She Likes Purple

Our Puerto Rico Vacation, Part One: The Mainland

We're back from vacation! Don't let that exclamation point fool you, though, we'd much rather still be on vacation and not back from it, but vacations can't last forever, or so my bank account so often tells me. 

We started off our vacation on the mainland of Puerto Rico, flying into San Juan Thursday evening, renting a car and driving a half hour to Rio Grande, to stay at the Gran Melia Resort. We used miles for both our flight and stay (more on all that in a future post) but I was still a little weary of the hotel because no matter how much time you spend on TripAdvisor or Yelp or insert your travel site of choice, you never really know if the negative comments are going to end up being spot on or just the ramblings of an impossible-to-please crazy person. I was so pleasantly surprised, though, and it was also a refreshing way to end the night, after braving the Puerto Rico freeways to get there. (I don't quite know what to say about the drivers there execpt, well, I promise not to say any more bad things about Dallas drivers for at least a week.) 

(Some grounds photos from Gran Melia.) 

The next day we got up early and headed to Puerto Rico's central mountains for ziplining. I say this causally because it already happened and I now get to check the "have ziplined" box on my life list, but you should know I spent the entire four hours we were at the Toro Verde Adventure Park wishing I was not at the Toro Verde Adventure Park. 

I'm not afraid of heights! I'm usually up for adventuret! But, oh boy, was ziplining kind of terrifying. 

Pre-ziplining. I look so....cluelessly happy.

We didn't eat breakfast that day because, well, I can't remember why now, and we planned a big lunch post-ziplining but it ended up going until 5 p.m., so these are our "we are starving" faces. Granted, these expressions look nothing like we're starving, but that's still the story.

The sodas in Puerto Rico are very randomly sized. 

There were nine zip lines in total and the only reason I made it past the first was because a Boston family with four boys, the youngest being seven years old, was in front of us. AND THEY WERE NOT AFRAID. I looked at Mike and said, "I cannot back out while the seven year old is still smiling." 

Damn if that kid didn't enjoy every single minute.

After we finished ziplining and my blood pressure returned to a normal level, it went right back up because we got super lost on the drive home. On the windy roads of the central mountains. In the rain.

When we got back to the resort for dinner, I turned to Mike and said, "I have been scared all day. I want a drink." I got one, thank goodness.

The next day, we took a snorkel trip to Culebra, a small island east of Puerto Rico. It was just what we needed, oh was it. If you ever make it to Puerto Rico, add this snorkel trip to your must-do list. We spent about an hour, snorkeling in the reefs of Culebra and then anchored for lunch and rest on Flamenco Beach. 

I opted to spend part of the day on top of the boat, instead of in the water, and I just felt the stress melt away. I made some goals, thought of our next vacation's location, and just enjoyed the afternoon. It was so nice, everything I wanted my vacation to be, wrapped up in that one afternoon. 

(Up next: Vieques!) 

A really easy kid to miss

I often think we got crazy lucky with Kyle. Not that he's perfect and not to get all annoyingly braggy, but it's just that whenever I measure our parenting against the child he is, he comes out on top, always. He's just so much better than us, if that makes sense. We do our best, we love him to pieces, we are proud of our family unit, but it's very clear this kid has an unbelievable spirit that I think is all his own, that has so little to do with us as far as I can tell. It makes me feel very lucky. It makes me feel like I'm getting to witness a pretty spectacular person, not just a neat kid.

He is three and all that goes along with the age, sure, but he's just so sunny and bright and funny and warm. I just really, really love this kid.

Whenever he has something in his hands and therefore can't pick up something else I've asked him to, he looks at me, innocently, and says, "I've got two hands!" (instead of "I've only got two hands!") It's adorable.

He still calls granola bars "hot bars" and I'll never correct him as long as he lives. YOU DON'T EITHER.

The other day, I suggested a shirt for him to wear and he said, "Oh yeah! Kyle likes that shirt." It was weird and hilarious and that about sums up three right there.

Whenever I tell him no, he immediately goes into negotiation mode. "Mommy, can I watch George?" "No, it's bedtime." "I just want to watch one minute! Just one minute then bed time!" "No." "How about just four minutes?" "You are very bad at negotiating."

He's an only child, so he's taken to treating Molly like a sibling. "SHE IS LOOKING AT MY BAGEL." "MOMMMMMM, MOLLY SAT IN MY SPOT." "Molly! Go lay down! GO!" That poor poor poor poor dog. But, the other night when I yelled at Molly myself for being crazy (BECAUSE SHE IS), Kyle turned to me with true anger and said, "Be nice to Molly! She is MY FRIEND."

We have a house rule that he can stay up as late as he wants as long as he stays in bed. He can't bring toys into bed (other than books) and he can't get out of bed, but he can stay up as late as he wants if he obeys those rules. Some nights, he's in there at 9 p.m. singing so loudly to himself, I have to politely ask him to sing just a little quieter so we can actually hear each other. It's kind of fantastic.

Mike and I leave for a week-long vacation tomorrow and I'm over-the-moon excited (we really need this trip together after a difficult couple months of losing dear family members and stressful jobs and fender benders and everything else that goes along with daily adult life), but it's never easy leaving this kid.

I think it makes us better parents and spouses, and we come back buzzing with excitement to hug all over him, but we'll still miss him like mad, we'll probably talk about nothing else the first and last day, and we'll no doubt beg for a dozen pictures of him every hour while we're gone.

He's just a really easy kid to miss.

Easter Happened A Long Time Again, I Know

I imagine if this weren't my blog, I wouldn't be able to get away with recapping Easter over a week after it happened, but this is my blog, thank goodness. (Well, thank goodness depending on who you ask.)

Anyway (and hilariously) the Easter brunch and egg hunt we hosted at our house was Kyle's FOURTH egg hunt of the year. It became so ridiculous that whenever I'd cheerfully tell him he'd get to see Nana (my mom) on Easter, he'd look at me, confused, and say, "But...we already had Easter." Like, wait a second, I don't get to see her for A YEAR? I DO NOT ACCEPT THAT.

It was a small group, just the three of us, my mom, and Kristie and Jackson. Small but sweet. We had brunch -- with mimosas because my house, my champagne-centric traditions, YOU ARE NOT SURPRISED -- and then let the boys loose in our backyard to find the eggs Mike painstakingly hid.

Yeah. They found all 75+ in, no kidding, three minutes.

Molly was pissed that she got nothing. That's pretty much been Molly's default emotion since Kyle's birth.

Then we brought out the four-wheeler for the boys because we expected the hunt to take longer than the length of your average commercial break.

Oh, and we got a family photo (with all four of us, see Molly we do still love you) for the first time since last Easter.

(Oof, come on beach vacation tan! Also, yes, Kyle's tongue is out. AGE THREE, MAN. It's weird.)

So, yes, we had a great Easter this year and then we all took naps. I hope yours was just as booze-, chocolate-, fun-, and nap-filled.

#marchphotoaday

I'm crazy behind on about a dozen posts I want/need to write. Behind on my own deadlines, not behind because you're biting your nails to read them, I should clarify. 

Anyway, first up in my long list of need-to-write-those-suckers posts is a wrap-up of my March photos via Instagram. (Oh, hey! Raise your hand if you're desperately wishing you had invented Instagram this week? Me too!) 

(Here's February) 

"Neighborhood": This is the main street in my little town. We can walk here from our house and there are a handful of places to eat and hang out. It's such a sell for the area, and while I can't imagine living in Texas the rest of my life, I can absolutely imagine living here the rest of my life. (Which doesn't make any sense, I know.)

"Fruit": I snapped this in the produce section of Target. The lady waiting to actually buy lemons looked totally unamused.

"Up": This is the wood-paneled ceiling in our hallway. It's one of my favorite parts of the house.

"Window": This is the view out my office window. I'm lucky that I have my own office and my own big window, so we're going to focus on that and not that my view is horrible. 

"Clouds": I think this photo is a bit self-explanatory, don't you?

"Smile": Oh this kid. His hair is unruly and wild and it grows so fast, I can't keep up, and that's before you consider how lazy his parents are. So, he often looks like he needs a haircut. When I look back on all his toddler/pre-school photos one day, though, I know I won't sigh with regret over not cutting his hair more often. I'm going to instead remember how perfectly his crazy hair suited him. 

"5pm": Quitting time! 

"Your name": Kyle's first daycare made this card for me with a photo of him inside on my first Mother's Day. I have had it in my office ever since.

"Feet": Kyle's new shoes. He calls them his "skateboard shoes," which is definitely accurate but I'm also not sure at all where he picked that up. 

Tasty, Tricky Broccoli

Kyle's been saying his favorite food is broccoli for a while now, which is charming because if anyone overhears him saying this, they think we're super superior parents who have fooled their kid into thinking broccoli is the most delicious food there is. We are so awesome! With our broccoli-loving child! It's also charming because as far as I know, Kyle doesn't actually like broccoli.

(This is probably all Yo Gabba Gabba's fault, that my kid thinks he likes broccoli but doesn't really. Yo Gabba Gabba: making liars out of our pre-schoolers.)

Anyway, I never mentioned this quirk of Kyle's to Mike's mom, who watches him often, because it just never occured to me to. "Oh, hey, Kyle says he likes broccoli, but as far as I can tell, he doesn't like broccoli. Heads up!"

When I picked him up from her house the other day, she sort of chuckled and said, "So, Kyle doesn't like broccoli."

"Uh-oh."

"Well, he walked in and asked, 'Mia, do you have any broccoli? I love broccoli.'"

"I do have broccoli! Would you like me to make it for you?"

"Yes, cook it for me, please."

SO SHE DID. SHE PREPARED BROCCOLI.

Mid-preparation:

"Mia, are you making me broccoli? Could you hurry up. I really want broccoli."

"It's coming! Almost ready!"

(She was becoming more and more impressed with our parenting without us even being there, which is EXTRA charming, right?)

She finished making the broccoli (steamed, roasted, I'm not even sure) and set the plate in front of him. He looked up at her and said, "Mia, I don't like broccoli, can I have bread?"

He did the same thing with me a few weeks earlier so now when he asks for broccoli, I just give him pizza, which probably makes me lose all those charming points I earned above, right?

(I'm not in the business of cooking whatever he requests, don't get me wrong, but I'm also not in the business of fighting anyone over broccoli. Ever.)

Anyway, today was Kyle's three-year well-check visit, and he's perfect (not the doctor's exact words, but I'm sure that's what she meant) and while still a little shrimpy weight-wise, he's catching right up in height, so take that Ignored Broccoli!

This was the first appointment his doctor asked Kyle more questions than she asked us, and one question was, "Hey, Kyle! What's your favorite food?" This would be the time the Broccoli Lie would come in handy. I mean, his grandmother loves him no matter what he requests to eat, but his pediatrician has a FILE with NOTES about his UPBRINGING, so this would be the time to lie, little man.

"FRENCH FRIES!"

He only looks like he won't make you slave over the stove on a dish he begs for but won't eat!