Countdown to Mommy & Daddy vacation

Aaron and I love to travel.  In my messed up childhood, one of the positive memories I have is getting to take multiple vacations each year.  Aaron did not get the same experience as a child, and has jumped right on board with my desire to see the world.  We honeymooned in Maui/Kauai in May of 2004, and that was the last time we vacationed alone.  We LOVE having our children with us, but lets face it, your travel distance and array of activities are very limited when you have 4 children under 6.
We have been back to Hawaii two times with children and LOVE it so very much, but it is very expensive, and a long flight.  We decided to search for a location that would be very similar, but cheaper and closer.  We quickly came to the conclusion that we NEED to visit Costa Rica.  We had no idea when we would actually get to go, but I was determined that it would be our next vacation destination.
As the roller coaster with the twins started to slow down, Aaron and I both realized that we desperately needed a vacation ALONE.  It literally took me trading in my big luxury SUV for a new Odyssey to make it work financially, but it was worth it (and don't tell my husband, but I really like the Odyssey).    We originally planned to trade one of our timeshares for a location in Costa Rica, but there are so many areas to see so I convinced my husband to travel around and spend a few nights in each area.
Our plan:
2 nights will be spent in the central valley.  We will be staying in Grecia where the weather is like eternal Spring time YES!!!

We will then drive 3-4 hours to La Fortuna where Lake Arenal and the active volcano are located.  We hope to go white water rafting, repelling, and visiting natural hot springs while here.  We will have a direct view of the volcano from our lodge

Next we will drive around the lake 4 hours to Monteverde where the cloud forest is located and will hike and do a zip line tour.

Finally we will be driving to Manuel Antonio......The BEACH.  We want to take surf lessons and hike in the national park while there.

I get so excited just thinking about it.
And then the anxiety sets in.  We have left the twins before, but never Camryn and Pierce.   We are so blessed that Aaron's mother and our assistant director will be staying at our house to watch all of the kids, but I am getting a little sad about not being with them for 9 days.  I know they will be fine and so will Aaron and I, it is just a little emotional.

The next time I post I will have actual pictures of our trip, and I am praying that we will have a new "Hawaii" to take our family back to very soon.