Courtrights in Costa Rica! (part 1)

After celebrating our Courtright family Christmas at home, we all set out to enjoy our biggest family gift - a long-awaited vacation to Costa Rica! This was the trip that we tried to book for March 2020, and then March 2021, but Covid travel restrictions got the best of us and forced us to postpone. We finally made it happen for the perfect family vacation to ring in the new year of 2023! We rented an Airbnb and a family golf cart in the coastal town of Tamarindo Guanacaste, and we couldn't wait to explore and embark on some Costa Rican adventures. We kicked off the fun first day with a beautiful walk on the beach in search of some breakfast.

After our yummy breakfast, we continued exploring the area before returning to our condo. We were staying at a beautiful beachfront Airbnb home with 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a huge floorplan with so much space to spread out. Our 6-person golf cart wasn't quite ready, so the company dropped off a fun all terrain vehicle for us to use for the first day. We hopped in and explored the area of Tamarindo where we were staying. It was a bustling little town with lots of shops and restaurants - so fun to see and explore! We checked out the local stores for food and drink supplies, and we were looking forward to enjoying all the unique little restaurants. One funny thing about the area we noticed right away was that there were little scorpions everywhere which were frequent visitors inside the condo. 

During our stay, one of our favorite family activities were the many days of Euchre games - inside, outside, and even in the pool with waterproof playing cards! I enjoyed watching the competition but was a little reluctant to play by myself. By the end of our trip, the kids had taught me to play and we were all enjoying the family rivalry. 

On our 2nd day, our family golf cart arrived which fit all 6 of us. This was probably our favorite and smartest decision of our trip - having an easy and fun way to get around our area, which could become quite congested with traffic at certain times of the day. Our newest driver, Connor, even took turns behind the wheel and was a great help with trips around town. 

Throughout the week, we enjoyed countless golf cart rides, meals on the beach, shopping adventures, and coastal cocktails. I snapped away for photos of our fun family memories and felt so thankful for the awesome family time.

One of our favorite activities of the trip was our family surf day, where Jeff and the kids had a personalized surfing lesson followed by a couple hours in the ocean where they practiced to catch some waves. They all did so great, each catching a wave while I hung back taking photos and videos of their fun. One thing was for sure - surfing was exhausting and they were all so wiped out from the adventure, but they sure had fun trying it!

Some of my favorite times in Costa Rica were our casual, impromptu rides to town for meals. The vibe is so laid back and chill, which reminded us of our time in Thailand that we all loved. It was so nice to have the focused family time with no stress and a break from the winter holiday chaos. As they say in Costa Rica, pura vida!