Day 18: Sunday

This morning we checked out of our place in Aguadilla and headed to church.  We headed to church, but we didn't actually get there.  After driving around for about an hour looking for where the closest branch met, we decided to give up.  We saw the Catholic Church, a Pentacostal Church and a Church of the Restoration (I was wondering if that one might be close enough?).

So, I figured the next best thing was to take a picture of the kids in front of a Catholic Church.  The kids weren't thrilled with the driving around or my picture idea, but here it is!

After we got back to San Juan, we caught up on journals, hung out, had dinner...and now we're ANXIOUSLY awaiting the arrival of Noall's parents who are coming to play with us this week!!!!!

Day 17: Saturday

Today was magical.  Honestly.  It was.  I don't think I'm going to enjoy the adjustment of going back to "normal life".  We had heard about a little island called Gilligan's Island that was about an hour or so away, so we decided to check it out.  We took a ferry out to it  and spent most of the day there.

 The water so SO CLEAR and SO CALM!  The kids played and played and played.....

 

 

Going exploring with Daddy - checking out all types of fish...I have never been in water so shallow to far out.  You could just walk around and see fish everywhere just swimming around.

Alex and Emma are loving their "Daddy Time".

And Mommy is loving HER "Daddy Time"!

I found some amazing shells, but couldn't bring myself

to bring any of them home!  The were huge and beautiful and PERFECT...and had something living in them.  When I found the first one I was so excited and told the kids, "I found my souvenir!"  Camilla looked at it and said, "Mom, I don't think you should bring that home".  When I asked her why not, she said, "There's something in it...it has eyes."  It was true...I looked at it more closely and it had two antennae things w/eyes on the ends of them looking around trying to figure out what was going on.  It was actually a little creepy!

We found this little beach where we could hang out undisturbed.

Have you ever seen anything like that before?  Seriously!

After we took the ferry back, we drove around to check out a couple of things...most importantly the lighthouse in Cabo Rojo.  There are (understandably) lighthouses all over the island - this one is still in great condition and is in the most south-western corner of the island.

Noall tried out the panoramic setting...pretty cool, huh?

After we got the kids to bed, we sat outside and visited with our neighbors in the backyard.  They are from Puerto Rico and gave us all sorts of tips and info about the island.  Some of them had lived in Southern California before, so it was fun to chat with them.

Whenever we see them, they are trying to get us to eat something.  I must have gained 10 lbs. on this trip (seriously)!  Tonight (after we had already eaten dinner...leftovers they had given us the night before) they insisted we eat TONS of grilled filet mignon w/AMAZINGLY sweet grilled onions...it was heavenly!

I love meeting great people everywhere we go (especially people who feed us)!

Day 16: It's Christmas!!!!!

A perfect day...even though I stayed up way too late the night before.  I didn't even have a good reason to stay up.  The kids were all asleep in the bedroom...Noall and I were on the futon in the living room watching the Top 40 videos on the 90s...he fell asleep on #4 (how can you fall asleep on #4???) and I stayed up to finish the countdown and then stayed up some more.  It was one of those times when all seemed right with the world...my kids and husband were all close by and safe and healthy and happy and I just didn't want that feeling to end...maybe I'm the only one who does stuff like that, but it really was wonderful!

Anyways, on to Christmas.  After stockings and breakfast, the kids watched Christmas cartoons and played with their new treasures.

Santa knew that I didn't want to travel home with a bunch of bulky new toys, so the gifts were small, but the kids still enjoyed them.  They especially enjoyed making gifts for each other this year.  Zach spent countless hours making and ABC animal book for Alex and Camilla made Emma a quiet book for church.

The favorite stocking stuffer of the older kids was money for souvenirs (which I actually think they are all saving it to buy toys when they get home, instead...).  By far the favorite gift of the day was Emma's baby doll.  She LOVES it!!!!!  She walks around having everyone kiss her all the time.  It's great!

hugging her and rocking her...

 

 And while the kids played, Noall and I took a nap with Emma - I've been pretty spoiled in the nap department lately. :)

Afterward, the kids really wanted to show Noall the "big wave beach".  So, off we went!  What else would we do on Christmas???
Unfortunately, we met up w/some pirates - but Emma fought them off w/her newly honed sword fighting skills (she had been practicing all morning).

Before we went home, we hiked around a little bit.  There was a huge blowhole with enormous waves crashing into it...it's pretty freaky!

It was definitely weird not to have family or friends around for the holidays...the kids keep asking when they get to see their cousins again!  I don't know if they'll be able to make until school gets out!

WE LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!!  MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Day 15: Christmas Eve

I didn't realize that the place we're staying at doesn't have an oven until a couple of days ago.  It's difficult to do much holiday baking w/o an oven...and it's required some creativity to come up w/a semi-traditional menu that has ingredients I can find, that doesn't require buying too many ingredients that I don't want to invest in here,  and that doesn't require an oven.

Our solution: we spent way too much money on marshmallows to make rice krispies (that was our holidays baking) and then bought some meat and veggies to grill.  Anything dairy is pretty expensive here, but I couldn't come up with anything but ice cream for dessert considering my limitations...most of the brands were almost $7 for a half gallon and even then the flavors were pretty limited...so many little things you take for granted...like knowing that everything December you can have peppermint ice cream.  This year coconut will have to do!

We were so excited that Daddy came today!!!! And he got here early enough that we could show him one of our favorite beaches before we got ready for dinner.

I love Emma's little footprints in the sand.

The kids all loved taking turns riding on Noall's back...Camilla is really trying not to get her face wet.

All my kids love the  idea of going fishing - Zach especially.  Neither Noall or I are fishermen nor do we know the first thing about fishing...so I guess this will have to do for know.

Gorgeous Christmas Eve sunset with the sun breaking through the clouds. After we got all cleaned up, Noall grilled up some yummy dinner.

Then it was time for our nativity.  Camilla was in charge this year - she made sure every person had a part and that every part was filled and she chose songs to go along with the scriptures that we read.  She was in her element as the "Nativity Producer".

 It was so fun to use Noall's and my hymn books from our mission and for Zach and Camilla to be old enough to read from them and sing along, too!  Most of us had several parts...especially since both Alex and Emma decided going to bed was a better option than staying up!

 

This was hilarious...Camilla's interpretation of King Herod.

(Zach scratching his mosquito bites...we've got lots of them even w/repellent)

Day 14: Wednesday

My original plan when coming out here was to have all sorts of enriching and educational adventures for my kids...not just play at the beach every day.  But, not quite all of my adventures have come to fruition.  Today was one of those days.  But a day spent with my kids on the beach isn't a day wasted, right?  Right?

The kids wanted to go to a "big wave beach" and there are plenty of surfing beaches around here, so we went out in search of one and had a great day!  Are those waves big enough?  The great thing about this beach is that even though the waves are huge, the break far enough off of shore that there is still plenty of room to play.

 There is a little hike off to one side of the beach that takes you to a blowhole.  The waves slam against the rocky cliff.  It was so cool!  This is Zach's pretend scared face.

 

Proof that I was there, too...not just the kids!

Zach and Camilla spent most of their day collecting hermit crabs and creating a habitat for them...they found all sorts of amazing shells that the crabs were using.

 even Emma helped...

The end of the hike takes you to some cool rock formations that are continually hit by waves.  It was beautiful!

My girls walking back to the beach.

 One of my favorite things about today was watching Alex.  As much as all the kids love running around and playing, Alex NEVER seems to tire of it!  The other kids body surfed for a while, and then distracted themselves playing on the beach.  But Alex was in the water the whole time.  Watching for the next wave...

 

 Riding it in...

Oh, yeah!!!!!

Yes, he had to pull up his swim suit after each time he rode a wave in!

He had SO MUCH FUN!  Half the time he was literally taunting the waves..."that wasn't very big!" or "let's do that again!".  So fun!!!

Our perfect day ended perfectly...we found someone selling fresh coconut "water".  Zach's bee dying to try some.  We watched the guy chop it open and get it all ready - he was really  nice and was sure that we needed a whole gallon of it since it's so good for your organs.  I assured him we would be alright w/just one coconut!  Good thing, too, because Emma the only one who really liked it!

Day #13: Tuesday

Today was a catch-up day...laundry, finishing school projects, running errands to get ready for Christmas, etc.  This is what it looks like when I attempt to exercise when Emma's awake...

Day #12: Monday

Totally Random: The other day when it was sprinkling, Alex wiped off his face and said, "Oh, man!"  When I asked him what the matter was, he said, "The rain just slobbered on my face!"  Too funny!

This morning when I woke up and looked outside, I was so overcome by the beauty and diversity of God's creations.  There are so many beautiful places that are soothing and calming just by looking at them.  The world is truly amazing...

The kids and I spent most of the day playing at the beach and pool at the resort. 

Emma attempts to scale the "rock wall".

The water is COLD!

The kids spent a good chunk of the morning getting their "base" ready and preparing for some upcoming battle.  All hands were on deck...even Emma was preparing bombs carefully with Camilla.

More weapon-preparing...

Making sure Emma doesn't wander off to far.

View of the resort with the ocean behind it.

We had fun at the resort, but the most exciting news of the

day was that Camilla lost a tooth!!!  That one had been bugging her for a while, so we're glad she got it out!

After we got cleaned up, we headed back to Aguadilla and made our gingerbread houses.  I love how intent the kids are.  They got really creative this year - these houses had pools, rock gardens, flower gardens, pools, bounce houses, etc.