Sun and Fun in Puerto Rico

If your looking for an explanation to my lack of blogging, well here it is. I was in Puerto Rico. Yes, warm, sunny, beaches! Don't you feel sorry for me that I have to come back to such cold weather! Spalding had some meetings there, and I tagged along for the Ride. My mom, (the best in the world) came and stayed with the kids. I really appreciated that she came . It was such a nice break for me. THANK YOU MOM! I think they all had a great time. My kids never really acted whiny about mom and dad being gone. My sister came over for the week as well, so she could visit with my mom. The kids enjoyed bowling with Grandma and making sushi with Auntie Audra. They also had a "cold day" out from school. It was 15 degrees below zero here one day when I was gone. Anyway, here's a little travel log for you all to read.

Friday: We left the house at 6 pm, for the 3 1/2 hour drive to the airport. It was foggy, but the roads were ok. Our plane left on time. 3 1/2 hours later, we landed in Atlanta and had a few hours for a layover. Our plane left for San Juan on time. Another 3 1/2 hours in the plane.

Saturday: As we were driving to the hotel, we asked the driver for suggestions on things to see and foods to eat. We like to try new things. After checking into the hotel, we found a little restaurant and tried one of the things suggested by the driver. It is called Mofongo. It is made of plantain bananas, mushed and mixed with spices then deep fried. Then it is formed into a bowl shape and served with chicken or beef. It was YUMMY! We walked around the hotel a little bit and then went to bed. It had been a long day of travel. Here is the view from our room.

Sunday: We rented a car and drove to see El Yunque National Rain Forest. It is the only rain forest within the US National Parks system. Here is one of the trails we hiked. We hiked to a tower for an awesome view and then to a water fall. We didn't know we could go swimming in the waterfalls. It was so green. Also humid. We were really sweating while we hiked! One thing I noticed was that there were no mosquitoes biting us. We heard lots of coqui frogs, but never saw any. I didn't notice any Iguanas, but I am sure they were up in the trees.

After we got back, we took a bus to dinner with others who were there for the conference. We were on our way to a town called Fajardo, when all of the sudden men and their horses were everywhere. So we asked our driver about it and he said that the men ride their horses into town on Sunday nights, have a few beers together and ride home. (My opinion: they ride horses instead of driving so that when they have a little too much to drink, the horse knows his own way home.) It was really cool to see all the horses. They look like a smaller breed than what I am used to seeing.

Monday: Spalding had meetings from 9-5. I went to the beach and read a book. Then I did a little shopping for the kids. As I was driving, an Iguana was crossing the road. From head to tail it was about 3 feet long. We have squirrel road kill here. They have iguana road kill. After, I went back to the beach, read some more, and did a little body surfing. We had dinner again with the conference group.

Tuesday: Spalding had meetings from 9-1. I went walking on the beach looking for shells for the kids. I was so excited I found two conch shells about 3 inches long. I picked them up and put them in the cup I was collecting shells in. When I returned to the hotel, I was headed up the stairs and all of the sudden, the cup was moving in my hand! There was a conch in the shell! They aren't very pretty. Both shells ended up having conch in them. They were hiding when I picked up the shells so I thought they were empty. I later read on the Internet to boil the conch and then you could pull it out. I ended up pouring hot water from the coffee pot and letting it sit in the hot water until it was cooked and pulling it out of the shell. Later in the afternoon, we each had massages, then went to a public beach. It was beautiful. Wednesday: Spalding had meetings from 9-11. I went to the beach and read. Then we headed into Old San Juan. We visited the San Juan Fort and walked through a little bit of the old town. We asked for a good place to eat and found a little authentic place and ate Mofondo again. I had my camera this time. It really tastes a lot better than it looks in the picture.

Thursday: Spalding worked on his homework. I packed up all our stuff. Then we went out to the beach together and body surfed. It was a blast! Then onto the airport and home.

I came back to cold temps and lots of snow. I loved being in the sun and yes, I do have a nice tan. I missed my kids and am happy to see them, but warm sunny weather will be missed for the next couple of months before the thaw comes around here.