Villa Katino

October 13th.

Sun streaming through the shutters and the songs of tropical birds woke us up around 6:30.

Michiel got up to open the balcony doors.
A bedroom view we could only dream of, was before our eyes.

Got out of bed and straight to the kitchen.. naturally 😛
I made scrambled eggs and got the coffee brewing as Mike fried up some bacon.

The open air kitchen is fun for a vacation house.. but I couldn’t handle it ALL the time.Humidity means everything goes in the fridge or gets sealed up tight.

Gecko poop scattered about and last nights rain resting on the counters.

After breakfast was eaten, supper preparations began!
Burgers mixed and frozen, potatoes boiled and sliced.
Kitchen cleanup and then Tino arrived to tell us about beaches and sites near by.

Once we had an idea of what was around us, we contemplated our plan for the day during a morning dip in the pool.
We decided to head out for lunch, find some beaches and get more groceries.
We ate at the bakery in Santa Teresa.
A Philly cheese steak sandwich, pineapple mango smoothie and frappuccino were all thoroughly enjoyed.
From there we walked along the street to check out some of the stores that were still open, lots of them (and the restaurants) are closed due to it being low/rainy season.

Beach number one was found.
The sound of waves crashing down constantly, smells of salty ocean air and the hot sand stretching out beneath your feet.
It all welcomes you with open arms to go and explore.

Our villa is actually located on the mountain to the right of me.
This beach is the first of three that can be seen in the balcony picture above.
Once Mike thought id done enough shell picking for the first beach we came upon, we headed back to the car.

Driving further along the road I got a tad grouchy.. the terrible road was throwing me all over the car ( I have bruises on my back from the constant bouncing.)
And I had thistles stuck in my skirt because I had went into the ditch to pick a flower 😛

We did find the second beach and as small as it was, it had its own vast but splendid differences from the previous one.
It had no shells.
A cliff side jutting down and blocking all view on the left, rather than ocean stretching out as far as the eye can see.

Trees surrounding its entrance, give it more of a jungle feel.

From there we just drove along exploring.

Stopped at a few more stores and got Mike some sandals since he didn’t appreciate walking in ocean drenched shoes, as well as more groceries to take to the villa.

Nutella and chocolate are expensive here, Mikes coping 😛

Once we were back atop our mountain the sun was setting.
It starts to get dark by 5:30.. Fully dark by 6.
Which means the little area lights go on and the moths come out.
I hate moths.

But anyways, Mike barbecued burgers and I fried some potatoes.Supper was eaten as we watched the sun fade away.

Started the jacuzzi so it could heat up… Tino designed the whole place himself so he said it has a few quirks.. like the jacuzzi taking almost two hours to heat 😛
So we sorted out the shells we had found while drinking some coffee 🙂

That about summed up our day!
Up early and to bed early.. had to get enough sleep for the next days adventures 🙂

Departure.. or not

We spent Friday night in Prince Albert.
Mike went to round up some breakfast, since the dumb complimentary only went till 9 :/
Seriously, who gets up at 9 a.m. on a Saturday to eat hotel food ?!
Anyways, ate a combo of A&W and Timmies and then headed to the hospital to see little Spencer and his parents ( A.K.A  my bro and Becca.)
Held the goober for a minute and then headed to the house to surprise mom and dad.
They had wanted us to stay and hang out on Saturday with the family that was out and I had thought we shouldn’t.
That is until morning of the wedding and I decided I did indeed want to be with them all as much as possible 😉

Thanks for changing the hotel Hun! (While trying to figure out how to get your wedding suit that was left in MacDowall to Kinistino no less.)

Got to the house and walked in the patio.. they didn’t seem to shocked but oh well 😛
Got to hang out, pack for Costa Rica a little less stressfully then night before wedding packing was and eat nummy cheesecakes etc.

Josh and Pro took us to the hotel in Saskatoon.
(Thanks again! Though I think you maybe just wanted time away from your two twerps and used us as an excuse ? 😉 )
The new truck speakers work nicely darling parents 😉

 

Sunday morning came bright and early.. but not early enough!
We ordered a wake up call and I set my alarm.
Neither option happened. 4:30 was the time we had to leave.. We woke up at 6:30..
But the Lord knows best!
Had we woken up at the correct time we would have been in the airport for no reason for over 5 hours.
Got to the airport and we couldn’t even print our tickets due to United airlines completely messing up our flight reservations.
We waited on hold and on the phone for almost three hours, talking to four different people.
Finally got the tickets…but original arrival was October 11th at 6:30 p.m. and now it was now for October 12th at 12 p.m.
We flew and survived the 8 hour delays in both Calgary and Houston.

 
My traditional Clamato/bloody marry helped.. especially since the stewardess gave me two instead of one, without me even having to ask;)

We got a cheap hotel for Houston and that was a good thing.
Seats in airports can only be comfy for so long.

We woke up on time 😉
And Costa Rica was in view by 11:30.
Got the bag and changed the money over to “Colones,” picked up the rental car and headed off to find Tino!
We drove out of San Jose and drove to the ferry to take us to Paquera.

 
It was an hour-long, relaxed ride across the bay.

Driving on pavement not something i’ll take for granted anymore.
Once the pave ends here, the pot holes, ruts, gravel and swerving begin…and do not end.
I slept during the paved part.. Than Mike woke me up, asked me to take a look on the map.So being the good wifey I am, I did 😉 … but within a few seconds, (supposedly) I was back asleep and the map dropped to the car floor. I was really tired 😛

Stopped in Cabana to get groceries and then headed toward Mal Pais, to meet Tino at the bakery.
Since you are wondering by now who that is, Tino is the Villa Katino owner. He had to guide us up the path to the villa.
Trust me, we needed the guide.
He said “Most don’t like the drive the first time, but after a couple they like and it is a fun adventure. Turn right next, adventure begins now!”
And so does clenched fists and slight whiplash.
My words not his.

It was almost fully dark when we got to the villa but there was enough light go for a quick evening swim in the pool and know morning would bring some wonderful things for the eyes to behold.

#Jem4ever

October 9th 2015.

Our wedding day.

It came upon us quickly and in a whirlwind of preparations and planning.
Though it had been 100 days of wedding thoughts, the day felt strangely, normal.
A very happy kind of wonderful normal, but after that much thinking and over-thinking, perhaps one expects it to feel very Disney/life changing/real as soon as THAT day is finally TODAY.

“Jess pauses to think what really needs to be wrote, sipping her bloody marry thoughtfully on the freezing cold plane that’s taking her to her
(and of course her hubby´s) honeymoon destination.”

Back to wedding..

I am so grateful for ALL the work, thought and time so many people put into making OUR day amazing for us.
It met all of my expectations and beyond.
I couldn’t have dreamed of it turning out any better than it did.
To those of you reading this who also helped savage amounts, or helped in what you consider hardly help at all, I thank you..
You know who you are and what you did 😉

Decoration day started at 6:30 a.m. and ended around 9:30 p.m… not counting the drive home and all the loading of vehicles day before.


Months of preparations unfolding within in a couple of hours.

Our brains could finally stop hurting in a couple hours too;)

Tears were there both days and they were fully expected,understood and shared…But im still rather happy that im not normally an overly emotional human.
Tears suck.

A happy note, my appetite stayed fully in tact 😉

“Starts thinking about how good that days french toast breakfast would be at this moment..”

The burgers and salads were delicious and thoroughly enjoyed.
Thank you for making Bob pack a snack for the hours between ceremony/reception Mom.
Thank you Dad for preparing the snack.. it was appreciatively devoured.
(No worries we didn’t spill anything in the new ride ;p )

Reception time spent with friends and family.
Speeches, songs, a game ( that I won just in case you missed that result ;p )
Videos from Mikes friends and family back home.
Guests from far and near…
It all came together and I can honestly say that for Mike and I, it was a perfect day. ❤

  Photography credits: Stephanie Steiner

For those of you who couldn’t be there.. (or if you were there and simply didn’t pay close enough attention 😉 ) here is the unedited, video version of the ceremony: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=THtPVA_053M

Life’s Jems

“Jem” Is how Michiel and I have referred to our relationship since we started dating.
A good friend ( yes you Zoe 😉 came up with the phrase.
J stands for Jessica, E stands for ‘and’ in Dutch which is spelt ‘en’ and soo surprisingly M stands for Michiel.
A literal gem, is found after much work and exploration.
A precious stone but hidden under a rough exterior at times.
OUR Jem may not be spelt the same but I want it to represent something fitting to our life.
Jem: Definition – Life’s precious and rough moments. Discovered on a day to day basis, possibly in the smallest or most unexpected places.

Ex. “smelling the exquisite aroma of freshly brewed coffee which  Michiel made for me was the jem moment of my morning.”
(That example has actually happened btw 😉
During my time writing here, I want to try to include a “Jem” moment whenever I post.
The jem moment for today, Michiel setting this up for me 🙂
And so ends my first ‘post.’
8~25~15
(45 days since Mikes been gone and 45 days until the wedding )

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