Home Sweet Home - for 25 days!

Well, hello!  Welcome to our home in Costa Rica!  We would LOVE to give you a tour. . . .

This is our house. 4 stories high.  The stairs lead up to the front door.  The ground floor has a 2 car garage (one car parked in front of the other), a laundry room, maid's room/extra bedroom, 3/4 bathroom and a sitting/t.v. room with an entrance from the outside behind the red stairs.

We share walls with other houses, in this cute little gated/security filled community.  In this community, all the houses face outward in a circle.  In the middle of the circle you find a 12.5 ft. pool and tiny wooden playground.  

The security guard is on the other side of the pool house.  It is a locked gate to get in.  We feel VERY SAFE here!  The pool is not heated but seems to be most refreshing on cloudy or stormy days.

Can you see the playground?  It is wooden and is hidden behind the trees.

This is the sitting area between the playground and the pool.  This is where I sit and watch the kids.  Are you ready to see the inside yet?

Well, come on in!  Sorry L is so blurry, can't get that girl to hold still!  This is the front door that is up the red stairs and behind a locked, fenced door.

The front door is the far one on the right.  L is standing in front of my FAVORITE ROOM in the house.  The guest bathroom!   I love it and wish I had one in my Utah house.  I hate running to the opposite side of the house to use the restroom or have kids wash their hands before a meal.

This is the view from the front door.  Kitchen to the left.  Dining room behind the pillar.

Here is the kitchen (I didn't take this picture, can you tell?)  It is pretty modern for a rental.

Here is the Dining Room.  We borrowed 2 stools from our landlady, AnnaMaria.  That makes it possible for 6 of us to sit around this glass topped table.  We love to eat with the patio door open.  That is our only "air conditioning" for the house (open windows and a breeze).

This is the Living Room - looking directly from the dining room table.  Paul brought up the only T.V. in the house and put it on the shelf to the left.  Yes, only one T.V. in the entire house!

Now we will head up the second flight of stairs inside the house. There are 14 stairs per flight that wrap around to the next floor.  The entire house is tiled except the third flight of stairs, that lead up to the Master Bedroom.  They are carpeted.  THANK HEAVENS!  My poor feet are aching from all the tile.  At least a couple times a day I can feel carpet under my feet.

At the top of the stairs you will find a small bathroom that K and the boys share.  It has a shower in it (this picture is taken from inside the shower).

To the left of the stairs and bathroom, is K's room.  It is perfect for her.  She didn't like it at first but I told her it looked just like a college dorm room, something only "older girls" get to use.  She bought it!

To the right of the bathroom you will find L's luxurious room with a King size bed.  Yes, you could say SPOILED but, she is still learning to sleep without falling off her bed, so this bed is the perfect size for her.  She is also a bed hog, so NO ONE would want to sleep with her. 

This is the boy's room.  Initially all the kids decided they would have their "own rooms" since there are 5 in the house.  But E was kind enough to share his room with G.  The reason why?  Well, initially K decided she wanted this room . . . 

It looks cute, right?  Well, until you find out where it is.  This is the maid's room/extra room on the ground floor.  The rest of us are sleeping on the 3rd and 4th floors.  K was FREAKED when she saw this room and begged to sleep upstairs with the rest of us. 

If K were to sleep in that room, she would have to walk down the stairs to the ground floor . . .

and sleep in a room that has no door and shares a wall with the car.  The window you see is actually a fake window.  The other side of that wall is the laundry room.  It is a dark and lonely place to sleep at night. Thank heavens the boys don't mind sharing a room still and they don't have to share a bed.  Two twins turned out to be a HUGE blessing!

Onto our room, on the 4th floor.  It has a walk-in closet (other side of mirror).

GREAT VIEWS!

And a Master Bath with a huge jacuzzi tub to the left of the toilet.  And yes, that is a bidet.  And NO, I haven't used it yet!  Thanks for asking.  :-)

Last but not least, run down 2 flights of stairs and out to our cute patio.  It seats two and has been enjoyed by me and the kids.  They have done summer workbooks at the table, played dominoes or colored in coloring books (thanks Sheri!). 

This is the back of the house.  Our "yard" is what is in front of the trees.  Not much but who cares when you have a pool to swim in and playset to fall off of (another story for another day).  The large window to the right is L's and the window to the left is the boy's.  The skinny dark rectangle you see just below the roof is our master bedroom window.  This house is a fun house to live in, levels stacked on top of each other. It has been fun and is just perfect for our family.  

By the way, not all the pictures in this post are taken by me.  I pulled many of them off the owner's rental sight at https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/479382. If you are looking to stay in Costa Rica, this is a wonderful place to rent.  The house is comfortable, clean, and has a pretty stocked kitchen when it comes to cooking (pots, pans, cutting board, hand mixer, knives, utensils, etc.)

The neighborhood is clean and safe with security guards at many stations throughout the community.  It also has several playgrounds for the kids.  I also love all the trees you will find in Cariari.  We have driven through MANY of the communities/cities in San Jose but I have not found a community like this one.  Paul agrees!  This is where he moved his office to, it is that great of a location.

But the best part of this home is AnnaMaria, our landlady (her picture is on the link above).   She is a sweetheart and has adopted us as one of her own.  We can call her and have called her for just about anything we have needed.  She couldn't say E's name, so she asked if she could re-name him Jed.  Cute huh!  It is the name of one of her own grandchildren that she adores. 

Well, that is the tour of our home.  We hope you have enjoyed your stay. 

We would LOVE for you to stay for dinner.  No?  Maybe another day!  

Thanks so much for stopping by and know that you are loved and missed!

Always  ~  Wendi