Thursday, June 11, 2009

The Trip (finally.)

I have to be honest here.
I have been having a hard time adjusting to the kids being home for the summer.
I am losing my marbles.

I know we just got home from vacation.
But, I feel like I already need another break!

My house is a pit. Constantly.
And it has been raining, so all the kids are cooped up here in the house.
With me.

Today I finally locked myself in the studio, and edited photos.

Wish I were still here:

Sigh.

I know we will get into some sort of a routine...hopefully soon.
Anyway...
The vacation.
We got back from Puerto Rico this past Sunday.
We love it there.
Here is the view from our hotel room:

Sam swung us a screaming deal to stay at a fancy pants hotel.
It had many, many pools.
Pool stunts were abundant:



Then, we discovered that our hotel had IT'S OWN PRIVATE ISLAND.
What the heck?!
Why, oh why did we waste time in a pool?
We jumped on the ferry:

And landed ourselves HERE:


The water around the island was just as warm as the air.
The kids spend all day long snorkeling.
They were tan on their backs, and their chests were as white as the sand.
It was pretty shallow, they could wade out for about a quarter mile and it was waist deep.

There were fish everywhere, and at one point there was a three foot sand shark.
As soon as we uttered the word "shark" Mikayla was done with the water.
Lucky for her, the island was infested with these bunny rabbits.
Or rabid bunnies.
<---see what I did there?
And it is probably true.

The stray bunnies looked a little rough.

I had some time to center on my inner zen and do some yoga:

Just kidding.
Don't look too close at my thighs.
The camera adds ten pounds, you know.

I sat on my duff and read a shallow cheesy romance novel.

We took a family photo.

Awww, cute.

So that was the island.
We went to the rain forest.
And this time the rain forest was very serious about being a RAIN forest.
It started out with a light mist.

It felt nice.
And then the heavens split open, and dumped buckets on us.
This is what I learned:
Don't wear a white tee-shirt in the rain forest.
Here is our family.

Blurry.
The camera lens was dripping wet.
Gah.
The kids still went swimming in the waterfall pool.
They were already wet after all...

And the rain forest is still a breathtakingly beautiful place.


What did we eat, you ask?
Well, we had to have some "parcha." (a Passion fruit)


Delish.
We tried "Pulpo"(octopus) and "Mofongo." (Mofongo is the signature dish of Puerto Rico, a mashed mound of plantains into which a combination of seafood, meat, or vegetables is added)

And of course, "pinchos"(marinated meat grilled with plantains):


Now that you are hungry for a snack, we will move on...
Y'all know how I love me some good cemeteries...
Here is one of my favorites in Puerto Rico. It is right next to El Morro, the fort.
It is very old.

They are renovating it right now.
The catacombs were actually covered over with black plastic.
We went in anyway.

Tourists...ugh.
My kids have the same morbid fascination as I do.
Poor things.
Oh...wow, what do we have here?
An open catacomb.

Looks like they are cleaning some of them out!
Look!

Some hair!

And bones!
Awesome.
You know, as always, you can click on the photos and make them BIGGER! (You know you want to...)

Then we all went over and toured the forts:
I didn't take a whole lot of photos here, because:
(a) I was also video-recording the trip and
(b) I already took a butt load of photos there when we went last time.
Here is the fam:

And some spoiled rotten (but kinda cute) world-travelin' kids:

We also went up to the Arecibo observatory.
The world's most powerful radar-radio telescope.
Pictures don't really do justice to how honking huge this thing was.
It made me dizzy to look down at it.

It was a little rainy.
It made pretty misty clouds.
I sang "Rocky Mountain High."
It needed to be sung.

Somewhere John, I mean Juan Denver smiled.
Also, I smiled at this:

In their museum.
It is a meteorite.
Found in Texas, and in a museum in Puerto Rico.
Whatevs.

But it's name is "Dimmitt."
Dude.
That is soooo finding its way into my everyday vocabulary.
"DIMMITT! Who used the last of the toilet paper!!?"
And everyone will know that I am merely speaking of a bronzite space stone.
Right?

So anyway, good times had by all, and all that.

We even made all of our flights on stand-by, which is a miracle in itself.
As is the fact that I have now blogged the trip.
Amen.

12 comments:

Leslie said...

WOW! So very cool - what a vaca!

JethRobyn said...

can I come on one of these next time?? I'll be your personal back massager :)

Deneen said...

So glad you are back I was having withdrawls dimmit LOL. Glad you all had a wonderful time and welcome home.

Sara said...

Dimmit! Those are some AWESOME pics! Looks like you all had a great time! Glad you're back!

Melissa Maples said...

This is a fantastic post! Now I want to go to Puerto Rico!

islandgirl said...

I disagree with one your last last posts that no one likes to see family vacation pics, these were awesome. Makes me want to pack a bag and MOVE to Puerto Rico! On another note, from reading some of your last posts, you NEED to write a book! You can become world famous, you know! LOL!

Janet O. said...

OMG - would it be possible to email me or Facebook me or something WHERE in PR this was, i.e. what hotel? I would love to go there - it looks fantastic!

Anonymous said...

Dimmitt! I'm so jealous! Awesome pictures. I love Brenden waving in the family shots...very cute!

Having all the kids home...major adjustment. I've been trying to figure out where all the foods going...then I found abby with about 10 neighbor kids having a free for all in the fridge and cupboard! Nice!

Heather said...

Dimmit - let's have a girls only trip to PR - you in? I am loving the pictures and I can't believe that freakin island you stayed on! Get me out of my life and transport me to that one!!

ScrapBox Organization & Storage said...

Your OWN private island?! That is so awesome. And I was thinking you looked pretty thin in the pictures . . .

Here are my 3 rules for summer:
Rule #1: Fighting = extra chores
Rule #2: Bugging Mom = extra chores
Rule #3: Being bored = extra chores

It's beautiful.

laura vegas said...

sounds like such a fun vacation! that island is just gorgeous! and you look amazing btw :)

Wendy Lojik said...

You look fabulous in your swimming suit! You are an inspiration with WW is amazing!