June in PR Day 16

This morning Josh and I took some time to visit a bunch of schools and finally get down to deciding where we’re going to send our kids in the fall. I’m not sure why we’ve been so slow getting this done but it’s probably because we had know idea where to start with the whole process! In the end, we finally just decided to take a day and go look at our options. We visited a few private schools close by, which were nice but not exactly the feel that we’re going for. Part of the reason we want to be down here with the family is to get into the culture and enjoy all the island has to offer. Most of the private schools teach in English and we’re hoping that the kids can learn Spanish while we’re here. Plus…I don’t want to lay for private school! Anyway after visiting a couple schools we decided to go away from that route and try some of the public schools close by. There is a school that we pass every time we go down the hill from our house but we’ve never known which type of school it was. We stopped in there first and it turns out that it’s the middle school for 6-8 grades. We talked for a long time with the secretary and principal and even though it was all in Spanish and I didn’t understand everything being said, we both felt really good about the wohoo and the administration there. We walked around the courtyard and asked lots of questions while we toured the grounds. The principal is a really nice woman who seems really patient and kind but firm and we really loved her. As hard as it will be for the kids to jump right into a Spanish only school, we really felt like this was more of the route we were hoping to go with schooling. The principal directed us to the elementary school and the high school which are both just down the road as well. We stopped in to both of the other schools and had really similar experiences while visiting those. All three of the schools our kids need to go to all have great administrative staff who are friendly and helpful and have a good feel about the schools. Not that the schools themselves are super fancy, opposite actually. All concrete with doors that open to an inside courtyard, some peeling paint here and there and a little run down on the edges. But that’s what we’ve come to love about this island is that we can take it the way it is and just love it anyway! We feel good about this direction we’re headed!

Part of going to public school is that they each require uniforms, and different ones for each school. So we took some time this afternoon and tried to find a few uniforms that we could cross off our list before we head home. Rhen was less than thrilled when she learned she has to wear jumpers to school. Rease also has to wear jumpers or skirts and the boys all have to wear pants and collared shirts. It will definitely take some adjusting to this new set of school rules!

Tonight we had the missionaries over to help us with a service project (hauling all our newly delivered tile up the stairs) and then dinner after. We sure appreciate and have grown to love this set of elders here!

We stopped at the beach this afternoon after we shopped and ended up at Luquillo Beach this time. It was really calm with barely any waves or wind but really fun too! Any beach time, whether its short or all day, is a good time for us! We have sure fallen in love with this place and know there may be some growing pains when we actually move over. But in the meantime we’ll try and enjoy the moments that make us smile!

June in PR day 15

For Father’s Day yesterday we gave Josh and the boys matching swim trunks. Most years he gets matching ties with the boys but I thought this year swim suits would fit the setting a bit better :)

We spent some time at Hectors again today and swam for a couple hours before their renters checked in today. We always love some good time with Kim and Hector when we can get it!!

We’re trying to finish up a handful of projects this week and get a few loose ends tied up. We know that we are in a time crunch to get things done since the next time we come it will be for real! Josh worked on fixing the stucco on the water tower to prep it for a new coat of paint, we primed the back wall of the house and had to reach with our longest extendable handle to get up there, finished putting handles on the cabinets upstairs and the boys made homemade sling shots!  All in all a day full of lots of successes! 

June in PR day 14 Fathers Day!

Today for Father's Day we got to celebrate the man we love most in our life!  The kids were excited to write notes and draw pictures and even made a little project in church for him today.  It's one of the days that we can love on and dote over Josh and get away with it!  

For dinner Josh requested lemon pasta and wanted to share it with our friend Hector!  Kim is out of town so of course we wanted to celebrate Father's Day with him as well.  We took dinner over and just enjoyed his company and the beautiful afternoon outside on the patio.  We are sure grateful to have such a good friend and also an amazing dad that we get to celebrate today!

June in PR day 13

Saturday morning we got up nice and early to get a little work done before the heat of the day. Josh and the boys worked on making a homemade scaffold to be able to redo some of the stucco on the water tower. The boys LOVED being able to use the drill and learn how to make things with their dad. Such a good morning and they got it all done!

Later on Josh and Wilfredo drive down to Costco with Wilfredo’s truck to pick up some mattresses. He was so kind to help us out while we don’t have a truck! We may need to use his services again the future if we need to pick up more furniture. 

While they were gone we got the handles put on the cabinets upstairs and Rhen put together and table and chairs for their bedroom. It’s all starting to look so great up there!

We were all enjoying a minute of down time in the air conditioning when Josh got back from Costco and the kids were running back and forth. Keen ended up slipping on a plastic bag that was laying on the floor and came running in holding his chin. He’d slipped and hit his chin right on the tile floor and ended up with quite a gash. I knew right away that he would need stitches so we took him down to the small hospital just down the road in Rio Grande to have it stitched up. Our first taste of a Puerto Rican ER and it turned out to be a pretty good experience! I’m sure it’s the first of many stops we’ll be making there in the next year! We had a great doctor who was super kind and thoughtful with Keen (who was really nervous) and she talked him through the whole process. He ended up with 3 stitches and did great! Overall a great first hospital trip for us :)

We had planned to go downtown to Old San Juan tonight and the ER trip didn’t stop us. We love being down there and walking the old cobblestone streets! It was a perfect night to be out. The weather was beautiful and we stopped at our favorite pizza place and ice cream shop. 

We’re feeling pretty lucky to be where we’re at and experience something so great with lots of rich history! We look forward to so many more times in this cool city and lots more fun memories ahead!

June in PR day 12

Today is Friday which means date night for Josh and I! Seriously something we look forward to and today was no different :)

I took an early morning trip to Costco with half of the kids while the other half stayed with Josh and got some work done. Our inside doors were installed this morning which is amazing! It makes things down the hallway look finished and soooo nice! Our window and door guy, Garai, is awesome and always so fun to chat with. He does a great job. 

Josh and Keen finished putting gravel around the side and back of the house and made the pathway there look awesome and much more finished. That part tends to get pretty muddy so it will definitely keep that area clean and nice for everything!

I took my nail polish off today and realized I have two black toenails from my race a few weeks ago. No surprise there as I usually lose a couple toenails after a marathon :)

Date night tonight consisted of a trip down to San Juan and the Plaza las Americas where we shopped for furniture and had a great time walking around the HUGE mall! We had chilis for dinner and then were so tired as we had to drive back home after that. The days here have been so busy getting lots of work done but it’s always fun to get away for a few hours!

June in PR day 11

We got our appliances delivered first thing this morning and boy were we excited to see those roll in! They make the kitchen look like it might actually be a functioning kitchen in the near future! We have a mini fridge that is back ordered that will help complete the appliance package but that will have to wait until next time. The rest of the activities today included planting some new plants, Rease jackhammering out a piece of cement near the water tower, a trip to Kim and Hectors to swim for a couple hours in the afternoon and ending the night with the missionaries over for dinner. We have loved getting to know this pair of missionaries that are in our branch right now! They’re hard workers and great friends to us and we’ve had a good time having them part of our life here. 

Late tonight we watched the NBA finals and saw the warriors win the championship. It’s been so fun (and lots of late nights with the time difference) watching our team play and even more fun to see them win tonight! We all cheered them on (with a few of the kids slowly drifting off to sleep during the game) and had a great time celebrating with them! 

Overall a busy and fun day together!

June in PR day 10

Our neighbor Wilfredo came over this morning and helped us finish up hanging the rest of the cabinets. It was a good 3-4 hour job with lots of sweating and a little cursing under our breath, but we finally got the last on hung!! Rease Rhen and I spent the rest of the afternoon putting on the cabinets doors and putting together the drawers. We ended up being two drawer fronts short so we need to go get those still. And the filler pieces between a couple of the cabinets needs to be cut and attached as well. But we got as far as we could. And it looks AWESOME! We all love the color and the fact that it’s starting to look like a real kitchen finally! Gosh what a job. 

Tonight we had hamburgers out on the deck and played a big game of zero uno together before bed. As we were sitting outside tonight before the sun went down, the boys watched a pair of birds sitting on the power line swooping up and down to catch mosquitos. It was cool to watch. We also have a flock of green macaws that flies in and out of the jungle behind our house most days and we love when we get to spy those beautiful creatures! There’s nothing like life in the jungle…

June in PR day 9

Today we tackled the cabinets upstairs. We’ve been trying to figure out the best way to get these cabinets on the wall. After putting them all together they’ve been sitting here for days waiting to be hung and it has taken lots of troubleshooting to finally figure out what to do to hang them. IKEA says to hang a rail all the way around the kitchen all leveled and then the cabinets are supposed to just hang on the rail so they can be secured that way. The problem we have is that, not only is our floor uneven, so is our wall. So hanging the railing didn’t do us much good because we found big gaps behind the cabinets or they would come unhooked from the rail because it would hit the wall in a weird corner. So we ended up removing the rail and decided to just try and secure the cabinet itself to the wall with large cement screws (which took some effort on its own). We found that we had to shorten some of the legs (which are meant to help level the cabinets as they are being hung) before we could continue because our floor slopes two inches from one end of the kitchen to the other. We also had to take a trip to the hardware store and buy some shims to fill the gap behind the cabinet where the top of the wall bowed out farther than the bottom of the wall. Once we figured out how to actually work around those small annoyances (ha) we actually got into a good groove. I laid on the floor and adjusted the legs according to what Josh saw on the level. Then we secured the shims, drilled a hole and finally screwed each unit in to the wall. Then attached those cabinets together where they came right up against another. It was long tedious work but we got done with one whole side today! I think tomorrow might be the magic day where it all gets finished! Crossing our fingers on that one…

Tonight we took a trip to Ralph’s for some ice cream. We felt like we needed something sweet as a reward for finishing half the cabinets today! There’s dust in the air this week as a wind current is bringing dust in from the Sahara Dessert. Pretty crazy to see it and it’s evident on all the surfaces in our house. Just a small layer of dust each night as we go to bed. But it sure makes for a cool sunset!

June in PR day 8

We started the week off with a bang and got right to work on the yard. Josh has been working hard on the drainage around the house and all the new plumbing that had been put in over the last few months. All the boys worked together to put a drain from the water tank and hook it into the main drainage pipes out to the street. Josh is so good about teaching as he goes and each of the boys learned how to do every step along the way. Including using the pick axe to dig the trench! They were so proud once they finished the project :)

Other things of note that happened today:

- The air conditioning units were installed today in the rooms upstairs!! So excited for this!

- Spent a few hours at our favorite beach Playa Azul this afternoon

- Opened a PO Box so we can finally have things sent to us

- Found a humongous centipede 

- Had Uncle Chad’s famous lemon cream pasta for dinner tonight

- Counted over 50 mosquito bites on Rease’s left arm!

Overall a great way to start our week!

June in PR day 7

Today we enjoyed a “Day of Rest” and slept in until it was time to go to church. We had a great morning reconnecting with the members of our branch and enjoying getting to know some that we haven’t met before. We have a good set of elders in the branch right now and we’re glad to get to know them as well. After church and a nap we were invited to eat with one of the members. He’s been asking us to come eat for a long time now and we were so happy we finally got

to do it! He made us some delicious food - a Puerto Rican meal called sancicho what was like a yummy stew with rice inside. It was sooo fun to be there and get to know Hermano Vasquez and his daughter Jei better. It took Josh and I back to our missions and reminded us so much of the people we met and grew so much to love. We know that’s just what we’re going to do with our kids here and can’t wait for more experiences like today! 

We had our family study up on the deck tonight and each of the kids taught a part of the lesson. We’ve been studying all about heroes in the Old Testament and everyone was able to teach about one hero tonight. The night ended with a big game of scum and Beck ended up being king as we ended. Sundays are great days to recharge and refresh and this was one of those great Sundays! 

June in PR day 6

Today is Saturday and that means a big work day for us since Josh doesn’t have to break for office work part way through the day. The boys dug a new trench to hook up the side water tank to the rest of the drainage. They loved being able to use the new pick ax and dig out swinging that big thing. We also planted some seeds of cilantro and tomatoes to start a garden when we come back next time. Keen dig out around some of the trees and bushes and Rease planted some new plants for us. We also worked on spreading the gravel around the back and made a path for the gas guys ti be able to deliver new tanks a lot easier. Rhen worked on painting the side of the house and part of the back where the air conditioner units will be installed Monday. The boys finished up clearing out the rocks from the showers upstairs. Beck took a plunge in the garbage can full of water to co off part way through the afternoon. And Desh accidentally stepped in a pile of ants without shoes on…dang. 

We had dinner up on the deck tonight and improvised on egg sandwiches after half of the eggs broke when the carton was dropped walking up the stairs (Keen)…we made do with what we had! 

Overall a great Saturday full of hard work and lots of progress!

June in PR day 5

Another day working on The house today. The boys worked on cleaning up the dust and extra tile from the floors upstairs in the bathrooms while Josh and Wilfredo tried to sort out what to do with our cabinets. Turns out it’s not quite as easy as it seems to get them installed. Our floors and walls are pretty uneven and it’s made it hard to get the cabinets level to hang up. They thought long and hard and measured lots of things and finally decided that they needed a few more pieces before it could be done. No time to do it today since Josh had to actually get some work done for his job :) So another day we’ll be back to work on the cabinets! The kids all wrote letters this morning and got them ready to send. We’ve been working on getting a PO Box set up here so we can have an official mailing address. Like lots of things on the island, the post office works on island time and we’ve been back and forth to the little post office 5 or 6 times now to try and get it sorted out. It’s always one thing or another that keeps it from happening; closed because there are not enough workers, the card reader isn’t working to run our payment, we need a drivers license AND a passport as ID, can’t find the actual key to the box, once the key is found it doesn’t fit the box so the lock needs to be replaced, etc. You know…all normal things. Anyway, we finally did get a box paid for and now get to go back tomorrow to pick up the keys for the new lock that is being put in. Eventually we’ll get there! 

We ended up back at the beach this afternoon and also had a glorious sunset from our deck upstairs to end the night. Such a good day. 

June in PR day 4

We worked hard today. The kids help put together the legs on the cabinets and get them ready to be hung. We also worked on prepping the walls in the bathrooms for tile. It required grinding off any of the old grout and flattening out spots that are high. It was hard, messy work and we all kind of took turns doing it. We also had a load of gravel dropped off to make a path around the back of the house where Josh has been finishing up the drainage out to the street. It is nice to have those kinds of things finally working right and being able to get them covered up and looking better! It was a day of hard work and we finished it off tonight with a game of glow in the dark frisbee. We’re getting settled into life here and remembering that we have time to slow down and spend lots of time together. It’s pretty great. Late tonight we watched the Warriors play (It’s Finals basketball time!) and the games don’t start until 9:00 pm Puerto Rico time. So it makes for late nights but it’s fun to be up late and watch while the kids sleep :)

June in PR day 3

Today we made a Costco run to stock up on food for the week and also stopped at IKEA to use a credit that we had from buying ours cabinets with them last month. We looked at all sorts of options - some good options and others not so good - but had fun testing out all the different things! We ended up getting a couple chairs there and then finding a few other things at Marshall’s. It’s so fun that we are getting to the point that we can buy some furniture! The house is coming along and we’re down to some of the most fun things in construction. This week we’re getting cabinets installed and prepping for tile in the bathrooms. Also our appliances for the kitchen will be delivered next week and also air conditioner units being put in upstairs! All so exciting! Love this place and the work we’ve been able to do on it so far. 

June in PR day 1-2

Yesterday we got on the plane to spend the month at the house in PR. As always, it takes a ton of effort and energy to get our house in Herriman ready to rent so when we finally get here it takes us some time to decompress. We spent yesterday traveling and most of today just hanging out and unpacking. This afternoon we went down to the beach for a couple hours to enjoy the sunlight and get back into the groove of life down here :) We even ran into our friend Melvin walking along the beach with his dog and it’s always fun to catch up with him! We’re sooo looking forward to the next few weeks here and getting a lot done on the house. But also…beach time is important :)

Rease turns 15

Rease turns 15 today!  What?! I can't believe she's so old, but she's so grown up I should have known.  What can I say about this girl except that she's just THE BEST.  We celebrated with a Warriors cake today and had birthday dinner with the family.  

 My favorite things about 15 year old Rease:

1) Rease is about as sweet as you can get.  She's thoughtful, kind, giving and friendly but also isn't afraid to speak her mind or tell you how she feels.  She doesn't get mad often and not too much ruffles her feathers.  She's chill about things that don't matter and passionate about things that do.  She has all the good qualities that everyone wants to have!

2) Rease cares deeply about her friends and loved ones.  She is loyal and wants to be with people she loves all the time.  She has such a great, fun, good group of friends that do great things together and someday this group is going to conquer the world. I just know it.

3) Rease is my friend and I don't know what I would do without her.  She talks with me openly and I share my thoughts and feelings with her when I need someone to bounce things off of.  She's aware of the times that I need a friend and she makes sure she is there when those moments come up.  I appreciate her more than she'll ever know!

15 year old stats from Dr. Erickson:

Height: 5'9" - 97%

Weight: 181 lbs. 14 oz. - 97%

Happy birthday girl!  Go kill it this year!

Rodeo

Rease and her friends crashed the Herriman rodeo tonight!  With school officially out, they own the summer and can't wait to spend it doing all the fun things they want!

 

Breakfast

Breakfast king at it again.  Today German Pancakes are on the menu.

 

End of Kindergarten for Desh

Desh is graduating from half day school as this kindergarten year comes to an end!  Mrs. Hernandez is just amazing and we have loved having her as our teacher once again.  Desh loves to learn and is awesome at math and his letters. But is also the sweetest kid around. I know he's going to do big things with that big heart of his!

 

End of 2nd grade year - Beck

2nd grade has been a great year for Beck!  He is sweet and kind and continues to grow and learn so much.  He loves math, loves to play at recess and has fun friends that he has met this year.  So excited to see where this boy continues to go!

 

End of 4th grade year - Keen

Keen has LOVED 4th grade and Mr. Brown has been such a big influence for him this year.  They have done so many fun projects, learned dances and had a blast learning outside the box!  I have loved watching him grow up this year. 

 

End of 5th grade year - Liev

Liev has had a great 5th grade year and has progressed so much!  He has really developed a love for art - drawing and coloring and being creative.  This boy is something special!

 

End of 7th grade year Rhen

Middle school has treated this girl right!  She has done amazing with her classes and has grown so much as a person.  She met and made some super good friends this year and I'm so happy she has a group to hang with that are good people.  She is one amazing girl!

 

End of 9th grade year Rease

Rease has loved her 9th grade year this year!  She has done really amazing in her classes and has such a fun group of friends.  I know she's really going to miss them next year while we take a year away, but I have no doubt that they will keep in touch!  For now I'm just proud of this girl and all she does and works so hard for. 

 

Kimball

Aunt Nat can't get enough of this baby and his amazing cheeks...