Puerto Rico

I know this is overdue....but life has been crazy....bear with me.

So we (Chloe, Aaron and I) went to Puerto Rico Jan 14-20 with my mom, little brother Ben, my sister Wendy and her hubby Mike. My aunt is in the work down there (Ruthie)....so she spent the week with us and translated Spanish for us. We rented a huge house for the week and had a blast in the warm sunshine. Here's a quick rundown of the week....

Monday- arrived in the afternoon....stopped for groceries on the way to the house

Tuesday- Spent all day at Luquillo Beach....Chloe LOVED it....tried to get a little bit of a tan while keeping her out of the sun. Aaron did his usual sand-castle building marathon with Ben.

Wednesday- we hung out at the house, around the pool, etc....while the rest of them went to Culebra Island snorkeling all day (645am-8pm). We figured it'd be too exhausting lugging Chloe around for that.

Thursday- We all went in and explored Old San Juan...saw both the forts (El Morro and San Cristobal). This was Aaron's favorite part of the trip....lots of interesting history. We ended up walking right into the middle of a parade for some neighborhood festival....nothing like spanish culture up close and personal! Went to Hilda's for supper and bible study.

Friday- we hung around the house again- it was a bit cloudy/rainy. Mum, Wendy, Ruthie and Ben went hiking in the El Yunque rainforest for the afternoon. We figured we wouldnt brave the non-stroller friendly hike without a backpack to carry Chloe.

Saturday- Spent the morning at the beach by our house....and then had a bunch of the friends over for a bbq all afternoon. Lots of kids swimming in the pool...and lots of spanish conversations which we couldn't understand!

Sunday- Went to meeting up in the mountains- very beautiful. Lunch with everyone afterwards....and then headed to the airport to return home. We left 86 degrees to return to -5...how fabulous is that?!

Some things we learned? Vacation with a 9 month old is fun but NOT relaxing. :) No such thing as sleeping in like vacation used to be. BUT...it was very fun to see Chloe get excited about the ocean....and visiting the forts...etc. Aaron now thinks that changing the mind of anyone in my family is like trying to pry re-bar from solid concrete. Getting everyone to agree on an activity when you have 7 opinions is not as easy as it might seem. :) Next time we go on a vacation we will both have one day off after returning instead of having to come straight back to work. We didn't get in to Minneapolis until 11pm Sunday night....our bags didn't make it...we had to get a carseat from the airline since that was in one of the bags....take the shuttle to our car.....didn't end up getting home until 2am. I ended up calling in sick since I had a headcold and wouldn't get any sleep.

And now.....PICTURES! If you want to look at all 275, then go here!!- http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=aaronshunnie&AID=5087083