Playa Shacks

We were able to get our breakfast for free due to some mixups here at the hotel (score!) so we went to the fancy restaurant here instead of being adventurous with a local spot. We don't regret it. Our $70 free breakfast was amazing. We sat outside by the pool and had lovely food with even better service. The coffee here is incredible. The woman making my waffle was a trained artist and put her craft into the food. It showed and I loved it. 

BEHOLD: The most beautiful waffle EVER

 Jackson enjoyed his and my mimosa- if we both drank the upgrades we get would especially lovely.

My cute breakfast date!

After breakfast we came up to the room and got beach ready. We wanted to explore the island a bit so we tore ourselves away from "our" beach and hit the road for one outside of the city.

This morning's view

We drove about two hours before finding an obscure local's beach that we'd read about online. The snorkeling was said to be fantastic. Before we got there, though, I needed to pee. We stopped at a gas station that looked entirely normal. Well, looks are deceiving. They had a toilet, yes. But when I asked for toilet paper and soap they looked at me like I was such a diva. UGHHH. I couldn't wait so I just went and hated life for the next hour or so until we got to the beach. Clearly this shop was run by men! I saw a little kid outside peeing into a bottle and again cursed my inability to be so efficient!

Playa Shacks 

A beautiful day for sun and surf

Jackson getting ready to snorkel

He's out there somewhere

I joined him for a bit and was able to snap this silly photo

We were not disappointed when we FINALLY got to the beach. It was just a gorgeous day and the beach was not crowded at all. I'm nearly 100% sure we were the only English speaking folks around, but why would people in an American territory speak English?! Hint: THERE IS NO ENGLISH HERE. NO ONE SPEAKS ENGLISH. NO SIGNS ARE IN ENGLISH. CLEARLY THE U.S. ISN'T MAKING A REAL EFFORT HERE. (End of rant.)

I strapped on my gear and joined Jackson for a bit. I'm not a great snorkeler for a couple of reasons:
1. I'm not a good swimmer. At all.
2. I'm terrified of sharks.
3. I'm also afraid of all other oceanic animals.
4. Hearing my own breathing is unsettling to me.
5. Sharks and other oceanic animals live where I am snorkeling. Again, unsettling.
6. Swimming seems like a helpful skill when snorkeling. Yet again, unsettling.

Anyway, I made it. I saw exactly one fish and one crab. Jackson swears he saw more when he went further from shore than I was willing to go. The whole not being able to swim well thing really cuts into how far out I'll go. Well, that and the sharks. Anyway, he is comfortable with swimming, being shark-bait and hearing his own breathing so he just snorkeled to his little heart's content.

After we Jackson snorkeled for a couple of hours we decided to make our way back to San Juan. We stopped for lunch at a McDonald's (we're cheap and we didn't want to miss much beach time) only to find that unlike France, no one at McDonald's here understood English. Sigh. That was a long trip. I eventually got my Happy Meal, but it had pickles because how on earth does one ask in Spanish for the pickles to be held?! We tried the drive thru but ended up having to go inside to try to figure things out. It was kind of comical. No worries, Jackson's meal was fine. Typical.

One interesting thing here is the lack of planning. There will be nice homes on hills looking over slums. There will be shopping centers that are brand new build into struggling areas. There are more fast food restaurants here than anywhere else we've ever been yet we've seen some locals and they are not the size of houses. Riddle me that one. Anyway, Jackson made fun of me for hours because I looked at him during our drive and said, "this place is nice and all, but imagine what the mayor of Carmel could make of it!" He's certain I missed my true calling in political campaigning now. ;)

A cool looking random house we passed- no worries
it looked over some slums

We got back to "our" beach just in time to catch some evening rays and play in the waves a bit more. We noticed a drunk man passed out on the beach and checked to make sure he was breathing. He was so we went to get cleaned up for the night.

Sunset view

Relaxed Jackson at a beach dinner

Selfie.

We went to our free cocktail hour (Jackson scored a record 3 drinks hence looking so relaxed) and then made our way to the beach cafe for another pizza. We had a same lovely waiter and again noticed the drunk man. He was still there! Some guys from the hotel dumped cold water on him to try to wake him up and he did not even respond. He eventually stood up, stumbled into something and fell back down. I mean that guy was just obliterated. I've never seen anything like it. He couldn't have been more than 25 years old, either. Clearly he's got a problem. The last we saw him he had made his way towards the water. We certainly hope he doesn't get in and drown. The hotel workers on the beach promise to keep an eye on him.

The night view*
*I'm just a little obsessed with the view

We're likely calling it an early night again. We've got an exciting day of exploring the island again tomorrow. This time we'll be hiking which is way more my style. ;):)

Puerto Rico!

We got up around 3:30 this morning to finish packing (eek!) and get to the airport. Our flight to Chicago was easy and uneventful as was the one from Chicago to San Juan (4.5 hours!). Our rental car turned out to be an adventure- it always is- but we got our little SUV and got on our way. The road signs here are in Spanish and not exactly descriptive, but we made it to our hotel without much issue. Once we got checked in- another adventure in ineptitude- and saw the view from our room we were amped. The afternoon was a little overcast, but the view cannot be beat.

The view from our room 

We get access to this club room place from 5-7 that offers little snacks and free cocktails. You don't mention free food and miss the Petefishes! These deals would be so much more awesome if I drank. Alas, I do not so Jackson tried to make up for my loss. ;)

Free cocktails and snacks? Yes, please!

Happy Jackson!

It had been a long day- we're usually not so ragged 

 We took a long walk on the beach- love it- and then decided to split a pizza for dinner.

Dinner with a sweet view

He sure never looks at me like that! ;)

The pizza was great. We even had a little company:

Beach kitty!

Being that we were up around 3:30, the fact that we made it until 8:30 is impressive to me, but the steam has run out. We've got to get some sleep so we can really explore the island tomorrow!

August..

We've had a fun summer of hanging out with lots of our friends- both big and small. 

Lunch with Mr. Alex

Jackson riding away from me

We spent a ton of time on our bikes. We love nothing more than just getting miles in.

Excited to eat (and not have his photo taken)

We had a breakfast date- those are my favorites!

Nobody wants to play?!

We enjoyed little MacKenzie, of course.

MacK meets Sir Liam Mauck

We got to hang with Sir Liam Mauck.

This will be used during SNF in a couple of years

Quick friends
(Very quick once MacK found food on Sir Liam- ha!)

We joined a new gym and I'm working with a personal trainer now. One Saturday morning there was an outdoor class that I convinced Jackson to attend. He was thrilled. :)

Outdoor workout class

House progress

We finally gave in and realized that the backsplash was just not going to get done on a random weekend so we hired "the man." "The man" is the term I always use for getting a professional. Jackson loathes this term. What he did not loathe was being the one snapping the photos instead of the laborer. ;)

"The man" doing our backsplash

Drying...

Complete!

I'm so happy to have the kitchen completed remodeled and ready for major cooking!

Let's try this again...

The light above the dining room table gave us fits. I picked it out for my birthday without regard to how hard installation would be. Whoops! In the end Jackson figured it out and I helped him hold it up during install. Hey! I need some credit here too, folks! :)

We love how it is now centered over the table thanks to the whole washer exploding, hole in the ceiling repair thing we had. The silver lining of that fiasco was certainly moving where the light box was located. That is the only good part. The. Only. Good. Part.

SUCCESS!!!

Our Jackson's last project is to get the stairs from the 1st floor to the 2nd stained. He has them all stained now they just need a final coat and we'll be free of home improvement projects just in time for a busy Fall of travel. Hooray!

Final staircase treatment

Jackson has worked so hard on this place and he's so proud to show off all of his efforts. If you're ever in the area he gives a mean home tour. Look us up! ;)

Back in IN...

Coming back to reality is never easy. We've tried to keep ourselves busy, though.

We kicked off coming home by baking blueberry muffins. You know, because we didn't get enough blueberry stuff in Maine! ;)

Still eating blueberry muffins! 

My dear friend Shannon was kind enough to deliver peaches to us from the Georgia peach truck. This truck legitimately comes from Georgia filled to the brim with peaches and delivers the goodness to Central Indiana. Shannon dealt with the rain and crowds to score some produce and we appreciate it!

Peach cobbler...
Thanks again for the delivery, Shannon!

Jackson spent some time in Bloomington for work so I took a day off to hang with him down there (thanks again for the use of the condo, Uncle Charlie and Aunt Jill)! We went for an old fashioned tenderloin and Jackson loved life.

An Indiana tenderloin! 

He kept MacKenzie with him for his time in Btown so they sent me a selfie to let me know they were OK.

MacKenzie selfie

We finally got a chance to hang out with the Porterfield kiddos again, but Jax is too quick to photograph these days.

Making cookies is yummy!

MacKenzie was happy to be home and back on her perch. She actually waits at the door to be let out onto her balcony in the morning. I love it!

Keeping watch...

Since summer is winding down it was important that I get to see Sir Liam Mauck and his mommy before she returns to school. He was just a little happy to see me! Ok fine, maybe he was hungry and knew we would have food soon. Whatever! 

Excited lunch date!

We had a family wedding this weekend so Alex was in town. He and Jackson are on roughly the same maturity level friends so they played together around Van Buren.

Alex and Garfield 

The only time he is still

Until Alex finally stopped playing and fell asleep. He fought that sleep like none other, but eventually he was out! Jackson then had no choice but to play with the pups. They all were worn out by the end, too.

Macy, Addie and MacK playing ball with Jack

We're wrapping up house projects and look forward to continuing a relaxing summer around Fishers!

MacK ready for a game

Bar Harbor

This was supposed to post while we were on our trip....oops! Two weeks late is better than never?!

We slept in a bit this morning- still recovering from that bike ride- and then headed into town from breakfast. We ate at a dinner known for their wild blueberry pancakes and muffins. We had both. They were quite good. I got an omelet that didn't have cheese in it? What?! Is that a little un-American?!

Breakfast- wild blueberry pancakes

We'd heard about the Bar Island crossing where you can actually cross the harbor on foot during low tide. We made it just in time and crossed over. It was pretty cool. They had a ton of photos of cars that didn't get moved in time and were soon floating. Whoops! We made sure not to get stuck on the island waiting for the next tide!

In the middle of the body of water

Looking back at Bar Harbor

The view from Bar Island

We decided to take it easy today and headed back to the hotel for a bit.

The view from our hotel- fog rolling in

Ahhh pool time

We stayed out for a couple of hours reading (me) and playing in the water (Jackson) before heading out for the evening.

Give me lobster!

Digging in!

Wild blueberry pie- yum!

We had, you guessed it, seafood for our lunch/dinner. We had an excellent clam chowder and Jackson had another lobster. I got a chicken and vegetable pasta dish that was pretty good. Jackson's meal came with dessert and we thoroughly enjoyed our first ever blueberry pie. It is served warm with ice cream and was fantastic. The weather had turned a bit from our lovely sunny afternoon so we opted to drive around the island exploring.

Seal Harbor

Since the weather had gotten a little sad, the beach was empty. We still enjoyed it.

The water was not warm

Sailboats!

A stop at the marina

Bass Harbor Light

The rocky cliffs by the light

A view from the other side

We found another light house (or "light" as they call it here) and enjoyed hiking around its grounds. This one was far more rocky and rugged than any other one we'd seen. It was also far less crowded which was nice.

Lovely hike

Mr. Seagull taking it all in

It was pretty cool to see the other parts of the island that are far less touristy and more rustic. We've decided that we could not live up here- it lacks too much convenience- but it was cool to explore it. Tomorrow we head back to Boston to fly home in the evening. We're excited to get home to that little puppy of ours!!