After spending nearly a week total in Puerto Rico I realized that it needed it's own separate blog post! It really was like two vacations in one because we spent 4 days in Puerto Rico, then 7 days exploring the caribbean islands and then came back for 2 more days in San Juan.
We stayed in an Air bnb in the Ocean Park beach area, which was a great place to be!! Actually we were initially in a different air bnb, about 4 blocks from the beach but the noise at night was too much! I'm not even going to link that place because I can't recommend it to anyone. While it was aesthetically cute, the night life just steps away from the home was insane.
Thankfully we had booked a different Air bnb (link here: Enrique's Apartment) shortly after so we were able to move to this MUCH more peaceful home just one block from the beach in our photos! Our host was wonderful and it was simple and comfortable for our family.
The boys have not had swim lessons yet so their little floaty was a must! I love the beach over the pool any day so being able to walk there everyday was NICE. I think there was only one day of our entire trip where they weren't either on the beach or in the pool and that was because they needed to give their sun burn a rest! lol! We had read online that the waves in San Juan might be too much for the kids but it really wasn't bad. We watched them extra close but it was fine.
A little side note about the boys outfits for those who were asking: I'm linking everything in the "Shop my Looks" tab here on the blog so check back for more details. It's in the dropdown menu when you go up to the top. You'll notice that some of the items are double linked - meaning I might've linked their shorts to The Children's Place and Walmart. Here's why: The Children's Place has really cute stuff but their online shopping experience is a BEAST!! lol! No Joke!
Long story short - I ordered from The Children's Place online two times and both times they canceled my order with no explanation as to why! I called and emailed numerous times and they had no legit reasons, they just wouldn't process the orders!! haha!! They wouldn't replace my order over the phone or anything so basically, you can skip the drama and either go to a physical Children's Place store OR buy the same stuff at Walmart.com without dealing with horrible customer service!
Our time in Puerto Rico was a tad more exhausting for the boys because there's more walking, driving, etc. than on a cruise. It was hilarious because they would wake up late, get breakfast in bed and start walking to the beach and then one of them would inevitably say, "I'm tired!" lol!
San Juan reminds me so much of Mexico! Years ago my family had gone on mission trips to Mexico for weeks at a time and then in 2017 Brandon and I went to Puerto Vallarta for a vacation (read about our Puerto Vallarta trip here) so it was really easy to adjust to our new surroundings!! In just a couple days I heard Bryce repeating Spanish words he heard on the radio and from the children around them. I can imagine if we spent any longer there they would start understanding people faster than me!!
First kite flying experience for the boys happened right here! :-)
My friend, Cristina Guerra lives in Humacao, Puerto Rico so we got to spend an afternoon with her and her beautiful family! She and her husband Jerry lead the Young Life ministry there and back when the hurricane hit, their home and the homes of a lot of the teens they work with were impacted and/or completely destroyed. Thankfully they were able to go back January 2018 and continue their ministry.
It was so fun catching up with her and hearing about how God is working in their lives. You can learn more about Young Life and their ministry by clicking HERE and donate to their mission work by clicking HERE!
We visited the rainforest before we went on our cruise, but honestly it wasn't the highlight! lol! Visiting with our friends, making new friends (Valentina! ;-)) and enjoying the San Juan beaches was what we really enjoyed. When we returned from our cruise we walked to Old San Juan and went to The Forte.
We could've (and probably should've) taken a taxi instead of walking an hour from Condado Beach to The Forte but what's the fun in that?! :-) Walking is so good because you get to take it all in! The boys found more lizards and iguanas than ever before on that walk and we got to take photos at all the cool murals and spots we had passed before but couldn't find parking to stop and enjoy. It was a fun walk that left us all sore and grateful for the taxi back!! LOL!!
The Forte was incredible!! Loved learning the history behind it and the boys enjoyed running through all the tunnels :-) If I were to go back I would probably take the time to visit Culebra Island and Flamenco Beach. Since we were visiting so many different islands and some of the top beaches in the world already, we decided not to do that but on a different trip I definitely would go!
Thanks for reading! I'll be posting about all the islands SOON! Still sorting through photos - ohhh so many photos!
xoxo
Deanna