Camuy Caves

It was fun to have Ben's sister, Michelle and her friend Jamie, come and visit us last month. We decided to go to the Camuy Caves, which we haven't done here yet. This is something that we were told to do at least once before we leave. It was fun...I think that the trolley ride down to the cave was twice as scary as the caves. I had to laugh that they made us wear these hard hats. The cave was huge and open at both ends. I never felt like some stalactite was going to come crashing down on me, but its PR nothing makes sence. :)

Our Winter Break on the Island

Well so it is February and I am just now posting stuff from our Christmas break…oh, well. We all understand how busy life gets and as moms we have very little time for ourselves, especially when the kids are out of school. But anyway…
We stayed in PR this year for Christmas and it was awesome! Ben had about 3 weeks off of school and Kalli had a full month. So we thought that we would make the best of it and go see the island. We took one day and went to the observatory. It was open this time and no, dad we didn’t see any aliens. The kids were disappointed with the lack of extraterrestrials as well. We made time for a few new beaches and collected some more shells.
We did the zoo again in Mayaguez in January, it is kind of a family tradition. We have been once a year for three years and it is always in January. We haven’t planned it, it just turned out that way. This time the kids got to feed some camels. We told them they were the Three Kings camels and needed the energy from the food to bring them their gifts:)
We spend the night in Cabo Rojo at a place that was cheap and stuck in a 70’s time warp. But it served its purpose well providing a place for the kids to jump on the beds and shower off from the beach. They kids fell asleep and woke up early enough for Daddy to take them to see the sun rise and the moon set into the ocean while Mommy stayed in the room asleep. We then drove to see the light house in Cabo Rojo, not to be recommended to those with faint hearts and children. It is at least a 100 foot drop into the ocean off a shear cliff with no guard rails! I was very nervous but Ben held the kids tight, especially when Kalli wanted to through rocks off the edge!
We drove up the west coast of the island and stopped back in Mayaguez for the kids to play at this awesome castle park and Ben was invited to play around of golf with a complete stranger, but his clubs where back at home in Toa Alta so no such luck for him.
We drove up further to see Rincon. This is my favorite part of the island. I love the feel of the city, with the white tourists and the surfers and just the more laid back atmosphere. I knew Ben would love it so we stopped there for a few hours and had some great Italian food and took some pictures. The light house there and the whale watching area is just beautiful. No whales spotted, but Ben said we could come back in February and maybe we will see some then…
Then we continued on with our coast drive up to the north coast, after hitting another light house in Agudilla, (3 in one day!) and found some amazing beaches with the waves just pounding against the rocks. I took some pictures just as the sun was setting and with the homeless guy doing his laundry (hey it is still PR) in the ocean. We rang in the New Year back at home with extremely loud fireworks going off at midnight for like 15 minutes in every direction. It was way loud!!


Just a few days latter Herb and Wendy, or Abuela and Abuelo, came for visit and we loved the west coast trip so much we did it all again with them. This time we went through Ponce and spent the night there. My kids just love Ponce for some reason. I mean we have been there like 6 times! Then we drove on the south coast to Cabo Rojo and all the way back to Rincon and Aguadilla and back home. Super long drive, but beautiful! Thank heavens they rented a car. I am not sure that our junker would have made that trip twice in 10 days. We also did the tradition of the Sunday Rainforest trip. Whenever family comes we always pack a lunch and go to the rainforest after church and enjoy the cool air there and hit a few new trails.
Of course no vacation would be complete with out some trips to the forts. I am not sure why our kids love them so much, but they really LOVE to go there. This time we got to go out to some parts we never have been allowed to before at San Christobol and I got some great pictures (the blog header). I will really miss the rich history of the island.
Needless to say, I am so happy that we have been able to see so much of this island and really take the opportunity to really make so many family memories while we have been here.

Birds and Burgers

This is us eating hamburgers at Chicago Burger in Old San Juan. It is the only place that is semi affordable and it is right by where the cruise ships dock. We were happy to have Ben with us this day. Because of school he couldn't take too much time off while my parents were here.

This man had all these birds and some pirate stuff and was charging people to have their picture taken with it. So we decided to take a picture for free. Any of you that know my dad would understand this. But Bronsen was freaked out because I told him that macaws can bit fingers right off if you make the bird angry enough. (He and his friends had been tormenting a macaw at the pet store). So he didn't want to get to close to the birds even for a picture. He didn't want to loose any fingers...

These birds were so bright and colorful!

Our Use-to-be Private Beach

These are some more pictures from when my parents were here. We took them to Cerro Gordo. For most of you "temporary Puerto Ricians" out there you know that this is a very popular beach among us. However, this last year this beach has been bombarded by way too many permanent Puerto Ricians. Not that I have anything serious against the locals. I just really miss the solitude that we use to have when we would come here on Saturday mornings. The population consisted of the four of us, 3-4 other locals, about 10 pigeons, and occasionly the Jackmans:) We would sit on the beach from 9-11 and not hear one beat of Regatone, not get told to watch our kids better by the water, we wouldn't see anyone hiding their bikini under their body rolls and the only sand in my kids' eyes was self inflicted. (How do you say,"Don't throw sand!" in Spanish?) But my parents enjoyed it anyway. They don't understand "the good old days"...
This is the view from the camp area. It really is breathtaking.
This picture is super cute. But don't look too close at their faces. My dad told them that there were sea spiders in those rocks. They are both sure they are about to meet their doom!

Gramdma, in her favorite place, between 2 grandbabies!

Oh...Culebra

We went to Culebra and it was so beautiful!

We walked down the beach to the end and saw all these abandonded tanks. It was pretty cool. I guess it use to be a practice range or something...

Here the kids are playing in the white sand and Abuelo was working on his tan!

Ben and I being parents and being sure the kids have sunscreen on. I hate if the kids get sunburns. I feel like the worst mom ever if they come home pink!

The preperation continues...

But... we want to come home pink. Is that a double standard?

It was such a perfect day. It rained further out which made the water a little murky for snorkeling, but it did keep it nice and cool.

The rain made for great rainbow on the way home. It is a long day to go to Culebra but we had a really wonderful day!

Abuela and Abuelo Visit PR... two months ago!

Herb and Wendy came to vistit us at the end of January. I know that was like forever ago, but we have been super busy and other things have come up. But I am finally posting the pictures that they took while they were here for a few days. The top picture is the view from their room at the Hyatt in Dorado. It was so beautful! I could have stayed at their hotel the entire weekend!
We went to Aricebo and saw the lighthouse and the pirate ships.

My true Pirates!