Day 7: San Juan, Puerto Rico

The weather on this day resulted in the public beaches being closed to swimming, but that didn't dampen too much of our fun. Since we are used to Minnesota weather, just being able to hang out at beach is vacation enough. Shorts and sandals and the sound of waves crashing? Yes please. 

Hope you enjoyed :) Ben doesn't work tonight so we get to spend the whole day together...I love weekends. 

{Links to other days of our trip}
Day 1 Miami
Day 2 Christmas Eve
Day 3 Christmas
Day 4 at Sea
Day 5 St. Maarten Part 1 and Part 2
Day 6 St.Thomas
Day 7 Puerto Rico
Day 8 Grand Turk

I tried.

get it? a turtle on the internet?
as in slow?!

I tried to post today but technology is not on my side.

My internet is being difficult, and ornery...as in barely functioning. Maybe it's time we bite the bullet and pay the extra 5 bucks to make it faster.

And. My computer has a mind of its own. Well at least the volume controls do. I won't even touch the volume and yet it pops up on my screen every two minutes which makes it hard to see what you are typing underneath.

So instead of getting photos you get these few words. I am sure I am more disappointed than any of you are. haha.

Goodnight :)

Hope you all have wonderful Fridays!

Winter Weekend Away

This past weekend took forever to get here. I think we were all counting down the days before. We laughed about the anticipation and expectations being better than the real thing, but we all knew that such things were a lie. It would be fun. It was fun.

Ellie and I spent the morning before we left grocery shopping and baking. The boys got off work in the afternoon so we kept ourselves busy baking some delicious muffins. We attempted to pack the car beforehand but it was ridiculously cold and for some reason each time we went outside I dumbly forgot to wear my mittens...so my fingers were unbendable and unusable in about two minutes. We would shove a few bags in the trunk while transporting those random things Ellie stores in her trunk into our garage so that we had room for all the stuff we needed to bring. It was a tight fit to say the least. Ellie and I shared the backseat with Zach's unpractical "hiking bag" that had metal polls running through it's back and a laundry basket filled with a crockpot, iron, nintendo wii and other random objects. Needless to say we were cozy after we stopped arguing (*arguing is a loose term when it comes to Ellie and I...we tend to fake fight about silly things but we always know we are kidding)  over who had less room on their side by comparing where the laundry basket covered the stitching on the car seat. (Ellie had a good two extra inches of room...trust me) haha.

So we packed our frozen bodies into the car and drove first to Papa Murphey's to get a pizza for our dinner. We had originally planned on making our own homemade pizza but scratched that for something easier. After all of our creative packing however the only place left for the pizza was on top of the filled laundry basket between Ellie and I. (the boys had endless amounts of room in the front by the way)

It should also be mentioned that we made one last stop at Starbucks where Ellie, Zach, and I ran in to get some much needed liquid warmth. Oh and Zach conveniently forgot his wallet. Good thing we liked him enough to help the guy out. If anyone understands the need for coffee, Ellie and I do.

All snug in "safe car", aka Ellie's vehicle, we drove off.

I would talk about the scenery but our windows never defrosted in the back, and so we didn't see much of it. The boys had a hard enough time keeping the windshield clear. It wasn't even snowing. Simply too cold for the car to keep up. 30 Below will do that you see.

It was a fun ride spend searching for radio stations as our options became fewer and fewer.

Upon our arrival we once again braved the cold and carried in all our belongings. (You would have thought we were staying for weeks)

And then we waited. For Bekah.
Three hours later she was there.

And Then...the fun began. First on our list, Ben's new Wii Party game. Below you will find a collage of photos taken during the "hide and seek" portion of the game. Basically someone hides the four controllers while everyone else waits in another room. They then come out and try to find them all in a set amount of time. Meanwhile the controllers make animal noises every thirty seconds or so. The photos don't quite show the frantic feeling of the scene, but trust me it was quite funny to witness (which explains why I felt a need to capture it).

Besides Wii, we played many other games: Uno attack, Settlers, Trivial Pursuit, Pass the Pigs, Balderdash, Phase 10, and Rook. Rook is kind of a sore subject because it is a little stressful to those that were told they were a "bad partner" last time we played. Ellie I hope you can forgive Ben for his harsh words, haha. I on the other hand seem to love the game even though I tend to get last every time.

notice the matching shorts they put on for the occasion.

We finally made it outside on Saturday. We chose this day because we felt lazy after spending all of Friday
inside and the weather was finally above zero.

It ended with some tackling.

And we also did some sewing. Well the boys read and played nintendo. Even Ellie managed to get some sewing done. We all decided to make quilts together. My quilt is still a work in progress, but Bekah pretty much finished hers. 

Overall it was a lovely weekend.

THE END.

Adults.

Okay. So this will be brief.

We returned from the cabin on Sunday evening but I won't share too much about that right now because I have high hopes of uploading all those photographs and sharing about the weekend then. All you need to know is that many board games were played, some quilts were sewn, and there was not a lack of food.

In other news, I have begun substitute teaching this week. I was in a second grade classroom yesterday and I am actually going back again today. I figured I might as well go back to a room that I am somewhat familiar with. It was a pretty good day overall, but I'm not sure if I can see myself in a second grade classroom in the future.

I also managed to smash my knee against the desk at school so I was feeling pretty old by the time I got home and found an ice pack to lessen the bruise that formed. This morning it is feeling much better.

Ben also surprised me with some flowers and a date last night to celebrate my beginnings as a substitute. Some beautiful yellow daisies and dinner at my favorite restaurant. We don't go out to eat much these days so it was a nice surprise. We had planned on going out to a movie too (another big deal haha) but after I got my job for today we decided to just rent a movie and watch it at home so I wouldn't be up so late.

We had a little laugh about the ending of our big night on the town because it ended with a romantic trip to walmart to pick up food for my lunches and toilet paper. So glamorous aren't we?

Going to bed early instead of going to a movie theater.

Ending our date night with a walmart toilet paper run.

Icing my knee while watching a rented movie.

Maybe we really are adults now. Ha.


Well I need to finish my coffee so I am ready to tackle the day. Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Good Stuff.

I've yet to pack for the weekend.

I've yet to do the laundry I was planning to do.

I did make the bed.

I've yet to clean up my dishes from dinner. Pancakes and turkey sausage.

I've yet to open a book.

I've only loaded up Pandora and listened to Mumford and Sons. 

For a few hours.

While sipping my now lukewarm coffee.

Oh unproductive evening...how you embrace me. 

Put some music on and just listen for a while. Trust me. Mumford and Sons if you wish. I made it easy for you.

Thoughts on the weather.

Sometimes I wonder why I live somewhere so cold. It has been snowing off and on for the last two weeks. I don't even bother with reading/watching the weather because I can tell you what it will be like. Cold. Windy. Snow.

Now I realize that this sounds like a complaint, and in some (okay many) ways it is. I am just astounded at how quickly I forget what winter can be like in the city that I now call home. The summer months seem to have a way of convincing you that winter can't be that bad, it cannot possibly get that cold.

 It's a lie though. It does get that cold, year after year. I realize other parts of the state experience the same cold, but what makes it so different here is one thing...wind.

{Definition of Wind. air moving (sometimes with considerable force)

 from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure} 

Some days it makes you regret even leaving your front door. At least your frozen car feels warm even before turning the key in the ignition simply because you are saved from the wind getting inside.

That wind that makes any layer you put on feel like a rag.

That wind that makes it a sudden emergency that you get inside the door NOW.

It makes you run everywhere, one door to another. There are no glamorous walks in the snow these days, because instead I am concentrating on shuffling as fast as I can...shuffling is more realistic than running when I am wearing my unprepared footwear. On a side note, how/why do girls wear high heals in the winter? PUT SOME BOOTS ON! 


Thankfully my car does have heat, but unfortunately it doesn't get a chance to warm up until I have reached my destination. I once shared with Ben half seriously/half jokingly that I have to concentrate on not biting my tongue off while driving home from work because my teeth are chattering so violently. He laughed and said I was exaggerating. I wasn't. Ha.

The coldness does have its benefits.

Hot coffee tastes better.

And hanging around in sweatpants suddenly becomes more acceptable. AND if conversation fails when with your friends you can always complain about the weather, although this is usually a more appropriate topic while running to your destination from the car.

Someday...

I want a chandelier in my house.

For instance,

The End

(don't worry Benjamin. I'm willing to be patient)


*and by patient I mean we can wait until we own a house in 10 years and then I will find a chandelier at a thrift store and paint it some exciting color. It will be lovely.