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One of the only family photos we managed to take the entire week we were in PR
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When Lissie and Xavier were asked to be in our friends' destination wedding in Puerto Rico, I will admit that my initial thoughts were not of excitement and enthusiasm but instead of anxiety and nervousness. Traveling by plane without
the added assistance of my parents for a long-ish trip that includes a layover? A week in tight quarters with these two young'ens? Missed naps and eating out like crazy with kids who haven't mastered those arts? Yep, my anxiety levels were through the roof prior to departure.
But, now that it is over, I can honestly say that my nervousness was mostly for naught. Sure there were slight hangups, but in general both kiddos proved more flexible than I could've imagined and we all ended up having a delightful time with friends and enjoying the Island of Enchantment.
Our flight out of Nashville was bright and early at 6am, which actually worked in our favor as both kiddos were super tired and took amazing naps on the plane. Especially since the flight to Orlando wasn't full so we all had our own seats. Add to that our backpack of quiet fun, the LeapPad, and lotsa snacks, and it was pretty much smooth sailing.
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| Ready for our weeklong vacay! |
Our first few days were spent getting acquainted with our resort for the week and day-tripping to the Arecibo Lighthouse and splash park.
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| Arecibo Lighthouse |
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Riding in a boat with Daddy
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| Water Slide! |
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| Relaxing at the pier |
The weekend was spent catching up with old friends and doing all things wedding.
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At the rehearsal, Lissie asked the bride what kind of cake they will have. The bride confided in her the secret, which was very pleasing to Lissie. Hence the happy kiss.
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| The best part of a beach wedding: playing in the sand! |
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| A frazzled Mommy with a boy who doesn't listen. |
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| Wedding Day! It's showtime! |
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Eh, so what if he's not holding the ring pillow or have his shirt tucked in or wearing shoes? We got him to walk down the aisle!
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Congratulating themselves on a job well done.
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Special lollipop treat after doing an awesome job walking down the aisle
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| Taking the liberty to wade in the pool during cocktail hour. |
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| X snuck a dip, too. |
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| A rare pic of the two of us sans kids |
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A family photo
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| The reason why I don't usually wear earrings. Right here. |
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| With the beautiful bride |
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| Dancing (stripping?) at the reception |
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| Getting down on the dance floor. |
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Goof
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Our last couple of days were spent hiking the El Yunque rainforest and walking around Old San Juan.
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| Lissie hiked the majority of the steep 30-min (each way) trail to the falls! |
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Post-hike to La Mina falls
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| La Coca Falls |
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| Old San Juan |
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| At Castillo de San Cristobal |
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| At Castillo de San Cristobal |
And, of course, throughout the entire trip there was a world of eating and drinking to be had. The kids absolutely LOVED the tasty barbecue, lechon, mofongo, yucca, and of course all of the juices - coconut, pineapple, anything - they could drink. Because, while we aren't typically juice drinkers, we needed to make sure these kiddos were staying well hydrated in the hot, hot, Puerto Rican sun.
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| One of my many mofongo meals |
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| Yucca balls, churrasco with rice and plaintains, mofongo with crab |
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Churrasco and yucca fries
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Lechonera!
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| A juice box on the beach. |
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| Life can't get much better than this! |
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| A pitstop in Old San Juan to enjoy a yummy treat of piragua, their famed shaved ice. |
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| Coconut juice post-hike |
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| And of course a fruity cocktail for Mommy |
Heading home proved to be a lot more challenging than the trip there. Our flight out was again at 6am, but this time the flight attendant refused to let Lissie be the lap child (which had never been a problem before and which is what we had done on all previous flights because she is fine in our laps and also so that Xavier could have her seat to nap and be less disruptive to everyone around us). Needless to say, it was a very rough three hour flight to Orlando where Xavier was tired but couldn't get settled in our laps and spent the majority of the time fussing and crying with nothing to console him. Our only solace was that the three hours of crying made him very tired, so the two hour ride to Nashville was quite peaceful between the fact that it was a half-full plane and both kids were finally able to rest.
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| Peace. Finally. |
So, in all, our vacation may not have been the definition of relaxing, but it was most definitely a fun, memory-filled family trip that jumpstarted our summer of fun.
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| Someone was trying to stop us from packing up to go home. |
What an awesome post about what sounds like an awesome vacation. I especially love the pics of Lissie and the bride, X and your earrings, and everyone passed out on the return plane trip. I'm so glad you guys (mostly) had a great trip!
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