A “new normal” seemed to be the theme of our 4th week in Puerto Rico. The excitement of being on vacation and learning how to relax had worn off a little, which was a very good thing! It was no longer necessary to take pictures of everything we did, instead I enjoyed being in the present. It was no longer a surprise when the boys chose another yoga routine without being asked. It was normal to notice our emotions and take breaks in the hammock. Deep breathing multiple times throughout the day was something we did without thinking so hard. Eating long meals, sitting down to enjoy our surroundings, and wandering as we walked places all had become normal things for us. The slower pace had really settled into our systems, and it felt AMAZING.
I can’t tell if these beach pictures were taken at sunrise or sunset. It was pretty normal for us to pop down to the beach at all times of the day. (I should also note there were a couple times we came down to the beach at night, one time at a full moon!! It was so awesome, but the boys were a little creeped out by it and wouldn’t stay longer than a few minutes).
One morning, because walking on the beach had become so normal, I decided to take a few of my scarves out with us. We had a ton of fun turning the scarves into kites!
The kites took us really far down the beach without us noticing or getting tired, so we decided to go all the way to what we had been calling The Tip, which is the end of the long curve of our beach. It is much farther away than it actually looks, and we had tried to get there a couple other times, but got too tired or hungry to go that far. Today looked promising! We took a little rest halfway out there.
We noticed the beach changing as we got closer to the tip. It looked a lot different over here!
Dallin’s sunglasses gave me the idea to be pirates. We turned the scarves into pirate costumes!!
We had fun with selfies! I can’t choose which ones are best!
Being pirates helped keep the boys going. I suggested that our treasure is buried under the palm tree sticking out at The Tip, and they said “Ay, Ay, Matee!” They were so adorable walking with their pirate sticks and trying to speak pirate language along the way.
We made it to THE TIP!!! We found a treasure under the coconut tree!! It was a bottle cap!!!
The view on the other side of The Tip was beautiful. The bay beyond our Tip is Luquillo, which we could see really well!
The excitement of being at The Tip and the energy from the wind and fresh air washed over us. We were giddy and bursting with joy. The adrenalin helped Tanner get really brave. He decided to climb the tree. He did not give up and eventually made it to where he could touch the palm branches! Seeing him so happy filled me with happy, too.
Halfway up, he used his scarf to gain leverage. Dallin is watching in the corner of this shot.
The view looking back on our bay and beach.
Sooo high up!
On the way back to Vereda del Mar, we noticed how crystal clear the water was by our buried treasures. Absolutely one of our best morning walks on the beach ever! We never did get a chance to come back to The Tip. It really was a long walk; we were pooped when we got home! I was so glad that we had the opportunity to make it there on this gorgeous day.
We spent an afternoon on our beach, swimming, resting in the shade, and building sand sculptures.
I think this is the day we did a bunch of body surfing and we all got covered in sand as we surfed up to the very brink where water ends and sand begins. I also had fun out in the very deep waves with Tanner. I sang Little Mermaid songs at the top of my lungs and he giggled and watched me with wide eyes. He has never seen the movie and couldn’t understand why it was so important to sing the songs while in the ocean. It was great bonding time with my Little One. After the beach, we jumped in the pool, as usual.
We ate at a restaurant called El Yunque Rainforest on evening. It was like a gourmet Puerto Rican place on the road leading to the National Park. Nobody else was there, and I soon figured out it was because the food was really expensive. We ordered a couple appetizers. By now the boys were very used to waiting forever for the food. There were parrots in some cages that the boys enjoyed talking to, and we were given little chef hats to color. When the food came out, it was delicious. One dish was a meatball wrapped with sweet plantains, very yummy!
One night, we got to go on a special excursion in Fajardo to see the bioluminescent bay! This is one of only a handful of places in the world where the water lights up at night when you move it around, and three of them are in Puerto Rico. The bay in Fajardo is a poopular one, and is only 45 minutes from our home. To get to the bay, you have to be with a tour guide because the land is protected, so we kayaked with one of the many companies that gives tours. The boys were pretty excited to try it all out.
Getting across the ocean harbor to the river wasn’t that far, but it was tricky figuring out a good rhythm of rowing. Tanner sat in front and I was in back. Dallin got to ride in the middle and didn’t have to row. Tanner did a super job paddling and paddling during the first half of the excursion. Once on the river, we floated through a mangrove forest, which was beautiful and mysterious. The sun was setting as we did this, and the boys got a little scared the darker that it got.
When we reached the bay, we got hooked up to other kayaks in the group to relax and listen to the guide explain about the area and about the bioluminescence. The water glows because of micro-organisms called dinoflagellates. These things make a glow as a defense mechanism with the same kind of chemicals that lightning bugs and glowworms have, and since there’s so many of them in the water, it looks really cool.
This was actually my 3rd time seeing bioluminescent bays because in 2009, Jeremy and I came to PR and saw the bio bay in Vieques twice. Back then, we were allowed to swim in the water, which was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done in my life. Now, there are laws prohibiting swimming in the bays. So the boys and I had to stay in the kayak and just enjoy the glowing water by using our hands and the oars to agitate the water.
Luckily, the glowing in this bay was just as wonderful as I remembered it ten years ago, so I was fascinated once again and wanted to see more. The glowing looks like pixie dust on your arms and against the edge of the boat. When you shake the water around, it looks like a mist of blue light bubbling in the water. But Tanner and Dallin were not impressed one bit!! They whined and begged me to stop shaking the water, which is the only way to see the glowing. They begged to go back to the beach because they were tired.
I was very bummed that they couldn’t appreciate it, but I couldn’t blame them. It was late, and I knew it would be a toss-up on how they would like it. It certainly wasn’t as attention grabbing as lights in a firework show. Oh well. Once again, I learned I can’t expect to re-live amazing experiences of the past with my kids.
I did most of the rowing back down the river and to the beach. These particular kayaks had LED lights on them that kept glaring in my eyes, so that made it extra tricky to see where I was going. We were wet and cold when we got back in our car. Before the boys fell asleep they said they never want to do that again! Haha.
Jeremy and I had planned to go to the island of Vieques at the end of our trip with the Z parents and the boys (basically one week after this excursion in Fajardo). The main attraction on Vieques besides the beaches is the bio bay. Seeing that the bio bay here was just as beautiful and that the boys were not interested in it, I told Jeremy we better forgo Vieques, esp since it requires a ferry and hotel. I spent the next few days finding a better kayak experience in Fajardo and booking a babysitter so that all the adults could go and enjoy without the kiddos. Things got booked barely in time!!
I took my kids to Walmart. It had become quite normal to not be at big stores like this, so we felt a bit like fish out of water in this place. The local grocery store 10 minutes from our house had everything we needed, so it seemed silly to drive 30 minutes to Walmart. I was thinking we might survive without ever going there, but I finally decided it would be worthwhile to check it out.
I’m so glad that we went!! It was a really unique experience. They had all kinds of foods that we hadn’t seen before. We were there for about 2.5 hours. Even the boys were impressed to see the extensive selection of fresh meat, “Is ALL of this MEAT!?” They also loved the produce section, grabbing anything they saw and asking “Mom, look at this!! What is this!?”
Trips to the bakery were becoming normal. We tried different treats each time, and always bought a loaf of PR bread. I made yummy breakfasts with the bread. This meal, I toasted the bread in the bacon grease. It was absolutely YUM!
The boys made bay blades and other fun things with the linking cubes that we brought. During their free time throughout the day, Tanner and Dallin just chilled and made up games with their small set of things, sometimes singing silly songs and chants like Dallinaaaaaarrioooooh,oh,oh,oh.
Note–Dallinario is Dallin’s Spanish/Italian name that I gave him a long time ago, and the boys have a lot of fun saying it. Tanner’s Spanish/Italian name is Tannerito.
We proved my theory that kids don’t need a lot of toys to be happy. For indoor play, we had just a handful of items: linking cubes, dice and cards from Mrs. Thoma, legos, chess, cousinar rods, some magazines, a couple empty notebooks, pens, markers, crayons, small stack of construction paper, small watercolor tray and glue. That’s it. (And technically, none of those things are toys!!) These items kept my kids thoroughly entertained during our indoor downtime for five weeks. I’ll talk more about it later, but you can imagine how weird it felt to return to my home back in Minnesota, where room after room was filled with things that my boys do not need or ever play with! We got very used to getting along with less. At this point in the trip, we could see how less really IS more.
I recall Tanner and Dallin asking several times, ‘What’s our adventure today, Mom?’ It was fun having afternoon adventures as part of our normal routine. We also didn’t have to do a lot of planning for the adventures. I learned to go around the island with less in my pack, and the boys were much more flexible about being spontaneous and improvising plans as we went. Tanner still had his moments when plans changed, but I had more energy and patience to help him work through it, which made a huge difference for all of us.
Our day our adventures took us to Laura’s swimming pool in her neighborhood. It was beautiful and exciting! Laura helped the boys be brave to try the water slide, and they both went down by themselves! This was a first for both Tanner and Dallin. They loved it!
The view from the top of the water slide was amazing. We were surrounded by country land and we had the whole pool to ourselves.
We had such a great time visiting at the pool with Laura. We all played crocodiles in the smaller pools and made giant whirl pools with our bodies. Laura is an amazing woman, we were so blessed to have her friendship during our time in PR!
The boys got to play with Laura’s dog Legolas before we came home, which they were so happy about. I didn’t get any pictures of it though.
When we got home, we discovered that Tanner and Dallin got a little sunburned. This was actually their first and only time getting burned, so I was very pleased with that! I drenched them in coconut oil, lavender oil and melaluca oil throughout that evening and the next day. The red skin turned into beautiful tans on both boys.
One day, we found a farmer’s market in Luquillo. Just as normal, our adventure was much different than what we expected. I had hoped there would be a ton of people, some live music and a lot of food, but it was a really small gig on the plaza. Since it was so small, I bought something from almost every booth, as if to give my sympathies to the vendors. We got homemade ice cream, fresh veggies, lentil soup, homemade chapstick and homemade soap with tea leaf in it.
We were about to drive home when we realized that our parking lot for the farmer’s market led right out to a beach that I didn’t know about! We spent the next hour exploring.
We found these fun rocks at the foot of a big hotel/apartment building. So much fun!
This area beyond the rocks looked like a scene in a movie. I half expected dinosaurs to come waltzing out of the foliage onto the sand!
These pictures remind me of how happy and relaxed I felt during this week of Puerto Rico. I need to remember how wonderful it was to do these things with my kids without feeling any other obligations nagging at the back of my mind.
I suppose a big source of calm I felt was from the fact that there weren’t other people around to add their positive or negative energy to my style of parenting and to my decisions of how we spent our time. I had a huge amount of control over everything we did. And for whatever reason (good or bad), it helped me to find some emotional equilibrium that I hadn’t experienced for a very long time. I didn’t realize how much control I was enjoying until the following week, when I had to remember what it’s like to not be the only adult in the group. 😉
On our way home from the beach, we perused along the road that led through the town of Luquillo. It was fun watching people park on either side of the thin road and walk 3 feet to the beach. It was a Saturday, so it was very busy with what seemed to be locals enjoying their day off. People set up camp on rocks and sand, even setting their chairs in the water. Some families came with stuff to make fish frys and BBQ’s, yumm. Then we drove past the Kioskos, also packed with people. We parked and got a chance to finally play on the basektball court that is on this beach. What a dream!
Here’s another normal day of church basketball. A few more friends were there to join in the fun!
For lunch after church, we brought a wonderful sister named Claudia and her son Alejandro over to eat lunch with us. My boys were so excited to have a friend over to play! They played basketball, ate lunch, played legos, ate frozen go-gurts on the hammock, giggled and chased each other. It was so adorable because Alejandro doesn’t know a lot of English and my boys don’t know a lot of Spanish, so they just did a lot of pointing and repeating two word phrases to each other and figured out how to have fun. Claudia and I got to know each other better with my limited Spanish skills and her limited English skills. Sometimes we had to use google translate to help us, and we got along really well.
After lunch, the sister missionaries came over to teach us a gospel lesson. It was neat to learn from Claudia and her experiences growing up in the church in Bolivia. Then, we walked down to the beach. And that’s when I knew that being at the beach was so normal for us, because the sister missionaries were amazed by how beautiful everything was. Even though they have been in PR longer than me, they don’t get to be at the beach very often, so they were wide-eyed looking at the view and taking pictures. I didn’t have my camera with me for that part of the visit, but I got a group shot of us before everyone had to leave. This Sunday afternoon was one of my favorite times during our whole trip.
Every time we went to the store, we bought new juices, snacks and foods to try. These little cans of nectar/juice are only 40-80 cents! It was fun watching the boys try each flavor. Sometimes they loved it and other times… not so much.
We got to spend another afternoon with Hermano Juan. This time we played chess! We all tried really hard to beat Juan, but we just couldn’t. Tanner especially enjoyed this visit connecting with Juan. I also got to visit more with his wife and daughter.
From Juan’s house, we took a drive to find a park by the beach with splash pads. We ended up going farther than I thought the map said, but we found it! And it was closed. So we waded in the waves and then drove down the road. We found a whole new tourist spot we didn’t know about and hoped to return with Jeremy, but it never worked out.
We got the apartment all ready for Grandma and Grandpa Z to come visit us. I liked this arrangement much better because it gave us more space for yoga.
Hermano Waldo was so excited! He has always wanted to learn to play piano. We chose to try learning “I am a Child of God.” We worked really hard for an hour one afternoon, and Waldo was able to play the first two phrases of the song. He was so pleased with himself, and I was really glad to have spent the time with him and the sister missionaries, who also learned how to play the song during the lesson. My boys played basketball and “spies” on the church grounds during the piano lesson.
We added a sunRISE walk on the beach to our routine. I had been getting annoyed by Tanner waking up so early every day, and then I decided there must be something good that can come from being woken up so early. I figured, we could watch the sunrise on the beach! So, right after waking up and going potty, we went straight out to the ocean, still in our pajamas. Then we came back to cuddle and resume the rest of our morning routine, and then returned to the beach for our normal morning walk after breakfast. I am so grateful we took advantage of this and that I was able to turn something inconvenient into an amazing experience for all three of us. As you can see, we enjoyed some really brilliant sunrises!
My shadow looked so funny!
This is what I saw in my spot where I wait for the boys to wash off their feet. Such beautiful surroundings.
I’m glad to say that eating big breakfasts became normal for us. This french toast was made with Puerto Rican sweet bread.
The waves were extra turquoise for our beach this day. It definitely depends on how sunny it is!!
Dallin took a bunch of pictures for me to send to Jeremy.
We sat in the shade to make sand castles. Another amazing day. And I love how the boys look in these pictures! Dallin’s hair looks especially long to me; the beach bum style! I trimmed his edges one time during the trip to keep his ears from being covered up so much. What cuties!
The boys ran out to get water and bring it up to our shady area.
Tanner and Dallin were so good about getting their learning work done everyday. I got a very good glimpse into the world of homeschooling, and this entire experience has made me more open to the idea of home schooling my kids some day. We got in our last lessons before Jeremy came home, er, I mean before Jeremy came back to our vacation. It had become so normal to call Vereda del Mar our home!
