Puerto Rico: Days 5 and 6

Sorry it has taken me so long to finish blogging about Puerto Rico. I only took over 1,000 pictures....literally... and that is a lot to decide what we wanted to share with you!

On Wednesday, we spent the entire day in San Juan, which was about an hour drive from our resort.

Here is the whole group of us... all 19... waiting for the bus to take us to San Juan.

The girls even caught a nap on the way.

I snapped these pics of Pam and Gary (Chris' mom and dad). If it wasn't for them...we wouldn't have even been in Puerto Rico. But, what amazes me is how cute they are... still in love and holding hands! I just LOVED it!

We visited the fort and spent some time souvenier shopping while we were there visiting!

This is our nephew Shannon. He is such a goofball and was posing for us on the roof of the fort. I just couldn't help but put these on here. He makes me smile!

Quick story... The fort had so many areas that were just huge drop offs. You can see them in the pictures above with my nephew cody (in the blue shirt). Many areas were fenced or had railings, but many areas did not. It was a little scary with three little girls! I was afraid they would crawl up on some ledge and just fall off into the deep blue sea! SCARY!

Well, as we were leaving the fort, Brian had the girls ahead of Chris and I. Well, Chris was back in the tunnel area (see below) and the girls were being put up on this grassy area to take a picture. The other side was one of those drop off areas and the grassy area was high, above our eye level...

From the tunnel, this is what we saw (minus the girls standing there).

Do you see the ledge? The ledge that looks as if my child could crawl up and fall over it? Well, Brian was putting the girls up over the ledge on the grass...which, of course we couldn't tell was grass because...well, you saw it, it doesn't look like there is grass up there! He wanted a picture and all we saw (or Chris saw) was three little girls climbing up on a ledge that he assumed was a drop off into the water! He screamed...and I mean literally screemed at the kids to STOP (and it was even louder because it echoed in that tunnel. I think we scared everyone around us, but that was the scariest thing Chris has ever experienced...thinking your children are climbing to their deaths! Whew....good thing there was grass on the other side...well, that and Brian, who really knew what he was doing was watching them.

This is what it actually was like...when we got closer?

Anyways, scary story...but I thought I would share. Hope I didn't lose you in it. Otherwise, the pic above is all the grandkids with Grandpa! By the way... I absolutely LOVE his hat! Only Grandpa J can pull of a hat like that so well!

Later that day, I even got a little Baby Drake time...

That evening after dinner we celebrated Brooke and Kelsi's birthdays with some cake that I picked up on my outing to Walgreens the day before.

Thursday was our trip back home and we had to be at the airport relatively early that morning....but we made it out to the beach for some fun family pics one last time.

This was the entry way of our resort! Beautiful! It reminded us that it was Christmastime...even though it didn't feel like Christmas!

These houses were so ornate...with such detail. Awesome. I never seen any gingerbread houses like them!

The airplane trip home wasn't quite as easy as the trip there since Brooke decided NOT to take a nap on the 4+ hr airplane ride...well, at least not until about 45 min from touchdown. Bummer! But, we managed... I guess! Everyone was tired, and somewhat cranky, and needed a nap...but we managed.

But more important...we had a wonderful time...we actually relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. It was a great vacation!

Puerto Rico: Days 3 and 4

On day three... Monday we decided to put the girls in Iguana Kid's Club! This is day camp on the resort for the kids. Maddie, Ashlyn and Colton LOVED it. Unfortunately, Brooke wasn't able to go since she wasn't old enough. So, she hung out with us big girls! The kids spent two half days in Iguana Club... Monday and Tuesday mornings. We were only going to put them in one day, but the LOVED it so much they wanted to go back on Tuesday. They spent time at the beach looking for seashells, they went to the tennis courts, got more braids in their hair (well...not Colton), played the Wii, did crafts, got their faces painted, fed the Iguanas... and more and more! I think Maddie and Ashlyn liked getting their faces painted the best!

While the kids were at Iguana Club... us girls decided to get massages. We took turns so that someone was available to watch Brooke and Drake, but all of us enjoyed a relaxing hour at the spa. The boys (or should I say Gary, Shannon and Chris) decided to NOT sleep in and instead get up at 5 am to go golfing! However, despite an early morning...I think they thouroughly enjoyed themselves.

The rest of the afternoon we spent hanging out at the pool...

trying out the waterslide...

and chillin with the Iguanas.

It was amazing how they were so tame. They were everywhere on the resort and would come out during the day and "hang out" with all the people. The girls loved it...well, sorta. They kinda freaked them out at first, but they got used to them and then thought they were pretty cool!

That evening we went on a kayaking trip by ourselves...Chris and I did. The rest of the group went out to dinner and unfortunately it wasn't good dinner. But, our kayaking trip was awesome. It was a bio-luminescent tour...here's an expelanation. Off the Caribbean Coast of Puerto Rico, lies one of the most spectacular bio-luminescent bays in the world. Specifically, this bay is off the island of Vieques, which is about 8 miles east of the Puerto Rican mainland. This “Bio Bay” is considered the largest and brightest in existence. It is also one of the only places where you can see the phenomenon every night of the year, others are seasonal. The luminescence is caused by approximately 720,000 micro-organisms (dinoflagellates) per gallon of water. Whenever the water is disturbed, the organisms light up in a beautiful neon blue-green.

This is not a picture of our tour...we had a hard time getting the picture to show the glowing effects of the bay, but I found this one so you can see what it was like. It was so very cool and it was my first time kayaking. We had a great time.

Tuesday was a special day for us... as our baby turned 3! It was kinda fun to celebrate Brookie's birthday in Puerto Rico. That morning I had to get up and take a cab to Walgreens to get a phone charger as our was not working. So, while I was out, I picked up a birthday present and cake to help us in celebrating her birthday (and Kelsi's too as she celebrated her birthday on the plane trip to Puerto Rico).

Tuesday morning we spent the morning at the beach... minus Colton, Maddie and Ashlyn... who spent the morning at Iguana Kids Club. I decided to get in the water this time, which is not as easy for me since I'm really not an "ocean" person. I like the look of it, the sound of it but I'm not big on getting in it!

Brooke took her baby doll to the beach and had a good time...

well... for the most part.
She has a very dramatic pout! She obviously wasn't getting her way about something.

The big boys (all of them this time) spent the afternoon deep sea fishing. Unfortunately it wasn't all that great of a time. The waters were VERY choppy and some of the guys got seasick... and the fish were NOT biting that day either. Bummer! Us girls (and all the kids) spent the afternoon at the rainforest that was literly right a cross the street from the entrance to our resort! We had a relatively good time...beautiful views! Although, it was a little nauseating when you are going up into the rainforest with lost of curves and over half our group gets carsick! However, we got to see some beautiful and unique flowers and plants... along with georgeous scenery and breathtaking views!

Some tidbits about the pictures above...

1. the yellow flower is the Paradise Bird Flower...you can see that it looks kinda like a bird

2. we saw several types of snails that were crawling on leaves or trees.

3. the tree trunk has spikes that grow on it that is some type of defense mechanism

4. the tiny birds were in a tiny nest on a branch of a tree (we just happened upon them) VERY COOL!

5. the red flower is called a Sleeping Hibiscus because it never opens, but always hangs upside down and closed.

We ended the evening by going out to dinner together... here we are waiting for the rest of the gang.

We even got a good pic of the girls rosy cheeks...guess we shouldv'e applied a little more sunblock to their little faces. It's wierd to think we got a little sunburnt in December.

Well, that's pretty much it for Monday and Tuesday...I will blog about the last two days soon!

Happy Christmas

Well, Santa must have though we were good this year because he brought both Maddie and Ashlyn EXACTLY what they asked for... well... kinda!

He brough our family a Wii. Maddie was the one that wanted the Wii so badly. She's been beggin for one for months. Ashlyn likes it too so Santa did good to bring us something that we can do and play together as a family!

And... he brought us a puppy, which was supposed to be for the entire family...but may end up being Ashlyn's puppy.

Ashlyn was the one that has wanted a dog for a long time. We got a small little dog when we moved to Salina, but ended up having to give it to Chris' sister Gayla and nephew Joseph because it was too hard to deal with a new move, a small house (our rental place at the time), three kids and a brand new puppy. Molly has a good home and we can still go and visit her, but Ashlyn has missed having a dog ever since. Chris and I had talked about getting another dog when the girls were a little older and could share in some of the responsibilites that a dog requires. Well, Santa must have felt like it was a good time because he brought us a chocolate lab puppy that we have now named Charlie.

Ashlyn is in complete heaven.... she loves him and she has done a good job of taking care of him including wanting to take him out to potty and feeding and watering him. She has been a GREAT help. Brookie is doing better with him, although she constantly thinks he's biting her when he gets close...even though he is just trying to sniff her out. Maddie on the other hand is NOT a big fan of Charlie. She is deathly afraid of him. I'm not sure why, but Maddie has always been scared of dogs...really pets in general. However, in the last couple months she has been doing very well at Mindy's with her dog Bo, so we didn't think having our own dog would be such an issue. Well, we weren't quite right... she is pretty scared of him...however, over the course of a day, she has somewhat gotten better. She even took him out to potty once, but she is still kinda jumpy around him. We had a good laugh yesterday when Maddie comes up to Chris and says..."I didn't know Santa had a pet shop at the North Pole." and then proceeds with saying "if he decides to bring me a cat next year...I'm just going to sell it!"

Told ya she isn't a big fan of pets. Hopefully it will get better over time and once she gets used to him!

Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas and everyone loved their gifts! Hope yours was a Happy Christmas too!

More on Puerto Rico soon... next post... I promise!

Puerto Rico: Days 1 and 2

We spent all day Saturday traveling! Nineteen people through an airport is fun and challenging.

Especially for us as we were trying our hardest to keep our eyes on the three girls, but they kept dissappearing and giving me a heart attack. It was hard for them to understand that they had to tell us when they went off with someone else from our group. Our first flight to Dallas was no big deal...45minutes. No biggie at all. Thank goodness for Ipods... especially Ipods with movies!!!

Daddy even snuck in a little nap.

However, the second flight was 4 and a half hours! Whew!! Not easy I say with three little kids!

We were really lucky though as Brooke ended up sleeping most of the second flight.

Grandpa also decided to join her for a little nap as well.

After starting out our day at 4:30 AM...we finally arrived at Puerto Rico airport around 5:30 PM (Puerto Rico time, which is 2 hours ahead)! That makes for a full and exhausting day for sure. However, we decided to hit the pool that night since the weather allowed it and it was a good way to end the day!
The next morning...we decided to let the girls sleep in... I mean who could wake these cutie pies...
Once we finally got up and around...we spent a little time getting our hair braided...


and then headed out to the beach... where we spent most of the day...
Baby Drake got out in the sun too.

Ashlyn loved the water and letting the waves come up to her...

Brooke loved playing the sand.

We all had fun lounging around...

riding waves....
playing some football....

and looking for seashells...

Well if that isn't enough for one post, I don't know what is! I'll post more soon! I promise!

Puerto Rico at Christmas Time

This year Chris' parents wanted to take the whole family on a vacation for Christmas! Many...many places were discussed, but we ended up deciding on Puerto Rico! We wanted something tropical, with warm weather and sandy beaches and that is definitely what we got!

We left last Saturday and returned home (to the freezing cold and snow) on Thursday.

Nineteen of us went on this trip.

Nineteen, yes you heard me right!

5 families...4 kiddos....3 teenagers...2 grandparents...1 baby and a partridge in a pear tree!


We had such a wonderful time! We relaxed and soaked up the sun on the beach! I have so much to share... more to come in the next few days. But here is a sneak peak of our trip...

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not very lucky...

I have not had the best luck in the last month. About a month ago, I accidently backed into another car and did some damage to the back of our Expedition. It was an interesting story...but let's just say...I was in a hurry and backed up so quickly that I didn't even hear my backup beeper! Luckily I didn't damage the other vehichle....just mine; but I was nonetheless irritated with myself!

So, about a week ago my Expedition got fixed and looked as good as new!

UNTIL

Monday morning...when a stupid deer decided to hit me! It was kind of a funny story (as funny as can be considering my car is damaged again), but I will go ahead and share this one.

We were driving to the bus stop and I saw a doe cross the road about 100 feet in front of me. So, I told the girls to watch for it because the milo field had just been cut and we should have been able to see it run into the field. We watched and watched and I slowed down, but as we got closer we couldn't see it anywhere. So, we determined it must have crouched down in the tall grass in the ditch to hide. Once I got passed the area that I had seen the deer, I began to speed up when all of a sudden Maddie yells "Mom, I see it!" which was immedietly followed by a thud (a loud thud might I add) and a realization that we had been hit by something.

I pulled the car over and another vehichle that had just passed me going the other way stopped as well. After discussion with that driver...I learned that a buck had been running from the other field and ran straight into the back of my expedition (right behind Maddie's window). I guess it was running full force and ran smack into my car, tumbled into the ditch and then got up and ran off. It was all behind my vehichle, so I never even saw the dumb thing.

Needless to say, I was completely bummed, mad, angry, ticked off, frazzled, irritated (you pick the word) at the situation!

One week after getting the back of my vehicle fixed, I now have a CRACKED BUMPER, a DENT on the side and a DEEP SCRATCH from a buck's antlers AND we didn't even get a deer out of it! I was hoping the deer would have died on the side of the road so at least i could have come home and told Chris I had got a deer!