Jackson Rigby Nesmith: Puerto Rico!!

Happy Valentine's Day! We had the best Valentine's Day you could possibly imagine!! We boarded on a plane and headed to beautiful, sunny Puerto Rico. We had the most blissful 5 days and 4 nights!! It has certainly been our best vacation so far and I think it is probably because our kids are at an easy travel age. We went with our good friends the Konops and had the most amazing time!! There are tons of pictures, so get ready! Before we headed out, we had to celebrate Valentine's day. Here is Beckett "holding" his 2 flowers for his teachers before his school party. I am pretty sure most of the petals were gone before the teachers got them!!

Valentine's morning! Time to open up some gifts!!

Jackson got some candy, a new book, and a new Lego set!

Beckett also got some candy, a new book, and a wooden shape puzzle.

Then we were off! Both boys did great on the flights. It was about 3 hours, which is the longest flight we have ever taken, but they were perfect! It was by far the bumpiest flight we have ever been on, but it didn't seem to phase them! Mommy and Daddy, on the other hand, were a little nervous!

10 minutes into the flight and he was out!

We made it! The view from our room was gorgeous!!

In February, the waves in Puerto Rico and huge! Some 20 feet tall!! Luckily, the hotel is surrounded by a natural rock barrier that blocked them. It was beautiful to see the waves crashing over the rocks. There were also a lot of critters to see on the rocks. The kids found snails, sea urchins, and crabs. Unfortunately, Jackson stepped on sea urchin and ended up with about 15 barbs in his feet. We tried to get them out but were unsuccessful. Luckily, there have been no signs of infection so far!

Aidan getting buried!

Guess who had to do it next!

The first day we spent the entire day at the resort. The kids played on the beach and then put some serious time on this water slide! They must have gone up and down that slide a thousand times!

They look like ducks crossing the water :)

Beckett was too scared to go down by himself, so Greg and I would have to take him. The slide was actually pretty fast and fun!

My great friend, Christine, was born in Puerto Rico and gave us lots of tips for our trip. One of her favorite childhood memories was of the ice cream vendors walking down the beach selling coconut ice cream. We had to try it, and is was delicious!

The next day we headed on a jungle excursion. It was an all day adventure with the first half in the jungle and the second half at the beach. Payton didn't have a swim shirt, so they went to the gift shop to get her one. Twins!

First waterfall in the jungle!

Family shot!

I was the only one in my crew brave enough to enter the 65 degree water. Brrr!!!

Jackson would only let his feet get wet.

Jungle hat!

On another tip from Christine, we headed to a restaurant on the beach called Pamela's. The food was great but the atmosphere was even better.

The kids ran around playing on the beach while the adults enjoyed a quite dinner :)

This was too funny. We didn't do naps and it finally caught up with Beckett. as we were getting ready for dinner one night, this is how I found him.

He was so tired he didn't wake up!

The next day was a resort day filled with beach and pool time! We decided to buy these floats for the kids and they tried to do a little boogie boarding with them.

Jackson doing a little snorkeling.

The kids decided they would try their floats down the water slide. Super fun!

Weeee!!

The scenery was so beautiful!!

Our last morning, we had a breakfast picnic on the lawn, and then it was time for some history!

Relaxing on the hammock before we have to leave :(

Our flight wasn't until 3 in the afternoon, so we headed to Old San Juan for a little history. We explored a fort that has been standing since the 1500s!!

It was super windy!!

Incredible to think what life must have been like for all the soldiers in the 1500s.

This was actually the kitchen area.

Best buds

Because of where the fort is located, the trade winds are always flowing through this area. On another tip from Christine, it is the best place to fly a kite!