Travel Adventures and a Freebie!

So about a month ago, my hubby and I got back from a month long trip we took to Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Wow was that an interesting/amazing/challenging adventure! 
I have wanted to blog about this trip for awhile but I also wanted to find a way to make it relevant to classroom teachers, and then I had an idea. 
Are you ready for this?? 
I am totally revamping my travel unit and adding all the materials/resources I use to teach my around the world unit and making it available for you all! It is still a work in progress, but it should be up on TPT within a week or two.
So to hold you over until I've got the complete travel unit up, here's a little freebie to give you a taste for what's to come:

Travel Journal FREEBIE

So without further adoo, here is a little summation (in pictures) of our crazy trip…

So we decided to backpack and stay in hostels and lets just say, I'm not really one for packing light so my bag weighed about 60lbs (Hubby's was about 4olbs- go figure!)

 The first place we visited was San Jose, Costa Rica. 
We stayed with our friends (the Diaz family) who are pastors of Iglesia Del Rey. Their church is really involved in community outreach. One way we helped was by volunteering in a local day care.

 After volunteering in the big city, we headed out to explore some amazing places with stunning views and incredible animals.







This was taken in at Hotel La Mariposa just outside of Manuel Antonio (the most beautiful place I have ever been!)   

And here's a little taste of the amazing wildlife we encountered:

 That little fella was not shy or scared of people. (I was a little bit more nervous around him)

 

Sorry about this picture (in case any of you are scared of snakes).
We actually walked right past this one and had now idea. We later found out it was coiled in the attack position! YIKES!

Seriously one of the coolest things I've seen! I can't believe we got to see a sloth!

 In case I didn't mention this earlier, I'm married to a bit of an adrenaline junkie, so of course he really wanted to do the Crocadile tour. Ya, thats right, we went on a tour where we were literally inches away from GIGANTIC (18ft.) crocodiles!! And the scariest part was when our tour guide got out and fed them pieces of chicken!!! That was definitely one time I knew I was NOT in the good ole U.S. of A.
Things are just a bit different in Central America.

Isn't it breathtaking????

I think this is my favorite scenic pic of the entire trip! This is the most beautiful and famous waterfall in Costa Rica. I was amazed when we got there, because there were at least 40 butterflies (yellow, blue, and orange) that were just sitting on the wet sand by the water and when anyone would walk up they would all break into flight. IT WAS BREATHTAKING!

We also snuck in a little white water rafting…

Since it was the rainy season, we managed to get some class 3 & 4 rapids. 
Again, leave it up to my adventurous husband to find something thrilling (and slightly terrifying) for us to do.

After our visit to Costa Rica, our travels then took us to Nicaragua.
We toured an active volcano (outside Granada) and went on a night cave tour where we saw bats. 

We also toured the city of Granada.
The architecture is so gorgeous. 
 









We finished our trip on the beautiful island of Ometepe. We have friends who were there building a house for a widow and family. We pitched in and helped out for a few days. It was amazing to experience construction in a third world country. They were very resourceful and creative. 

 All in all, this trip was beyond a doubt so incredible and I will forever be grateful that I had this experience.
On that note, I plan on putting all this passion into finishing my Around the World Travel Unit so I can share it with all of you, and I hope that you will have the same excitement and passion when sharing it with your students.

Happy Travels Everyone! :)

Life Updates..What I'm grateful for

Well I'm sure if anyone is reading this blog they wondered why I hadn't posted anything since last March. Yes, part of that is because the year got busy, but there is a much larger part that I have chosen not to blog about until now, mostly because its been hard to talk about.

I think if I'm going to keep up with blogging and make it a weekly habit, then I need to be able to share not just about school stuff but also about life stuff...and well lately the life stuff has been a bit overwhelming.

I'm sure you can relate :)

So to sum up what's been going on in my life, my family and I have been supporting my aunt and her family both emotionally and practically (babysitting, helping with meals, driving etc.) since last January when we learned that she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. 
It was a very scary diagnosis and it shocked all of us! (we didn't even know she was sick until she went to the doctor). 

I won't go into much more detail other than to say, we are standing together and fighting this thing as a team.

There are a lot of ups and downs and this journey is one that has to be taken day by day.  My aunt is one of the strongest most amazing people I know. Although it's impossible to know why these things happen, I think it makes us all realize how incredibly grateful we are for our loved ones and how precious our time together really is. 

Family is a gift, one that can be taken for granted, or cherished depending on how you treat them. 

Be sure to give your loved ones a big hug and tell them what you appreciate about them most! In the grand scheme of things, we can never say I love you too much.