We’ve met so many interesting people on our trip. Here are three more..

We met these three at lunch and then invited them to dinner at our place a night or two later, told stories and had a some laughs. That’s Stan and Ginger  on the right, from Kodiak Island, Alaska. They own a great little place (40 acres) along the Kodiak shore and Stan (“Skipper”) runs his own commercial fishing boat. He’s at sea for a couple of months each summer. Ginger’s just a force of nature and a ton of fun.  A couple of live wires! They are going to be starring in a reality show filmed at their place in Kodiak this coming year–on History channel, most likely.

Tracy (middle) met them in Jaco and they’ve become fast friends. Tracy has a fascinating story. For thirteen years she was part of an international drama that played out in a very public way in Canada and Bulgaria. Her husband, a businessman, was imprisoned in Bulgaria for 13 years. Tracy spent her time, energy and money during that time fighting for his freedom. Part of that time, she was also fighting cancer. There’s much, much more to the story. Maybe we’ll help her tell it someday. She’s such a sweetheart!

Well, the kids remembered they had kids at home and hopped a plane back to SLC. But not before we could recuperate with a massage  and see one last sunset from our place. It’s not easy to find ten massage therapists in Jaco to come to our beach at sunset –on an hour’s notice. But when you’re married to Mary Poppins, anything’s possible.

Things are gonna get a little quieter around here…

Yeah, another great day!  Started with an early yoga session on the beach.

Piled into our van and headed for Dominical–the ultimate hippy surf bum town. Hard to describe, really, but charming. Our destination was a nearby waterfall. Here’s a little video, including my perfectly executed back flip off the rope swing at the end. Solid. I felt it for a few minutes. WATCH:  http://youtu.be/WAsBong17h8

Mermaid sighting

Mer-MEN sighting. Plus a monkey…

Yeah, mermaids are better!

Came home for some surf and sand.

Dinner at one of our favorite haunts…TacoBar. Their spicy fresh seared tuna tacos are pretty tough to beat.

We pretty much have the funnest kids in the world, and things never slow down. Fall into bed every night and get ready for action in the morning!

The kids arrived and surprised us by ambushing us at our pool. We hadn’t seen each other for a few weeks, and I think the celebration caught our neighbors a little off guard. Oh well, we’re used to causing a scene.

Our first day included a tour up the Tarcoles river in a flat-bottomed river boat in search of crocodiles. Yeah, we found some! Up to 16 feet long and hungry! Here’s our guide feeding one–with my GoPro strapped to his chest. Yes, I know that seems risky, but put your mind at ease…I did get my GoPro back. With some pretty amazing video, by the way.

Never smile at a crocodile–esp at 12 inches away. Brandon and I petted this one…from the boat!

Yeah, we tipped our guide. His little savings program could come in really handy for his family some day. Now, this river dumps into the ocean not far from Jaco, and we talked to people who say they have actually seen crocs swimming near at the beach, but I reckon we have more to fear from our surfboard fins than from these prehistoric reptile behemoths.

Which brings me to our next activity–the boys took a surf lesson, and it’s as hard as they say it is. But we all managed to ride some waves. Some better than others. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…

Taylor Shreddin it

Here’s Brad & Brandon calming the seas

Steve doin’ it in style

The old dude. Nuff’ said…

Boys of Summer