Ponce Visit

During the visit we decided to head down to Ponce for the day. Jed works down in Ponce so it was a good way to show them the island and Jed's work. In Ponce they have a town square with lots of cool things to see. There is this church and a really cool old Firestation. We toured the firestation with the kids and got to see an older one. Across from the pavalion is a cute little ice cream shop. Jake and Carolyn used to go there when they lived here and showed it to us. It is soooo good and a must for anyone headed to the area. We had a really great day full of adventure. Hope you enjoy the pics...and remember you too can visit these places (hint, hint to anyone and everyone. I am recruiting visitors!)

Mom and Marlena's Visit Cont...

During my mom's visit we tried to see as much of the island as we could. One day we decided to drive over to Arecibo and see the radio there. It is pretty cool. I totally remembered it from the movie Contact and James Bond. Afterwards we stopped at the outlet mall for some shopping. They had a cool playground for the kids that was a lot of fun. Cole loved going down the slide with Ashlee waiting for him.

Another trip we took was too Culebras. It is truly an amazing beach. It was fun to get to have my mom and Marlena see the incredible blue waters and white sand beach. The kids had a ball playing in the water and building sand castles with neighbors.

Banka's First day!

We finally had our first official "houseguests." My mother and sister came for a visit last week. The time they were here is a big blur of activities, driving, fun times, and food. The first day my mother arrived we decided to just go for a drive to see the island. We ended up at a little beach that overlooks the famous El Morro. While we were there Ashlee and Hyrum decided to add to their collections. Hyrum liked the pieces of coral and Ashlee was looking for shells. My mom and I got such a kick out of their different methods of display. Ashlee's are the neat rows and Hyrums is the mound in the back.

Ashlee's is 7

Ashlee just had her 7th birthday. I can not believe how quickly the time goes. I can still remember her as a little baby and how scared I was to have something depend on me so fully. Ashlee is a really special girl. Ashlee is so kindhearted and is always trying to make sure everything is fair. She works hard to help me with the other kids and is such a good little mommy. In fact she often says she can't wait until she is old enough to watch the other kids so Jed and I can go out. For her birthday this year she wanted to just spend the day with family. We hit Krispy Kreme for breakfast and then went to see Beauty and the Beast in the theater. We ended the day swimming and I am shocked to say that it was WAY to cold to swim. We ended up only staying a few minutes before we had to leave. We came home and had cake and icecream. Of course Ashlee had to have the princesses on her cake, but this time there were little gifts for each of us that she put on the cake. Such a sweet little girl!! Happy b-day Ash...

Day at Culebras

Okay so here in Puerto Rico there are many beaches...I can hear you all saying, well duh Valerie!! Anyway there are lots of beaches. They are great and lots of fun. However just a short boat ride away is the island of Culebras. On the island is Flamenco beach which is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The sand is so fine and white that walking barefoot is like getting a spa treatment. The water is an amazing blue and the beach is very secluded. As it is a boat ride away there aren't many people on the island. We went on a Monday and it was pretty empty. We rode the fairy over then hopped in a taxi over to the beach. We got there and the kids just played and played. The beach also houses an old tank that was used for target practice for the military a long time ago. It is now painted and you can climb on it and get up close and personal. We had such a wonderful time there and got to relax for the day. The trip home was incredible as it was sunset. The kids loved being on the boat and had a ball. It was such an amazing trip.

Carnival

Thanksgiving weekend was a fun time here. We had a couple over from our ward and they brought their folks too. It was a great time and we had a great thanksgiving. Certain foods are scarce so I had to make my stuffing from scratch and I couldn't find pecans for the pie. But we made do. The day after we took the kids to the big mall here to watch a movie. While there we saw a carnival and so Jed decided to take the kids there on Saturday. It was a fun little carnival. The kids enjoyed themselves and had a blast on the rides. Ashlee is our little daredevil and wanted to ride all of the big scary rides while Hyrum kept to the smaller rides. Cole just went along for the ride of course but he had a fun time. Here are a few pictures from our adventure!!

Our drive home...

So part of our new life here in Puerto Rico is a daily drive to pick up Ashlee from her little private school. Her school is in the town but on our little drive home we have the prettiest drive with fun suprises at time. I have included some pics of the funny sights from today. This is a pic of our neighborhood rooster. He is out and about almost everyday. this pic isn't the best but it started raining so he ran for cover. We look for him everyday.

This is a waterfall that is just at the corner. It is absolutly beautiful and Hyrum loves to stop and look at it. I am so used to droughts causing water features to stop so this is always a surpise. I can't tell if it is all natural or not.

There is a small herd of bulls that must live near us as almost every other day there are a few bulls out and about sitting and relaxing. This is a large bull that was just staring at us while we stopped to look. Of course he bent down when I snapped the pic, but you get the idea.This is the driveway into our development. It is just beautiful to see the mountains when I come around the corner. We are surrounded by mountains with essentially a rain forest on them. It was a stormy day today so things didn't come out that well.