Herk Fam: Puerto Rico

Let me first apologize for the lack of posts in the month of August. Our computer is on its last leg, so each time I log on to create a new post, the computer shuts down on me for no reason. How did we ever live without these annoying machines? Enough of my rant and excuses, I will try and do better using the other pieces of technology in this house. Jaxon started preschool today and we can hardly believe it! Keep checking here and I'll try my best to get pictures of his first day of preK on here ASAP.

At the beginning of August, I got the amazing opportunity to join Jason on one of his trips. He went to Puerto Rico for four weeks and we decided it was a great chance for us to take our first adult-only trip since becoming parents four years ago. My mom was excited to take some time off work and even volunteered to come up to Illinois to take care of the kids so they could keep with their normal routine. I was in Puerto Rico for 8 days and it was wonderful! I missed the kids terribly, but Jason and I needed that time together to reconnect without cutting food into small pieces, changing diapers and without arguing about bedtime.

Yes it was a work trip for Jason, but fortunately for us, he didn't have much work the week I was there. In fact, the only work he had was two 48 hr shifts of on-call. All that meant for us was that we had to stay around the hotel pool and beach for two days - bummer! Not!

I'm going to fly through these pictures, but you get the point: a much needed time away!

Look very closely and you'll see a green lizard, the same color as the grass, we spotted on a walk through Old San Juan.

We visited the old fort where many military battles took place, protecting the Carribbean Sea.

A tourist standing in one of the slots where a cannon was once fired from.

And here she is with her husband.

A view down the street of Old San Juan. We didn't get as much time as we'd hoped here, the beach was calling our names, but we did do some shopping. There were all different kinds of shops, from cheesy tourist stores to expensive name brand stores, like Coach and Tommy Hilfiger.

The port in Old San Juan where the cruise ships come in.

We rented a van (with some friends) one day and drove to El Yunque National Forest to hike the rain forest. It was my first visit to a rain forest and I was not disappointed. The scenery is beautiful and peaceful. I do regret wearing my Old Navy flip flops to hike in, but I was so car sick by the time we got there, I just flew out of the car and left my comfy shoes behind. Oh well, it was still a wonderful day!

My husband really thought I would not get in the waterfall at the rain forest, but I surprised him! Some would argue that being in water knee-deep does not count as "getting in", but it does in my book! That water was muy hace frio, and I did it anyway!

Other than Old San Juan and the rain forest, most of our days were spent at the hotel pool or down on the beach. Jason and the guys played sand volleyball nearly everyday they were in Puerto Rico. I was very content to watch volleyball for hours each day while chatting with other wives and significant others down there visiting. One day I said, "I wish a C-130 would fly over the beach so I could get a picture" (usually its pattern took it behind the hotel). A few hours later, there she came! I quickly grabbed my camera, but could not get anything better than this:

Yes, that tiny black line above the volleyball net is a herk. Who wants to donate money so I can get a camera that takes pictures that are worth a darn? Anybody?