My Birthday and Surfing Competition

Last weekend, Andrea, Mandi, Jon and I drove to Rincon on the west side of the island and attended the surfing competition. It was a very fun time and the surfers were great to watch. Doing 360's and jumps and such.... well, besides them just being "surfers".

27 years old. Hard to believe. Jon baked me a cake and we went to a new restaurant in the mountains with some friends. Around the table - Max, the Russian Mailman we hang out with sometimes, Tom - another american teacher, Andrea - the tan one, Mandi - next to me, and Barbara on the end. It was a great time. The band dedicated a song to me and everyone - the entire restaurant - sang "Happy Birthday" to me, in Spanish of course.

Jon is having some "Jon time". And loving it.

Cabo Rojo and Guanica Dry Forest

Here are Jon and I hugging the 120 year old tree in Guanica, the dry forest on the west of the island. We went hiking there with Barbara a couple weekends ago.

After our long hike we cooled off on the sunny beached of Cabo Rojo - Playa Santa. We are on the very South-West tip of Puerto Rico here with a lighthouse (this picture is for you Libby) over looking the coast.

The water was breathtakingly beautiful and we had a great time.

Here we are on Valentines Night having dinner on El Combate beach with Barbara. She was our date for the weekend. :)

Weekend on the West

We headed out to Cabo Rojo on the west side of the island for the Valentine's Weekend. We went with Barbara and hiked in Guanica Dry Forest, stayed in Freddie's Cabanas on the beach, - our camping plan fell through - and hung out at a "mini Culebra" beach on Sunday. It was great to explore a new area. We saw the salt flats and the highlight .... 2 MONKEYS! I didn't get pictures of them... but there could possibly be a video coming. Wild monkeys in the trees. Cool.

Bonfire on the Beach

We found a new favorite thing to do on a Friday night - bonfire on the beach with s'mores, some limbo dancing with a piece of bamboo and friends. There were about 25 of us who showed up in Posuelo after dinner last Friday night. Most of the Puerto Ricans didn't know about s'mores, so we all gave them a lesson. Jon and I actually were not the first ones to leave the gathering this time and actually ended up staying until the wee-hours of the morning. Everyone was shocked. It was a great way to start the weekend.

January with the Family!

Here is a scrambled taste of our Christmas vacation with the family. Wish that Paul was there to experience it all with us... but maybe next year. We had a great time and were busy every day... so enjoy!

Window Cave. We bought a flashlight in a gas station along the way and all crept together through the cave... bats and everything.

A STELLER game of bocci ball. I am not sure who won in the end...but I had a pretty surprising round there... as you can see, everyone was surprised at my hidden talent!

Here we are in El Yunque Rainforest. Mom and Troy are trying out the more "native" experience. Ackward! :)

Troy and Jon eating pinchos of pork and chicken at Flaminco beach on the island of Culebra.

Ahhh... never too old for sand castles!

We loved touring Old San Juan. We went in El Moro - the fortress there that was used to protect the port from outsiders. Old and cool.

Troy and Jon enjoying a traditional meal of mofongo. Basically fried plantains. Yummy

By far the most beautiful sunset we have seen in Puerto Rico. This was taken from our dinner table that night. Breath-taking.

Troy being oh so contemplative.

Ahh... the master hunters. Troy and Jon come back with a crab squished between two piece of drift wood. They continued to taunt him until he ran away - not before he made Troy scream like a girl though! :) Wish I would have gotten that on tape!

Yes, the pot holes in Puerto Rico really are serious!

Troy trying to swing from the vines... didn't work as well as we would have hoped!

Trying to escape the rain in the rainforest.... how ironic!

A little dip in the falls of the rainforest. Chilly I was told. Way to go boys!

Again Troy tries his hand at the "Tarzan" get-up!

A view from our apartment.

Our apartment for the week. We were on the 28th floor.

The pool at our place. The boys had it to themselves.

So, as you can see. Scrambled mess of pictures, sorry about that. But hopefully you can see that we had a great time! Thanks so much Mom, Dad and Troy for a great visit. We are looking forward to next year already. Happy New Year to you all! Love you and miss you!