Our last full day in Puerto Rico. Josh and dad were supposed to go scuba diving on Friday morning but they woke up and found out that all the scuba diving on the island had been cancelled due to a tropical storm in the area. We didn't notice any extra rain or storminess but the scuba companies said that the waves were much bigger and the visibility was not great. So after a week of waiting to scuba dive, it ended up that they weren't even able to go. They were disappointed but I guess we can't control the weather! I woke up and thought that Josh would be gone diving but instead found most of the group down at the beach. Mom, dad and Hayley were collecting shells.
They also had taken some crazy pictures of these little mussels hanging on to everything they could find. Interesting!
Josh collected these shells for Rease. He knew she would love them because they were mostly pink. So we washed them and put them in a clear jar for her so she could see all the pretty pink shells we collected in Puerto Rico.
So change of plans once again. Dad called the zipline company and found out that they had some openings for that day, so he and Garrett decided to do that. The rest of us decided on Plaza Las Americas - a big mall in San Juan that we heard was worth going to. So dad and Garrett went one way and we went another and planned on meeting back at the house later on that afternoon. We all loaded into the van and "punched the address into the GPS" to get to the mall and Josh reminded us again that we will "never need a map again!" On the way up we took turns choosing songs to listen to on the i-pod. (We do this with our girls when we have a long drive ahead of us in the car. It seems to pass the time quickly.) Out of all the songs to choose from on our i-pod, I was amazed at the selection that was brought out. These are some of the songs we listened to:
Chris Brown - Forever
Jay Sean - Down
Owl City - Fireflies
Tracy Chapman - Fast Car
PM Dawn - I'd die without you
O Town - All or Nothing
Justin Timberlake - What goes around comes around
Blessid Union of Souls - I Believe
Quite the selection I must say! And some that I haven't listened to in years!
The mall ended up being nothing more than any mall we have here in the US and it was much more confusing than I would have liked. We kept getting turned around and it took forever to find the food court! Anyway, Josh ended up getting some nice, cheap ties and I got a pair of earrings. We also got a nice handmade wood bowl to take back to Josh's parents. It was a nice day to just do nothing.
We headed back to the house after spending a few hours at the mall. We got stuck in traffic for a while - rush hour I guess. The Oldies had us over again for a barbecue. We had hamburgers and chicken again as they were trying to get rid of leftovers before we all packed up to leave the next morning. They were just finishing up a game of Poker when we got there, so Josh took charge of the bbq and cooked up the burgers - they were delicious! We snapped a couple pictures of the Oldies, since we didn't have many of them from the rest of the week.
Garrett caught a gecko and showed us a trick that he learned on his mission. He held onto the gecko's cheeks until he opened his mouth and then let him bite on his ear. The poor little guy was hanging on for dear life! He would not let go!
We left the Oldies house and headed to Fajardo for one last adventure. We had heard that while in Puerto Rico we had to go to one of the Bio Bays. There is one in Vieques and one in Fajardo, so we chose Fajardo since it was closer. The Bio Bay is a bay that supposedly glows in the dark. We didn't quite know what to expect but were excited to see what it was like. We had called the day before to get reservations on the kayak tour and found out the they wouldn't let anyone pregnant or with heart problems on the kayaks, so Steph and I got onto an electric boat tour. The rest of the group rented the kayaks. Our tour left at 8:00 and the kayakers were just about a half hour behind us. It wasn't raining when we got on the boat, but our tour guide promptly handed all of us ponchos because he knew it was coming. We ended up needing them so I'm glad they thought ahead for us!
We had a fantastic tour. I'm not sure of all the details exactly, but I will do my best to explain how the water glows. First of all there are only 5 places in the whole world that this happens - 2 are in Puerto Rico and the other 3 are in other places in the Carribbean. There is a single-celled organism in the water that performs photosynthesis during the day and then at night when it is agitated, it releases the stored energy by glowing. So whenever fish swim or jump, you can see a glowing path in the water where the fish is disturbing this bacteria. Or when it would start to rain, the drops of rain hitting the water would make little glowing drops as it agitates the organisms. It's hard to explain but basically, any time there is disturbance in the water, it glows. So our guide took us through a channel that was covered by trees and then out into this huge lagoon. Once we were in the lagoon, he handed us paddles to put into the water and watch the water glow as we drove around. It was seriously amazing. He would then hit the side of the boat and we would see millions of shrimp, sardines, fish, etc. scatter and make little glowing paths as they swam away. We could not get enough! He told us that there are lots of fish that live in the lagoon: puffer fish, stingrays, shrimp, tuna, small baracuda to name a few. I'm not sure which fish we actually saw, but there were fish jumping all over the place and we drove around the lagoon a couple of times. We had our hands in the water too and could watch the water glowing in our hands for a few seconds. It was truly amazing.
Our guide helped me set the camera to the right setting to be able to get a few pictures of the glowing water. I wish that the pictures did it justice, but it was just so much more than these pics will show. Anyway, this is all we have so enjoy.
Steph was holding the paddle in the water as we drove and you can see the blue glowing light behind it.
This is the same thing but we were in a spot that the water glowed a little more than other spots - you can see the blue light is much brighter.
This is my favorite picture I got because you can see the city in the background and then the glowing water right by the boat.
We loved every second of it! Our tour ended up being about an hour and half and just as we were leaving the lagoon, the rain started. It rained hard on us all the way back to the dock. Just as we were going back through the channel we passed the rest of our group on their kayaks. I remember thinking that I felt bad for them that they would be in the rain the whole time. Steph and I couldn't have been happier that we had our ponchos keeping our cameras, bags and clothes all dry!
So after the rest of the group got back, they told us about their tour. They ended up leaving later than they thought because the kayakers before them didn't get back on time. So they were leaving just as it started to rain. But, unlike our tour, they did not get ponchos or anything to keep dry. In fact, they were told to not take anything that was not waterproof: cameras, watches, phones, etc. So they weren't able to get any pictures of them on their tour or any of the glowing water. (I'm glad that we could get a couple since they weren't able to.)
Also opposite of us, they didn't mind the rain and Hayley said it was actually more fun because they were already wet and didn't have to worry about tipping over in the kayaks because they were soaked from the beginning. The tour guides took a few pictures of each of the kayakers. Garret and Justin were together.
Dad and Josh.
And Hayley and Caleb in the third. Hayley said that dad and Josh's kayak was sunk in the water much more than theirs was - there's a little bit of weight difference there!
They told a similar story about how amazing the water was and how much fun they had letting the glowing water drip down their hands and arms. They also said that all got into kayak tipping wars and water fights out in the lagoon - which would be amazing as all the water going back and forth between kayaks would glow! They spent a good amount of time in the lagoon as well and said they loved every second of it.
We got a picture of them and their tour guide after they got back to shore.
We all agreed that this was probably our favorite part of the trip and was a great way to end a fabulous vacation!
Justin was making fun of us girls during the week because he says we always "cheese" for every picture. So I gave him my best frown and asked if that's how he wanted us to look for the pictures. 
Hayley was in love with the gates on the driveways and windows on all the houses around. She got a bunch of pictures of some of her favorites. They actually were really cool and fun looking.
And we loved all the colorful houses in our neighborhood.
This was the road our house was on - Calle 2.
We were cracking up at Caleb because everytime he'd get out of the van or come outside from the house, his glasses fogged up. 
On our way out of town, Josh was nice enough to stop and let Hayley and I get a picture of our favorite trees. These "flat trees" as we called them were along one of the roads that led to our house - so we passed them at least 25 times during the week. We thought they were awesome cause they were flat tops. 
This is the map that our car used for the week. We were not fortunate enough to have a GPS in our car, but we managed just fine with our little map.
We loved these flags along one of the bridges headed to the airport. Every other one was an American flag and then a Puerto Rican flag.
We stopped at a gas station to fill up on our way to the airport. Garrett ran inside and grabbed a few treats to share with everyone. He says these little hippos were one of his favorite snacks on the mission. He bought some for everyone and we snacked on them while we were waiting for the plane.
Dad was acting very excited to try his treat. In reality they are really delicious!
Garrett also tried to get us to taste this drink "Malta." I smelled it and decided that I was not even going to taste it. I don't think anyone else did either.
It was bittersweet as we were boarding the plane to leave beautiful PR behind. We had a fantastic trip and loved all the moments and memories we made. But one the other hand, we were headed home to see our girls - and that made me more excited than anything! 
Thanks to Garrett for serving a great mission and allowing us to share in his home of the past 2 years. And thanks to the family for a great time and great memories that will last forever! 
Day 6 was a great day filled with fun and adventure!
