Life is short. Life is for living. Sometimes it is good to take a risk. To have an adventure. For me and middle man, horse riding in Monteverde was just that. Who better to have an adventure with than this lot? My family.

When it comes to parenting, one thing I want to give my boys is new experiences that will bring treasured memories. This doesn’t have to be expensive holidays. My boys loved caravaning in Littlesea, and being farmers in Devon. The excitement of a bidet in Menorca was off the scale.

Variety is the spice of life.

Our biggest family travel adventure was our recent trip to Costa Rica. We had been planning and saving for some time. We had trawled the internet for information and read the guide books. We had planned our trip so that it would suit our family. I was shocked with peoples reactions to our adventure. Not many people wished us a lovely time. Most seemed overly concerned about flight times, weather, vaccinations and what the boys would eat.

Big man’s biggest worry was that one of us would lick a poison dart frog. Yes he knew exactly what to expect from Costa Rica thanks to Deadly 60. Why he thought anyone’s reaction to seeing a small red frog would be to lick it is beyond me. My biggest worry was packing light for a family of 5 for 2 weeks. We knew our adventure might backfire. Travelling with children may not be for us. But if you don’t ever try these things you will only be left wondering. It is with a huge sigh of relief that I can tell you our trip was fantastic.

We saw sloths, poison dart frogs and capuchin monkeys. We bathed in volcanic heated waters and ate in a tree house. If I had to pinpoint our most memorable adventure, it was horse-riding in Monteverde.

I should probably set the scene. Monteverde, is home to the Cloud Forest. It is best described as damp and misty. After exploring the Cloud Forest in the morning we really needed to do something with our afternoon. We opted for a horse riding trek. There were two big issues with this.

1. The only time I had ever been horse riding before, I lasted about 2 minutes before I demanded to get off. It was a long time ago, but my fear of animals and having no control were still strong.

2. Middle man had refused to mount a donkey in Skegness for a 5 minute ride the previous year. He isn’t the most adventurous child in the world and whilst he said he would ride the horse, I had my doubts that he would even get on it. How he was going to manage an hour and a half horse riding trek was beyond me.

So with that we did what any adventurous family would do. We booked to go horse riding. Our pick up couldn’t speak English. We couldn’t speak Spanish. We arrived at the farm and I couldn’t quite believe how big horses are!

Big man, my husband plus little man all mounted their horses. Next up was me. I took a deep breath, mounted my horse and silently squealed with fear inside.

Middle man looked panicked. As he was 6 he had to ride by himself. He started to mount the horse, panicked and then got down. Then all of a sudden he did it. He was proud and I was even prouder. We started our trek. Middle man beaming from ear to ear, riding upfront with our guide. Me scared out of my life at the rear quietly praying for my life.

I can’t say I ever really relaxed fully, but when we were in the woods I was happier. There was no chance here that my horse would ride off into the sunset with me clinging onto the back of it for my dear life. In the woods their intelligence shone through. They thoughtfully considered which route to take through the muddy, steep and winding forest paths.

We got to see a sloth and some owls high up in the trees. I had clearly calmed down by this point as I had to let go with one hand to take my phone out of my pocket and picture these beautiful creatures.

We had an adventure as a family that we will all remember forever.