Medical School Graduation and Puerto Rico Adios

 It was so awesome to go to Ben's graduation.  I wouldn't have missed it for the world!  It was just a great end to 4 years of hard work, sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears, for me and celebrate the hair lost, grey hairs and energy drink addiction for Ben.  He studied hard but always made it a priority to spend time with me and the kids.  We saw so much of the island and really came to love the beauty and the culture of the island. We were given the advice to see as much as the island as we can so that we could get the most out of our time there.  And it was true. If there was a day off or a free Saturday, we would grab the map and head off.  Some of the best moments we had were lost in the jungle, eating pinchos in the mountain campo or just walking the streets of OSJ eating PR ice cream. Through PR we grew so close as a family and Ben and I really came to understand what we mean to each other and how family is the most important thing. During first year a wise man told Ben to set his priorities in this order and he would be blessed: wife, kids, school, church service. It wasn't always easy to remember these priorities, especially when there was a huge test, but he did his best and we have been blessed because of it. The Puerto Rico Years were hard, but we would NEVER trade our life there.  Ben has said many times that even though his school would infuriate him at times and the island wears on you, he knows that we were supposed to be in PR. It changed our lives forever.

We all had to entertain ourselves during graduation since Kalli was the only one that could understand anything...it was in Spanish!

But during graduation Ben had all three kids walk across the stage with him.  It was fun because it was like full circle from the White Coat Ceremony to Graduation.  Ben's parents and two of his sisters came.  It was really a great day and I am so proud of him and happy to introduce Dr. Benjamin Yost! 

I was glad to get this picture of the two of us together on such a great day!

 Probably the kids' favorite part of the trip was the bio bay tour.  They got to go out at night and kayak in the water.  I was a bit nervous for them to go but they did great and had a wonderful time. This was the one thing that Ben and I did without the kids last year and we both wanted them to be able to do it before we left the island for good.

We stayed at a condo in Fajardo and this was the view from the pool.  It was like the most sunny day we had all week, and it was still cloudy!

My favorite part of the trip was the rain forest.  Over the last 4 years we went there several times with visiting family or with just the four of us.  Now while Ben was staying with our friend this spring he and Sean Means climbed to the top of El Yunque.  Ben thought it was a longer but easier hike, so we thought that we would give it a shot with the kids.  Now it rained the entire week that we were there (of course) and the day we planned the hike was no exception.  We strapped the baby to Ben's back, grabbed some water bottles and stared the hike in the mist of the rain forest.  We did not make as good as time of Sean and Ben did weeks earlier traveling with two kids, one baby, two granparents, two aunts and a slightly worried mommy.  So over an hour later we had made it less than half way and it was starting to rain a little harder with each passing minute.  So we decided to turn around as it was getting more and more wet and it was getting more and more dark.  About 10 minutes headed down the mountain heavy rain started to fall.  Now I am not talking sprinkling, I am talking RAIN, PR rain!!! The path shortly turned into a river that we were wading in to get down the mountain. We could have honestly rafted down the rainforest! Finn was now on Abuelo's back and wearing Ben's ball cap to keep the rain off his face, I had Kalli's hand tightly but she was keeping up, and Ben was dragging Bronsen down the mountain with water up to his shins but the little guy never let go (even when he bumped his shin on a rock and started to cry).  The water was warm so it wasn't miserable, in fact, it was super fun and hilarious.  The kids just kept on truckin and were such troopers. For Ben and I it really just summed up our 4 year experience in PR.  It was a shared moment between the two of us that I really can't explain.  So we just kept laughing the entire hour down our path. The rain was like the story of our adventures on the island.  We had weathered so many storms and so many trials, but there was good in all of it.  The waters have been warm, there were hands to hold (sometimes dragging and sometimes keeping pace), tears to wipe, heads to cover and always laughs to share.  Thank you PR for making the Yost Family braver, stronger and ready for our next adventure :)