Puerto Rico (a little belated)

So I realized that our biggest vacation of the year got barely a mention on the blog, so I am here to correct that mishap. In February, Corey's mom took us and his sister's family to Puerto Rico for a week. What a fun time!!! We rented a condo, so we had a kitchen and living area to spread out in -- way better than a hotel! Corey was our 'travel agent', a job he loves/hates. He can't help but be the planner, but agonizes over the details -- hoping everyone has a good time. Here are some of our pictures.

The Kokee Frog - all over in Puerto Rico, but this is the only one we saw. We certainly heard them, though. They make a sort of island music that reminds us that we were far from home.

We spent a whole day on a sailboat that took us to a couple different islands to snorkel and explore. I couldn't believe that the water was really that color blue! I thought that the movies just made it look like that, but the Caribbean really is this amazing color of aqua, just incredible.

Here's Corey and I swimming off to go look at fish... Our backs were fried by the end of the day, but so worth it!

Addie and two of her cousins, Emma and Sophie, swimming at the condo we stayed at.

Corey and Max enjoying the water! Don't worry, Corey's not really trying to squish Max... it just looks like that.

Corey and I took the kids and Corey's mom driving to check out different beaches. Let's just say the smiles on their faces in the picture are mostly out of relief from finally getting out of the car! We spent the whole day driving around, and the beach the 'travel book' guided us to was a total bust! Then, the drive home was even crazier. From seeing a guy riding two bicycles while talking to the invisible passenger of the other bicycle, to passing the guy holding up a live lobster to passing cars, to driving on a one lane mountain road so narrow we had to pull in our sideview mirror so as to not scrape it on the mountainside, all the while praying we wouldn't have to pass another vehicle coming the other way. The best part was coming to the end of this road, only to pass a sedan driving up the other way sporting a passenger riding on the hood of the car, and one sitting upright in the open trunk. Puerto Ricans can be strange!

One of the best parts of going to a new place is trying new food. This is octopus salad, garnished with smashed plantains. We had tons of great seafood, but the best dinner I had was whole fried snapper. I wish I had my camera that night, because it shocked the whole table! It even came with it's eyeballs intact, although I am not adventurous enough to try eating eyeballs.

Corey was able to squeeze out a couple rounds of golf, which is a staple in any vacation we take -- including our honeymoon.

One day, we hiked in the rainforest down to this waterfall in the middle of a rainstorm. We wanted to swim at the bottom, but cameras and phones were in danger of getting soaked.

Us getting soaked...

Like I said, we were a long way from home, but we were able to find their version of a basketball hoop. I thought this was a fitting photo to define our trip.


We had tons of fun, and being there with family made it wonderful.