Puerto Rico 2013 Part I

Just got back yesterday from our family vacation to Puerto Rico!  I say Part I because these are just my pictures which are not many.  Spencer took a whole bunch so when he has uploaded his I will make another post.  I have to admit that I was quite lame in the picture taking department.  In my defense, though two days into the trip I got a serious head cold--complete with sore throat, runny nose, stuffed up ears, plugged sinuses, the whole shebang!  Needless to say, I was too busy feeling the cold bug to get the photo bug going!

So two nights before we left, I came home from work, looked in Spencer's bedroom and this is what I saw on his bed.  It cracked me up.  It was so him!  All color coordinated and laid out like a fancy department store.  Too funny!

 The obligatory photo at the airport in Seattle before we took off for our 12 hour journey to Puerto Rico.  Six hours to Philadelphia, an hour and a half layover then four & a half hours to Puerto Rico--something like that.  We left at 6:00am our time and go there at 9:30 their time.

 Another funny shot of Spencer.  Not sure why he didn't just close the window, but apparently he needed the darkness to sleep.  Very funny.

 Won't go into the slightly worrisome trip from the airport to the place we were staying at 10:30 at night (by time our luggage came) in the dark of course.  We did find it though.  We stayed in Fajardo which is about 35 miles from San Juan.  Not sure why Dennis picked it (proximity to the rain forest & zip line I'm guessing).  It was slightly sketchy, but then you could also call it a good taste of local flavor!  These first shots are the view from our balcony on the 4th floor of the condo we stayed in.  Pretty awesome right!?  View to the right.

 View towards the center.

 View towards the left.  In all views I have cut out the sketchy street which ran right in front of the condos.  It was a gated group of condos up on the hill and the street that ran right in front of it had some really interesting local establishments.  Though we did eat twice at one of them just across the street.

 This is the balcony.  I spent many an hour out here reading on the longer deck couch.  It was really quite lovely!

 This is the church in downtown Fajardo.  I thought is was quite colorful as many buildings are in Puerto Rico (more of those in Spencer's photos from Old San Juan)

 Boys in the square in Fajardo.

 One day we drove into El Yunque which is the rain forest national park.  We took a hike down to this waterfall where Tucker was the only brave soul who got in.  We were all pretty damp at that point from the rain, but he is the only one to fully dip.  He did try to go all the way behind, but it was coming down too hard.

 As you can see it is a pretty popular destination.  Tucker said it was kind of cold and he ended up getting a bit of a headache from standing under the flow.

 The next day, we visited Old San Juan and El Moro which is the old Spanish Fort that guards the entrance into San Juan harbor.  It was pretty amazing to think about it being build (slave & indigenous labor I'm sure--definitely wasn't the Spaniards doing the constructing)

 We wandered all around.  Which is the most I can say about it, because this is the day I felt the most miserable.  My nose & head were completely stuffed and it was about 90 degrees so I was sweating like crazy.  Not my finest hour.  So just enjoy the photos that I did take.

 So I do have to explain the iguana.  It looks like he is out level from me, but this is looking down about a 100 foot wall.  He was about 20 yards down the wall looking up at us--a straight vertical drop.  It was crazy.  He hardly moved.

 There were two ends of the fort.  In between the two there was this awesome graveyard (for very rich people certainly given the size of the tombstones).  We wandered around a bit.  It was pretty impressive.

 This was right in the middle of the graveyard.  We took a minute her to just catch our breath in the shade before moving on to explore old San Juan (again photos coming by Spencer of that).

 The next day was our zip lining day.  Sadly, we did not take any photos of the actual zip lining because we didn't take the cameras for concern about the rain which didn't actually present a problem in the end.  So, this first picture is the platform where we started.

 This shows the 7 ziplines we got to ride.  One of them was over 1000 yards long.  It was pretty awesome.  This and the kayaking in the BioBay were the highlights of the trip.  We didn't get pictures of the bio bay trip either because of the water.  There may be a couple that I can get from the tour group.

 This is the last night at the restaurant across the street from the condo.  It had a great view of the bay, but it was really windy!

 At the restaurant.

  I wish I would have felt better, but most important was the kids thought the trip was awesome which is all that matters!

Easter 2013

Saturday night before Easter I looked out the window at my flowering plum tree as the sun was setting and the tree just looked amazing.  I ran out to get a photo. It was hard to get a good shot because the wind was blowing pretty hard but I think I still managed to get some cool shots.  I always love the spring when all our trees flower up like this! 

 

This first shot was with the fish eye turned on on the camera.  I thought it was kind of cool.

These next two shots turned out pretty well.

 

 Decorating eggs is still something the boys enjoy.  We had to wait until Spencer got home from work so we actually decorated the eggs at 9:30 at night.

 I had to include this shot of Spencer because it looks like a bad photo shop of his head on his body when in reality that's just how his head was.  I think it's kind of funny.

 They LOVE each other so much!

 After coloring them, Spencer took a sharpie and drew faces on all of the eggs.  These are the ones that were left as of today.  I just think they are funny.  The first two on the top row are Be and Yonce' which were the first faces he drew.  He had names for all of them, but don't ask me what they were

 Cooper drew on a couple eggs too, but not many.

 Spencer, holding Be & Yonce' (and hamming it up--or is that his natural face?)

 I had to get a clos-up of this egg because I think it is rather clever what he did.  I guess this little egg has a head injury.  I love the spider webbing crack on the egg and the little stick hand up to the head.  Too funny!

 So if you look closely on the counter in the egg decorating photos you will see Spencer hard at work on the concoction he was assembling for "brunch" Easter morning.  It was something he saw on Rachael Ray (before she found out she had diabetes I imagine and lost all that weight).  Anyway, it's baked french toast with a "praline" topping.  It was 20 slices of french bread with an egg mixture of eggs, 1/2 n 1/2, milk, cinnamon...that is poured over the top.  You let it refrigerate overnight and the next day you cover it with the praline stuff which is 1/2 lb of butter, pecans, nutmeg and cinnamon.  Yes, it WAS rich--but yummy.

 So Dennis works with a woman who's husband is a mechanic and just happened to have a 1991 Subaru Legacy wagon that he had been working on.  Dennis found out about it and figured it was the perfect car for Spencer.

And it was!!  Here he is Easter morning just after getting back from buying it from the mechanic.  It was super clean inside and in great shape.  The engine was clean and the price was good.  Best of all as far as he is concerned--it has a sun roof.  He's mostly a happy camper (mostly because he is a little freaked about paying himself back after buying it from his savings and the car insurance.  He DOES like not having to walk to school though!

 

We all went to church together (including Dennis & Tucker) which was nice and then had Easter dinner at Oma & Opa's after.  It was a beautiful sunny day as you can see. 



21 and the Doodle Cup

See how times have changed?  Tucker turned 21 in Feburary and I only post one photo.  You take a bazillion baby pictures but only about 3 or 4 photos of your baby turning 21.  A Freudian way on saying you can't face that your baby is 21?? Perhaps.  He still can't smile with his eyes open though!

 So I came home one day and found this cup on the dining room table.  I guess Spencer had a little free time on his hands.  Apparently Karen is not the only doodler in the family.

 Another angle of the Doodle Cup.

 Still another side of the cup.

 And the final side of the cup.  I just thought it was kind of funny given Karen's doodle post.

 Now this last picture was on that Spencer drew for his English 102 class, and yes, that would be a college level 102 class.  Not don't ask me the context in which this would qualify as completing any assignment BUT...I still thought it was rather clever of him.  His teacher DID say they could draw a picture to show something about "identity".  He asked for suggestions and I said do something with the letters thinking more along the lines of I is for Individual; D is for...but his thought was how about if I make the letters people.  So here's what he came up with. 

My personal fav is the breakdancing Y guy.  I think it's rather fun.  That's pretty much what I've got that passes for something new at the Chandler home.  At least I changed up my post!

Christmas in January

Christmas came and went in it's typical breeze in, breeze out fashion but the gifts just kep on coming.  Now these first ones I gave myself.  I had some dress shoes I wear to work that the "leather" started peeling off so I decided it was time to get some new black shoes to wear with my pants.  I also was looking for something besides tennis shoes to wear with jeans. So...

 

 I found these 1/2 cowboy shoes--they really do look like cowboy books when you wear them with jeans and these cute little black slip ons.  Kind of fun.  I'm digging the "cowboy boots" though.

Next came a package in the mail from Inkom Crazy Lady (a.k.a Karen) which got me wondering what the heck it could be.  Low and behold the Doodle Queen (a.k.a. Karen) had sent me one of her doodle bags!!  Now I have two incredibly cute bags--one from Karen & one from Kelsey a talented mother daughter duo.  I could seriously sell their bags up here like hotcakes.  Seattle has banned plastic grocery bags and the grocery stores (and department stores) have to charge you for paper ones.  So people are bringing their own reusable bags.  Who wouldn't want to take a bag this cute shopping??

 My friend came by one night with another new year's gift for me.  She and her daughter had bought lots of fun fabric to make aprons for gifts.  This one hanging on our new door is the one she made for me.

We did get new doors to replace all the internal doors in the house that were suddenly too short because of the missing carpet.  We are not sure if we are going to paint them or not.  We kind of like the wood look.  We do have to finish them in some way, but just not sure what yet.  So here I am in the apron.  I'm sure it would look better if I wasn't standing with my arms in back and had taken a shower and done something with my hair and I was ten years younger and 10 pounds lighter and who cares...

 So Dennis won a $500 Amazon gift card from work because of the hard work he did visiting all the AAA stores and encouraging the employees to push the AAA credit card.  They had a big contest where sales people who got 10 people signed up for the credit card were entered for a drawing and for every person they signed up they got $25.  It was very successful so Dennis won 3rd place in the national AAA drawing.  Wondering what he got with the $500??  Well one thing is the Kindle below which he got for me.  Quite surprising.

I had no idea.  He just came home one night and said close your eyes and hold your hands out.  I wasn't even asking for one he just did it.  He said now you can take more books to read with you when we travel.    Haven't read any books on it, but I have gotten hooked on playing Sudoku on it.
Haven't posted in a bit and this was the most interesting stuff I could come up with.  Not sure why January was such a "gifty" month but it was fun!

Christmas 2012

So the first picture really isn't from Christmas, it is from Thanksgiving but I had to share it because is so funny.  Tucker & Spencer found a new use for the caps from the top of the sparkling cider.  Spencer has the metal caps over his eyes & Tucker has the plastic covers you use when you want to save it after you open it.  It's what boys get up to when dinner is done!

 Pretty much every year we have gone out and cut down our own tree.  This year Tucker had to work so he didn't get to come sadly.  So here is Cooper looking manly with the saw in his shorts--which I think I have mentioned before that he wears them year round.  The only time he isn't in shorts is on Sunday.  Even then, if he could figure out a way for dress shorts to be acceptable he would wear them to church.

 Spencer picked out the tree we finally settled on.  It only took about 10 minutes of looking at the most.  I didn't like noble firs so much when we first started getting them, but I have to admit they have grown on me over the years and I think the right kind of noble is the best because you can really display your ornaments.

 It actually wasn't as muddy as it looks in this photo, but we definitely were lucky to get a day without rain to get our tree!

The place that had the trees also had these cute little donkeys.  Spencer asked if I thought they would bite before he decided to try petting them.

Cooper this morning.  Not sure why he was wearing that hat.  It wasn't cold in the house!

Spencer was also sporting a stocking cap.  Guess it was the fashion of the day.

Specner gave me the salt & pepper shaker for Christmas.  He was "tired of the picnic ones we always use."  They were not on my list but I guess that is okay. :-)

Tucker and Tae. 

Cooper again.

So this was the best gift I got today!  It is a bag made by my neice Kelsey!  She posted about them on Facebook and Dennis asked her to make one for me.  Isn't it the cutest thing!?

Here's the best part.  This is the note that she attached to the bag.  So you can see from the note that the lace & button on the bag are from my mom's sewing supplies.  The note is written on the button card from Sears.  It has to be pretty old judging from the tag and how long ago it was that Sears was in Idaho Falls and mom would have  shopped there.  It made me cry when I read it!

So here is a close up of the button.  Best gift ever.

I realized after I uploaded all the pictures that I didn't have one of Dennis which I should since he is the one who asked for the bag for me.  Again, best gift ever!!!! Love it.  I'm a lucky woman for sure.