We figured we'd pay for it letting her go to bed that early and we sure did. She was up a good part of the early morning hours and was remembrance of nights at the Riu. The funny part from that night was when we tried to put her back down, we push the foot of her teddy bear, Violet. That plays "bedtime" music for varying numbers of minutes depending on how many times you push it. Well, if you push another arm or foot, it plays other songs and Alexis seemed to figure it out in the middle of the night. She pushed the arm and it starting singing, "If you're happy and you know it…", and within seconds of the song starting we could hear her clapping her hands in anticipation of the rest of the song. We couldn't see anything, but just hearing her clapping to the song was extremely adorable. It was about this night when I started to realize what was going on with her sleeping (or not sleeping) at night. The days she got up in the middle of the night, or early in the morning, were days that she took long naps or went to bed really early (pretty much every day at the Riu). I think she just wasn't tired enough to sleep the whole night. She slept well on days that she didn't take many naps and was really tired at bed time. We got to morning and Nicole was not feeling well. She had body aches and nausea, which wasn't ideal for heading to the luxurious Tabacon Hot Springs Resort. After getting everything just about packed, Alexis had gone down for a nap and then our driver arrived a few minutes early. We lugged everything down to the van and checked out of the hotel. Off we go to Arenal.
This was well-known to be the worst car ride we 
would encounter. It was approximately three and a half hours long, where the first half was extremely bumpy and the second half was extremely curvy. The view was phenomenal and it was fascinating to see the Arenal Volcano get bigger and bigger as we got closer and closer. We stopped for a few pictures, but neither of us were in much shape to be looking out the window as even I was nauseous on this ride. Nicole already being sick before even leaving made it even harder for her to enjoy the ride at all. Alexis did pretty good on this one because she was able to sleep for the entire bumpy part. Her screaming didn't make the winding roads any easier for us.
Finally, we got to roads that were paved, semi-flat, and much straighter. The last few kilometers were much more tolerable and we finally arrived. The put all of our bags on a luggage cart and by this point, it barely all even fits on one. We found out that check-in time wasn't until 16:00 so we still had two hours. We decided that lunch was first on the agenda and we'd go from there. They stored our luggage for us while we were waiting for the room.
At lunch, the menu was a bit upscale for our tastes, as we really just wanted something simple. We kind of expected something like this from a five star hotel and resort, but were hoping for something a little more low-key. We heard many other guests mentioning the same thing to one another throughout our entire stay and many chose to eat elsewhere around the town. Lunch was served with smoked salmon wrapped gouda, breads, sorbet, and our entrée.
After lunch, Nicole still wasn't feeling well so she laid down and I took Alexis down to the hot springs to check things out down there and take some pictures. As soon as we get to the reception desk at the springs, she's flocked with admirers again (Should have given them an "Alexis was here" picture). I left the stroller in the lobby and carried her around as I took a few pictures and toured the grounds. Everything was spectacular and just as I imagined. It was a bit steamier than I expected, but I guess you'll have that with boiling hot springs. I pictured it being more flat and just pools of springs, but this was more like flowing rapids that got hotter as you went closer to the top.
I headed back toward Nicole since the skies weren't looking so friendly (how dare it rain in the rain forest two days in a row??). It was just light rain again and Nicole was getting a snooze in by the pool. Our room still wasn't ready at 15:15, but we didn't really have a whole lot to do. We could have gone and changed clothes to go in the springs or the pool, but we didn't pack very well to be able to just grab and go – when you have 13 pieces of luggage, things sometimes tend to get lost in some random bag. We walked a little bit, but mostly Nicole relaxed in the lobby and I chased Alexis out of trouble until 15:58 (Meanwhile I saw at least a dozen other guests check in immediately and were able to go directly to their rooms).
The wait was over and we entered the gorgeous room. I never get to take pictures before we pile the 300 pounds of luggage into the room, but trust me – it was beautiful. We wanted to unpack a few things but mostly get some time down in the hot springs before Alexis was ready to crash for the night. She gets antsy very easily when we're not paying 
attention to her or directly interacting with her, so we had to take turns getting everything set to go down.
We took the shuttle down this time (it's only a ten minute walk, but a two minute shuttle ride and Alexis gets heavy). When we got to reception again, they recognized Alexis immediately and she got many "Hola Alexis". We left the camera behind this time and just went to get in with Alexis. They were for sure hot springs and I wasn't sure how Alexis would react. Obviously, they weren't too hot for her because she was smiling and splashing like it was bath time. It felt really, really, really, (okay, you get the point) good to get in after all the walking, hiking, carrying, and just doing stuff that we've done. Alexis wasn't too much a fan of the waterfalls and rapids, but loved to be in the water and climb the steps. We didn't want to stay too long because of Nicole's pregnancy and Alexis being so young, so we went back as it was getting dark.
We entertained her for a bit more in the room so we didn't make the same mistake as last night. I think this is where we confirmed that if she's tired enough she sleeps through the night. It's only when she's had enough sleep that she doesn't want to go back down in her crib at night. Neither of us were too hungry so we tried to look for some room service or the snack menu. We were able to find a sandwich on the snack menu and Nicole ordered one which I went to get and bring back to the room. As Nicole was finishing, the NCAA basketball championship was just coming on, so we watched that as we put Alexis down for the night. She went to bed extremely easily and we didn't even have to turn the television off. I set the sleep timer for thirty minutes because we were both exhausted and laying down ourselves. Neither of us made it past the next ten minutes.
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