Random thoughts from Puerto Rico

I woke up early today. For some reason I just cannot sleep in here! It is 8:00 a.m. Puerto Rican time, 6:00 a.m. at home. The difference is though that I’m waking up on my own time, not someone elses’s so it still counts as relaxation I guess. I did have my night here however where we took a nap from 5:00 – 8:00. I then just did not get out of bed. Raymonn went downstairs, but I chose to order room service and just hang out. I didn’t end up going back to sleep until midnight but it didn’t matter. I think we all need that night of being lazy.

We’ve had a great time so far. The nightlife at the hotel kind of sucks, besides the small casino and one guy who does play some pretty good music at the bar there isn’t much to do. Thank goodness Raymonn is such a people person he finds someone new every day that he connects with. He is so good at that. Me? I just sort of tend to myself, wandering about. I talk with people and I’m friendly, but he can tell if he’ll get along w/ someone and almost zero in on them. They’re helpless after that!

We have went snorkeling, although we couldn’t go on our original snorkel trip. There is off the shore, about 23 miles an island that the Wyndham brand own that is apparently the #2 beach in the world. They say that the water is so clear you don’t even need the snorkel mask if you don’t want, you can just look at the water and see everything. Even being more expensive, we figured that you can’t miss out on something like that. Unfortunately there is a cold front that is here now and has been all week. The water on this side of the island is extremely rough, that is why there are red flags on the beach. I asked someone at the Dive Center about it. She said that it is a “Swim at Your Own Risk” warning and they do have undercurrents here. Last month someone drowned, he had come here to get married and never made it. Yeah… that’s enough to keep me out. Too much to live for. My goal of boogie boarding won’t be crossed off my list this time. Next time!

And there will be a next time. R and I went yesterday morning to listen to the sales pitch for timeshares because just for going we get a 3 day/2 night stay somewhere and a couples massage. Ended up buying a timeshare. Yikes! Scary when you think about it, but I’m excited. I never thought I’d own a timeshare, but the guy that we spoke with (from 9:00 – 3:30!!) did dispel a lot of things we had originally thought and we did get a really good deal. One thing I’ve learned on this trip is that I cannot work so hard if I don’t allow myself to enjoy it. I cannot put so much time, energy, and effort into what I do if I don’t actually use the vacation days that they give me. I have loved being here with Raymonn and seeing him a whole new light. I have loved the time that we have been given here. Even if we’re not doing anything but sitting at the beach, sitting in the hot tub, sitting at the bar and watching him work his mojo on people I realized yesterday that I’ve started referring to him as “babe”, “honey”, “love.” When was the last time I even did that? Time with my family, experiences for Prayse, the fact that it isn’t just a hotel room, we can get a 2 bedroom place and bring a nanny (a MUST on every other vacation by the way), there are places in Colorado and the guy showed us a couple of tricks we can use to make our points more than triple where we can go as a family. My parents, my sister, they have all done so much for us. We can get away together and worry only about the food, activities, and travel.

We also ended up renting a car the other day. Taxi cab fares (or rather the hotel taxi/van fares) are killer. If we had used them to go to Old San Juan just the transportation would have been $160. Seriously. So for $30/day we can rent a car (plus parking, but still we end up on top). It is nice to have that freedom to drive where we can, go eat at some neat local places, of course R loves that there is an outlet mall nearby. Today though? At least a large part of it will be spent on the beach. I haven’t gotten to do that much the past 2 days and gosh darn it, that’s what I’m here for I’ve loved seeing other things like the rain forest, but I need some more time to relax.

Yesterday we did get to the beach for just a little while, but it was cold! (Yes, I realize this is all relative, sorry about the -24 degree windchill back home!). We noticed that there seemed to be rain over the ocean coming in so we went to the bar which is covered to hang out for awhile. Looking out into the ocean we saw that there was a double rainbow. The coolest thing though was that as the storm moved toward us, so did the rainbows until they were literally right in front of us. The end of the rainbow was about 25 yards from us right at the water line, it was gorgeous with the rainbow reflecting into the still turquoise water. Absolutely beautiful. I was a bit disappointed that I had finally found the end of the rainbow and there is not in fact a pot of gold Or maybe there is, but he happened to be sitting right next to me all this time and I didn’t see him for such.

So one thing that y’all have been wrong about so far, is Prayse. I. Miss. Her. With my whole being I miss her. I think about her a million times a day and call at least 4 times/day. This has been fantastic to get away and be with my hubby, but there will be no more vacations with our our little lady. We will just have to save up money to buy the airfare of a nanny to bring with us if we think we’ll want to go out at night or do some things that she won’t like. I am not being away from her for a week again. I know she is doing  great. She’s handling this awesomely (probably not a word, but it’s still how good she’s doing). Every time I call I hear her jabbering or laughing in the background. But she’s not with me and whether or not she realizes it, being w/ Mama is the best place to be I miss her so much my heart really does ache. While I’m having fun, I cannot wait to get home. As much of a good time this is, Saturday cannot come fast enough for me. It will be 10:00 pm when we get home but I don’t care, we are getting some serious rocking time in!

Well, this post is ridiculously long so I’ll leave you as I sit out in this beautiful place from my balcony looking at a turqoise ocean with the waves crashing in.