The morning after Christmas, we got up (very) early to catch a plane to
Atlanta where we met up with Poppy, Uncle Darren, Aunt Annie, Jonas,
Uncle Steven and Aunt Jackie to board a plane to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The flight was delayed so the boys had some extra time to ride around
the Atlanta airport on the plane train, which of course was a huge
highlight. Once in Puerto Rico, we had a nice dinner on the water before
the 2 hour drive in the dark to our condo in Aguadilla. We started the
first full day with a big breakfast at Mona's, then hung poolside before
heading downtown to a sushi restaurant. The views from the condo were
beautiful, looking out on the ocean and you could see Crash Boat Beach
from the pool.
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| front row seats on the plane train |
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| first dinner at Carolina Beach |
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| view from condo |
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| Crash Boat Beach below |
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| view from our balcony |
The
next day while Darren and Dad were on a scuba dive excursion, the rest
of us toured Cueva Ventana ("window cave"), which culminated with a
picturesque view of the river below. Afterwards, we found a nearby
restaurant on the coast of Arecibo and were lucky enough to catch a
rainbow while sipping piña coladas. Ahhh, vacation.
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| That's Ed : ) |
On
our drive back to Aguadilla, which was supposed to take 45 mins, we
unknowingly drove into the heart of the annual Mask Festival in Hatillo,
getting stuck in massive traffic and being directed several times onto
one-way roads that ended up being blocked off. GPS was apparently not
informed that the town was one big giant party with people adorning
scary costumes dancing to rave music and ambulance sirens. Thanks to
some locals and strangers pulling over to let us go the wrong way on a
one-way street, we were able to make it out.
The
next day, Darren, Jonas, Steven and Poppy went deep sea fishing while
the rest of us had a nice day at Crash Boat Beach. The guys ended up
catching Mahi Mahi and Mackerel which we grilled for a tasty dinner that
night.
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| Manatees, Mom!!! |
The
next day we took a day trip to Old San Juan where we walked around the
town, visited Fortaleza San Felipe del Morro and Castillo de San
Cristobal.
It
was another day at Crash Boat Beach the next day while Darren and Dad
took on dive trip #2. The boys made mud balls and obstacle courses and
Dean periodically reported back to us on mud ball status. That evening
we had a nice dinner at Textura and a "
Kids New Year" before ringing in the actual New Year back at the condo over a game of Cards Against Humanity.
New
Year's Day was our last full day and we spent another day relaxing at
the beach. The kids enjoyed "limbers" (ice pops) and got a kick out of
petting the flock from the pelican whisperer. We ended our time with a
beautiful sunset and a home-cooked meal back at the condo.
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| Adios Puerto Rico! |
Thanks Dad for your generosity and such a memorable trip! We had a great time and really enjoyed spending time with everyone : )
