocked my accent.  It was a legit mocking though.  I can't roll my R's like they can.  No sirre.

This hike also required great bravery (see below)

And luckily we made it out safely. 

cooks in the kitchen

I guess this technically has to do with Christmas, so I guess my last post title was a lie.  Apologies.

But for Christmas, Rob gave me the wonderful gift of couples cooking classes!  He came up with the idea on his own.  He did well.

The week that we got back to Boston, we took our first cooking class- Couples Dinner Party.  Every couple was assigned a dish to make, and then we feasted at the end.  Rob and I got the chocolate molten lava cakes.  I guess we could've been a little cleaner around the edges of those ramekins, but nonetheless, they were divine.

And a couple days later, we went back to the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts for "All You Knead"... a bread making class.  I liked this class more because I felt like we learned more.  

Actually, one random thing I learned that could possibly be helpful to you:

When recipes call for salt, they are talking about table salt.  So if you are going to use Kosher salt, you have to add the amount advised + half of that amount.  I asked, "Even for cookies?" and she said "Yes".  Who would've known.

IE: Recipe calls for 1 tsp, you should add 1 1/2 tsp of Kosher.

Rob revealing his final product!  

Some of the breads our class made.  I made those sticky buns. 

I have never eaten so much bread in my life.  I honestly felt sick the next morning.  We also brought home a lot of the extra bread, and sadly it all went to waste- neither of us could bare the thought of eating another bite.

I wish I could go to culinary school.  Just for a few months or something.  I was trying to have Rob envision the meals I would create.  He seemed enthusiastic about the idea, but after he threw out a ballpark estimate of how much tuition would cost, I decided it might be a better choice to read a cookbook or something.