PR - Day 6 - A Day at Home (mostly)

Today, there was a tropical depression all over Puerto Rico, so we decided to take advantage of a forced day inside and cooked most of the day. Each one of the kids got to pick what they wanted to make with Grandma. Jonathon helped make some ice cream (we were gone when she froze it, but he made the "batter"). Christian helped make chocolate chip banana bread. Nathaniel helped make scrambled eggs. Eliza helped make chocolate chip cookies.

We watched some TV (Disney Channel) and a few "The Dick Van Dyke Show" episodes. In the late afternoon, we went for a drive over many winding roads (resulting in Christian not feeling so well). We stopped at WalMart for a couple of things and got home at about 7 p.m. We had BLTs for dinner and ice cream chocolate chip cookie sandwiches. YUM!

For family home evening, Louise and Miguel shared their testimonies with us about how they knew the church is true. It was great hearing it!

PR - Day 5 - Church and Exploring the Yard

Today was fairly uneventful, but it was nice to go to church with Miguel and Louise. It was weird coming from a big ward and going to their sparse ward. Not only was the chapel about half the size, but it was only about half full. It's nice to have the familiarity of having church go the same way you are used to, even if it's in different place with different people.

It was fairly warm since they don't have air conditioning and the fans move the humid air around. Jonathon and Christian were lucky, since they were the only young men in the ward, they got to have class in the air conditioned bishop's office, taught by the bishop...

After church, we had spaghetti and meatballs for lunch. Then we took a walk around Mom and Dad's property. Dad showed us the different fruit trees he has growing. He sounds pretty proud of his trees...

Their property goes back pretty far. Dad, Michael, Jonathon, and Nathaniel went most of the way back. I followed the younger kids inside since my ankles and feet were providing lunch for quite a few bugs.

PR - Day 4 - Cerro Gordo with Cuqui's Family

Today we went to the Cerro Gordo beach near Dorado and hung out with Michael's sister, Cuqui, and her family. First we met them at their house, then followed them to the beach.

Unfortunately, this was the ONLY picture I got of Cuqui and I didn't get anything of her husband or two kids. We had so much fun with them. They were so sweet and just adored Katie. Cuqui and Ibrahim held her quite a few times.

Timmy kept throwing sand and got himself a few times, in addition to hitting Katie and some of the adults...

The water was gorgeous and the perfect temperature.

Dad got us some authentic Puerto Rican cuisine: a chicken empanada, a cheese empanada, an alcapurria, and some pork kebabs. Then later, he bought everyone ices: pina colada, coconut, or parcha (passion fruit). The kids were in heaven!

One of our favorite things to do at the beach is to bury each other. Jonathon went first and Timmy tried to help, but instead of putting sand on Jonathon's body, he threw it in his face!

The beach is a great place to relax and Dad tried to take advantage, but it's hard to with six excited kids...

Mike, Cuqui, Marieli, and Ibrahim had to leave at 4:00 since Mike had to work in the evening, but they were so kind as to leave two of their chairs for us. It was so nice to see them, but it was way too short!

We went home at about 5 p.m. and took half the beach with us. I'm sure Mom and Dad will be cleaning up sand for weeks after we leave!

PR - Day 3 - Fort San Cristóbal & Park

This was the day that we went to Old San Juan. It took us quite a while to get out of the house, so we didn't have enough time to see everything that we wanted to see, but it was still a fun day. First, we visited the Fort San Cristóbal and saw a video about how it was built in 1634 and was used up until the 1950s when the United States came by sea to battle with the island. Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for the USA, only about half of the 30 or so cannons worked, so it was a short two-hour battle.

There are tunnels running throughout the fort that we got to walk through.

There was a dungeon with drawings of ships on the walls that a prisoner had probably drawn. They are behind Christian enclosed in a glass frame. I'm sure they did that so that it would be protected from the same people that signed their names on the other walls...

Louise says that they used to have the actual cannons here. The TV in the corner describes all it takes to fire just one cannonball. It was 3 or 4 minutes for each one!

This was the sleeping quarters for the soldiers. There was a very steep staircase - it looked like an old-fashioned ladder made of concrete - that was at the far end of the room (you can kind of see it over Christian's head) that led to the top of the fort. It must have been very difficult to climb!

We went on top of the fort and could see pretty far out to sea. The half pyramid you see between Nathaniel's and Christian's heads are cannonballs.

After we were done, we went to Burger King for lunch and tried to find Luis Muñoz Marin Park located in San Juan. We thought the kids would really enjoy it since they had a fountain and a sky ride. We drove around for about an hour before we finally found it. It was pretty big and had a lot of playground sets to play on, but there was nothing open, including the sky ride since school had already started in Puerto Rico and they didn't have it open on weekdays. The kids still had fun even though it was really hot and humid. They found some swings and a huge tree that was great for climbing.

Then we had a snack and called it a day.

PR - Day 2 - Scenic Mountain Drive & Cayey

We had planned on going to see Old San Juan, but it was raining heavily all over the island, so we had a day to spend with "Grandma and Grandpa". We mostly got settled and unpacked our suitcases while Michael worked on a couple of assignments for school.

The afternoon brought sunnier skies and a desire to get out and see a few sights before calling it a day. Michael wanted to take a drive and see the mountainous region of Puerto Rico. So we took a drive and saw some gorgeous views of the island.

We ended up in a small town about 30 minutes from the house. Since we are still in the throes of potty-training Timmy, we thought it would be a good idea to stop at McDonald's and get a small bite to eat. Okay, so really Michael feels guilty going in and using the bathroom without buying something. I have to say that I'm okay with it, especially since this time he came back with some apple pies. Yum!

Once we had snacked, we drove over to Cayey and took a look at the LDS church building there. It surprised me somewhat to see that it was completely enclosed in a sturdy fence and that the gate was locked.
That wasn't the only difference that I noticed on our drive. The narrowness of the roads takes a little getting used to, not to mention how some people drive. You know, New Jersey has a pretty bad reputation for having bad drivers, but sometimes I found it pretty crazy and occasionally scary how they drive. If they don't feel you are going fast enough, they will tailgate and honk at you. And be careful of multiple lane switchers without a blinker. I'm pretty sure that their blinkers work, but I hardly ever saw evidence of it.

Anyway, when we were in Cayey, we stopped at a Domino's (yes, the same kind they have here) and got some pizzas that we took home and ate for dinner.

PR - Day 1 - Going

For our vacation this year, we wanted to go to Puerto Rico and visit Michael's parents. Michael has visited a couple of times in the past few years. He had a business trip there and three and a half years ago, he took the three oldest boys at Christmas time for a week. I didn't go because I was 7 1/2 months pregnant with Timmy and my doctor wouldn't allow me to go. I kept Eliza a little for company and so that Michael wouldn't have four kids to keep track of.

So, this morning we woke up at 2:45 so that we could catch our 6:50 a.m. flight. We would've had to wake up earlier, except we had the kids get dressed before they went to bed. Still, we had to change Katie's diaper, get shoes on, and have everyone go to the bathroom before we headed out. As usual, I was up past one o'clock finishing last minute tasks, like doing the dishes, laundry, and packing the last few items we needed.

We headed over to John and Kathy's house to "pick them up." We had to take both of our cars since our family of eight doesn't fit in our 7-seater minivan. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time.

We had a stopover in Charlotte and the whole trip was fairly uneventful. On both flights we had to switch seats with other passengers since they put almost our whole family in the exit rows (kids aren't allowed).

Most of our flight from Charlotte to San Juan was above the clouds and over the Atlantic Ocean. When we finally descended below the clouds, I could hardly believe how beautiful the water was!

Louise and I have discussed on the phone how humid it is in Puerto Rico, but I was still surprised when we walked outside. I could actually feel my hair getting frizzy!

Louise and Miguel live south of San Juan and by the time we got to their house it was almost dinner time. The air was a little cooler there since they live in the mountains. Their house is still fairly new and looks kind of small from the outside, but is nice and spacious when you walk in because of the high ceilings and living-dining room combo.

It was almost like old times when Michael and I lived with his parents when we were first married and I cooked with Louise. She is a fabulous cook and I always enjoy being in the kitchen with her. I think I learn something new from her every time we cook together.

Bedtime meant that the kids got to sleep in the living room on air mattresses - their favorite way to sleep!

Nathaniel's 1st and 10th

This year, Nathaniel had his first real birthday party. Meaning, he invited friends over. On August 7th, a few of his friends from his 4th grade class came over. For the most part the kids just jumped on the trampoline. They came in once to eat pizza and again to eat birthday cake and open presents.

For his birthday, he chose to go to Bertucci's for dinner, then we came back to open gifts. Nathaniel loves taking pictures, so we decided to give him a Nintendo DSi along with a cover for it and a few games. I think he really enjoyed his 10th birthday!