We were looking into skipping off to Cali for a few days, but on July 14th, Tony texted me and asked what I thought about us going to St. Thomas!! I looked into hotels, and found that they were very expensive, especially last minute. I also wasn't looking forward to the three flights to get there. I asked Tony what he thought about San Juan, Puerto Rico and he said let's do it!
We were still a bit wishy-washy until Friday the 17th, but then we decided to jump in with both feet! JetBlue had just barely changed the allowed size of carry carry-on bags to smaller than what we had, so we zipped off to Walmart and found these snazzy ones on clearance.
We didn't get the blue soft sided one because Faith's pink bag was already within the size limitations, but Christian got the silver one, I got the houndstooth one and we bought Tony the black one.
Right after Tony got home from work and changed out of his uniform, we were off to the airport. There were not enough seats for us to make the first flight (connecting through New York) and we were glad because we wanted to be "rolled over" to the next flight (connecting through Orlando). I was super shocked and upset to find out that we would, instead, be rolled over to the same flight the next night! Jill at the airport saved us and told me to rebook it fast, that there were seats left and we would probably get on. And we totally did!
Our flight left a few minutes before midnight, had just over an hour layover, and we got in the next morning around 11. We had booked using the Hotel Tonight app the Doubletree by Hilton in the Condado beach area. They held our bags at the front desk and we changed into our swimsuits in the lobby bathroom.
They had a shuttle to the beach (which was just a few blocks away) and when we arrived we were treated like royalty--offered beach chairs, umbrellas and towels! The kids had so much fun playing in the waves.
Tony and I mostly relaxed on our chairs. At one point Faith came up to us and said that she didn't know why we were wasting our vacation away being bored and we expressed that relaxing on a gorgeous beach was the farthest thing from boring for us! Tony brought his handy-dandy cooler as his personal item on the plane (which goes underneath the seat in front of you) so we could tote our own water & snacks to save money.
When we got back, they took us up to our room and we were disappointed to find that it had only one bed. When you book on the app, you are warned that this is a possibility. Tony spoke with the front desk to see if they possibly had anything with a second bed, and they were sweet enough to change us to another room. We walked in and found that this room also only had one bed! We quickly noticed, however, a cabinet with large handles which turned out to be a Murphy bed :)
Our flight left a few minutes before midnight, had just over an hour layover, and we got in the next morning around 11. We had booked using the Hotel Tonight app the Doubletree by Hilton in the Condado beach area. They held our bags at the front desk and we changed into our swimsuits in the lobby bathroom.
Christian thought it was hilarious that our bathroom door was see-through. It was frosted so you couldn't see in very clearly, except when my little stinker would press himself up against the glass!
We got cleaned up and headed out to find some dinner. We walked and walked and weren't sure if any of the restaurants looked any good. We were tired and a bit grouchy, so we settled for KFC when we came upon it!
We also stopped at a little drugstore to get Christian a sun hat because he had managed to sunburn his cheeks :( Tony stopped by the grocery store which was conveniently right across the street from our hotel and picked up cold cereal and milk for our breakfasts.
The 19th we slept in, ate lunch at Wendy's (I know, I know. Really taking in the local fare!), then headed back to the beach.
On the 20th we were picked up in a van by a tour guide and his 17-year-old daughter. He was very informative and funny! He grabbed just one other couple: Gus and Tammy from Oklahoma.
We drove nearly an hour to the El Yunque (pronounced el-JOON-kay) national forest visitor center.
This is a painting of the Puerto Rican parrot which is severely endangered and rarely seen in the wild. Christian wanted to "hold" it.
We tried a locally made candy which was mainly shredded coconut and brown sugar,
and the kids had smoothies.
We then drove up the mountain and our tour guide dropped us off at the trailhead where we would be hiking down through the rain forest.
We figured it would rain, (we were in a rain forest, after all) but we were quite surprised that it poured heavily on us most of the time we were hiking! My main issue with that was that I forgot to pack tennis shoes, so I was navigating very slippery cut stone steps (which nearly the entire several miles of trail consisted of) in my flip-flops. One of my greatest fears is going down steps, to begin with! Luckily I made it the entire way without slipping.
It was so beautiful! We didn't see a lot of wildlife, but Christian loved finding and holding the snails there.
The waterfall was pretty, but we were late for our meet up with the tour guide and it was crowded with people, so we didn't spend much time there.
Christian also loved these lizards and was disappointed that they were too quick for us to catch!
Our tour guide then drove us to the Yokahu Observation Tower which we climbed and looked out over the rain forest.
And lastly drove us down to a lower waterfall which Christian was brave enough to climb up to!
(see him in blue on the left?)
That night for dinner, we rode the shuttle to the beach and then walked the rest of the way to la B de Burro which was recommended by my work friend Tawni. We had giant circle tortilla chips with green salsa (which was excellent but hot), and amazing guacamole. We were told that chimichangas were the thing to get there, so Faith had a shrimp one, I had chicken and Tony had El Pastor which had beef and pineapple in it. Christian had a shredded beef taco. They were super amazeballs!!
We went to the beach late. Buddy got in and started crying because the inside of his legs hurt so bad. With a little help from Google, we figured out that he had seabathers eruption--a skin rash caused by stings of larval stage thimble jellyfish or sea anemones!
We went back to the hotel and tried the pool which we were thrilled to find did not hurt him like to seawater had.
I took the kids to the beach on the morning of the 21st while Tony stayed behind and did some laundry. I think I'll keep him!!
The guy at the beach this day was not nearly as helpful or kind as the other guy. He didn't want to put out two umbrellas for our beach chairs because he said that was "a bit excessive." 😡 when Tony got there, he finally gave us our extra umbrella. Christian got an ice cream from the man who pushes a cart across the sand.
Tony brought us lunch from the grocery store deli – – pork ribs, roasted pork cubes, and an eggplant-based vegetable dish with lots of red and green pepper. I told him to just get whatever looked local and interesting, and Tony said he wasn't certain what he ended up with because the person at the counter didn't speak much English 😂
That night for dinner, we rode the shuttle to the beach and then walked the rest of the way to la B de Burro which was recommended by my work friend Tawni. We had giant circle tortilla chips with green salsa (which was excellent but hot), and amazing guacamole. We were told that chimichangas were the thing to get there, so Faith had a shrimp one, I had chicken and Tony had El Pastor which had beef and pineapple in it. Christian had a shredded beef taco. They were super amazeballs!!
It's more common for men and boys to get this because their bathing suits are loose, but rub against their legs.
I took the kids to the beach on the morning of the 21st while Tony stayed behind and did some laundry. I think I'll keep him!!
Christian had fun burying his sister in the sand. We were happy to find that his rash was not bothering him anymore & he had fun in the ocean.
While we were getting ready back at the hotel, Tony picked up dinner of fish tacos and garlic shrimp from la Cueva del mar again. We just couldn't leave Puerto Rico without having seconds!
A different tour guide arrived with a van and told us to plan on getting wet (which we didn't know originally) so we ran back up to our room to grab a change of clothes and some towels from the hotel.
This time we had lots of van mates: a couple from Mexico, guys from Virginia, Florida and Denver, and an older couple (I did not hear from where). It was a long drive, about an hour and a half to get to Fajardo Laguna Grande.
We took off our shoes, got suited up in our life jackets, and manned our two person kayaks. Faith and I went in one, Christian and Tony and the other. We were in a big group of 20 to 25 boats. I was happy to find that we weren't too bad at rowing.
It was a long way, over a mile through tunnels in the mangroves to get to the bioluminescent bay. There was just a little glow stick on the front and back of each kayak and we tried our best to follow the boat in front of us. It was pitch black and we crash the bow into branches and roots a few times!
The bay was amazing! We loved putting our hands in the water and seeing the fluorescing trail. Our tour guide told us that pictures wouldn't turn out and there was a risk of your phone getting wet, so we left them behind in the van and I just collected a few pictures from the Internet:
That night Tony ran to the store to grab us coffee Häagen-Dazs, hot chocolate and pork rinds for a treat :)
There was another scare in Orlando because it looked like there were only two seats that would be available for us. We talked about sending the kids ahead and having grandparents pick them up at the airport. When we thought there might be three seats, Tony handed me the debit card and we switched some things out in the suitcases in case we had to leave him behind.
The standby people ahead of us were called, but didn't show up! When they called us to the gate, Tony asked if we would all make the flight and the gate agent said we would. Tony said, "I could kiss you right now!" And the man calmly and with a straight face responded, "Please don't."
It was such an amazing trip and we truly had the time of our lives!
On the 23rd, Buddy made some face pictures and liked sticking his tongue through the mouth hole on one.
On the 24th, we sadly had to take Skittles back to her Grammy and grandpa's for more babysitting. She sure likes to stick her head out of the car window! Don't worry, Faith has tight hold of her.
We met up with the Johnson's, Jewell's, and Nelson's at Bear Lake. I chickened out and didn't ride the pull-behind floaty toy, but my friends endured a wild ride!
We stopped for shakes at LeBeaux's and then (all but Kim's family, who had to head home) went to Brandi's family's cabin which was built by Aaron's grandpa. We grilled up some dinner and had a sleepover.
On the 29th I posted this Picture collage Facebook with the text "Trying to soak up some last lazy summer mornings before Christian starts back to school. Year-round still sucks even when you have the latest track 😟 The kids made crepes with cream cheese filling, blueberries and candied pecans!"
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