Puerto Rico Cruisin' (2019) - Day Four

While I like to work on a balanced trip (no matter the destination), I always try to throw in one or two activities that challenge the idea of a regular old vacation.  When we went to Disney World, the additions were subtle but effective.  On our first full day, we all rented mini motor boats and went skirting all around Seven Seas Lagoon.  There was nothing like slowing up right in front of the entrance to Magic Kingdom, having the Monorail go right above your head, or spend 20 frantic minutes wondering what the hell happened to your mother and Aunt, since their speedboat hadn't been seen in ages.  Even better was getting them on the phone and trying to orient myself to their location and then, by memory, try to give them directions back.

Oh, they made it back safe, but wow, I know what it's like to try to lead a blindfolded person through a minefield.  In the end, we all had a good laugh, though.  Similarly, on that trip I tried to get a little adventurous related to our cuisine.  Instead of just eating "American" faire over the course of our trip, I had staged an elaborate dining tournament that would ensure that every meal would highlight a different cuisine.  This meant eating in more exotic locations, including an African restaurant.  

For Puerto Rico, we were already playing around in unknown waters, but I still wanted to find something that screamed "special".  Just days before the trip, I stumbled upon just the addition.  Knowing the make up of my group, I triple checked to make sure that all ages (young to old) could handle the adventure and I got everything booked.  So what were we going to do?  Ziplining?  An exotic restaurant?  Oh no, we were going into the heart of Puerto Rico and we, as a family of 8, were going to go cave tubing.  I had been sold by the website that talked about this being a life changing type of excursion.  Everyone else, surprisingly, seemed open to the idea.  Maybe they didn't really wrap their heads around what we were about to do, but I like to think more positively.  I think they are just getting well trained for my planned trips and whether they admit it or not, they like a sprinkle of the unexpected.  

Unlike Day Three, however, we wouldn't be taking it easy in the morning.  We were located on the northeast corner of Puerto Rico and our excursion was in the middle of the island.  Puerto Rico isn't gigantic, but even getting to our destination would take a couple hours and it started promptly at 8:30AM.  So I hurried everyone out of the room at 6:15AM and we headed down to the little counter service place we had discovered just 2 days before.  Everyone got more of the usual (cinnamon rolls, egg sandwiches, donuts filled with Nutella) and before we knew it, before the sun was even up, we were heading out to explore.  

On the drive, a few interesting things happened.  First, we saw a rainbow not far into our adventure.  This was fitting, as every time my family sees a rainbow, they believe it is my brother Jeff saying hello.  Hi Jeff.  Miss you buddy. 

Second, since it was a longer drive, and Sam was not yet cured of his infatuation with natural disasters, he created a sort of weird game, where we all had to be on the lookout for hurricane damage.  I thought very little of it, as I felt it would fade through the longer drive.  I was definitely wrong.  Part of it, no doubt, can be chalked up to my oldest son's habit of being highly competitive.  Suddenly, people were keeping score and we were having involved conversations explaining why some damage wasn't always caused by hurricanes and why Puerto Rico still needed our help.  It was...different.  

While these natural disaster conversations raged on (and yes, we got into the subject of which natural disaster was the worst and why each of us held our various opinions), Elisa got some sleep and we meandered across Puerto Rico.  With about 15 minutes to go until our excursion began, we got off of the main roads and started heading up one of the most twisty roads you'll ever find.  It was "enhanced" by the fact that most Puerto Rico 2-way roads are not that big.  Many times, you need to pull to the side to let another car pass.  So here we were, going about 12 kilometers through twists and turns.  I was half afraid that one of the kids would get car sick and half afraid that I wouldn't see a car coming from the other direction.  It was...not the best.  I found it slightly hilarious, though, that exactly 2 minutes after 8:30, we got a call on my cell phone from the folks running the Excursion.  Dude, you know the road we have to drive!  Be patient!

But we finally did arrive, and got out of the car and prepared ourselves.  We were told to leave most possessions behind, including towels.  We would be one with nature and could worry about the finer comforts upon our return.  As everyone did final bathroom breaks, each member of the group was fitted with a helmet with corresponding head lamp and a life vest.  Here we were, 8 crazy adventurers that ranged in age from 72 to 5.  What a sight, I'm sure.  

And as we got ready to leave, we were greeted by our guide, Omar.  Omar, it turned out, knew a shit ton of stuff about Puerto Rico and our excursion and ended up being just a fantastic guide overall.  He balanced our safety with our sense of wonder and created a truly engaging experience.  Yet, we would have to earn that experience, and I'm not talking about rough terrain - at least not yet.  Our first step on this excursion was to pile into one of their vans and continue down the twisty turn road.  That is, until we turned off the twisty road into a truly offload experience.  How off road?  We literally went up a steep incline to the top and Omar said "this is just like a roller coaster" and we headed down what felt like a 45 degree incline.  We were bouncing all over the place.  Miles and I had been relegated to the back, and I spent a good amount of time just hanging on.  You should see some of the GoPro footage.  Just watching it would be enough to get you car sick.  

On the ride, though, Elisa got to learn more about her potential heritage.  As we were traversing, Omar stated that the little farms dotted here and there were owned by the Cintron family.  Elisa's grandparents held the last name of Cintron, and it was fun to see Elisa pontificating whether or not they had some tie to her.  It was fun to see her further connect to her heritage and to Puerto Rico.  

My enjoyment, however, was sidetracked by Miles.  Where earlier, I was sure he was enjoying the bouncing, now, he definitely looked green in the gills.  I was very afraid that if the ride didn't end soon, I would have breakfast sandwich all over the seat.  But luckily, just about the time I was truly starting to panic, we arrived at our destination, and I was able to get Miles out of the car.  He took some very deep breaths and started to regain control.  I wish I could say that this would be my last experience with car sickness in the family, but I'll leave that for another blog much later into the trip.  

Before too long, though, Miles was doing better and we were ready to start our true adventure.  The plan would be simple.  This would start with a mostly downhill hike through muddy trails.  We were actually instructed to turn sideways and work our way down in a sort of shuffling pattern.  According to Omar, it was better to fall to the side than have your feet slip from under you and you fall on your...butt.  So here we were, all shuffling to the side.  I was holding Sam's hand, Elisa's hand, or my Aunt's hand to get us all to safety.  

Along the way, Omar filled us in on the various plants and wildlife.  It was truly fascinating.  We learned about how self sufficient those in Puerto Rico had become, and how much they were able to live off the land.  We also were saddened to hear that even the heart of Puerto Rico had suffered terrible damage from Hurricane Maria.  I was grateful that Sam didn't continue his game of finding damage as we walked.  

Before too long, we had made our way all the way down the trail and arrived at a river.  I looked around for tubes, but I kind of didn't expect to see any.  After all, the water was moving pretty quickly around here.  No, we were just beginning our quest.  Omar told us that, holding hands in a long train, we would be crossing the river on foot.  Unfortunately, the water got deep enough that Sam wouldn't be able to walk, so I got to carry Sam while holding Elisa's hand.  But it was so cool.  You truly found yourself alone in the middle of this exotic island.  Sure, they did these excursions often, but you also got the sense that you were definitely one of a smaller number of people to ever do this.  Nature was...raw.  There was no other way to describe it.  There were no hand bridges, guiding posts, or built bridges.  There was only Puerto Rico, the river, our feet, and our train of brave adventurers.  

Once we got through the river, we snaked through more rainforest like trees until we reached another part of the river.  But this part was...moving.  It was amazing.  In every small little pond of water, you saw hundreds, if not thousands, of tadpoles.  Outside the pools, miniature frogs were learning how to hop.  It was breathtaking. Here we were, carefully stepping in and out of pools that were full of varying tadpoles and frogs.  I loved it.  We crossed another shallow part of the river and then headed back into the rainforest.  

Before long, though, we came out of it and were greeted by a much calmer part of the river, anchored by small cliffs on either side.  Sure enough, up and to the right, you could see stacks of tubes.  We had arrived at the second part of our journey.  It was so quiet, and I was sure there was no around us for miles. Soon enough, though, 9 tubes were brought down and the backpacks that we had lugged down were safely stored up on the cliffs.  One by one, we each got settled on a tube and one by one we realized just how chilly the river was.  Oh, we definitely had an inkling from crossing the river, but putting your butt into the water was an entirely new level of chilly.  Omar patiently took each of us and had us use our legs to hook onto the tube in front of us.  When we were one big snake in the river, Omar went to the front and starting giving us instructions to paddle.  Everyone else was a single rider, but I had Sam firmly on my lap.  This would lead to both Sam whining (he wanted his own tube) and Sam entertaining me (constantly talking into the GoPro about how he loved Puerto Rico and how amazing the vacation was).  

Omar, it seemed, either had a terrible group of paddlers or something was wrong.  Because we sat paddling for about 3 minutes and didn't move an inch.  Poor Omar.  Off he got from his own tube and discovered that a couple of the tubes were stuck on some rocks under the water.  Upon returning back to the front of the group, we found that paddling was much easier.  

Sure enough, we slowly started working our way toward a large cave entrance.  Omar guided us most of the way and pushed us over to the left side of the cave entrance.  Instead of paddling, we would use our hands to slowly work our way down the cave walls.  It was so cool to slowly work your way deeper and deeper into a cave where you couldn't see the other exit.  We all turned on our head lamps and even as we headed in, you could see the walls of the cave change. As Omar explained, when it REALLY rained in Puerto Rico, this cave would fill completely up.  And yes, that's saying something.  Deep into the cave, we glanced up and saw incredibly high ceilings.  Omar even pointed out a random container that could barely be seen some 50 feet up.  This was something in the river when a flood had occurred that simple had gotten wedged into the top of the cave.  It was also very cool to see the walls of the cave change.  They, at times, looked like something you might find in one of the caves in Carlsbad (or for my Utah peeps, in Timpanogos). 

In a moment that surely gave Elisa the creepers, we came across scorpion spider like creatures that hung on the wall.  Don't worry, we stayed away.  But it was another shining example of just how far into the wilds of Puerto Rico we were.  For awhile, we were under the cover of complete darkness, but slowly but surely, more light came in as we made our way to the other exit of the cave.  We got to a place where the river was again shallow and we got off our tubes.  We headed back outside, again completely alone.  I was, minute by minute, becoming more of a fan of this adventure.  THIS is the type of out of the box experience that, in my opinion, every vacation needs.  

We came across a waterfall that had completely purified water (yes, we drank and no, we didn't ever get sick from it).  Omar showed us some cool leaves that were completely water resistant, and Lukas and Miles spent time throwing water back and forth from leaf to leaf.  Omar then found us a rock that provided us natural mud.  We took his lead and we loaded our faces, arms, and legs with mud.  Yep, it was a free mud mask for anyone interested and we all got involved - well, except for Sam.  He got a little dribble on the side of his face and that was enough.  He would stay away from the mud while the rest of us loaded up.  None of us were as good at creating face masks as Omar, though.  He stated that he did this on every excursion and he just had the best skin.  

After a little more play, though, it was time to reverse course and follow the path we had already traversed.  As we headed to the opening of the cave, it started to rain.  It wasn't a heavy downpour; just a slight drizzle that only added to the peace and serenity of the experience.  Heading back into the cave, the return trip would be more relaxing, though.  This time, we were traveling with the current, so we could simply relax and "go with the river".  Soon enough, we were back to the cave entrance and we meandered back to the shore where we had first gotten our tubes.  And then Omar turned to the group with an offer - who wanted to go cliff dive with him?  You could almost feel everyone collectively step back, but I was definitely intoxicated by this experience, so I was the lone volunteer.  So Omar and I headed across the river and climbed the left hand cliffs.  We made our way down to what Omar called "the deeper parts of the river".  It's interesting, because the cliff didn't look very tall from the river, but it felt a lot taller when you were staring down into the river.  But YOLO, amirite?  The boys did a little countdown for me and I dove feet first into the river.  Sure, it was cold, but going all the way down and touching the bottom of this river seemed like the perfect addition to this excursion.  I was so glad I did it, and I silently marveled at the fact that Elisa and I, on back to back days, had our own "moments" with Puerto Rico and nature.  She had gone into the pool and water fall (remember the whole "take the damn picture!"?) and I had cliff dived into this river.  I was proud of both of us.  

By the time I got back to shore, though, I was also very cold.  Yeah, didn't consider that part.  But we put the tubes back, got our backpacks, and headed back from whence we had come.  Back across the frog pools, back through the rainforest, and back across the raging river.  On the way uphill (no side shuffling required) Omar found a cool leaf that allowed you to write on it.  Miles especially loved this  (he is our science kid).  But soon, we were back at the van and I knew the excursion was coming to an end.  And while I had been transfixed with the experience, I also remembered the roller coaster van experience, so Sam, Miles, and I moved up to the second row and I cautioned them to watch the road in front of us.  Yes, the drive was just as crazy and bumpy, but this time we avoided all of the car sickness.  

Back at the starting point, we took the time to change our clothes and we got back into the car. Thanks again, Omar.  You were truly an amazing guide.  I'll never forget it.  

Unfortunately, we had to meander back 12 kilometers to get to a regular road, and I was very worried about Miles.  He was a trooper, though, and before long, we were heading back and searching for a place for lunch.  While I was driving, I asked my Dad to find some options on his phone.  A couple times, he found a place that happened to be in the opposite direction.  We were all entertained when he kept mentioning a place called Joy's Barbecue and Connie openly rejected the idea every time.  I might be wrong, but I don't think Connie liked either BBQ or people named Joy.  

It took awhile to actually find a place to eat.  I had to pull off the road for us to really narrow down a spot and I found a little pizza joint not too far away.  We found our way to it, and headed in.  This was definitely local.  No one was in there, but the woman awaiting us was very nice and brought Elisa and the kids these fruit juice concoctions.  We had a mix of burgers and pizza (I know...strange combo) and while it was fine, it wasn't amazing.  Lukas especially rejected his pizza.  The menu said nothing about jalapeños, but they had indeed put them UNDER the cheese.  Yeah, that's kind of killer.  

After lunch, we were all pretty done, though.  We got back in the car and headed back to the hotel.  Along the way, I finally killed the "let's find hurricane damage" game after it became a little to competitive and a little too silly how they were pointing out everything as some sort of hurricane damage (it wasn't).  

Back at the hotel, though, we also had another mission for the night.  There would be no swimming, as even though we were on vacation, our beloved New Orleans Saints were playing a playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles.  Our plan was to get some drinks, watch from the hotel room, and get some room service.  This served two purposes.  First, it allowed us to watch the game.  Second, Elisa LOVES getting room service on vacations.  It's definitely one of her favorite things.  We call this type of situation a great "two birds, one stone" moment.  

Down at the bar, I patiently (okay, not really...I was nervous about the game) waited for a Havanas Bananas and we were still at the bar when I watched my dear Drew Brees throw an interception on the first play of the game.  Well, at least I'd have my drink, right?  We got our beverages and headed back into the hotel.  As we were getting off on the 6th floor, a man was getting on the elevator.  He chimed in with a random "the Saints are going down!" to which I replied "nice to meet you too!"  Okay, I added "dumb ass" right after but the elevator doors were closed.  I then went on a mini rant about jerk wad strangers pulling crap like that.  I don't talk crap before a game.  I wait until after.  

And despite the horrible first quarter, my Saints would end up prevailing.  They won the game and had officially made it to the NFC Championship game.  And hey, we would still be on vacation that following Sunday, so yay!  

Lukas was especially thrilled with the results of the game, though I got the keen sense that while Miles is a big Saints fan, he doesn't live and die by their results.  What is my proof?  When the game was it's most intense, Miles fell asleep.  When he woke up and I told him the Saints won the game, he nodded and headed for the bed.  Geaux Saints, right?

I will say, though, that I very much regretted not paying attention to what the elevator crabby patty looked like.  I REALLY wanted to find him and point out that, in fact, the Saints were not going down.  I was so excited (and still bugged by the stranger) that I considered running around the bar outside and just screaming that the Eagles had gone down, just for fun.  Elisa definitely wouldn't have approved of that.  

And yet, the day held one more surprise before we all retired.  As Elisa was washing out our swimming suits in the bathtub, she screamed and I ran in.  Here, in the middle of the bathtub, was a worm, still wiggling around.  It seemed that we truly were in nature in Puerto Rico.  A worm had even hitchhiked all the way from the middle of the island to our lovely hotel room.  Elis was not pleased.  I promptly disposed of the creature.  

But as I laid down to go to sleep, I just smiled at the adventure that had developed just a few days before our trip began.  This would be a lasting memory for me, and I was so grateful that we did it. 

As for next time, we head for the second leg of our journey. We start by reenacting the football game from the night before and then delight ourselves by injecting Disney straight into my veins.  The cruise was finally upon us.  

Puerto Rico Cruisin' (2019) - Day Three

If it were my choice, every single trip day would be filled to the brim with activities.  Even at home, I'm not one to lounge around.  Where Elisa's ideal weekend is being a homebody with no visitors and just relaxation throughout the two days, I'm pretty miserable.  I want to be out and about, exploring and experiencing things.  But that's why we work, I think.  We balance each other.  Elisa doesn't just get to lay at the beach all day and I have to take a few minutes to actually lay at a beach.

It wasn't always like that.  My earlier trips were militant in nature and I could always count on a mini fight with Elisa when I was pushing too hard.  Man, everything use to get to me when something varied from my perfectly orchestrated itinerary.  If we were 10 minutes late, it was the end of the world.  But let it be known that I can change, just like anyone.  Specifically, we had a pretty good meltdown of an argument back in 2012 on our Disney World trip and walking back through the rain, I realized that pretty much everyone in the party was done with my butt kicking itinerary management. It was a good eye opener for me.  Not that change came overnight.  No, with each trip I would dip my toe into the relaxation pool and realize that trips were actually the better for it.

Granted, our trips also benefit from my desire to find adventure and force people a bit out of their comfort zones.  Everything in moderation.  This trip seemed like a near graduation for me on the relaxation front.  In my opinion, I had finally crafted a trip that seemed to balance the activity with the relaxation.  I was pretty excited for both, to be honest.  And after our Culebra adventure the day before, even I was looking forward to a bit of a breather.  Well, it didn't hurt that the following day would be an early start as well, but now I'm just getting ahead of myself.

We woke up when we felt like it, which was nice.  It also led to a trip rarity.  On vacations where my family (parents, Aunt) come along, Elisa and I are usually bringing up the rear in terms of being ready.  Today, though, we were ahead.  We didn't set alarms or anything, but once everyone was awake, we got dressed and ready for the day...and we were waiting around a bit for the other room.  Take that!  Talk about a balance of relaxation and schedule!

As today was a more relaxed affair, we headed down to one of the hotel restaurants that put out a nice brunch buffet.  We all got seated and got drink orders taken care of before we were off to get food. Going through a buffet with Sam is always interesting.  He likes what he likes, and he can kick the rest of the food to the curb.  The minute he saw that they had "rainbow cereal" (Fruit Loops), he was in heaven.  He added some yogurt and a banana and settled in for food.  I headed to the very crowded omelette station.  We slowly got our orders taken care of and settled in for a nice breakfast.  After round one of the buffet, Elisa introduced us to the best part of it...going to the desserts and pastries and getting one of everything.  It was fun to just try to sample a bunch of food and discover which ones were the best.  Elisa was a fan of a cheesy kind of horn shaped food.  I really liked the mini glazed donut holes.  By the end of breakfast, though, we were all satisfied.

We headed to the car, ready for more adventure, but today would be less taxing.  Our plan was to start in El Yunque, the rainforest not far from our hotel.  I had discovered that large parts of it were still closed from the hurricane, but I was also keen to explore what we still open and accessible.  As the government shutdown was still underway (remember, historians...Puerto Rico is an American Territory!), I was curious to see how this National Park would be impacted.  After El Yunque, we were kind of open to next steps, though there was general interest in heading into Old San Juan.

Thankfully, despite my Google Maps not functioning (though we were getting better...we weren't shown to be in the ocean today!), the visitor center to El Yunque was only about 5 minutes away from our hotel.  We arrived to a random "shop" in the middle of other buildings.  It was the most bizarre "visitor center" I'd ever seen.  They were nice, enough though.  As we walked in, the place was filled with Cub Scouts, who seemed to be gearing up for an adventure in the rainforest with their troop.  While people took a quick restroom break, Sam explored pictures of the hurricane, which no doubt added to the questions he would lay on us about natural disasters as we drove through the rainforest a bit later.

In talking to one of the rangers, I discovered why we were in such a weird set up.  The main Rain Forest Center was still closed.  The rest of what we could explore was pretty straightforward, though. Stop 1 would be a great overlook.  Stop 2 would include a waterfall.  Stop 3 would take us to Yokahu Tower, and we would end up at Juan Diego Creek.  Sounded perfect.  We all got back into the car and I meandered around to the entrance of the rainforest.

As we twisted and turned, I was balancing a worry about the boys getting car sick with a desire to look around at the lush green that was exploding before our eyes.  As we had taken a map, Elisa was an expert navigator as we made our way to our first stop, an overlook.  We pulled off and got out of the car.  Wow.  Looking farther into the rainforest, we could see the looming Yokahu Tower.  Looking back, we could see all the way to the ocean.  It was, in a word, breathtaking.  We got a ton of pictures and then piled back into the car.

Next up was Stop 2, which would get us to a waterfall.  Not far in front of our first stop, there was a parking lot and we jumped back out and headed down a slope.  To our right we saw La Coca Falls, a huge black rock slab that had beautiful water running down it's entire facade.  I got slightly annoyed at the people that had crawled up closer and wouldn't get out of the way for our pictures, but I got over it.  We got some great shots of the kids looking at this natural wonder.  I was definitely becoming a fan of El Yunque.  But after a few minutes, Sam was urging us to leave.  He desperately wanted to explore the "castle".  He had no interest in knowing that it was a tower...no, we were going to the castle.

A short ride later and we were indeed at the castle.  Sam immediately went to explore while Elisa and I took it a bit easier.  The rest of our party headed up the tower while we just walked around and looked at the beautiful plants and flowers.  It ended up being a nice adjustment, as we got to spend some time together and slowly make our way up to the top of the tower.  There, the rest of the family was exploring.  The view was equal to Spot 1.  We snapped some more fantastic pictures, made our way down the long staircase, and were finally off to our final destination - Juan Diego Creek.

I had heard about this one - a place that, if you so desired, you could enter the pool and stand (or swim) under the waterfall.  However, only one of us was really equipped for this. Only Elisa had worn a swimsuit, so when we arrived and made our way to the waterfall, the rest of us could only watch.  Elisa, with a little nudging, could actually take a dip.

While she was deciding, I was observing the strangest contraption on a fellow visitor.  They had what looked to be a sort of 360 degree cape on that went from their neck all the way to the ground.  Inside it, she was fidgeting something fierce, and it dawned on me what I was seeing.  A changing station for those that didn't have access to a bathroom.  Color me impressed.  She entered wet and in a swim suit.  She exited in regular clothes.  It's just like MAGIC!

Meanwhile, Elisa had decided to indeed get in the water.  She stripped down to her swimsuit and slowly headed in.  But she only got sort of close to the waterfall.  She was nervous because the rocks were definitely slippery.  So in a bit of an entertaining twist, my Mom (who had a pair of Elisa's old waterproof sandals) took them off and returned them to Elisa for use in the waterfall.  With better footing, she was at least ready to get closer.

I was highly entertained when she got close to the water and I screamed "once in a lifetime!"  She responded with "just take the damn picture!" That's my wife, ladies and gentlemen!  And while she offered for me to get in the water too, I didn't have a swimsuit or a 360 degree changing station, so that dream died.  I did, I'll have you know, get the pleasure of spending the next 10 minutes arguing with Sam about his desire to get into the water.  In the end, (and in compromise) he was allowed to take his shoes off and splash around, so long as his clothes didn't get wet.  Miles joined in, and while Lukas clearly wanted to, it was fun to see him torn between being a kid and being a moody teen.  In the end, being a kid won out and I was glad for it.  After the kids walked around barefoot and played in the water, we piled everyone in the car and headed back down.  We were getting hungry and there was now more than just a murmur about our desired next destination. People wanted get to Old San Juan.

As we left Juan Diego Creek, the rainforest fulfilled it's name quite well.  We we enveloped in a drenching downpour.  It was so pretty.  But like any good rainforest storm, it went as quickly as it had come.  We meandered out of El Yunque and made the 30 minute drive over to Old San Juan.  Prior to the rainforest, I had researched potential placed to park in case we did end up here.  I found a great parking garage right at the foot of Old San Juan and took the Google Maps straight there (yay, it was working!).  As we pulled up to the garage, though, I was a bit worried.  It said it needed 6'9" of clearance.  Surely our weird shaped rental car would make it, right?  Unfortunately, as I pulled in, the top of the car hit one of those measurement tubs.  This dumb ass car was 6'10" tall.  Of course it was. So I quickly reversed and searched for other parking opportunities.  I finally found one on the street and we departed.

One of my Dad's contacts at the boys' Elementary School (he volunteers there) suggested a restaurant called Manolin, located right in the heart of Old San Juan.  So following my Dad's directions, we bobbed and weaved through cobblestone streets lined with brightly colored buildings.  Old San Juan definitely has a ton of character.  And kudos to my Dad.  Despite my doubts (I mean, I wasn't controlling the directions!), we arrived at Manolin and joined the long line.  It was not a big place and with 8 people, I was sure we would be waiting forever.  However, fortune favors the bold (well, or the lucky).  A group of 8 chairs opened up right at the counter and Elisa beelined her way to the seats at her earliest convenience.  We all sat down and ordered a delightful and authentic Puerto Rican lunch. Elisa, Sam, and my Dad especially loved the rice and beans.  I really liked my Empanada.  It was a great meal and a great kick off to Old San Juan.

From there, we explore the streets, coming upon one that had basically created a ceiling of colored umbrellas.  It was really cute and we walked up and down the street admiring the effect.  We browsed stores and got the boys some souvenir shirts.  On the coming cruise, we would be having a Pirate night, so Miles and Sam found some pirate shirts and we got them.  Lukas got a really nice Puerto Rico shirt.  Elisa and I were already eyeing the Puerto Rican coffee, but we knew that we would have one more day near Old San Juan after the trip and we could collect our souvenirs then.  I mean, the rental car already couldn't hold our luggage.  It was probably a good idea to not add to the problem.

Prior to getting ready to head back to the hotel, Elisa needed...wait for it...a coffee.  I found a highly rated one nearby and we made our way to it.  While I inquired about the coffee (they...um, didn't have iced coffee despite every sign advertising iced coffee), Elisa and the boys explored the square.  And while Sam was running around amongst the birds, a local stopped him and put some bird seed in his hands.  Before you knew it, Lukas, Miles, and Sam had birds all over them.  Elisa, in one of our videos, can be heard exclaiming her jealousy.  So sure enough, Elisa got involved and as she took the bird seed, no less than 7 birds flew to her arms.  She's the animal whisperer (which was only enforced later on in the trip).  The boys had a blast.  The birds kept flying onto their hands and arms, and it was especially entertaining when a bird landed right on Miles's head.

After paying the man for the chance to have the birdseed and play with his friends, I found a different coffee shop and Elisa and I got iced coffees.  She got hers first and when we both tried it, we realized just hot Puerto Rican this coffee was.  Holy cow.  That stuff is likely to make you grow chest hair immediately.  So despite the fact that Elisa and I avoid sugar in our coffees, we had the barista add some and the drink immediately became the greatest invention in the world.  It was SO good.  We enjoyed our coffees as we made our way back down to the car and headed back to the Wyndham.  It was a great, relaxing day.

When we arrived back at the hotel, I only had one goal...another Havanas Bananas.  The boys, on the other hand, had swimming plans.  So back we headed to the pool.  Miles and Lukas desperately wanted to play some pool football, but Sam wanted to go down the waterslide.  So I strategically positioned myself to catch Sam down the slide, put him back on dry land, and then go run one play of pool football.  Then, it was back to catching Sam.  Thankfully, today wouldn't have any throw up and Sam just kept going and going and going, even later convincing his brothers to ride the slide with him in a sort of slow moving train.  After some good swimming time, though, my original mission took center stage.  I needed that Havanas Bananas.

No one was going to fight me either.  Before I knew it, both Connie and my Dad had become fans and even Elisa joined us for a drink (a mojito, her specialty).  As we had started exhausting the restaurants on property, we decided to head to the bar inside the hotel.  First, we could actively avoid the bugs or ants or whatever liked to eat us for dinner.  Second, we discovered that the margaritas were buy one get one free.  We discovered just a few minutes later that these margaritas were able the size of an adult's head too, so those having margaritas were in absolute heaven.  And while the service left a lot to be desired, the food wasn't half bad.  My favorite moment was when Elisa had only had half of her margarita (if that) and donated it to me, only to be met with a brand new and completely full margarita right in front of her.  When in Puerto Rico, amirite?

After dinner, we all headed back up to the rooms to rest and relax.  While the boys had some interest in heading to the hot tub, I promised them that they'd get some day swimming time when we got back from tomorrow's adventure.  Everyone settled in from a very successful day two.

Next time, we go back into crazy itinerary mode by heading out of the hotel before sunrise, get to the heart of unfiltered Puerto Rico, get worms, and (this part will shock you) I get another Havanas Bananas.

Puerto Rico Cruisin' (2019) - Day Two

As you well know, I'm a big fan of vacation anticipation.  In my opinion, working hard to build the anticipation of those going on the trip is a key detail in the trip planner's quiver.  It makes the payoff, if planned right, even better.  Maybe that's why people don't do a lot related to the anticipation, then.  Maybe they're afraid that the payoff won't match the build up.  I guess that's a possible risk, but I like a challenge.

But while anticipation is grand, the trip itself is truly wondrous.  And if I had to pinpoint my absolute favorite moment on every trip, it's waking up on the first full day of the adventure.  Travel is behind you.  You're at least somewhat rested and have likely had a good meal to make the stomach happy.  And the rest of the trip is entirely in front of you.  All the days, activities, adventures are sprawled out in sequence.  It's such a special moment, and usually one shared in the silence of the hotel room while everyone else is still asleep.  

Like other trips, I had such a moment.  I woke up and the room was still quiet.  I checked my phone, which was showing 6:30AM.  No one was stirring, though there was definitely more light in the room than when we had gone to sleep.  A band of gold streaked across the room, peaking between the curtains.  I just smiled.  Vacation was here and the work to get to our vacation was long past.  Today was a fun day.  

I always like to try and kick my trips off in style.  Where others (Elisa likely included) might enjoy just laying around the first full day, I need something big.  I had booked today's adventure long in advance, after a lot of my planning had indicated a need to get away from the big island of Puerto Rico and onto one of the smaller surrounding ones.  I crawled out of bed and stepped out onto the balcony.  Below me, work crews were busily preparing the pool area.  Another employee was setting up the towels for guests.  I looked out over the ocean and could tell that the sunrise would be occurring just outside of my view, to the right.  I sat out there for a bit, watching the colors change, as everything started to be covered by that same liquid gold.  

Back inside, the crew was starting to move around.  We got up and got ready.  It wasn't an "early" day per se, but it wasn't a sleep in one either.  We got everyone situated in proper beach/swimming attire, I grabbed my camera and GoPro, and we set off downstairs.  The resort we were staying at (the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar) had a nice little counter service restaurant where we could order all sorts of breakfast items.  Most of the crew went for a breakfast sandwich, while my Mom and Sam went for a cinnamon roll and I couldn't resist the donut filled with Nutella.  When in Rome, right?  I had worked, over the last 6 months, to lose 15 extra pounds that I didn't like.  What self respecting vacationer wouldn't do their best to gain that back over the next 10 days?

While the crew started nibbling on breakfast, I went and got the car so that we could be ready to go.  Everyone grabbed the remnants of their breakfast, as we had to get going.  I got into the car and, true to form, missed the first major turn while driving.  This expanded our drive to Fajardo by about 5 minutes, but I played it off as though it was just the way we had to go and to look around at the beauty.  As I took this detour, however, we had a problem.  We brought up Google Maps, and I knew it wasn't working so well?  How would I know?  It showed us currently in the ocean.  While I definitely missed a turn, it wasn't THAT bad of a turn.  So while my phone freaked out and couldn't really place me, I had my Dad try on his.  That seemed to be working for the moment, so we had dueling phones trying to navigate me about 20 minutes south to a small town called Fajardo.  

It was during this drive (while I wolfed down the donut with Nutella) that Sam started his favorite subject of the Puerto Rico portion of our trip...storms and natural disasters.  It started innocent enough.  He saw damage and asked if that was due to the hurricane.  But quickly, his focus expanded to asking about earthquakes, tornadoes, fires, as well as further details about hurricanes.  Later in the day, he would stump us all and create a lively discussion when he asked "what is the worst disaster and why?"  So Sam was on the search for hurricane damage and asking why tornadoes form and we got to Fajardo right on time.  We got parked and headed over to a line at our Excursion company.  East Island Excursions got us set up with the requisite waivers that said anything that happened was definitely our fault, we got Sam and Miles fitted for snorkel fins, and then we waited for our turn to board.  It appeared that East Island was taking 3-4 catamarans out in various directions, so making sure that we got on the right boat was the first line of business.  

I should step back and give a few details about Elisa's motion sickness, since we were going to be getting on a boat and I mentioned her hesitation in general about cruising.  In my research, I certainly saw a lot of people that tried the patch behind the ear, but I also didn't like the potential complications, so I kept looking.  I stumbled on an over the counter called Bonine.  Most of the people that used this said it worked wonders, especially when you started before the boat and continued well after you were off of it.  I had ordered Elisa a couple boxes and she had dutifully started taking the Bonine before we headed out.  I'm happy to report that for the most part of Puerto Rico, she was doing really well.  Don't worry, I'll fill you in on how it went on the cruise.  I'm such a tease.  

Once on the catamaran, the boys, my parents, and Connie went inside (kids had to ride inside) and Elisa and I sat on the back.  I thought being outside would be kinder to her motion sickness (and for once, I was right).  Today's excursion was taking us away from Fajardo and the main island and over to Culebra, which is regarded as one of the best islands near Puerto Rico.  However, unless you're taking an excursion, it's not an easy place to get to.  There is apparently only one ferry each day (back and forth) and you must get on them or you'll be stranded.  You can also take a puddle jumper, but the chances of me getting Elisa on one of those is probably one in a million.  So we went the excursion route.  The itinerary was simple.  We would head over to Culebra and stop for some snorkeling.  Then we would head over to Flamenco Beach, considered one of the best in the world.  If you're scratching your head wondering if that sounds familiar, Flamenco is pretty famous for having a couple abandoned tanks left on the beach.  Over time, people have spray painted the rusted hulks and it has become a pretty cool photo spot.  

After lunch on the catamaran, we would head onto Flamenco Beach for some playtime, get back on, and then head back to Fajardo.  It was meant to be about a 7 hour adventure.  So away we went.  The catamaran trip over was quite calm (they stated that the ocean was insanely calm...which was nice for this time of year). I ended up making small talk about...what else...football.  He was from Omaha and was a big Cornhusker fan.  He also happened to drop (often and loudly) that he had played for Osborne during the glory days of Nebraska football.  By the end, I was resisting the urge to say "hey, did you by chance play football at Nebraska?"  We talked a lot about the changes in the Nebraska program and then I got bored and started trying to engage in Elisa to end such conversations.  The crew was especially nice.  The excursion lead made a point to talk to each of the couples at the back of the catamaran.  And before we knew it, we had arrived at Culebra and were getting ready to snorkel!

When the family went to Hawaii in 2015, Elisa and I had discovered the absolute best way to enjoy snorkeling.  Instead of the typical set up of snorkel mask and tube, it was newer technology to have full face masks.  Not only did this keep your mouth from becoming sore, but it had the better benefit of allowing you to breathe normally through your nose.  Holy cow, what a difference.  Instead of fighting the snorkel equipment, you were able to calmly just enjoy what you were seeing.  In advance, we had purchased some full face mask snorkels and were eager to try them.  Lukas, being a fish out of water, suited up and was off into the ocean.  Elisa wasn't far behind him.  Miles and Sam wanted to stay on the catamaran.  I was convinced that Miles would love it, but he was unsure of the deeper water.  I should clarify that Sam was actually ready to get in the water.  We suited him up, gave him a kids mask, and then I got in the water with him.  About 4 seconds later, he declared the ocean too cold and wanted to get out.  I pulled him out to hang out with Connie and Miles and I disembarked.  

It always takes a minute to get used to breathing while snorkeling.  You almost have to avoid hyperventilating but once you get control, it is such a wonderful experience.  I found a lot of fish immediately, and was especially struck by the coral and various sea urchins about.  I kept running into Lukas and followed him a lot, especially proud of how independent he'd become and how much he was enjoying the experience.  Every once in awhile I would see Elisa too.  Apparently, while we were snorkeling, she came upon a stingray.  No one else got to see it, which made me jealous.  I did happen to run into a school of black colored Dory's and I followed them for awhile.  In the end, it was a wonderful snorkeling experience but by the time we crawled back onto the catamaran, everyone was hungry.  

We ate lunch while the catamaran headed over to Flamenco Beach.  I knew when we arrived that it was truly a special place.  It was so pristine, you could have been looking at a postcard.  Yet, there was definitely going to be a trick to Flamenco.  The catamaran couldn't just drop you off on shore.  No, you were a good 50 yards away from shore, so you'd have to swim for it.  They were cool about it, though.  You could wear flotation devices and for those especially worried about it, they said their excursion employees were basically an Uber and would transport weary swimmers over with their help.  I was in charge of getting over to Flamenco Beach with Sam.  While he had a flotation device, I failed to grab one.  Maybe I was just overconfident.  It was a mistake.  

I very nearly died trying to swim over that distance without flotation and with Sam holding onto dear life.  By the end, I nearly had to toss Sam in front of me to my Dad just to recover.  I wanted the world's longest nap.  Holy.  Hell.  Did I mention that going without a flotation device on myself was a mistake?  Yowza.  

But we did finally arrive on the beach and Sam was thrilled.  He just started playing around in the waves and Lukas joined him.  Miles, with less deep water, wanted to start trying to snorkel with the new mask set up.  After a bit of playing, Elisa and I decided to leave the boys with my parents and make the trek over to the aforementioned tank on the far side of the beach.  It ended up being about a 20 minute walk over, but it was bliss.  We walked through the light surf and chatted.  I got some great shots of the beach and of her and by the time we made it over to the tanks, I was in a wonderful mood.  When we got to the tanks, a few couples were busy taking pictures of each other on top of the actual tank.  At first, Elisa and I weren't going to do it but after a bit of prodding, we decided to climb up.  We boarded the tank and a friendly stranger took a few photos of us.  When we were getting down, Elisa sliced her finger pretty good, which led to interesting conversations about her Tetanus shot and being glad that she had recently gotten one for work.  

Nothing like walking on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, talking about Tetanus shots.  But hey, it was good talking about it because in the back of my mind, I was trying to not dread the reality that I would have to swim back to the catamaran with Sam in tow.  Yep, I still had no flotation device.  By the time we got back to the boys, it was about time to head back, so I strategized how to make this work while not drowning.  My lasting plan was to have Sam get on my back (while not choking me), so that at least my arms could be free.  We started the slow trek and before long, my plan was backfiring.  I was spending half of my time reminding Sam not to choke me and the other half expending my remaining energy in keeping us both from going under.  As we neared the catamaran, I had to eventually turn around and swim backward to my destination.  In the end, it did the trick.  Instead of constantly seeing how close I was, I just swam.  And when I turned around, Sam was there at the back of the catamaran and we had made it.  Only one problem.  One of the other guests was attempting to get back on the boat and found it was a brilliant strategy to take 74 minutes to do so.  So here I was, treading water with Sam while I watched this person slowly decide whether or not to get off the ladder.  They might have found motivation when I lovingly said "oh move over!" 

With that, I was able to grab the ladder and hoist Sam up.  Sam was fine.  It was a great swimming expedition.  I wanted to collapse.  I pulled myself out of the water, and felt my arms and legs shaking.  So I did what any exhausted parent would do.  I headed straight in and got some rum punch.  Yep, that did the trick.  For a few more minutes before departing, we drank some more rum punch and laid on the top deck.  But before we knew it, we were heading back.  The boys went back inside with my parents and Connie, and Elisa and I sat outside and I think we both fell asleep.  Ahhhhh...vacation.  

That dozing off considerably sped up the trip home.  We departed the catamaran, jumped back into the rental car, and were heading back to the Wyndham.  And yes, Sam immediately started talking about hurricane damage and other natural disasters.  

Back at the hotel, it was too late for swimming, so we headed back to the bar and I discovered my favorite drink of the trip.  As an ode to our vacation, we all got Souvenir mugs that looked like mini blenders and I ordered what was called "Havanas Bananas".  Oh, I would have 3 more of these bad boys before the end of our time at the Wyndham.  Holy cow, it was divine.  Rum, creme de banana, Pina colada, Bailey's Irish cream.  Yes, have some.  

We also checked out a restaurant on property called Palio.  I was worried because the website stated that near formal attire was required, but no one in the group had any energy to get dolled up.  However, when we stopped, they said that any attire was fine.  I wonder if they were just being nice or if they too realized that the restaurant was 3/4 empty and they just wanted the business.  

We sat for a fancy and nice (but in the end, long) meal.  We had some wonderful appetizers and many had prime rib, while my dad had lamb and Elisa had a salad.  By the time everyone got their food, Sam and Miles were fading, so Elisa ate quickly and took them up to relax.  The rest of us finished our dinner and then headed up for bed.  By the time I got up there, Sam and Miles had showered and Sam was practically asleep.  Everyone settled in for the night.  

I could see that everyone was pretty tired, so I promised them that my balanced itinerary would pay off.  Tomorrow would start with a much more relaxed morning and even the activities were pretty calm.  Everyone seemed happy with that.  

I crawled into bed, thrilled that only one major day of the trip was over and most of the trip was still in front of us.  But it wasn't QUITE the same as that morning, when the entirety of the trip sprawled before us.  No, the reality was part of our trip was now in our memories, and the feeling was...bittersweet.  

As for next time, we definitely chill out in the morning, and head to polar opposites of Puerto Rico just in time for margaritas as big as your head.  

Puerto Rico Cruisin' (2019) - Day One

I'm not exactly sure why I struggle to sleep on planes.  I'm always infinitely jealous when I look around the aircraft and everyone around me is sawing logs.  Elisa has developed a keen gift of falling asleep right around takeoff and waking up right around landing.  Knowing that I really needed to sleep on the way to New York, I tried to utilize my trip planning prowess to solve the problem.  I found lots of suggestions, but landed on two key ones.  Get a good neck pillow and take a Melatonin after boarding.  So here I was with a new neck pillow (Elisa got one too) and a Melatonin in my stomach just after boarding.

Once we were airborne, those around me started settling.  I looked around and Miles was dead to the world.  Sam had fallen asleep as we were taking off.  Elisa was asleep.  Lukas and my Dad, seated behind me, seemed to have settled.  My Aunt was awake, as was my Mom.  But I was confident they would be asleep too.  So I put on my noise cancelling headphones, adjusted the neck pillow, and tried to sleep.  You must understand something about me, though.  I'm a...particular sleeper. I really like everything to be just right.  Yes, I'm the Goldilocks of sleeping.  I hate being warm, hate repeat noises (stay away, clicking fan!) and like it dark.  While the headphones took care of any repeat noises, and I had the little air vent blasting me in the face (well, let's be honest...blasting is the understatement of the century.  A gentle tickling would be more apt.), I just couldn't sleep.  I fell into a routine of try to sleep, adjust neck pillow, try some more, remove neck pillow, put pillow back on, adjust seat, move legs, try to sleep.  Nothing seemed to be working.  I estimate we were about 1/3 of the way into the flight, however, when I realized just what was causing my problem.  Suddenly, the cabin was incredibly dark.  For some insane reason, the flight crew thought it was a critical step to do a full drink/snack service on a midnight flight, so we had to endure the lights being on while they worked the entire plane.  Once that was done, lights went off and lo and behold, while it wasn't restful, I started getting some sleep.  No, it wasn't great, and I'd feel it later for sure, but it was some sleep.  

Everyone else seemed quite settled, besides us all reacting to Cough Boy, one row in front of us.  Just as the entire plane was starting to go into a deep sleep, cough boy would...randomly cough.  And I was quite convinced it wasn't due to a cold.  Nah, he just needed to clear his throat.  Every 5 minutes. For an entire 4.5 hour flight.  Thanks Cough Boy.  I'd personally shove a cough drop down your throat for the pleasure of another hour of sleep.  

But before we knew it, we were starting to descend into a very quiet and dark New York City.  I was disappointed.  I have never been to NYC, and my luck...I picked the wrong side of the plan to be on.  I never really got a view of the city while we were there.  Oh well, Elisa and I will get there for an actual trip sooner rather than later.  We all departed the plane, and the boys seemed to be hanging in there, except for Sam.  He wasn't crying, but he was cold and had no interest in walking.  So I had him bundled up and in my arms.  That was fun.  Good thing JFK is such a small airport.  

I was also struck by how old school JFK was.  We had to switch terminals for the second leg of our trip, and I was shocked that we were escorted outside into 20 degree temperatures to await a physical bus that would transport us over to our next destination.  Maybe I've been spoiled by airports like Orlando and Denver and their monorail like set-up.  Needless to say, if anyone was sleepy, that faded away with the blast of frigid wind in our faces!  We boarded our bus and made the quick trip over to our next terminal.  We then slogged all the way down to our gate and I was able to finally put Sam down.  Oh my aching arms.  We had about 30 minutes before boarding would begin, so I looked around and saw a nearby Dunkin Donuts.  I wasn't the only one.  As it seemed to be the only thing close, everyone was running on Dunkin.  I walked over with the boys, my Dad, and my Aunt, and we got in line.  I snapped a picture of the menu and texted to Elisa and got everyone's order.  After waiting through half the line, I glanced over to the left and saw kiosks.  Order your food on the kiosk and skip the line!  Brilliant.  I exited out and started entering everyone's orders.

And good grief, everyone had an order.  Some wanted American cheese, others wanted cheddar.  I had to order each coffee separately, to get milk for some and Half and Half for others.  It took...a bit.  Finally, having successfully entered breakfast for our party of 8, I hit "Checkout".  And got an error message. Oh no you didn't, Dunkin! I went back and forth between Checkout and Error message for the next 3 minutes.  Finally, one of the cashiers asked if it wasn't working.  Hey, that's perceptive of you!  She informed me that after she finished with her current order, we could enter the line and get our order taken care of.  I'm not sure everyone still in line was happy about it, but I did try to help line management by doing the kiosk, so my guilt was a 0 on the scale of 1-10.  I walked up to the cashier when she was next available and...had to individually give her every order again.  She seemed just as thrilled as I was to make all of our individual cheese and coffee selections.  It was SO fun doing it twice.  

But the order was finally entered, our food was provided, and we were on our way back to the gate.  Unfortunately, the double ordering process had taken most of our waiting time, so it quickly escalated to pushing everyone to eat as fast as they could.  Yes, that's the key to getting on another plane ride to sleep.  Overload your stomachs with breakfast sandwiches!  I was the only adult to skip coffee, because I was convinced I would find a way to sleep on the way to San Juan.  

Once again, we were in line, boarded, and seated.  The plane was actually on time and before we knew it, as the sun was really starting to come up, we were off despite some windy conditions.  Everyone settled down and crossed their fingers that the Dunkin Donuts would start to digest somewhere over the Atlantic.  I pulled out my neck pillow and was ready for sleep.  

Oh, who am I kidding.  Sleep was just not on this menu.  First, I switched neck pillows with Elisa, who seemed to be having a deflating problem on her original one.  Then as I was dozing off, Miles and Lukas wanted to play Super Smash Bros on Switch with me.  After a few fun games of that, I looked around and noticed that Sam, Miles, and Lukas had no interest in actually sleeping.  So I browsed through movies and fired up Infinity War.  I watched the whole thing, and even ordered coffee from the nice flight attendant.  After a few sips, I regretted not running on Dunkin.  After Infinity War (a movie I love), I switched over to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.  I got about 30 minutes in (yeah, that's just a mess of a movie) and then we got the notice that we were descending.  

I could palpably feel the excitement from the family.  The kids were almost off their longest day of flying ever.  Elisa was looking out the window at the beautiful ocean and then the Puerto Rico coast.  We all watched as we flew over San Juan, caught our first glimpses of Old San Juan, and then started really descending.  I was struck by what looked to be hurricane damage throughout the city.  Over a year later, they were still trying to recover, and that was definitely a theme of the trip.  We saw damage everywhere we went.  

But we were finally on the ground, and finally off the plane.  You could immediately feel that the frigid weather was behind us, even before getting out of the airport.  I was aching to feel the sun and warmth.  We went to baggage claim and finally recovered all of our luggage.  Man, 8 people have a lot of luggage.  By my count, we had 9 suitcases, 1 large bag of snorkel equipment, 7 backpacks, and 2 booster seats.  I wasn't overly worried though.  We had similar luggage when we all went to Orlando and I had found us a Ford Expedition.  It fit us perfectly, and there was plenty of room for the luggage in the back.  In preparation for this trip, I had reserved a "Ford Expedition or Similar" so I was confident.  We made our way out of the airport and I did enjoy the newly found warm weather.  It was beautiful, warm, and not too humid.  We trekked over to the rental car facility and I proceeded straight to the Gold board for Hertz.  There was my name, just as planned.  We walked over to our stall, and saw our car.  

It wasn't an Expedition (I don't think I ever cared to actually decide what it was).  It was large and had three rows of seats, but it just didn't seem as long.  Opening the back only confirmed my fears.  This could definitely hold 8.  It could not hold the luggage.  Boy, don't you just love when you sit and look at the people, luggage, and backpacks and have dawning comprehension that there is just no possible way to fit us all in there?  

But I didn't let that get me down.  Elisa and my Dad started plotting with me as well.  We piled everyone in the car and fit what we could (only about 3.5 suitcases) into the back.  Then I started handing people suitcases.  My Aunt Connie, my Mom, and Elisa all had suitcases on their laps.  One suitcase was between Elisa and I.  The boys held their backpacks.  My dad placed three suitcases on his lap.  We were fit to burst, but somehow, we fit everything.  Yay!

We pulled out and I drove over to the exit when the car beeped at me.  Despite our best efforts, the back hatch wasn't properly closed.  Great.  I now had visions of us driving away and all of the suitcases falling out.  So once we exited, I started looking for somewhere to pull off.  The problem was there wasn't anywhere to pull off.  Longer and longer we drove, and we saw no natural exit to the freeway.  Finally, when the directions told us to switch freeways, I just pulled off on the turn and jumped out.  I slammed the back hatch a couple times until I got the all clear from Elisa and jumped back in.  Now I was feeling the humidity and was actively sweating.  Clearly, vacation had begun!  

The other problem with Puerto Rico was that the cell coverage was pretty spotty.  So my plan to use Google Maps (and my lack of printing off any directions) caused an immediate problem.  As a result, we had our first "adventure" right out of the gate.  I missed a turn, which put me on a bridge.  Obviously, bridges have no off ramps (cue "The More You Know!" sounder), so we were stuck going the opposite way.  At the end of the bridge, we met our first toll.  $3.55 (what a strange amount) for the pleasure of getting off the bridge.  We paid and I quickly found a place to U-Turn.  Back we went...to the toll bridge!  $3.55 more for the pleasure of going back across the bridge.  We were already down $7.10 thanks to my lack of driving skill.  I also wondered what the toll attendant was thinking as they looked into our car and saw luggage everywhere.  Nothing says tourist like a car full of luggage and a clueless driver.  

But we were finally on our way!  Well, sort of.  Not long after, I again missed a turn.  How am I so bad at this?  Google Maps was thankfully working, though, so I just had to make one other U-turn and I was back where I needed to go.  So THAT is what Google Maps meant when it said "turn left, stay right" in quick succession!  I am pleased to report, however, that I made no other driving mistakes on the way to the hotel.  We found our resort and slowly made our way in.  

Upon pulling up to valet, everyone opened their doors and the luggage spread across the street like glitter.  Okay, not really, but it wasn't that far off.  We pulled all of our suitcases, backpacks, and people out of the car.  While I arranged for valet, the others discovered two distinct birds in cages on opposite sides of the hotel entrance.  Geoff and Bob.  Bob seemed to be the crowd favorite.  He would bob (pardon the pun) and weave as Elisa and the boys did the same.  The birds even spoke.  Geoff was an expert at saying "Hola".  Bob was trained to say..."Hi Bob!"  Hopefully, this doesn't make sense to you either.  But maybe I'm thinking of it wrong.  I'll try it out over the next week.  Whenever anyone says hello to me, I'll respond with "Hi Brad!".  I'm sure they'll like it.  

After a few minutes, we finally did enter the hotel.  And man, what a view.  You are greeted by a fantastic picturesque framing of wide windows overlooking some gardens and just beyond that, the beach and ocean.  Just exquisite.  We checked in and headed up to our rooms.  We were up on the 6th floor, which was really nice because that also gave us beautiful views of our pool and the ocean.  I was immediately in heaven.  We dropped all of our backpacks and then separated the luggage into our separate rooms when the bellhop arrived.  And then it hit us...we were all starving.  

That's right.  The only morsels of food we had enjoyed (beyond cookies on the flight) were from Dunkin.  We were no longer running on Dunkin.   Our stomachs were eating themselves.  So at about 2:30pm, we headed down to the It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere Bar" (yes, that's the real name) and sat outside to get some food.  We had a good lunch of a variety of salads, wings, sandwiches, and I drank as much water as I could.  I was...parched.  Then, the boys wanted to go swim in the pool.

On the way, I found Elisa a place to get an iced coffee (and it really was the BEST).  Up we went, changed into swimming suits, and we headed down to the pool.  To say that the water was "chilly" would be an understatement.  Brrrrrr.  But the boys wanted to swim, damn it!  So in we went.  First, the boys went for the waterslide.  Sam was immediately hooked as well, but his poor old habit of drinking pool water reared it's ugly head after the third ride and he near vomited into a towel. Honestly, is there any worse sound than a kid deep coughing up pool water?  Yum!

With that, I wanted Sam to have a break, so he and I headed to the hot tub while the boys played water volleyball with my Dad.  Before long, though, the boys were back with us in the hot tub.  That was nice.  Warm and definitely took the chill away from the pool itself.  We then headed upstairs to get showered and changed so we could do what any self respecting vacationer would do...head back to the bar and have some drinks.  

We all pretty much decided on Pina Coladas, except for Elisa.  She was incredibly tired, so she stayed in the room to get some shut eye.  The rest of us had a great welcome drink for the vacation and then discovered one of the less advertised parts of Puerto Rico...the bugs.  They weren't swarming around us, no.  They were just eating our legs alive.  Wheeee!  Drinks and bug bites all on the first day!

It was bad enough (were they bugs or ants?!) that we got up after paying and headed back to the room while I researched dinner.  There was a restaurant called Roots that was serving up Southern/Caribbean flair, so I went up and let Elisa wake up a bit.  We engaged in a full conversation where she stated she wasn't hungry and didn't want to go to dinner...she just wanted to sleep, which was fine.  The rest of us headed down to the restaurant and settled in with some appetizers.  And then Elisa texted me, wondering where we were.  Trying to explain the conversation that we had to someone that didn't remember a word of it was...interesting.  But finally, Elisa was awake enough to realize she was indeed hungry.  She headed down and joined us.  The meal was amazing.  Connie, my Mom (Gayle), and I shared a bucket of chicken.  Lukas had ribs.  Sam had Mac and cheese that he hated but the rest of the table enjoyed.  And my Dad ordered Snapper, which came out as a full fish that had been deep fried.  Man, it was good.  In all, it was a fantastic starting meal to our trip (and for me, the first addition to my waistline).  

After dinner, though, it was clear.  The crew was exhausted.  So at 8:00pm San Juan time, we all headed up to our rooms and one by one, we went to sleep.  I was especially pleased to discover that the right side of the bed closest to the window got a direct arctic blast from the air conditioner.  Oh, it was heaven and we were all soon asleep.  

No one would stir (unless you count banging other people around due to snoring) until the next morning.  In the end, I was very glad that I had planned a chill day for our trip.  We had so much planned for the rest of the adventure, but easing into our time change, sleep issues, and the rest was a welcome addition.  

Coming up next time, our trip goes into high gear as we head to the seas and find our own sort of "culebration".  

Puerto Rico Cruisin' (2019) - Day Zero

I really have to appreciate how much my boys have gravitated to my trip planning frenzy.  They absolutely LOVE being a part of the process.  They like to vote on things, offer suggestions, write out itineraries, and more.  It's like having a factory of mini vacation planners at your fingertips.  I think it also drives Elisa crazy, because the lead up to our trip devolves into polls, never ending conversations about the layout of a hotel or a cruise ship, and what we have planned for the evening hours of day 3.

But I've been on record that the lead up to the trip is just as important, if not more so, than the trip itself.  The anticipation that you can build leads to a frenzy of excitement that simply pours over into the vacation itself.  I regularly annoy my wife and my Mom with questions like "are you excited?" each day of the month leading up to our vacation adventures.  

Yet, early on, I'm not sure the boys were AS excited about this trip as others.  Lukas had been on our 2008 cruise, but he was only 2 and obviously couldn't remember or appreciate the experience.  The other boys had never been on a cruise, and from an anticipation meter, Puerto Rico didn't registered nearly like Disney World or Disneyland did.  Yes, they were excited (about the ocean, pool, warm weather, etc.), but a lot of it seemed to be new concept to them.  

They were excited, but it took us getting through the Christmas holidays for the frenzy pitch to really pick up.  In today's technology age, YouTube offers a near never ending list of videos to get excited about.  When heading to the parks, the boys plop themselves in front of the TV to watch POV ride videos.  Sam watches in awe of Splash Mountain and then spends the next 10 minutes stating in no uncertain terms that he won't be riding that ever again.  This is the routine.  When going for a cruise, though, the options are there but are more subtle.  That is, until my kids stumbled upon the vlogging of one Michael Kay.  Apparently, he has a pretty good following on YouTube and I figure he must be doing alright for himself since he's posting daily videos and I get the distinct impression that his viewers supplement his vacation costs (both in advertising costs and sending him gift cards).  To be fair, the videos were helpful to acclimate me to our Disney cruise ship (the Disney Wonder).  But the kids just kept watching the videos.  And I, being the perceptive one, starting pulling out common themes.

I'm now convinced that Mr. Kay earns $5 for every time he says the word magical in one of his videos.  Literally everything is magical to this guy.  The sunrise, the cruise shop toilet, pins, coffee cups, the free hot chocolate...even losing to his brother at the cruise ship foosball table.  It's all so damn magical, I myself feel damn magical.  The magic meter fills up and you're almost surprised when something isn't so magical.  No, Michael!  Don't tell me that the croissant you just ate was only okay.  It has to be magical!  I'm lost without your incessant magic!

He also seems to start every video with "good morning everyone!" (yes, followed by a "it's going to be a magical day!").  There was one video in particular that seemed to freeze after just a few seconds of playing, and the boys wanted to see it.  So we were treated with about 43 "good morning everyone1" greetings in a row.  This specific video happened to feature a shirtless Mr. Kay next to his cruise ship window.  Yes, good morning Michael!  Magical Day!  Put a shirt on!

By the time the last days before the trip rolled around, though, I knew the Wonder pretty well, Mr. Kay really well, and the boys were finally reaching peak levels of excitement.  It was a daily fun for me to say "I don't think you're excited enough, I'm cancelling the trip" just to get them to squeal and jump around for the next 5 minutes professing their unending excitement.  

Our adventure was scheduled to start on a Wednesday, so Elisa and I took it upon ourselves to get ahead of the game and be packed the weekend before.  As we were both going to be working the day we left, I'm really glad we ended up doing this.  It took the pressure off of us.  But we also had a fantastic moment where we both realized just how much the "planner" part of me had rubbed off on the kids.  I was just getting ready to put our first clothes in the suitcase when Miles approached me with a video.  He had discovered, as part of his research, a better way to pack clothes.  In the video, the person took the shirt of the day and folded it in half (lengthwise).  You then laid your shorts and underwear one top and then rolled the shirt up.  Voila!  You had an instant outfit that took up about 1/3 of the space.  I was amazed and proud.  I think Elisa was both impressed and frightened.  What had I done to my children?

So we spent the remainder of our weekend rolling up outfits and getting us set and ready to go.  Our vacation would also start in an unconventional way.  On previous trips, I had been very conventional in what time our trips got underway.  Like most families, it made sense to find some morning flights and get the kids out the door.  But for our 2017 Disney World trip, I switched things up.  On previous trips to Orlando, it felt like a maniacal (no not magical, Mr. Kay!) trek from the airport to the hotel to dinner.  I didn't like the rush.  It brought out the Gestapo trip planner in me.  So for that trip, I changed tactics.  We left at 5:15 PM and landed in Orlando around 11:30 (though it was only 9:30 our time).  We headed straight to an airport hotel and crashed.  The next day ended up being a much more relaxed affair.  

So when I was looking at Puerto Rico, the same idea crept in, but I went a bit more extreme.  If we had to take two flights (no direct flights from SLC to San Juan), I decided to do the red eye.  Fly overnight to New York City and then be on an early morning flight that would get us to San Juan at about 1:00pm.  In practice, it seemed perfect.  I admit to being a bit nervous about taking three young kids on a redeye and how they might act the next day.  

Day Zero - and I call it that because our flight left at 11:50PM on Wednesday (can you really count 10 minutes of a day of a trip a full day?) arrived.  I went off to work and Elisa worked on Social Work notes, etc.  The boys were off to school, making me promise to pick them up.  Sam complicated matters because he wanted to be there when I picked up the boys (Sam has preschool which gets out in the morning), so around 3:00PM, Elisa drove Sam down to my work and I took him with me to get the boys.  

For Disney World, we had a fun starting tradition of Sam running to them and then jumping around like fools, releasing their excitement.  This time, we all had to wait for Lukas, who is in 6th Grade and is a part of Safety patrol.  So Sam and I strategically parked across from where Lukas would be a crossing guard.  Sam entertained me for awhile and then Lukas emerged.  Talk about fun - screaming at your kid from across the street to jump up and down and show his damn excitement.  This trip was going to start magically, or else!  MAGICALLY, I tell ya!  Miles followed suit and we got him to flail about as well.  And before we knew it, Lukas, Miles, and Sam were next to me, screaming at the top of their lungs that vacation was about to start.  I'm surprised the cops didn't show up and give us a ticket for disturbing the peace.  

We headed home, finished last minute packing, worked on some final homework, and then we played the waiting game.  Man, it takes a lot of time to wait from 6pm to 10pm when your kids are excited and they usually go to sleep at 8pm.  We tried to fill it with movies (no more Michael Kay excitement, please!) and for the most part it worked, except for trying to get the boys to get some sleep.  The only happened once we got to around 9:15PM.

About 30 minutes later, our house sitters arrived and Elisa went into her complicated explanations of the house, the dogs, and everything in between.  I have to hand it to her.  She's very thorough.  But she gave them so many instructions, I had to nearly pull her out of the house.  We were going to be late.  Before we knew it, we were in the car and on our way.  There was excitement in the car, mixed with sleepiness.  Sam fell back asleep on the way, though Lukas and Miles were wide awake.  

For this trip, we were breaking from our Diamond Parking tradition to try a new place - The Parking Spot.  It was nice to be able to make reservations in advance and know I could control everything from my smart phone.  As we drove past Diamond, Elisa entertained me by asking every 15 seconds if The Parking Spot really existed because she couldn't seem to see it.  Eventually, it did come into view, I scanned my iPhone, and we drove over to our assigned parking spot.  I was immediately impressed. Parked right next to our spot was a shuttle.  Now that's some kind of service!  We greeted my parents and Aunt, pulled out all of our suitcases, and were on the shuttle and off to the airport.  A short ride later, we were inside, checking in our luggage and making our way through very little security.  I mean, who is crazy enough to fly out on an 11:50 flight?  Well, besides me, of course.  

After security, we loaded up on some water, had the kids go to the bathroom, and awaited our flight.  We boarded without problem and tried to settle the kids.  Miles and Lukas were going to wait until we took off.  Sam was already starting to fade.  I was very curious how I would do, as I can't seem to EVER sleep on a flight.  I downed a Melatonin (my trip planning suggested it), and after a slight delay on the tarmac, we took off and towards New York City.  

It was going to be fine, right?  I mean, how bad could it be with three sleepy boys, 2 sleepy parents, a sleepy Aunt, and a sleepy wife in New York City just 4 hours later?  Let's just say I'm glad a Dunk'n Donuts was nearby.  But that's a store for next time. 

Puerto Rico Cruisin' (2019) - Prologue

I fully admit that this blog came at the request of my two older children, who somehow still enjoy me reading the exploits of our 2012 Disney World trip to them (see old 2012 posts for that fun).  So once we returned from our latest Pierce Vacation, and I created my customary movie of all of our photos and videos, talk turned back to why I didn't write blogs for our vacations anymore.  

In truth, I thought it was too much.  After all, I had just put together a 2 hour movie with all of our memories.  Wasn't that enough?  For a week, I stressed over putting the right pictures and videos in the right order with the right music.  Prior to Elisa's party on Sunday (we skipped the Super Bowl out of sheer protest at the idiot refs that kept the Saints out of the big game), we all sat down and watched it and I was pleased to see the rave reviews.  

But the more I started thinking about it, the more the boys had a point.  While the videos and photos are great, they don't tell the various stories behind the scenes.  The silly things the boys (or I) end up doing on trips.  My incessant trip planning.  Yep, everything.  So here we are.  I do remember from my old vacation blogs that I tended to get off the beaten path quickly and often, so I am going to attempt to be much more focused on the actual trip.  You don't need to know the intricate process we went through to decide whether we bring a stroller or not.  Nah, the vacation itself is much more interesting.  

So where did we go and why?  Well, I need not tell you that we are a Disney family through and through.  Regardless of how others feel, I have no shame in admitting that I could go back and forth between Disneyland and Disney World and feel absolute happiness.  I get that it isn't for everyone, but it is for my family.  And I love that the boys truly love Disney as much as Elisa and I do.  That being said, we had finished a Disneyland trip in 2018 when we went to California to visit Elisa's sister and our nephews, and our big Disney World trip in 2017 was still legendary in the household, so you might wonder which park we headed to.  And the answer...shockingly...is none.  Nope.  We did something else.  But don't worry, we found a way to still incorporate Disney magic.  Or wonder.  More on that later.  

More important in our life (and 2018) was Elisa's big graduation.  I'm so proud of her.  After a great and successful career in Accounting, she had decided that it wasn't her passion.  She wanted more.  And thanks to her own growth and our own experience with Sam, she had felt that Social Work was her perfect fit.  She started that journey in 2017 and never looked back.  I beamed with immense pride as I watched her graduate.  And because trip planning and vacationing are two of my favorite things in the world, her accomplishment begged the question "where do you want to go to celebrate your vacation?"  Now, Elisa likes Disney and all but I would say she is slightly less crazy than I am when it comes to Disney vacations.  She's generally good to step away from the parks every once in awhile.  And this time, she was very clear in her goal.  She wanted to go to Puerto Rico.  

We had actually considered Puerto Rico as a trip earlier a year earlier, but with Hurricane Maria ravaging the place and Elisa still knee deep in school, we had put it off.  But this was an important place for Elisa.  Her grandparents were born and raised in Puerto Rico.  She wanted to chase a bit of her heritage.  I couldn't blame her.  It also paired nicely with the fact that Elisa and beaches go together like peanut butter and jelly.  She loves relaxing beach vacations.  I tend to be a bit different.  Oh, I like beaches but I like activities.  But planning a more chill trip?  Well, that seemed like a good challenge.  

You might be asking, then, how Disney comes into play.  It happened in the snowy winter of 2018.  I was beginning my dig into Puerto Rico planning, trying to find the best time to go.  I had slowly settled on the idea of a January 2019 trip, as it was after Elisa's graduation and also after hurricane season.  As I was looking at emails during a break from one of Lukas' basketball games, I got a Disney email...talking about cruises.  I paused.  Then I deleted it.  Elisa didn't like cruises.  

In our family, we famously jumped on a Royal Carribean cruise in 2008 and, amongst other difficulties, Elisa just didn't love the cruise.  She hated feeling like the ship never stopped moving, and hated more than it felt like she was still on the boat some 2 weeks after we had disembarked.  I had floated the idea of a Disney cruise once or twice and was met with a rousing "hell no" so I dropped the thought.  But then, I had to look...how good was Disney at cruises? Maybe they weren't their usual perfect selves.  I typed in "best cruise line" into the Google and was met with countless rankings that put Disney at...#1.  Of course.  Why should I be surprised?  Then again, I was also met with the reality that Disney was #1 in price as well.  That definitely didn't surprise me.  

After we left the basketball game, we headed to Starbucks with my parents and the boys.  Elisa needed her latest Starbucks drink and it gave me time to do a little peak at Disney cruise itineraries.  And as if it was destined to be, I stumbled upon Disney cruises in January 2019.  And they embarked from...San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Even better, because they were leaving from San Juan, the prices didn't seem nearly as astronomical as other cruises I had seen.  

So we sat down with our drinks and I tentatively threw it out there.  What about a Puerto Rico trip that slapped on a Disney cruise somewhere inside it?  I expected the protest and the big no that would kill my Disney spirit.  Instead, Elisa surprised me. She was generally open.  Disney cruise?  That sounded fun.  Tacked onto her mandatory Puerto Rico trip?  She could deal with that.  Her only worry was her motion sickness.  I quickly told her as part of my trip planning, I would research ways to avoid her motion issues.  

I turned to my parents as well and they were immediately game.  I mean, they already liked cruises and who is honestly going to say no to extending a trip to the very warm Caribbean while it is cold and snowy in Utah?  So it was set.  We were going to go Puerto Rico Cruisin'.  In the end, we added one more to our clan (my Aunt Connie, who had also joined us to Disney World).  And the planning began.  

I booked the cruise and dove into the wonderful world of learning about Puerto Rico.  While I have Disneyland and Disney World down, exploring a new place (and an exotic one at that) became an immense pleasure.  There was so much we could do.  I looked for hotels (and found awesome ones).  I narrowed down the best beaches, islands, and activities.  I slowly but surely put together my best itinerary.  Now all I needed was a good flight cost.  

As part of my trip planning, I check flight prices every single day.  I was starting to give up hope that we would ever get a great price on flights to Puerto Rico. I had been looking for almost 6 months and the flights never dropped before $500 and were usually around $600.  Before a Utah football game in September, however, we were sitting at Wing Coop having our customary wing dinner and I realized that I had failed to check my flights that day.  I brought them up on my phone, believing that it would be quick confirmation at terrible prices and then I'd go back to my wings.  

But then I saw glorious numbers.  $325 for roundtrip flights to San Juan on Delta.  I couldn't believe it.  Just one day ago, they were $600.  I immediately texted the group for confirmation that I could book, and then spent the next 15 minutes entering all our flight information on my little iPhone.  One time, I thought I had lost the screen (and thereby my great prices), but somehow I did it.  8 plane tickets purchased.  $325 each.  For fun, I checked the next day and the same flights were now a cool $1125 to buy.  Yikes.  Talk about a system that reacted to 8 great priced flights being scooped up.  

But in general, we were set.  I booked our excursions on the Disney Cruise, arranged for veranda views, booked Puerto Rico activities, selected our final hotels (one for pre-cruise and one for the day we got off the ship) and then we headed into Christmas.  There was something just wonderful about returning to work on January 2nd, knowing that in just one little week, we'd be in the Caribbean.  See ya snowy Utah!  

Saving Sam (Chapter 5.13) - I've never met you, but I know you

We're just about 1 month away from some heavy anniversaries.  First, we'll hit December 8th...not only the anniversary of my brother's death (for those confused, go look for the first prologue), but also the 1 year anniversary of that fateful morning when Elisa and I made the call (at 1:52am) that Sam was in trouble and needed to go to Primary Children's again.  As it turned out, intuition was right.  Sam was in heart failure.  That will be followed up with December 10th as the second memorable anniversary.  It will be the 1 year remembrance of Sam's dangerous embolization.  You know, the one that we keep finding out was more dangerous and scary than we could even have contemplated at the time.  Knowing how I struggled with the previous anniversary (September 30th - the anniversary of being told that Sam wasn't going to make it), I'm sure I'll slog through those two days, feeling every sense of worry, pain, and fear that had engulfed me (and Elisa) in 2013.

On September 30th, Elisa asked me why anniversaries like this were difficult.  After all, it was just a day on the calendar.  I told her that our bodies and minds don't remember the calendar day.  They feel the memories, and relive the difficult parts of it as if we're getting a too cruel version of deja vu.

Such is life with a special kid.  I've gotten used to this routine.

You see, when you look at Sam's journey as a bunch of calendar days, it seems manageable.  After all, if you can get through the 5 or so horrible anniversaries, everything else can be forgotten.  However, memories aren't tied to the calendar.  They're tied to experiences.  Every time we get a call from (801) 662-1000, my heart seizes.  That's the telephone number from somewhere in PCMC.  Each time we have to take Sam into a MRI (and have to say goodbye as he's put to sleep), I remember kissing him before the embolization and wondering if that was the last time I would see my baby boy.

So when the calendar showed that 6 months had passed since Sam's last MRI, the memories flooded back and I know that the simple task of walking the halls of Primary Children's would elicit and emotional response and trigger memories that I'd rather not have in my psyche.

Such is life with a special kid.  I've gotten used to this routine.

Sam's MRI was scheduled for Wednesday, November 5th.  On the 4th, I got the call from scheduling that told us we needed to be at Same Day Surgery at 8:00am.  As I was getting off the phone with them, I mentioned that Sam was also supposed to have an echocardiogram, per Dr. Day's orders.  When we had last visited the Cardiology team in September, we had avoided an echo because they prefer to not have to wrestle with toddlers during the procedure.  It was much easier to handle the echo with Sam sedated, so we were going to get the 1-2 punch of news; cardiology and neurology; heart and head.  The scheduler was slightly surprised by my request, so I patiently sat on hold while she reached out and tried to arrange for both the MRI and echocardiogram to get taken care of.  Some 20 minutes later, she returned to inform me that both would happen.  I got my feeding and drinking instructions, and moved on with my day.

1 hour later, the scheduler called back.  Yes, they'd still do both, but we now needed to be at PCMC at 7:00am.  Lucky us - that meant Sam's last feeding had to be at 3:30am, and he wouldn't get to eat again until the procedure was over.  I broke the bad news to my mom, who watches the boys while we're at work (or exploring hospitals and such), and profusely apologized.  This experience wouldn't just affect Sam.  No, we all needed to get to experience an early wake up call to get Sam his MRI.  Like good little soldiers, we got up at 3:15am and Elisa fed Sam (and I got him his medications).  Ah, the medications.  I'm sure I haven't blogged about this (or maybe I have...who remembers anything anymore?), but post-Dr. Day's last appointment, we were instructed to go from 3 doses of Sildenafil for Sam to 2 per day.  We were very excited by that proposition, as the daily medications have always been daily reminders of Sam's condition.  We followed Dr.'s orders, and Sam went down by a dose.  Miraculously, over the next week, Sam's remaining retractions slowly disappeared.  Perhaps it was coincidence, but I had a theory as the last remnants of Sam's breathing struggles went away.  Sildenafil is designed to open the vessels.  When Sam was in serious pulmonary hypertension, this was critical as it allowed his lungs to handle the higher load/volume.  As the embolization had slowed that flow down, I wondered if the Sildenafil was opening those vessels up enough to almost overwhelm the little man.  Whether that is true or not, it ended up being close timing that Sam's reduced Sildenafil dose went hand in hand with the retractions going away.

Back to early mornings and MRIs, we put Sam back to bed and hoped that we could get an hour or more of sleep before the day began.  I didn't end up sleeping very much.  The memories of previous MRIs were starting to surface.  I didn't feel scared, but there were nerves in the stomach that pushed sleep just out of reach.  5:30 came and Elisa and I pulled ourselves out of bed.  We'd spend the next hour rushing around the house, getting the kids awake and dressed, and preparing ourselves to go back to PCMC, and to go back to the memories.

We got out of the house only 5 minutes late, and headed back to the world of sick kids.  I always hate and love sitting in the Same Day Surgery waiting room.  I hate it because you see sick kids that, like Sam, are past the immediate dangers of their conditions.  But more surgery is yet to be done.  You see kids that are having all kinds of procedures, and your heart goes out to every parent sitting next to them.  When something like this comes into your family, you join and unannounced and unpublicized club.  You are one with these people, and know it as you make eye contact with them.  In any other situation, I'd probably lower my eyes and stare at the floor.  Here, in Same Day Surgery, I smiled whenever this happened.  I wanted to convey that these people weren't alone; that I understood.  I'm sure that wasn't conveyed, but at the very least, I wasn't averting my eyes to their sick children.  I was embracing them as one of the unannounced and unpublicized club.

Such is life with a special kid.  I'd gotten used to this routine.

Before we knew it, we were checked in and Sam was measured and weighed.  While Sam used to be thin and frail, the constant eating (he is the human disposal) has made him a solid piece of human being.  Clearing 22 lbs., I was immediately remembering the days between our PCMC visits.  I stressed over every ounce gained (or not).  Now, I worried that Sam would put us into the poor house considering how much food he was plowing through on a daily basis.  We headed into one of the examination rooms and had the nurse's assistant collect Sam's vitals.  We were thrilled to see readings of 99/100 on Sam's oxygen, now 6 months removed from the cannulas and tanks.  He looked and sounded good, and I thankfully remembered times where that wasn't the case.  Almost on cue, we looked out the door and saw the nurse that had put a halt to Sam's MRI 6 months ago.  Do any blog readers remember her?  Yeah, she was openly trying to negotiate with the doctor to not do the MRI, and somehow won that argument.  Boo.

And then, we got to wait.  Waiting isn't a big deal.  When you're in hospitals, you kind of know that this is a part of the deal.  You wait for doctors, nurses, drugs, exams, and procedures.  You're waiting for rounds.  You wait a bit more for a consultation.  And then you wait for an appointment...every single time.  No, they still haven't invented the drive-thru window for medical appointments.  But waiting with a hungry and tired 13 month old is its own version of hell.  Sam wanted to crawl, and overtime he did, he'd head for the exit (smart kid...he knows how un-fun these places are!).  We tried books and our phones.  We looked around the room for contraptions that would entertain him.  But the little man just wanted to get on with things, and I didn't blame him.  Many minutes later, the nurse (no, not the one that I was open to strangling) came in and did another examination on Sam.  She was warm, and I remembered her helping us before the last MRI.  It brought back memories of many of the wonderful people that have influenced Sam for the better - the dozens of nurses that took the time with us and with Sam, and to whom I'm very grateful for.

With Sam's vitals all checking out, we were escorted to waiting room #2, which at least had televisions.  We chose a spot in the back corner, and just 10 minutes later, I regretted the decision.  Just behind us, a boy (I would estimate to be 8-9 years old) was going to get surgery and he was having a conversation with the doctor.  I was impressed and saddened that he was having an open conversation about his options on going to sleep (the mask vs. an IV).  How do we get to the place where kids are educated and involved enough that they are negotiating treatment?  I was working through thoughts that Sam might one day be that kid when the nurses brought some medication to help the boy get sleepy (before his chosen IV).  He cried, not wanting to take the medication and afraid that he would throw up.  It was sad and uncomfortable enough that Elisa and I moved over to the other side of the waiting room, hopeful that we could give the parents some space and privacy to help their son.  I watched on the outskirts, as the boy got his IV and was consoled that the worst was over.  I never said anything to his parents, but I again felt that kinship with them, and hoped that my encouraging smiles and support were enough, or at least meant something.

Soon enough, they were gone, and most of the waiting room cleared out.  We were left with one other group - a mother and daughter, and I could tell the daughter was nervous.  And then I was reminded about why PCMC is a wonderful place dealing with horrible situations.  A woman came up and sat with the girl.  She presented her with a doll - the same dolls that Lukas and Miles got when Sam was first in PCMC, and the very same ones that they both sleep with to date.  She let the girl smell the various scents for the sleeping gas, and made her feel comfortable.  Before we moved to another part of the waiting room, I saw the woman do it again with another child.  I immediately wanted that job.  Talk about being able to make an impact on those various parents that I mentioned before.

I was just getting to the point where I was annoyed at how long we had to wait when a doctor approached us.  Adding to the litany of doctors we had worked with, Dr. Hannon would be the Anesthesiologist for Sam's MRI.  While I didn't mind the man (he actually sat and talked to us for awhile), he took both of us back with some of the things that he said.  "I've never met you, but I know you", he said.  Apparently, everyone knew Sam.  Yes, even in a world renowned children's hospital, Sam's condition and story are that unique.  He was involved and following Sam's story back with the embolization.  He never treated Sam, and stated that he probably got called onto a different child's case, but he told us how rare and unique Sam's story truly was.  How he had been diagnosed, cared for, and nearly lost was something of a marvel to the doctors and nurses in PCMC.

He talked nicely, but I couldn't help but be saddened by this news.  In the moment, I knew Sam's condition was rare.  I saw 12 people in Sam's room before his embolization, and hadn't witnessed that with other kids, but to know that it had almost been a calendar year since Sam's embolization, and his story was still followed and known was just another reminder that Sam's odds (both of having the condition and surviving it) were astronomical.  I remembered a conversation Elisa and I had in the midst of our second PCMC stay, where we coined Sam "one in a billion".  It seemed that he truly was, even to this hospital that treats so many.

Such is life with a special kid.  I'd gotten used to this routine.

Dr. Hannon informed us that we would have to wait 15 more minutes, as they were behind in Imaging, so Elisa and I moved to the other part of the waiting room and found a little play area with Finding Nemo playing.  At the very least, it allowed Sam to be contained while crawling around.  Sadly, that lasted about 5 minutes...he quickly discovered the television and so we moved around, trying to entertain a child that was now near a revolt due to being tired and hungry.  Elisa resorted to pacing through the waiting room as new patients came and went.  I wondered if perhaps the routine nature of the MRI was a blessing.  Children with more serious immediate needs were getting served first, and since Sam had probably bounced someone from the schedule during his worst times, I was less upset about the waiting.  Elisa had nearly gotten Sam to sleep when Dr. Hannon arrived and we headed downstairs.  I laughed to myself when I saw that it was 9:30am - our original time for the MRI before they told us to come an hour earlier.  That sure paid off!

I was appreciative to Dr. Hannon, as he was the first Anesthesiologist to let us stay with Sam until he was asleep.  He told us that they'd start with the mask (flavored with cherry) and Sam would go to sleep.  At that point, we could give him a kiss and they'd get the IV and the rest of it when we were out of the room.  We laughed openly as Dr. Hannon gave us a mask (not connected) with the cherry scent already added.  Sam licked his lips and tried to eat the cherry scent.  Needless to say, I wasn't worried that he would fight the mask...he was too busy searching for the cherry candy hidden just out of his view (or so he thought).  As they stared the actual gas, a nurse showed him Dinosaur Train on an iPad and Sam slowly relaxed.  I looked down and he was calm and watching the show, and then 30 seconds later, they were laying him down as he was asleep.  I leaned down and kissed his chest, telling him how much I loved him.  I hated saying goodbye, even for a "routine" MRI.  Elisa followed suit, and we walked out of the room.  My heart had caught in my throat and I felt the need to cry...no, not out of worry for this procedure, but from the memories of all the previous goodbyes with less certain resolutions.  

Such is life with a special kid.  I'd gotten used to this routine.  

Elisa and I immediately headed to Brews on 3rd - a little coffee stand that we'd gotten to know on previous visits to the hospital.  We both were desperate for coffee/caffeine.  With those in hand, we walked over and got a snack at University Hospital, and then headed back to the waiting room and the most uncomfortable chairs in the hospital - seriously, when you butt is falling asleep after 5 minutes, you know the chairs are rough.  We waited for about 45 minutes before we were greeted by two very familiar visitors - Dr. Day and nurse Lynda.  They knew we were in the hospital and wanted to check on Sam.  Memories flooded back - from the times he was Dr. Doom to Lynda staying with us long after Sam's embolization.  I felt such fondness for both of them.  They said they would chat with us shortly, and disappeared to check on Sam.  

A few minutes later, Dr. Day and Lynda were back.  Sam was getting his echo and apparently the MRI had gone well.  More importantly, Dr. Day had arrived at the right time - he saw some of the echo.  In particular, Dr. Day was able to observe the scans of Sam's PDA.  It was still very small, but he was more concerned about how the pressures looked.  To remind you, they measure the pressures inside the heart and then just outside the PDA to get an idea of what the pressure is in the lungs.  I still remember the horror of discovering that Sam's pressures were in the high 80s when we first met Dr. Day.  Today, however, the news was so much better.  The tech was getting readings around 40, which meant that the pressure lungs had come way down.  The 40 reading was very near normal, actually.  We were thrilled.  I immediately shared with them that the retractions had disappeared with the lowered Sildenafil, which they both found fascinating (as opposed to just dismissing it from the amateur hour).  We talked in depth about the Sildenafil and Dr. Day (was he EVER Dr. Doom?) stated that he wanted us to go down to 1 dose of Sildenafil per day, and if he tolerated that, we could take him off of it (and the Zantac) on Thanksgiving.  That's right...if everything goes well during the month of November, Sam will be off of all medications on Thanksgiving Day.  Well, I know what I'm going to be thankful for this year!

Moreover, Dr. Day said that once we got MRI results, and he had a chance to sit down and review the entire echocardiogram, we could explore closing Sam's PDA.  Dr. Day stated that he was deciding things on the fly here, but he was very encouraged by Sam's size.  He felt that he could go the catheter and fix the PDA without a worry of losing a key vessel in his leg.  While he didn't make a decision in the moment, he said he would call us with next steps.  I wasn't really paying attention.  I had my eyes set on the best Thanksgiving morning of my life, and the thought that we could be celebrating Sam's last dose of Sildenafil since September 30, 2013.  

Not long after, a nurse came and got us and we headed back to the recovery room.  Sam was awake this time, which was new for him.  The crankiness, however, wasn't anything new.  He wasn't a happy camper and he had the raspiness in his throat.  Earlier in the morning, we wondered if Sam was getting a cold (he had sneezed a few times), and hearing the raspy noises, I was now more convinced this was the case.  But like muscle memory, the raspy noises took us back to Sam's worst MRI, a year before (actually...364 days before).  He was probably starting to go into heart failure at that point, and post-MRI, he had a gurgle/rasp in his throat that didn't cease.  It was a horrible sound - like Sam needed to clear his throat, but couldn't.  I shook the memories away and focused on a healthier Sam that was trying to recover.  

In a strange twist, when Sam wasn't ready to eat, he wanted Daddy.  So, I stood and rocked my little man, trying to get him out of the fog and a bit happier.  While I wasn't successful at making him happier, he did slowly come out of the fog.  Finally, he stopped fighting the feeding Elisa was attempting to give him, and as he ate, he calmed.  From when we first headed into recovery, it took about 45 minutes for Sam to go from cranky and unhappy to...well, Sam.  Before we knew it, he was making small smiles at the nurse, and had even coughed up a big chunk of mucus which made his throat sound better (and the rasp less pronounced).  We took another 15 minutes to have him recover a bit more, and then we found ourselves packing up and heading home.  

By the time we got home, Sam was basically back to normal.  We found later that afternoon that he truly was getting a cold as his nose started running like a faucet.  But, really, a runny nose and a cold was small payment for the news we had just gotten.  Sam was on track to be off medications by Thanksgiving.  There was no amount of rain that could shut down this parade.  

However, we were just getting started.  As per our previous three scheduled MRIs, Day One was all about the MRI and Day Two was a visit to the Neurology team.  I told you - matters of the heart and head.  

Such is life with a special kid.  I'd gotten used to this routine.  

Thursday morning arrived with much less rush and fanfare than Wednesday had begun.  Our appointment with Dr. Brockmeyer was scheduled for 11:00am, which allowed us to get Lukas and Miles to school (and Elisa and I a couple cups of required coffee).  With only Sam in the house, we packed him up (waking him from a nap, sadly), and made the trek back to Primary Children's.  While every appointment is a worry, Elisa and I didn't feel the same sense of concern that we had the day before.  We kept telling each other that his head had to be in good shape if his heart was.  After all, the only reason we knew about Sam's fistula at all was because of the strain it had put on his heart.  We hoped that our intuition was right.

We arrived just a couple minutes late and got checked in.  If Sam's Cardiology appointments are involved affairs, it would be fair to call his Neurology appointments "express".  After checking in, we were ushered to an examination room and were joined by a nurse.  She measured his head, entered it into the computer, played around with Sam until he was smiling broadly at her, and then left.  I like express appointments.  

Just 15 minutes later, 4 doctors entered the room.  As they shuffled in, I was immediately reminded by Dr. Hannon from the day before ("Sam's famous...his case is so unique").  Joining Dr. Brockmeyer in the room was Dr. Tosky (yep, the famous savior of Sam) and two unnamed doctors, clearly there because of the unique case.  Dr. Brockmeyer didn't waste time - in fact, he was starting to say we might not need such routine scans when I reminded him that Sam had just had a MRI the day before. Apparently, he was unaware.  Ummm...okay?

The group of doctors brought up the scans and set the screen up to do a direct comparison of results from May vs. November.  My first thought was that the fistula looked a bit smaller than it had in May.  I thought my eyes were probably just playing tricks until Tosky verbalized the same thing.  The doctors were, at the very least, in agreement that it was the same...and yes, it could be smaller.  They were pleased.  Elisa asked if Sam was doing well and Dr. Tosky said "yes, he's doing better than any of us could have expected".  Wow.  

Seizing on the opportunity of having all of these doctors staring at Sam (Tosky kept commenting on how great Sam looked), I asked them what the long term plan was for Sam.  If you'll remember, the last time we were there, Brockmeyer had stated that they might never have to go do more to the fistula.  At the time, that was comforting.  As more time had passed, I worried about the potential of leaving a ticking time bomb in my son's head, with the chance of hemorrhaging.  6 months later, Brockmeyer and Tosky were fully aligned.  Yes, we would eventually need to put an end to Sam's fistula, and yes, it would likely be through another embolization.  But Sam's progress, growth, and the relative lack of change (or shrinking) of the fistula appeared to be giving us much more time than they had even hoped for.  Dr. Tosky said that if things continued on this path, we could wait until Sam was 6, or even 10 years old.  And as if all of my memories had been exhausted, I was reminded of Tosky previously stating that with every ounce and every year, his procedures got more safe, and less scary.  

As if they could sense that we had been through a whirlwind of emotions, Dr. Brockmeyer gave us one final bit of good news.  He didn't think we needed to have such routine MRIs, especially with how Sam had been coming along.  He asked for a routine MRI for Sam in...a year.  365 days.  Nothing before that.  

After saying goodbye, Elisa and I packed up Sam and walked back through Primary Children's.  In the span of two days, we'd found out three things.  First, Sam's PDA could be fixed soon.  Second, he'd be off Sildenafil (and all medications) by Thanksgiving (if things went well), and third, we wouldn't have to put Sam through a MRI for an entire year.  It felt overwhelming.  It didn't feel real.  It felt like we were able to take a deep breath after being out of breath for months.  Sam wasn't just getting better.  Sam was beating the odds and writing his own story on what was now a "famous" case in the bowels of PCMC.  Sam was telling the world that he's got this...that he'll emerge the victor.  

Such is life with a special kid.  But THIS is a routine I could get used to.