Stories of My Life

As soon as we told the girls that their cousins would be joining them at Sho-Sho’s house the only question we heard was, “Are my cousins here yet?”

At first, they weren’t sure what to think of all these boys (and one very sweet little girl)

But it didn’t take long at all before they jumped right in and had a blast playing with them. At dinner time, a screaming match ensued one night. I figured it was because someone was “touching” (or something very 3 year-old like that) but no, it was because they were all fighting over who got to sit by Noah at the little kid’s table.

And the obsession with Noah didn’t end with dinner…as we were getting ready for bed I hear Libby asking Noah, “Will you please sweep (sleep) with me?”

The girls also enjoyed playing with Elizabeth and especially Clara seemed to think she was more her speed than the boys

July 4th in Arkansas means sun and fun on a lake (note to self: take sunglasses and hats for children next time)

and food…lots and lots and lots of food:

My dad smoked ribs, chicken and porkloin for the 4th. Oh my - it was wonderful!

This picture I took for Scott - I had a feeling his 4th meal was quite similar nothing like this (sorry sweetie!)

And of course the requisite flag “cake” but this was actually a banana fluff - similar to banana pudding but so much better!

Usually there would also be a lot of firework pictures but it was raining that night so we didn’t venture out on the lake and instead watched the Boston Pops on tv

The girls and I left Puerto Rico on Wednesday to begin our 5 week trip to the States. 

The first leg of our trip to Dallas was rather uneventful - which I was grateful for. We spent the night in Dallas with Skip, Anne and their two little kids (their two big kids are off on their own summer adventures). Unfortunately we were there less than 10 hours…8 of which were spent sleeping

Thursday morning we were up bright and early for our flight to Little Rock. Although this leg of the trip was less than ¼ of the first – it seemed like an eternity. First, the girls were overtired from the long day and short night of travel the day before. Second, I was tired from the long day and short night of travel the day before. And third, it seemed that we were surrounded by people who had little no patience for 2 cranky three year olds and their tired mama. Every time my girls would as much as wiggle in their seats (which was a lot) the couple seated in front of them would glance back and roll their eyes. I know, I know. I’ve been there – when you are not traveling with children you really don’t want to hear or see them. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much I could do to keep them neither still nor quiet and the 45 minute ride wasn’t fun for me nor anyone seated near us. My dad and Lynn (AKA Sho-Sho and Nana) were eagerly awaiting our arrival in Little Rock. I was sure glad to see them (and pass off a child…err…two children) but seeing the new Starbucks stand at the baggage claim made me smile even more I think We got our bags and made the drive to Hot Springs – making a stop for lunch at the new freestanding Chick-Fil-A on the way. This place has it figured out; fast food that is actually good, a restaurant that is clean, courteous staff and a kids’ play area that I’m not afraid to let my kids play in. They even have Purell packs in the bathroom and outside the playroom – it’s a dream come true for a germ-o-phobic mom. It’s been almost a year since I’ve had a CFA fix and it was just as good as I remember. We got settled in at Sho-Sho’s and everyone went down for a nap – although I’m not sure if the girls or I fell asleep first. We are excited about the next 5 weeks and all of the fun we will have as we experience July (or as they say here “Joo-Lie”) in Arkansas.  

It seems that in my attempt to perfect the trip to Culebra - the FORTH attempt is a charm.

We decided not to take any chances and we purchased plane tickets for the quick 10 minute flight over. This is absolutely the BEST way to go to Culebra. Of course you pay for that convenience - but on busy summer days, I’m convinced it’s the only way to make sure you can actually get there…and get back.

Our flight was scheduled to leave Culebra at 9:30. We arrived at the airport around 8:45 and by 9:00 we were in the boarding area ready to go. I had warned Heather about the type of flight this was and she didn’t seem concerned. Until she actually saw the plane - she said something about her dog being larger than the plane - and it didn’t help that etched on the nose of the plane was “In Memory Of…”. Not exactly the reassurance we needed.

We got our seat “assignments” (which amounts to a balancing of the plane based on each passenger’s weight) and we were off.

By 9:15 we had survived the flight and were standing on Culebra. By 9:30 we were here - and here we stayed until our flight home at 5pm

I have honestly never seen a more beautiful beach. It is like being in a big swimming pool - the water is so crystal clear and the sand is soft and fine. The ONLY negative is that everyone else knows it’s the best beach in PR and so it’s quite popular - especially on weekends. It was a glorious day - I spent a good part of it brainstorming how I could make a living there. There is nothing like laying on a beach with the sounds of crashing waves  - even if I got a little too much sun.

(and for the record, Mom, I did apply #30 THREE times - the sun here just doesn’t mess around!)

Yesterday we said goodbye to Heather. There were some tears. I had so much fun having my friend here. It’s been way too long since I’ve been able to hang out with a friend like Heather. Scott summed Heather up well when he said, “Heather is a perfect friend because she brings out the real you.” I don’t have to pretend ANYTHING with her. I can just be who I am and she loves me…maybe even LIKES me for it…and that’s, well, it’s just priceless.

I had planned on doing daily blogs of all of our adventures…but then the internet wasn’t behaving and then, well, I really didn’t think I should share details of our complete laziness day by day (we did eventually get out of pajamas each day - although some days we only made it as far as swimsuits). So, I’ll just give you a few of the highlights in pictures.

We spent one day in Old San Juan and the Fort…in Heather’s words, “It’s really old.” She’s quite profound like that.

We finally wised up and rode the free trolleys through town. Why it took us 6 months to figure this out, I don’t know - but it’s the best way to see the city and save your feet in the process.

We enjoyed a day on the island of Vieques

We spent days at the beach and by the pool (but since Heather and I have a pact that we don’t post pics of each other in swimsuits…you won’t be seeing any photo evidence of these days

We also ate. A lot.

Including fresh strawberry shortcake

And a night of some serious fondue fun

Or, rather, not so serious…but fun…

(and this should totally be Heather’s new facebook photo)

And even though we enjoyed our day on the island of Culebra Vieques - we made plans to try again - but this time we were determined to actually make it to Culebra . So what do you think…were we successful or not?

Well, I had planned a wonderful post titled “Culebra - Take 3” and it was going to be the “On going to Culebra - 3rd time is a charm…”

Scott took the day off Wednesday as Heather and I planned to spend the day relaxing and taking in some serious sun on Culebra. We got up early (I’m quite certain Heather’s eyes have not seen the likes of 5AM in a long while), packed all our stuff and headed to Fajardo to catch the ferry at 9:00. We arrived in Fajardo about 7:30 - a good hour and a half before the ferry was supposed to leave - and we got in line.

It has been stormy here for two days and unfortunately every tourist on the island of Puerto Rico had also been waiting to go to Culebra until today.

Around 8 they actually started selling the tickets. At nearly 9 (when the ferry was scheduled to depart) we were still a good ways back in the line (and there were at least 65 people behind us) when they announced “no mas boletos”.

NO MORE TICKETS

GRRRRRRR!

Ok, so time to put Plan B into place. Wait, we don’t have a Plan B. 

There is another island that the ferry terminal serves. Vieques is larger but not near as popular and the line to Vieques was short. We looked at each other, “Well, wanna go to Vieques?” and since we were in our swimsuits and prepared for a day at the beach, we hopped over to the line for Vieques and were able to get tickets. With tickets in hand, we went inside the terminal to wait for our ferry to board at 9:30. At about 9:40 we realized that we didn’t see anyone in the terminal who wasn’t waiting in line for the Culebra ferry.

Suspicious.

We had a moment of panic. I mean, neither of us speak Spanish…but is it possible we missed an entire ferry boarding?

We walked outside and saw someone handing a ticket to a ferry worker. We asked where they were going. Vieques. Evidently we had bought tickets for the cargo boat and it was loading OUTSIDE. No sooner did we get onboard and sit down did the whistle blow and we departed. We figured we were about 2 minutes from totally missing the boat.

The ride over was nice - and by nice I mean because we had each taken 2 Dramamine tablets. From the looks (and sounds) of those around us, those 2 tablets were our best decision of the day.

All in all, it was a great day - the beach was beautiful although the sea was a bit rough and the wind rather strong. Neither of us was ready to go home when it was time to return at 3.

No new posts! And not really because I’ve been so busy with Heather that I haven’t had time to post (unless you count some serious eating, napping, shopping, beach napping, ferry riding and HGTV marathons as busy) but our internet has been misbehaving like you wouldn’t believe. It’s like a throwback to ancient times - as in DIAL-UP. Oh, the  nerve! Or, ON my nerves. Either way, surfing and blogging have not been possible. I just opened my reader for the first time in a week and I don’t think I’ll ever catch up!

But, seriously, who needs the internet when I have Heather? Now that my connection is back up (at least for now), I’ll try to do some re-capping but suffice it to say, we’ve had ourselves some F-U-N.

Today I dropped the girls off at school bright and early at 7:00 because I was on my way to the airport to pick up my friend, Heather. On my way, I noticed I was on the low side of gas so I decided to detour a bit and get gas. I had plenty to get there…but you just never know what can happen on the road and I figured it was better to be late to the airport with a full tank than to be on time but out of gas .

Well, I’m making good time - running about 15 minutes late because of the gas detour and about 5 miles from the airport, traffic comes to a grinding halt. Not at all unusual for here - especially in the morning. We inched along for a bit until we came to an exit where they were making us get off the freeway. GREAT. So now I’m on some crazy side streets - hoping that they will lead me back to the freeway at some point. For the next half hour we moved alongside the freeway at a snail’s pace. It could have been MUCH worse - the traffic on the freeway was not moving at all. In fact, most people had gotten out of their cars and were just sitting on top of them.

I figured it had to be a terrible accident - and it was - all caused by a few of these…

All over the road…

It was quite a sight to see. And I was very thankful that I decided to make that little detour to get gas as I could have been one of the hundreds stuck on the freeway behind all that mess…or worse.

I made it to the airport, quite late, but was greeted by a smiling Heather

We had a nice lazy day today complete with afternoon naps, a trip to see the matinee showing of Kung Fu Panda and our traditional “welcome to Puerto Rico” meal including some of our most favorite dishes:

Pina Coladas
Grilled pork loin
Rice & beans
Amarillos
Garlic bread

and of course finished the meal with some flan for dessert YUM!

Tomorrow I think we might head to the beach in the morning or maybe just be lazy and stay home and swim (Which is more relaxing? Ahhh…decisions, decisions!)