Christmas Trip - Day 12 Rio Grande (exploring Culebra)

We woke up bright and early this morning (4:30 am) and drove to Ceiba to catch the ferry to the small island of Culebra. The kids were not super jubilant about getting up so early but we promised them that it would be worth it. I hope they agree in the end. 

We got to the ferry dock just in time and loaded on to the ferry just a few minutes before it pulled away. Josh and I have been to Culebra a couple times and, though I do love it and totally agree that it’s worth it, I always dread the 45 minute ferry ride over. I get pretty motion sick and today was no exception. Unluckily for us, we also have a few kids that have inherited the “car sick” gene from me. So a few of us had a not so fun ride over on the bumpy ocean and were all glad when we docked in Culebra!  We filed off the boat and walked a couple blocks to a panaderia that had yummy donuts and croissants and a good breakfast to fill out sick tummies. It did the trick. 

We had a snorkeling tour first thing this morning and our guide Lemuel picked us up from the bakery and we drove to Milones Beach where we got all set and ready to snorkel. It was a beach that I hadn’t ever been to but it turned out to be an amazing place to snorkel! First of all there was no one else around so we had the place to ourselves all morning. Also there was an awesome reef to swim around and see lots of fun and different sealife. I had never seen such a cool reef right close to the shore and I was so glad we had Lemuel to take us around and teach us all he knew!  The kids did awesome too, even the little ones, and they were all so cute and excited to see the bright fish underneath the water. Desh kept saying, “Hey I saw another fish!” 

The colors were so bright and vibrant! Lemuel picked up some cool sea creatures to show us. He found a couple of cool starfish that walk around on the ocean floor and picked some up for us to hold and see. So cool.  We saw a parrot fish that was super bright and colorful and also a trumpet fish that was long and skinny. Josh found a conch shell and followed a school of blue fish that swam right through our group. 

I had a stingray swim just below me and out to the open ocean that we followed for a while and watched. They are such cool and graceful creatures and we loved seeing it!

As we followed the stingray out a little ways, we found a pair of Eagle Rays that Lemuel was so excited to find. They swam together for a while and hung around us for a couple minutes before they headed out to sea. We got the coolest videos and pictures of these two cool guys! 

We went back near the reef and another stingray was there eating along the ocean floor. They fluff up the dirt along the floor and create a cloud around them as they search for food.  It was awesome to watch! I swam down there to get a closer look and it was really amazing! We could not get enough of watching all the creatures make their way through the reef. 

We swam back to shore and said goodbye to Lemuel and said a huge thank you for the amazing snorkel trip we had! 

Our driver for the day, Kenny, took us from Milones Beach and dropped us off at Flamenco Beach to spend the rest of the day. Flamenco is one of my favorite beaches of all time and I was so excited to be able to be back there for a few hours. The sand is so white and soft and the beach curves in along the cove creating the most gorgeous scene! I love this place!

We played in the water and loved the waves crashing in on us. The kids kept going back for more and soon enough their shorts and swim suits were filled with fine white sand. We took a walk to the end of the beach to see the old war tanks that are there, now covered in pretty cool graffiti.  We followed a huge iguana for a while and Beck kept saying that it looks like a dragon. I agree with him. 

We soaked in the sun, built sand castles, got washed away by waves, hung in the hammock, played frisbee and realized by the end that we had sand everywhere! In our box of crackers, in our clothes, our hair, our ears, and some of us handled it better than others.

 Unfortunately for us the showers at the beach we’re closed so we didn’t have much of a chance to clean off after we were done at the beach. We knew it might be a long ride back on the ferry with lots of sand and salt water on us. But it was worth it!  The beach was AMAZING. 

We had a long fun day in Culebra and the kids all agreed that getting up early to be there was totally worth it. A long day in the sun made for a sleepy ferry ride back. Luckily the ride back was much smoother than the morning ride and most everyone was able to get some sort of sleep.

At the end of the day we’re all trying to figure out who got the best sunburn. Was it Liev with his sunburned eyelids? Or beck with a farmer tan to rival all others? Most of us have the backs of our legs and shoulders red from snorkeling. But all of us have a sun kissed face from the shore of Flamenco Beach. It was something to remember that’s for sure. 

Christmas Trip - Day 11 Rio Grande (Charco Frio)

Josh and I have gotten into a daily habit of taking a morning walk. We explore the neighborhood, admire the gorgeous flowers everywhere and just talk about life. It’s become one of my favorite things we do. I love this man by my side and am grateful every day that he’s in my life! Partners in crime. 

Today we planned to explore a place we heard about called Charco Frio. It’s a swimming hole of sorts that is off the beaten path and full of adventure. We thought we’d give it a try!  The road to the river ends at a gated home that is owned by a man named Mr. Basilo. He’s a nice man who allows people to park on his property and make the trek up the path to Las Tinajas which has a great swimming area with a rope swing, lots of jumping areas and even some natural water slides in the rocks. It is a hidden gem and we felt so lucky that we found it and got to know Mr. Basilo. We walked for about 15 minutes and it ended up being pretty muddy the whole way. Beck even got stuck so far in the mud that it sucked his whole shoe off! It was hilarious how we started out on the path trying really hard to avoid the mud, then got to the end and we were all covered. But a beautiful spot awaited and it was worth the effort to get there!

The rope swing was a big hit with all the kids and they went over and over and over. Brave kids. The water was cool but felt amazing in the hot sun!

After we played at the rope swing and swimming spot for a while we continued up the path to find the rock slides. And when I say path I actually mean the “rock and tree and boulder and mud trail” because it was definitely an adventure for all 8 of us to get up there. The kids were amazing and blazed on with no fear. The boys especially thought it was amazing that we got to climb and jump and slip all over. My mama heart almost gave out a couple times but I kept reminding myself that this is good for them! The reward at the top were these amazing water slides in the rocks. We had such a fun time riding these and even Beck and Desh could not get enough! I was so proud of all my kids and the adventurous spirits they have. This is my idea of a good time!



Cliff jumping was on the docket of course as we wound down after a day of swimming and rock sliding. Everyone jumped from some height or another. And Josh took the grand prize jumping from the top of the 50 foot jump. It looked high from the bottom so I’m sure it was from up there! We had THE BEST day at Charco Frio and spent most of the day there. It was so fun and refreshing and an adventure that we will never forget!

We made our way to the grocery store for a stock up of Fanta Pina and pan de agua. We had tacos for dinner and swam in the pool the rest of the evening. I don’t know how the kids had enough energy to swim still but they never seem to tire of the pool. I, on the other hand, am tired tonight. So I’m sitting here doing this blog post and watching the BYU bowl game. Right now we’re killing UCF 42-10. Looks like the nights going to end on a good note :)

Christmas Trip - Day 10 Rio Grande (exploring El Yunque)

Today was a blast! We had a reservation to go explore in El Yunque the national rainforest on the island. We are staying really close to it so it didn’t take long to get there. We started out on a short hike just off the road to a waterfall called Juan Diego Falls. It was a super short, simple hike but so fun when we got there! We all jumped in after a few minutes of debating whether the water was too cold or not. We all eventually decided that it was worth the moment of chill to get in there and play in the water and underneath the waterfall. We stayed and explored around this beautiful spot for a while before we hiked back down. It was such a beautiful little place just right off the path and I’m glad we took the short detour!

After Juan Diego Falls we drove up the road to the trail for Mount Britton Tower. It’s a tower you can see at the top of the peak and the kids weren’t sure if we would be able to make it up that far. It looks like a pretty good distance but the trail is nice with rock stairs and a nice path so off we went. It was uphill the whole way obviously but it actually went much faster than any of us expected. We hiked almost a mile and before we knew it we were there! The path and all the flowers and foliage along the way made for a really beautiful hike so it went quickly. 

The tower itself is really old and cool with a neat stone spiral staircase that leads up to the top. Up there on top of the tower it feels as if you can see the whole world! In reality, we could see the ocean on three sides from where we were so that was really cool. And the most was blowing in and out at that high elevation and the boys kept saying that we were in the clouds. Super cool view and a great time for us!

We LOVED being in El Yunque and seeing the gorgeous greenery all around us. It was such a fun morning for us to explore and be outside and take in all the beauty of Puerto Rico. 

When we got back to the house the kids promptly got into the pool and swam the afternoon away. And after dinner, back they went into the pool for “night swimming”. It is really cool cause the light in the pool changes colors so it feels like the pool is constantly changing. It made for a fun night and tired kids after a long day of hiking and swimming!

Christmas Trip - Day 9 Rio Grande

Today is Sunday and we took the “ day of rest” literally today. We told the kids that there was no swimming in the pool today so we filled the day with all types of games! We set up an epic game of settlers, played cornhole, scum and exploding kittens among some. All great family games. We also spent time reading, napping and zoomed in to our ward this afternoon for sacrament meeting and Sunday school. It was really great to be able be back with our home ward for an hour or two and see the people that we love! 

Tonight we had a zoom meeting with the family and did our cousin gift exchange from afar. Again, super fun to see the people we love and miss while we’re gone! 

It was a good day.

Christmas Cards 2020

 

Christmas Trip - Day 8 Rio Grande

We got to the jungle house last night have settled in for the next 10 days. It’s a great house with plenty of room and an awesome deck and pool outside the front door. We all took a walk this morning up the long walkway and admired all the different flowers and fruits growing along the road. I wish some of these would grow in Utah! The scenery around us is pretty incredible with lush green as far as you can see. It’s gorgeous. We’re in the rainforest so true to its name we’ve had a few rain storms pass through here last night and today. I’m sure we will see small spurts of rain most of the days we’re here but it keeps everything nice and fresh and we don’t mind the rain at all!

We drove down to Luquillo this afternoon to play at the natural way slides made from the rocks. But when we got there we found that it is closed due to covid. Bummer. It’s a really fun place and we were sad to see it closed! So we stopped at the beach and found the place basically deserted. We paid the $4 entrance fee and walked out to the beach to play. There is a mandate around the island that allows for exercise only on the beaches. Basically meaning we can walk, run or swim at the beach but no sunbathing or sitting. There were lifeguards patrolling the area and letting people know the rules. That explains why the beaches are deserted I guess. But we walked along the sand and the kids played in the water and we were fine staying active. The life guard came back around to us and told us that around the point of the beach not too far up there is a shallow area where the ocean meets up with the mouth of a small river. He said it stays shallow and is a good place for kids to play. And he said “you’ll be able to be there longer than you are here.” He was giving us a way to stay at the beach and be in an area that is past his patrol! It was so nice of him to show us somewhere that we could spend some time there but not get in trouble. So we took him up on it and walked down the beach a little ways and around the point. It was a beautiful spot and we had fun finding fish, hermit crabs, coral and playing in the water. We spent a good hour or two there and even got caught in a warm rain storm that came through for about 5 minutes. It was the coolest! 

After we were done there we walked around the small shops and tiendas along the beach and had some yummy Puerto Rican food and found some fun souvenirs. The kids bought hats and purses and shirts and small things that they could take home with them. We got back to the house and we’re tired and slightly sunburned from our day! Success in my book!



And because we’ll be in this house for christmas we hung our stockings! Not by the fireplace, but by the air conditioner...that’s equivalent in this part of the country!

Christmas Trip - Day 7 Coamo to Rio Grande

One last thing we wanted to do before leaving Coamo was try the natural hot springs they have. So we got up early this morning and drove the short way to Las Aguas Termales. It’s a small spa like place that has outdoor pools that are filled with water from the natural hot springs. It was fun and relaxing and it’s a pretty famous spot here in Coamo so we wanted to do it before we left.  

We are super sad to have to leave this wonderful place. It has been such a fun few days and we have loved every minute of being here. The view from the top of this hill is almost unbelievable. We’ve been marveling at it since we got here three days ago and driving away we are still in awe that we got to stay here. The patio with the lights and the barbecue, the big grass area, the deck with a view to the town below...it’s all incredible! We head out to Rio Grande now and have 10 days in a house in the jungle. We’re going to stop along the way and pick up a bunch of groceries and stock up the house before we get there. One week in and we have all fallen in love with this island!

Christmas Trip - Day 6 Coamo

Today we took a drive down to the town of Ponce to explore a little bit. Ponce is the largest town in the south end of the island and was hit by 3 earthquakes earlier this summer. We saw some of the damage done by the earthquakes and the repairs going on to fix things back up. We also saw a lot of closed stores, restaurants and businesses from the covid pandemic which was even more sad to see. I really hope this island can recover from the craziness that has been going ok this year and they get back all the tourists that they need to keep this place going! We did get to see some cool things while we were there and loved seeing a new town that we hadn’t seen before. 

We got to tour through this old fire station that was super cool. 

The kids loved looking through a souvenir shop and the boys were immediately drawn to the swords of course. We also ate at a delicious lunch spot with the best Puerto Rican food. We had mofongo, tostones, mozzarella sticks and rice and beans. The kids all loved it too! Definitely a hit. We also found an ice cream spot for dessert before we headed back home. 

We finished up our day doing a little bit of laundry (the old fashioned way since the house has no washer and dryer) and hanging out at the house playing frisbee and football. We have loved the open space up here on the hilltop and the view is almost unreal. Both nights we’ve barbecued outside on the patio and listened to music and played games until dark. We have loved every minute of our time here in the country! We leave tomorrow morning to head to our new place and we almost don’t want to leave this little piece of heaven. 

Christmas Trip - Day 5 Coamo

Today we slept in and woke up to the sounds of the rooster crowing. It was delightful and I want to do that every day! It was a gorgeous morning so we took the kids on a walk down our long driveway and along the road that leads up to the house. There are hundreds of flowers and fruit trees and it’s wonderfully green everywhere! It was a warm morning so of course the boys took their shirts off to run down the road. 

Josh is awesome and gave the kids a Spanish lesson as we walked. We learned the words for road (calle), flowers (flores), dirt (tierra), tree (arbol), boy (nino), girl (nina) and electricity (electricidade).  He had the kids repeating the words back to him as we walked and they all were awesome to repeat them back and learn them. Desh has been repeating calle and nino all day! They also had an impromptu lesson on spiders and webs and how they catch their food. Josh showed them how something falls onto a spiders web and they immediately go to it to determine if it’s food or not. Super cool for those boys to see that! We have a few lightweights when it comes to heat and exercise and before long all the boys were sitting in the middle of the road taking “a rest”.

This evening was awesome weather as a storm rolled through and we watched the rain come, then the sun and the a rainbow to finish it off! We played frisbee on the lawn and had a hot dog roast tonight out on the patio. We couldn’t have asked for a more gorgeous setting to eat out. Desh is rocking his Fanny pack that grammie gave him and josh and I stumbled upon some extra tall cans of Dr Pepper that we were sure we wouldn’t see again until we got back home! Overall a great day in the country here in Puerto Rico!

Christmas Trip - Day 4 Loiza to Coamo

Today we had to check out of our beach house in Loiza and we didn’t want to leave this beautiful spot. Josh and Liev got up early this morning and watched the sunrise from the beach. Such a cute, fun time for them to be together while the rest of us were snoozing at home. After breakfast and before check out we all took one last trip to the beach and played for a couple hours to get our fill of the sand and salt water. We packed up and headed away from the house that has been so much a fun starting point for our trip!

Just a few last things before we left the north side of the island 

- We watched the sand crabs go in and out of their small homes in the sand this morning on the beach. We didn’t realize how many there were until we sat quietly and very still. Then there were hundreds!

- We had a small leak in one of the tires on the van so we stopped in for that to get fixed. While we waited, Liev climbed a tree and Beck did his best karate kid interpretation. 

- The trees down our lane had the coolest flowers and foliage hanging from them. After running past them every morning I finally got the chance to get a picture as we pulled away. 

- This mercado just down the street was our go-to every morning doe fresh bread and food supplies for the day. 
We did love our time here in Loiza!

We drove about an hour and a half away from the north side of the island and the city of San Juan down to the south to a small country town called Coamo. The drive was gorgeous and the south side of the island has a slower feel to it. Not as much hustle as the bigger city and the homes are spread out between the country and farm lands. We drove up a windy hill to the very top until we reached a gate that opened up to the house we were staying at. We could hardly believe once we got here that this was actually our home for the next few days! It is absolutely crazy to look from the back deck of our house and see down to the whole valley below and the beautiful view that it is! We have so much open space around us to run around and play and hang out for the next few days and we can’t wait!

Tonight we had a tour at the bio bay in Parguera booked. It was about an hour drive from Coamo so we once again loaded up in the van and drove down for the evening. We got to Parguera just as the sun was setting and climbed into the boat that was waiting to take us out to the bay. We had told the kids about it and how cool the bioluminescence was going to be but I don’t think they actually knew what to expect. The ride out to the bay was warm and it was such a perfect night. We chose a night with no moon so that we could see the glowing better. It worked out perfectly! Once we got inside the bay we loaded into kayaks and were able to kayak around and see all the glowing organisms in the water. Josh and I have done this before but it never gets old. It is the coolest thing to see the water for a second or two! Our tour guide gave us permission to swim in the bay as well and once we got in the water it was even cooler for all of us to see. The kids kept swing their arms and feet side to side and the water glowing beneath them was so awesome!  It was like a million tiny sparkles wherever you moved and it’s pretty magical. We had about an hour in the water together and we just couldn’t get enough. Beck and Desh would just float on their backs and “relax” in the water while staring up at the stars above them. It was super cute to see how much the kids loved being there and definitely something I will remember forever! 

Christmas Trip - Day 3 Loiza

Day 3 in Puerto Rico was spent on the beach. The house we are staying at in Loiza has a private entrance to the beach about 100 yards from our front door.  We walked down first thing this morning and had the beach to ourselves! We played and built sand castles and sunbathed and lost ourselves in the beauty around us. It is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been and we feel so lucky to be staying so close! The kids could not get enough of the ocean and the boys especially LOVED playing in the waves.  

We did take a break in the afternoon and the kids had some school work to get done and zoom calls to join. Josh worked as well and Desh and mom took a nap :) We took a short trip to the mercado and Desh dropped a liter of orange Fanta on the ground that immediately exploded everywhere! He was super embarrassed so of course started to cry. He felt better as he figured out that no one was mad at him and the store owner gave him a chocolate bar!  And keen became the bar tender and mixed up our favorite drink Gin and Juice (ginger ale and orange juice). We’ve become Latinos as we get fresh bread from the bakery each morning and love the smell of fresh air mixed with the salty ocean and a little bit of open sewage :) It takes josh and I back to our mission days where we fell in love with Latins and everything about their culture. 

We finished off our night back at the beach until the sun set. We feel so lucky to have this adventure and be able to be here as a family!

Christmas Trip - Day 2 Loiza

We rented a condo near the beach just outside of San Juan in a little town called Loiza. We didn’t see much last night as we drove in so today we drove around the small town looking for some food and to get to know our way around. We found a small mercado just down the street from us and got enough food to last us through the day until we could find a supermarket or Costco. Today is Sunday and not much is open so we know we might have better luck another day this week. To be honest we are all so exhausted today that we slept in late and later had a nap before we finally started feeling like normal people again. After our nap we zoomed into our church meetings at home and then  walked outside and found the beach about 50 yards from our front door and went for a walk along the sand.  The kids promise they wouldn’t get in the water but...you know how that goes. It is absolutely gorgeous and the weather is perfect. We spent the evening playing in the water and strolling along the sand just taking it all in.  Keen said to me today “I think this will end up being my favorite thing we’ve ever done.”

Christmas Trip Puerto Rico - Day 1 Airport

Josh and I have been planning a Christmas trip this year for the kids instead of doing presents. It turns out that flights are pretty cheap right now and a few months ago we found some good flights to Puerto Rico that left Christmas morning and came home New Year’s Eve. We jumped at the chance for some good and inexpensive flights and bought them!  So all these months later we’re so excited about taking the kids to one of our favorite places on earth! About three weeks ago the covid cases at both of our kids schools were high enough that the classes all went online for a couple weeks and all the kids were suddenly home full time doing school. Again. After about a day josh and I looked at each other with the same thought on our minds...If were all home doing school, work and social distancing then why not just leave for our trip early and social distance, work and school from Puerto Rico? Lots of things fell into place at just the right time for it to work out: flights were super cheap and the airlines had no problem switching our flights to the earlier date (including a big fat refund from them for the difference in ticket prices), one of the houses we had rented had availability early so we booked an extra week with them and extended our stay, the kids’ teachers were super accommodating and gave all the kids work for the extra couple weeks, we all got negative covid tests which were required for us to enter Puerto Rico and we even figured out that we could rent our house out while we were gone since it would be empty for three weeks! We went to work making all the plans to leave on the 12th of December instead of Christmas Day! It was a crazy rush of a couple weeks but we finally got it all figured out and done and our house ready for renters while we were gone (we ended up getting three different renters to cover 16 of the days that we would be gone and they all booked within the first two days of us having the ad up on Airbnb.  It was so crazy and easy!)

The night before we left we finally told the kids that we had a surprise fir them and told them we were leaving on an airplane the next morning early. We didn’t tell them where we were going but gave clues that night and all the next morning for them to figure out the final destination. They all figured it out by the time we got to the airport and they were excited but also didn’t quite know what to expect. But we were off!

This was the boys first plane ride ever and they were mostly excited to just be able to ride on a plane. It worked out great that we were flying during covid cause they have the seats spaced out so much that no one is ever booked in a middle seat. So we ended up having two full rows for our family. And the kids loved having their own personal screen for games and movies. They were completely entertained the whole way. Josh and I were pooped so we got some good time to relax and sleep on the flight. We had a layover at JFK for a couple hours and by that time everyone was tired from being up early and flying all day. We played games while we waited but also slept wherever  we could find a spot. Desh loves watching the other airplanes take off and kept saying he was watching them “blast off”. We were happy to get on our next flight and after a few hours we finally made it to San Juan! Our flight touched down at 11:30 pm and we gathered our luggage, rented a car, showed the guard our negative covid tests and that was that. We had made it all the way there and we’re so excited for it! We had a good surprise come from the car rental place when they realized that they no longer had any 8 passenger mini vans only 7 passenger ones. They upgraded us to a 15 passenger van for no charge! I was already trying to figure out how to make it through the 3 weeks crammed into a mini van with all our long legged kids, so that was icing on the cake to be able to have some extra room for the trip. We had a short 20 minute drive to the house we rented and we fell into bed around 1:00 am. Day 1 of our Christmas trip was over!