Visits and Travels

We had a great time with Jeremy and Wendy. They arrived on Thursday afternoon (3/9), and I picked them up from the airport and also found a great bakery en route (got bread for dinner). Ben worked both Thursday and Friday, putting in some of the longest days he has ever done since we got here. Having company during those two evenings was great! Saturday we went to Old San Juan, looked around, had lunch, etc. See our previous posts on this part of the city if you want to see what it looks like (if you click the link, you have to scroll down to find the pictures). Sunday was rest and worship, and Monday and Tuesday we headed to Culebra – a little island off the NE corner of, and governed by, Puerto Rico. Most nights we stayed up a little too late hanging out.

The beaches on Culebra island are like those you see in pictures of or movies set in the Carribean. The sand is white and beautiful, the beaches are flatter than most and so even big waves break gently, and there are few people anywhere. Even a long way from shore the water is crystal clear, and the fish and coral in the snorkeling areas are beautiful (well, mostly. Ben and Jeremy met a barracuda). We felt like we could spend a long time there. We had a great dinner together on Monday and had some tasty eats and good conversation. The fish platter pictured above was Ben’s red snapper (pictures coming later, hopefully).

And lest this seem a little too romantic, here’s the rest of the story: the ferry ride to Culebra – though extremely cheap – made all of us (except Mariah) sea sick; the girls took few naps and were a bit of mess; we had an enormous amount of stuff with us (2 pack’n’plays, a double stroller, suitcase, backpack, diaper bag, cooler, and bucket of sand toys); and though the hotel was clean and we had a fridge, it was lacking in basic hotel supplies (box springs, washcloths, shampoo, bar soap, etc. – but we knew from prior experience to expect this).

A great time and many memories were made by all!

Going Home

Going Home #1 - we are coming back to Indiana on April 5. Three of us have feelings on the matter and one of us is clueless.

Going Home #2 - Jeremy and Wendy (friends from Bloomington) visited us from 3/9-15. We had an awesome time.... more on that later. It was hard to say good-bye to them as we realized what an incredible blessing good friends are!

Lily has learned about home. She can tell you her name "Esh-er Yi-yan" (Esther Lillian), and with prompting she'll say "Yarson". She knows her address "601 Siempre Viva", and she knows where she lives "Port-a-rico". Many times when we leave our house to run errands, she says "Bye Lily's house". PR has become her home. She also knows now that we're going to a "new house" and that we will "go airplane see Buka Nonna" (go on an airplane and see Grandpa and Nonna). Upon probing, she may say that the new house is in "Ana" (Indiana).

We're having Butler University "Spirit Day" in honor of Uncle John today!

Do you like Mariah's crazy "smile" in the 2nd picture? This is the face she makes when you tell her to smile!

Ben worked 13 hours on Friday, and then turned around and went back in to work almost a whole day on Saturday. A portion of the project is supposed to finish this week, so they are meeting lots of deadlines and "urgent issues".

We are looking forward to Jeremy and Wendy coming on Thursday!

"Hun"

You know that tone of voice you use with a family member when you need to ask a little favor that, basically, they have to grant because it's necessary, but it won't really inconvenience them too much? Such as, "I need to run to the bathroom, could you just wait one second before you do x so I can be there too?" or "Can I run and grab x real quick before we leave?"

So in that tone of voice, I heard a little voice from the back seat of the car, just as we were driving by the neighborhood park: "Hun! Play park! Few minutes!"

Hun = abbreviated form of "Honey" by which the parents of that little voice frequently address each other.

Muffled laughter ensued from the driver's seat!