The adventures began on Tuesday. First thing in the morning, Cat went on her first dive as a certified Scuba diver! Ben was planning to go with her but the nauseousness hit before he even started driving to the dive shop so he decided it would be better for all involved if he sat this one out. Cat had a blast with Robert and his dad and sister, and they saw lots of cool ocean creatures!
This is kind of a cool picture - the divemaster caught a Lion Fish and fed it to a shark.
Ben joined the other kids and me for an ocean experience that was entirely above the surface: we joined a chiliboat tour that departed very close to the house we rented. It lasted about 3 hours and included about two miles of pedaling out to a tiny mangrove island called Cayo Mata La Gata (which refers to how it was an area where nurse sharks mated hundreds of years ago). We soaked up the warmth and sun, and appreciated the cute little houses floating along the shore and the gorgeous blue water. We had about half an hour to walk around and explore the mangrove island before pedaling back to the main island. We were feeling the burn by the end, but it was a great way to spend the morning!
Robert's family brought Cat to our house, where we chatted and talked about our different adventures. Then our family drove to Coco's Pizza in Lajas (which the chiliboat guides had recommended), and which really was very good. But it also took a very long time to get our food - a problem we'd encountered the day before in Pinones. We'd hoped to continue north to a cute town called San German but by the time we got our food, it was raining, so we backtracked to the house to get our rain jackets, then headed up to San German. We arrived late in the afternoon and missed out on the free trolley tour that takes you through the town, but we enjoyed just walking around and exploring on our own.
This was the area where we first noticed the emphasis of the Three Wisemen in the Christmas celebration in Puerto Rico. The Tres Reyes, as they're called, were everywhere. We even saw 3 men dressed up as the Three Kings who were preparing to join the town's parade that evening (which ended up being rained out).
That night, Robert's family came over to our house for a cookout and swimming. The swimming didn't happen because of the rain, but we had a great time just cooking and eating together, telling jokes and stories, and playing foosball.
We had a red-eye flight the Sunday before Christmas, so we took some time that afternoon to do a quasai-Christmas Eve. We opened a few presents, watched A Muppet Christmas Carol (and Liza painted my toenails), and had a lovely Bethlehem Dinner.
Our much-anticipated trip to Puerto Rico began when we drove to the airport at about 9:30 that night. We didn't sleep much on the first flight, but at least everyone rested. (It helped that I told the boys they weren't allowed to watch movies on that flight.)
We had a short layover, then before we knew it we were in perpetually warm, often sunny Puerto Rico. Hooray! We were introduced to the challenges of driving there quickly when it took 3 attempts to get to Pinones, the town where we were told we should eat lunch - thanks to road signs and GPS not matching up, and several turn-offs happening at the same time. But we finally got there and honestly we were more excited to see the beach behind the restaurant than the food itself.
The yellow rice + beans with Luke's imitation crab is Puerto Rican rice pudding. That was a surprise.
Sleepy passengers on the 2.5-hour drive to our AirBNB in La Parguera.
We arrived just in time for sunset.
The pool and hammocks were a hit!
Starting vacation off right with an evening belly flop competition.
I regretted that I planned back-to-back trips as soon as we got back from Thanksgiving. Not that I didn't want to go on either trip, I just realized that the timing really condensed our Christmas season. (Ben traveling several days during that period and it being my busiest season with the Tabernacle Choir didn't help either.) Consequently, we cut out a few things that we normally do, and abridged others. Of course it was all fine in the end, but I was kind of fixated on maximizing the time we had and didn't enjoy the season as much as I could have. Here's a quick recap of the Christmas fun we squeezed into 3 weeks:
We began setting up Christmas decorations and decorated
the Christmas tree the day after we got home from our Florida/Georgia trip:
The next Saturday, Ben took the kids to Cabela's to get Jack some antlers:
Meanwhile, I had a brunch date with Suz in the back of my minivan...
in the middle of nowhere Utah between Lindon and St. George.
The next day we quickly decorated graham cracker houses during the
3ish hours I was home between choir rehearsal and broadcast in the morning and
the rehearsal and First Presidency Christmas Devotional in the afternoon/evening.
Ben was doing ministering interviews and didn't get to make a house.
I didn't make the Royal icing very well so the girls and I had to work extra hard to get our houses to stay together. I don't blame the boys for building more... horizontally.
Ben was out of town the next day but I took the kids out to watch a little of the light show
in PG we've been visiting for a few years. We brought hot chocolate and herbal tea.
Luke and I read literally 1.5 Christmas books together before I
had to take Liza to volleyball training one Saturday morning.
I booked us a spot to see "Luminaria," a big Christmas light
display at the Thanksgiving Point Garden. It was beautiful!
Jack was a little bigger than the other kids playing with the giant Lite Brite.
But Luke joined him and they had fun with it for a few minutes.
The Nativity Scene was set up outside of the Light of the World garden, which was beautifully illuminated by battery-operated candles in hanging hurricane lamps.
Photo credit: Robert, who joined us for the last part of our excursion before heading out to what would be his surprise birthday party.
Our family Christmas concert was later than usual, and the program
was shorter than usual, but we were glad we could put something together
and share Christmas music and quality time with a few neighbors.
That night, after a fair amount of coercing/begging, we all went caroling
to 2 families in the ward. Luke and Liza also made signs for them.
Luke's original creepy Santa Claus just had black eyes. Liza added the green to make it less creepy.
Ben took Cat, Jack, and Luke to see the Tab Choir Christmas Concert the last Thursday
before our trip, which also happened to be finals week for the older three.
Liza wasn't able to go to the concert because she had a volleyball training and Christmas party.
They had dinner at City Creek and admired Christmas displays in the windows of Macy's while walking around.
They donated for food, housing comforts, and education for families in need. Their purchases included a few - you guessed it - chickens.
In Deseret Book, they met John Munoa, the art director for the Book of Mormon videos (and the one who made the Liahonas for the videos).
I love the lit-up cranes at the Temple construction site on Temple Square.
Post-concert photo in the lobby of the Conference Center.
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