Buena, Puerto Rico!

We spent last week on the beautiful shores of northeast Puerto Rico, and had an amazing time! It was a full week spent oscillating between the beach, the pool, and our villa, and I think it's fair to say that everyone enjoyed it!

However, it wasn't all good, so I'll start with that part first. Let's discuss Aaron on the plane. We had a 6am flight out of Boston, which meant we had to leave the house a little after 3am. The kids were in a surprisingly good mood all morning, and our first flight went really well. However, the second flight did not go quite as smoothly. Both the kids were exhausted and in need of a nap, but Aaron refused to take one! The plane sat on the runway for about 30-40 minutes before we took off, and Aaron screamed the whole time (I'm actually not sure if "scream" is a strong enough word for what Aaron was doing). We were "those people" that everyone was talking about under their breath, but Mudgie seemed to take no notice and slept through the whole episode. Fortunately, once we finally got in the air, Aaron fell asleep in between cries and slept for almost the entire flight. When he woke up he was in such a good mood that the other passengers couldn't believe it was the same child!

I'd like to say that the flights home went much better, but they didn't really. Aaron didn't cry for as long or as loud as he did on the way there, but he was far from silent. He also didn't sleep at all on way home, so you can imagine what fun he was by the time we arrived back in Boston at 9-something pm (hours past his bedtime) after no naps. Trying to corral that giant squirmy boy, not allow him to kick the seats in front of us, and keep him quiet and happy was a lot of work, and I think it's a pretty safe bet that he will never again fly on our laps.

That said, it was all completely worth it! The villa we stayed at was great. We at breakfast and lunch on the balcony with nice ocean views and the sound of the waves crashing on the sand. There were 3 pools just outside the building, and the beach was just a stone's throw beyond that! There was also a bigger, heated pool with a small water slide just a short walk away. We spent the majority of our days there going to the beach and close pools during one outing, and the big water slide pool during the other. We'd head out for the day around 9am, return for lunch and nap around noon, and then head back out around 3:30/4ish for round 2. The kids were exhausted from all the activity and fresh air, and we were happy to have some down time.

Mudgie was not a fan of the waves, but loved the giant sandbox that was the beach. Aaron was a bit more into the ocean, but still wasn't a huge fan. In their defense, the waves on the beach were pretty serious, so they got knocked down once or twice. However, I think the favorite beach activity was "searching for coco-nuggets," or little baby coconuts that had fallen off the palm trees. These "coco-nuggets" could then be used in sand castles, as balls, or just to taunt the other sibling with. They were so multi-functional!

What really shocked me this trip was Mudgie's love of the water. We brought life vests for both Mudgie and Aaron, and though Aaron wasn't really a fan of his, Mudgie loved "swimming" around the pool with his. He was jumping in the pool and having us catch him, getting splashed in the face with water, even getting dunked once or twice and getting a mouthful or noseful of water, and loving it! Not only did he love going down the water slide with Dave and me, but he loved going down it by himself and having us catch him at the bottom. This was so far outside of his usual comfort zone that I about fell over when he told me he wanted to do it by himself! I'm so proud of the "risks" he's taking.

While Aaron did enjoy the water slide (with Dave or me, not by himself), by far his favorite vacation activity was sitting on a lounge chair and having a snack. I swear he ate almost no meals this entire trip, and survived solely on wheat thins and goldfish! We could have just finished breakfast and headed out to the beach and as soon as we got set up with our lounge chairs he'd be asking for "snackie." Apparently, this kid knows what vacation is all about!

We did take a "field trip" away from the resort the Aricebo Observatory (giant radio telescope), but shockingly, the kids didn't find it as interesting as Dave and I did and they were left cranky and bored and we were left wanting more. We did find a more kid-friendly stop in Aricebo, though, and got to check out the Aricebo lighthouse, which also included 4 life-sized pirate ships (that we could climb into and play on), a pirate cave with an aquarium, and a pretty cool lighthouse with really nice views. After that excursion, we decided that while there was a lot more on the island that we wanted to see, we would probably have more fun sticking to the beach/pool agenda.

While "relaxing" is not really a word I'd use to describe this vacation, "fun" and "really enjoyable" are. It was great to get so much play time in with the boys (even the big one). While we did have some house stuff to deal with while we were down there, for the most part we were able to turn off all the stuff that distracts us during a normal day. There were no chores, to-do lists, etc. It was just eat, sleep, and play. Probably too much eating, and never enough sleeping, but a good mix of all 3 nonetheless.