From candid mom-talks, to chronicling her home renovations to offering easy style tips, Liz Joy has shared all of her family adventures through her popular blog and Instagram account, Pure Joy Home. Even her most recent journeys - the launches of Pure Joy Rosé - a delicious crisp rosé and Marea, a beach inspired fashion line - have both been a very successful quest. But on the edge of burnout, this busy influencer and entrepreneur heard the whisper of wanderlust in the back of her mind. “We were working like dogs, and it kind of felt like the year had caught up with us. A vision of running away together for a little bit, off to somewhere completely different, started to come into my mind and in my heart. Costa Rica sounded like a good place to start,” reveals Liz. And just like all those other milestones, Liz shares with us a snapshot of her family’s Central American adventure. -SBS
Day 1:
Costa Rica is the most beautiful place I have ever seen! The landscape is simply stunning – the mountains come right up against the beach! And the lush landscape which houses all sorts of new animals…monkeys, sloths, the most colorful birds I’ve ever laid my eyes on. I’m in a visual paradise.
Day 4:
We arrived on Tuesday and are in Papagayo and so far, the trip has been the best trip we've ever taken as a family. Costa Rica is a special place. The people here are so nice! Everyone knows you by name and it is such a family friendly place.
Day 6:
The food here is INSANE and fresh and we are all loving everything. OMG the mangos, the fruit, the guac, the COFFEE, everyone has a very happy tummy. And we're active. Hiking! Swimming! Paddle Boarding!
Day 8:
We went on an excursion to the jungle and did zip-lining and a really fun ropes course. This was the most fun thing we have ever done as a family. The kids absolutely loved it. It was amazing to see them conquer their fears. There is a place in Papagayo called the Outpost which has all sorts of excursions. We used a trusted babysitter for William so we could do this and also for a date night which was SO NICE!! We went to the Four Seasons for dinner - that resort is bananas!
Day 10:
Before exploring this adventure my biggest worry was…HOMESCHOOL?!!? And now I see that homeschooling is so much more than books - although Brian and I are working on long division - we are just having so many conversations about life and everyday stuff. Every other sentence is, "What does that word mean", or “How do you say this word in Spanish?” It’s been freeing to explore and learn through experiences, it's learning in real life.
Day 12:
I have to say one thing that's been a little challenging is our wild toddler. He's such a joy and is picking up so much from being with us 24/7. His vocabulary is exploding and his personality is so fun to be around. But it is hard having a big age gap because Brian and Grace do one thing and he tries to keep up but really can’t. So then one parent goes one way and the other goes the other way. It's not that often and I hate to even write something negative but it is the truth.
Day 14:
We spent the day at Playas de Coco, and it was our first taste of real Costa Rican culture. I LOVED seeing a local beach town, seeing the shops and the sodas (sodas are restaurants here), the local kids playing in the park, the surfers, the art, all of it. The kids were blown away because it was so different from anything they had ever seen, tasted, smelled… That’s the good stuff ya know? The best part of travel, seeing different ways people live. Coco was really cool, the kids bought little trinkets from the souvenir shop - Brian got a Costa Rican soccer jersey that he’s been wearing on repeat and everyone
here compliments him on it so he loves that. Grace got a fluffy sloth which she carries around with her everywhere and William got one, too. We had local ice cream and ate dinner at Father Rooster.
Day 16:
I've been really trying to pamper myself here. Going to bed early, waking up early, working on meditation, working out consistently, painting, and reading. I have slowed down my brain a lot which I desperately needed!
Day 18:
What has been the most special part of this trip is just being together as a family. It's allowing for more time to be uninterrupted when we're together. That feels like the biggest gift. Yes, the kids argue and complain like normal kids, but they are also bonding like crazy. The other night we were all just sitting around after a fun day at the beach, just talking and laughing together. It felt different than being at home. It felt like we were having adult conversations and the kids were just opening up and exploding with stories. Brian and I looked at each other - and just knew that we made such a good decision in coming here for this extended time.
Day 32:
We are in Nicaragua now, we left Costa Rica with every intention of going back after our planned one week here, but we ended up loving it so much that we decided to stay! We’re right on the beach, the property has everything, farms for the kids to explore and a massive garden. There’s lots of kids to have fun with and a school which Brian, Grace AND William (yay!) are going to. It’s in close proximity to really cool cultural spots that we’ve enjoyed visiting - great surfing, and an amazing yoga studio. There’s a spa, horses, I could go on… There is so much to do for the whole family, and it’s EASY. We feel crazy lucky to have landed in this spot.
Day 37:
For the first time, this week I started to miss my house a bit, and my studio. And I miss Colony Pizza! What I wouldn’t give for a cherry pepper pie topped with grated parmesan and an ice cold beer. I also miss my friends and my brother and I can’t wait to see them!!! But for now, I’m going to enjoy this and soak it up as much as I can because boy, we truly are on the best adventure I could ever dream of.
Day 42:
The kids are LOVING it here. They have the freedom to walk around the property on their own, they’ve made so many friends and they love the school here. We’ve been going on great hikes and adventures to different beaches and towns. We are starting to volunteer as a family at the local community center which I’m really excited about. We’ve been watching the sunset with our friends every night - the sun sets right over the pacific and it’s a magical time when everyone comes together to the beach and just watches. We initially were going to only stay a week so that we could continue on with
our travels but the whole purpose of this trip was to slow down, be present, and have fun together, and we can do all that and more from the comfort of this place. We have grown to love it so much and don’t want to leave … so why don’t we stay!? And so that was that. The adventure continues…