Puerto Rico, 2023.

Back in July we spent a week in Puerto Rico with my parents! We were very excited and a little nervous — after all, it was the first flight we’d taken since 2018! Turns out, I’m a nervous flyer these days. Lola and Eva had never been on a plane and the last time Javi had flown, he was only 18 months old. But the flight didn’t disappoint! Everything went well once we were in the air. We did have a six hour delay after arriving to the airport. 🙂 I can’t even blog about that because I’ve totally blocked it out of my memory. ha!

Anyway, because of the initial delay we landed in San Juan pretty late and our rental house was about 2.5 hours away. So we didn’t get there until 11PM or maybe even midnight. The kids were fast asleep… me too, pretty much. But once the sun came up the next day, we looked around the house, explored the beach, jumped in the pool, and drove to nearby places for food and treats.

The house pool was the definite MVP of the trip. The kids never wanted to leave the pool, not even for the beach which was right next door! We did convince them to leave for lunch and gelato the first day, but as soon as the food was consumed they asked to go back. So we ended up getting takeout for many meals so that we could keep enjoying the pool.

One day we drove to Ponce to do a little sightseeing and shopping. Javi and Lola each decided on an outfit that completely shouted “I’m in Puerto Rico” — Eva chose something a bit more subtle — a woman’s size small romper. 🙂 Then they continued to wear those same outfits for the rest of the trip!

One of the funniest things that we noticed on this trip was how frequently our meals bled into each other. We’d sit down at a restaurant at noon for lunch and leave the restaurant around 3PM and it was already time to think about the dinner plan! One night a nearby town was having an art festival so we visited and the kids wore their newest Puerto Rico outfits and people were asking to take their photos because they just loved their clothing choices. That made the kids feel pretty good about themselves.

Once we hit the middle of the week, we said goodbye to Rincon and the house with the pool and switched our lodging to an apartment in San Juan. On the way there, we stopped at a really popular beach for the day.

Without the house with the pool, it was hot. Like hot, hot. Like remember when I complained about Disney World being hot in July of 2022… well, Puerto Rico was hotter. Everyone else did better than me with the heat and they continued on exploring San Juan. I spent the hottest part of each day in the apartment, napping and relaxing in the quiet. 🙂

One day, we visited the town where my dad grew up and the kids thought that was just so fun AND loved that they could climb on top of the house and hang out on the roof.

On the last day, they all visited El Morro which is a fort (I took a nap!) BUT! They collected another junior ranger badge just like throughout our trip out west!

We had such a fun time and the kids have asked every single day since getting home, when we are going back to Puerto Rico! My only ask is that we skip the month of July next time! 🙂