Puerto Rico!

For Christmas break, we went to Puerto Rico for 10 days and had a family reunion with all of Jim's family for the first time in 14 years!

Here's a sneak peek- there's a turtle in the water on the left side of the pic! Nicole, Michael, Jacob and Diana said they were surfing and bumping into the turtles all the time!

All of the kids got up and got way better at surfing. Mike is riding this wave and Diana is plowing over it right behind him.

Beautiful weather, warm water!

It all starts with being prepared. Right as we were leaving the house, Michael asked if he could bring a box of oatmeal as his carryon. I said sure as long as he was the one carrying it. So he did!

Waiting in the airport

We stayed at El Convento Hotel, the same place Jim and I stayed when we came a few years ago. It used to be a convent and is a very nice hotel in the heart of Old San Juan.

View from the top deck overlooks the second oldest cathedral in the Americas. Ponce de Leon is also buried there.

Landscape view of the old town all around to the ocean is unreal.

Old town has some art, jewelry and high end shops. Lots of cruise ships stop here so it's a more touristy area but fun to window shop on the way to hikes and history.

Pretty Spanish colonial architecture with ironwork balconies.

Our favorite restaurant in Old San Juan.

Christmas decoration

Stuffed avocado is amazing. Jim loves ceviche. Mofongo is not well liked. The juices and frappes are SO good.

We had this beautifully muraled room to ourselves. 

We found a new gelato shop that was so good we went both nights we stayed there.

Inside the cathedral

Tall dome ceiling

Relaxing with a statue of a famous musician

Pigeon fun while waiting for breakfast

Hungry faces waiting for dad

Jim had to order off the catering menu for our family haha. But these were great egg, bacon and cheese sandwiches and keep us full until lunch for cheap. (Dinner was not cheap!)

We walked along Paseo de la Princesa where the cruise ships come in and then took a walk along Paseo del Morro to go all the way around the big fortress.

Huge iguana were sunning everywhere

View of the iconic tower overlook on San Juan Bay

This is where Columbus and many famous people sailed through to get to port.

Iguanas somehow got on the walls too

Beautiful scenery all along the walk with the most beautifully colored waters.

Hiking past the paved path onto a trail takes you through more of a jungle hike but with beautiful views of the ocean as well.

That hike goes to an overlook of a very old cemetary.

Hiking back a little takes you to an entrance to the fort.

Castillo San Felipe Del Morro, a 16th century fortress.

Steep steps and a ramp to the next level down- can you imagine getting artillery up or down this ramp?

They had triangular and spiral staircases that were a very tight fit.

The oldest part of the fortress.

Ceiling of the old part

Up the spiral stairs

Out of the fort doing a little more exploration, we found this pillar made on the highest point of the area to celebrate Columbus.

Passion fruit frappe for lunch

La Masa pizza was so good! The morning had a lot of walking so the kids were hungry.

Black sesame crust with steak! Some very tasty combos of pizza.

Afternoon rooftop relaxing. Nobody else was up there so we had the pool, cabana, and chairs to ourselves. Katy went swimming.

Diana read a book

Nicole did too

The boys joined Katy

And John came out too. Our hotel room was right next to the stairs so it was easy to come out.

Playing with the squirting frog fountains

It was fun to see the cruise ship come in, they are so big!

Jim and I just chilled while the kids played, it was so relaxing.

We took Nicole and Mike's stunt kites back to El Morro and had them fly on the big grassy fields. It was incredibly windy so that made it hard to pass off more tricks like we'd hoped. Still, they had a great time and it was a fun afternoon!

By the time we got back it was dark so we just ate a so-so meal at the hotel. It was too much like American food haha. 

The next morning we had our favorite breakfast again :)

This is the city hall in blue and they have live music at nights

Checked out of our hotel

We drove on the north side of the island straight west, and about halfway through there is Mar Chiquita Beach. It has a narrow opening for the ocean and amazing views. The water was a little rough to take the littles out in, especially since we didn't have towels yet from our airbnb villa.

So we climbed up for a good view.

Not really "tide" pools but lots of places to explore.

The water is such a gorgeous color and so powerful.

The swell of the ocean is just magical to watch how it changes the landscape and crashes against the rocks timelessly.

Craterlike pools of water were all over.

That night we met up with everyone at our airbnb. It was Kathryn's birthday! The perfect day for a birthday with everyone all together!

Our airbnb was right on the ocean on a sandy beach. The views and sounds were so relaxing.

With high tide our beach practically disappeared so in the morning we went hunting for a slightly longer beach down the way a little bit.

It was amazing to get in the warm water and remember it is December!

The cousins all came over too and they had so much fun slowly getting to know the AZ cousins better.

For lunch Jim was dying to show us a place he loves eating at when he comes surfing (this west/NW side of the island is where they surf). It was delicious!

Steps Beach! The waves were too big for good visibility this time so we just scouted the place out.

Jim took Nicole and Mike out but they came back pretty quickly after seeing nothing.

There was a cool random swing set up 

The kids loved this picture haha

Afternoon back at the beach house

The waves here just weren't boogie board waves. You either surf way out there or body surf the back-breaking shorebreak. Or float in between (my preference).

Spaghetti dinner 

Playing with rubber band helicopters trying to catch them on the second story.

We found church 45 minutes away and it was a beautiful building with a courtyard. The people were so kind and it was wonderful to feel of their spirit.

We saw the town square in Mayaguez, which comes to life at 7pm with a festival in the weeks leading up to Christmas. 

At the far southwest corner of the island there are salt flats that are pink! 

It's near a really cool scenic hike at the very corner of the island. 

The colors were unreal.

This is a famous landmark and so tiny!

Did the cliffs make us nervous? Yes, but we kept a close eye on everyone and they were great. They're used to this from our hikes in the NC mountains haha

Crazy exposed trees where the tide comes in.

Driving home we saw the preparations for a Christmas parade. They already had their music BLASTING it was sooooo loud!

Monday morning at Jobos!

A member of Puerto Rico's Olympic surfing team gave the kids lessons for two days. They got soooo much better!

At one end of the beach there is a place where the waves crash so up we went!

There's also a small area good for snorkeling very shallow. The kids loved it as their first real snorkel not at a man-made place. John kept coming up yelling "Fish! Fish"

The funnest part about Jobos was that there were beginner, intermediate and locals only waves so everyone got a chance to have fun.

The fruit was amazing!

We went back to Steps Beach and it was amazing! The snorkeling was so fun for everyone!

Jim and I went back in for one last snorkel...and I saw a nurse shark! It wasn't threatening, but I was sure not hanging around to press my luck so that was the end of our day :)

Plus Michael found over 50 hermit crabs, so his happiness was complete.

Nicole even fed a random cow.

Sunset from the beach house

We went up a crazy winding road to reach this waterfall hike.

We were some of the first ones there

Entrance to the hike is totally paved, but no real sign.

The lower falls is a quarter mile each way.

And we had it all to ourselves. It was magical.

The last little part of the hike was this steep decline on those rocks, but the rest of the hike was so easy.

The other side where the waterfall drained to was beautiful and clear with lots of rocks piled in a "zen" kind of way. Very relaxing.

The rope swing! Nicole, Michael, Jim and I went off the swing into the frigid water.

I tried. 

John very proud of his climbing skills!

Katy wanted to join the others on the rock but the water was so cold. The kids cheered her on while Jim carried her over. It was sweet.

John making his own zen rock piles. Oh, the irony.

Taking turns on the rope swing.

Katy went over and sat by her Uncle Jared to watch everyone on the swing. It was so cute.

The whole family!

The other falls was a very short hike but down a lot of stairs.

This one had cliff jumping! Nicole and Mike went off the lower rock and Jim went off the higher one.

And Diana caught a fish!

Jackie, Kelly and me after we all went on the rope swing

Our second time at Jobos and it was so fun to see the kids surfing get so much better on the perfect little waves there.

Our last morning we just hung around and relaxed with everyone.

That little bbq grill fed everyone!

Double rainbow on our way to the airport

Found a pizza place on the way 

And got one last frappe!! Mango Colada yum.

We stayed at a hotel in the airport so we could sleep in until 4:30 for our 6am flight. We made it the flight with 7 minutes to spare.

One of Jim's surf session. The white is his paddling.

The other lines are his rides, the red one is the longest ride. It's fun to see how his watch can track his sessions. And to see how much hard work is invovled!

We came home Christmas Eve and had our traditional cod chowder with bread bowls.

Mango was so happy to see us!

We had a very simple Christmas with just stockings for the kids and the day was just as wonderful as always.

The Sunday after Christmas we always have this fun breakfast

John is becoming quite the artist

The roomba fell down the stairs after misjudging the edge of the stairs. RIP.

Christmas Day we always have baked alaska for dessert. It was the perfect way to cap off such an amazing vacation and time together.

The weather for the rest of break was in the 70s so we had fun playing around. Nicole's team had contracted Covid while we were gone, so practice was cancelled for the rest of break. She took time to work on her skills and run 2 miles daily/lift weights with me and Jim. 

The boys had fund with their friends too

One morning we saw a pesky squirrel. John grabbed a deer skull and was outside shouting who knows what at it like he was king of the world. 

Jim got a deer when he went bow hunting. It was delicious to taste what he had been able to get and harvest himself.

As soon as break was over, the weather got rainy and then cold. Nicole and her cousins were caught in a downpour after seminary!

And then one day (just a few days after our weeks of 70s) it snowed! The ground was way too warm for it to stick, but it was a beautiful little snow!