Puerto Rico

We started off our journey with a red eye flight out of LAX. It went much better than I had anticipated. The in flight movie was "Planes: fire and rescue" which is Seth's all time favorite so he leaned back to watch and fell asleep. What I didn't anticipate was what 5 hours with a sleeping toddler would do to ME. I couldn't move without him waking up screaming so my legs were cramping, my butt hurt like crazy, and my arm kept falling asleep. The second flight Seth drew on his marker board while I fell asleep meaning he ended up coloring his pants and arms. Where was Brandon you ask? He was motion sick, cramped tight, and trying to help me move without waking Seth since he would only sit on my lap.

We landed in San Juan, Puerto Rico and it was sunny and beautiful. We waited for everyone else to arrive and headed to our house. It was an old style house with tons of character. Little carvings in the walls and arches were among coolest parts. Another thing we loved about the house was our spacious bedroom with servants quarters off of the bathroom for Seth to sleep in!

Most the family spent a day Deep Sea fishing. Brandon and Camree spent the trip puking and Brandon was the only one to actually catch anything. I think it was all his up-chuck that drew it in...

Brandon's Mahi-Mahi. It tasted great!

We also went to Old town San Juan to see the forts, do some shopping, and explore a graveyard. One of Brandon's mission buddies is from Puerto Rico so he joined us for the morning and took us around.

Seth picked out the glasses himself

the crew minus Camree our main photographer

He rolled his cars all around this fort. I don't think he cared for the history lesson.

Mom & Dad looking great

Christmas was superb. We went small this year and just drew names so that everyone had one gift to open. Except mom, she ended up with around 5, totally deserved!! Seth has been asking me for Choo, Choo pajamas and I felt bad not getting him any, luckily grandma stepped in and made his dreams come true!

Playing Santa by handing out Christmas presents

He INSTANTLY knew what they were

"NOMAS!!!!!"

Joining Mckenzie and Camree's tradition of decorating toilet paper rolls for the tree

Thank you Anna and Ollie!!! Seth loves his new personalized book

The boys

The girls

And the pregos

Our next house was right on the beach in Luquillo. It was awesome. A spa (that worked sometimes) a pool table (dad was the champ) and a ping pong table (mom won that tournament). It also had bed bugs. YUCK! Luckily I wasn't covered enough to notice until our last morning, I don't think I could have slept another night there once I woke up covered in bites. Taylor, Brandon and I were the only ones affected by the bed bugs and we took great care washing everything before leaving and before bringing our clothes into our house when we got home but I still itch just thinking about it. Despite the bugs, it really was amazing. The beach was beautiful and Luquilla has so much to offer. We visited the rain forest where Seth was a total champ. He walked everywhere and wanted to do all the stairs himself, he also missed his nap that day but kept on going. He also showed off some vocabulary I didn't know he had including Bwak (walk), let go hand, (he has never put 3 words together on his own before), and mine. Everybody who wasn't pregnant or under 12 went zip lining through the rain forest. Camree and I were both really disappointed to miss out and Seth would have been had he known what everyone was off doing.

Seth loved the pool table

When we left this spot we had to carry Seth away kicking and screaming "more fish, more fish"

I got altitude sickness get to the top of this tower.

"Let go hand"

Freezing waterfall

Beautiful stone staircases lead the way to the big waterfall

 

Brandon got hot

No idea how I managed this pose, All I remember is trying not to fall over

Grandpa's little buddy

Lastly, Seth had his first successful boogie board ride followed by many, many more. Once he went we couldn't get him off the board.

Just hanging out in the back yard!

Say "Cheese"

Everyone was so proud of Seth. Especially himself

Mom got caught off guard and got pummeled by a wave while holding Seth. She was terrified, Seth LOVED it!

 I'm so grateful for my parents and the opportunity they gave us to have such a great experience in a new place. We are also so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ and who reason we celebrate Christmas. It was wonderful being with my family and we only wish the Schauerhamers hadn't missed out.