Brief Trip Summary

It's hard to summarize all the adventures of the trip to Puerto Rico--starting with being stranded at the Bozeman airport for 8 hours before we'd even left, missing all our connections, and having to stay overnight in Atlanta! Once we finally got there, we certainly enjoyed the tropical weather, beautiful scenery, change in culture, and time with Nate's family. We stayed at a beautiful, small hotel right on the beach in close proximity to Old San Juan, the more fast-paced Condado strip, and Nate's extended family--the Marvels. Some of the highlights included a trip on a catamaran out to some small islands for swimming/snorkeling, sightseeing in Old San Juan, big dinners with the Marvels, eating some authentic Puerto Rican food at Bebo's restaurant, Nate's fishing trip for tarpon, our daily rum drinks/happy hour on the patio, and a quiet day at the beach called Pinones (known to Nate's family as the "Crazy Lady Beach" from trips there when he was growing up and a crazy lady would wander around hitting herself on the head with a stick--she wasn't there this time.) Claire loved the extra attention of her cousins, Tia and Bruce, and Nema. Seeing the cousins play together was a highlight everyday.

Claire handled all the new situations well. She thrives on new adventures, places, and people. The hardest part is actually reigning her in. She wants to race around the airport, climb ladders on boats, jump into swimming pools, race into the street, run right into the ocean--all regardless of whether we're with her or not. On the days we actually tried to schedule a nap, she couldn't even settle down enough to sleep and would just lay in the pack and play jabbering away. Of course, the fact that her diet seemed to largely consist of lollipops, candy canes, and raisins probably didn't help matters.

We commented this morning that in 2008 we'd visited the Pacific Ocean in Washington, Atlantic Ocean at Cape Cod, and now the Caribbean...wonder what adventures 2009 will hold? Happy New Year!