The Final Installment

Adventure #21:  Baba Ganoush--Adventures in Cooking

Well, this adventure was a flop.  Ok, as far as the adventurousness of it goes, it was great, but the food itself turned out gross.  Which is too bad, because I've had baba ganoush that I REALLY like, but this homemade stuff--bleagh.  But it was my first time processing food in my new little food processor, and I can't wait to make something tastier, like hummus!

Adventure #22:  Puerto Rico Day 1

Oh my goodness, Puerto Rico is so amazing!  I LOVED this vacation!  I'm so so grateful to Skyelr for taking me!  Let me tell you all about it, and be prepared for LOTS of pictures!  So our first day we woke up far too early, drove to the airport, and flew down to San Juan.  We were pretty tired by the time we got settled into our hotel room, plus it was raining cats and dogs, but we still managed to get out and explore a little bit.  Near our hotel was a BEAUTIFUL walking path around Condado Lagoon which we walked along for a bit until I just got too wet and decided to call it a day.  We got some groceries at the local supermarket just down the street from our hotel.  We also made friends with one of the cab drivers that hung around the hotel; he LOVED Tommy.  Everyone seemed to love him, actually.  He's got such a little personality!  Traveling with Tommy sure is fun. 

Just down the street from the hotel.  It was so humid and rainy the picture didn't turn out great, but oh well!

Me and Tommy soaking wet!  He loved it though!

Adventure #23:  Puerto Rico Day 2 

Be prepared for lots of pictures of today.  It was action packed!  We figured out the bus system, which I kinda loved.  It was only 75 cents a ride, and it took us right into the heart of Old San Juan.  It practically spat us out at the old conquistador forts which we explored.  Tommy loved these forts!  His favorite was going through a tunnel in one of them; he just yelled the whole time to hear his voice echoing.  We visited two old forts from the 1500s, we found Coast Guard Station San Juan, we walked through some amazing jungley gardens, and we tried mufongo, which is a Puerto Rican specialty made from mashed plantains and meat.  And after we returned to the hotel to apply sunscreen, we walked around Condado Lagoon in the beautiful sunshine.  I wish I could live there!  It was gorgeous!

Skye with the Castillo de San Cristobal in the background

Tommy and I on the walls of the Castillo de San Cristobal

In a dungeon in a tunnel in the fort

Now this was cool: "The ships drawn on the wall may be the work of a Spanish captain held here to await execution for mutiny"

And here are the ships drawn on the wall.  Cool, huh?

More of San Cristobal

Too bad Skye blinked, but I did do a good job capturing the arches, if I may say so myself.

Amazing views from the fort walls!

Ok, and for some reason whenever I pose for a picture with Tommy on my back I hunch over. 

Skye on San Cristobal's walls

Old San Juan and a giant rooster painted on a building!

Approaching the second fort we visited, the Castillo San Felipe Del Morro

And a llama statue!

The lighthouse on del Morro

Castillo San Felipe del Morro

Skye and Tommy and del Morro

It's beautiful, no?

And these are the jungley gardens we found

Wahoo!

Handsome men and cool trees

Cool garden, huh?  I never quite know what to do with my hands in sitting pictures.

The streets are paved with blue brick.  It's a little hard to see in this photo, but it looks really cool!

Cool tree, huh?

More jungley gardens with busts!

The whole peninsula is surrounded by this old cool wall.

I love fountains.

Another view of the fountain

Tommy got to sit in this super cool high chair for lunch.

Sunburned boy!  With sunscreen hair gel spiking his hair up.

I found this little hermit crab on the sidewalk walking around the lagoon.

Adventure #24: Puerto Rico Day 3

Whew!  That was a lot of pictures!  I don't think there are quite so many pictures for day three.  We went to the beach in the morning and Tommy played in the ocean for the first time!  Oh my goodness, it was SO GORGEOUS!  Most beautiful beaches ever!  We went to Old San Juan again for mufongo, and on our way back out we bought some young coconuts and drank coconut water!

Look at that beautiful water!

Yes!  Just wanna go swim!

Tommy's first time in the sand at the beach

First time playing in the ocean!

Eating fried plantains

Me and my mufongo! 

Buko juice!

Adventure #25:  Puerto Rico Day 4

Well, I only have one picture for our last day in Puerto Rico, because we were kinda too busy getting back to the airport to take many pictures.  We took the bus towards the airport, thinking we'd get as close as we could on the bus and then take a taxi, but we ended up at the bus station and saw one that was headed to "Aeropuerto" so we took it!  We ended up at the right place!  Well, sorta.  For some reason there is a stop in the middle of the boonies on the road leading up to the terminals, and we ended up at that one.  Too prideful to admit our mistake, we just got off and walked the rest of the way to the airport.  But we got there early enough to enjoy some lunch and some birthday Cinnabons for dessert!  What a great vacation, and what a fun way to celebrate my 25th birthday!

Eating Cinnabon at the airport for my birthday!

I loved these adventures, and it's a good thing I've been practicing being in an adventurous spirit, because *surprise!* the Coast Guard is making us move down the street within the next week!  What an adventure, getting everything ready in such a short amount of time.  Wish us luck!

The fourth installment of ADVENTURES!

Hi!

I'm kinda sad this is my second to last adventure update.  I only have one more adventure before our trip to Puerto Rico!  I've really liked having a little adventure to look forward to daily.

Adventure #16:  Cape May County Park South--A Picnicking Adventure

A while ago I tried to find this park, but it eluded me.  I have had the worst luck lately finding places!  But this was my second try for this one and I succeeded.  I did pass it on my way up and had to turn around, but that's nothing compared to the adventure after this one, heh heh.  So Tommy and I found this cute little park and he had his first picnic.  There were lots of Canada geese around.  There was a whole flock of little goslings, they were pretty cute!  After our picnic I pushed him on the swings, then we explored the rest of the park (basketball courts and a soccer field) and went home!

Mmm, eating pears!

First picnic!

Tommy LOVES the swings!

Adventure #17: Cape May County Park North--Walking Trail Adventures

Actually, most of the adventure this day was getting to the park.  I got pretty lost!  But, once again, it was nothing compared to the next day's adventure, sheesh!  This park is beautiful!  It's a bunch of trails around a nice pond.  There are lots of nice gazebos and benches to rest and watch the wildlife.  AND there is a strange totem pole at the entrance with the Jersey Devil at the top--except its head is missing!  Weird.

Weird, huh?

Happy guy!

Adventure #18:  The Event Cache--A Geocaching Adventure

So we tried out a new type of cache this day--an event cache.  An event cache is when a whole bunch of geocachers pick a spot and a time and meet up.  The occasion for this event cache was international Star Wars day, and all over the world at the exact same moment (1 pm here on the East coast) groups of geocachers get together and take a picture.  So we loaded ourselves up in our car and headed out.  I was determined that I wouldn't get lost again!  We gave ourselves plenty of time to get there and I wrote down directions from google maps and brought them with me.  Everything went well until we reached May's Landing, NJ.  We honestly spent about 45 minutes in that area trying to figure out which road was the one described in my directions, is it Old Harding Highway or just Harding Highway, and do we veer left at this fork or another one down the way? (There are not nearly enough road signs around here.)  I have never missed the good old grid system of Utah streets so much.  So finally I pulled out my map of New Jersey and found the most direct route to Atsion Lake where the event cache was.  We were running very late.  I held the GPS with the exact coordinates of the event, glancing down often to the ETA, "It says we should get there exactly at one!  Maybe we can just make it in time for the picture!"  We raced down the highway, whizzing by slower cars, and pulled in to the parking lot at Lake Atsion exactly at one.  Hurriedly we tumbled out of the car and ran to the group of people posing in front of the camera.  We barely made it!  And, then some other people came late and stood right in front of us so we aren't in the picture they posted on geocaching.com, figures, but I have a nice pic of me and Tommy as we hiked around after the event and found some more caches!

I love our Ergo carrier!

Adventure #19:  Scandinavian Almond Bars--Adventures in Baking

Today was a good day for a nice, easy baking adventure.  I made Scandinavian Almond Bars for refreshments for a youth fireside we had in the evening.  The recipe came from my sister-in-law, Jessica.  Man, these things were a hit!  I couldn't stop eating them, and I had quite a few people at the fireside ask me fore the recipe.  Ahh, I love it when my food turns out good!

Adventure #20:  The Atlantic City Aquarium--Rainy Day Adventures

Well the weather today definitely left something to be desired.  It was windy, drizzling, overcast, and freezing outside, so we decided to not go on a bike ride like we had planned.  Instead we took a trip up to the Atlantic City Aquarium!  Did you know there was an aquarium in Atlantic City?  I didn't.  I am glad there is, because I love aquariums and I just might go back sometime!  We got to see lots of cool fish, a giant turtle, and we got to touch rays and sharks.  In fact, a ray tried to eat my finger.  Tommy loved splashing in the ray's pool and was fascinated by the big fish swimming by.  I'm glad it was a rainy day so we could have this adventure!

Touching spotted bamboo sharks.  Tommy had so much fun!

I thought this picture turned out cool.

Argh Mateys!