My New Car! (Yep - Another One)

I had my sporty Mazda Rx-8 for 5 (mostly) wonderful years. The serious flaw to my wonderful car? Well, there's really not one unless you live in a part of the world in which it snows a lot. Welcome to Boston where it snows a lot. A rear wheel drive car is not what you want to be stuck in when there are multiple inches of unplowed snow on the ground.

Last year, we had a nasty, unfortunately timed, snowstorm that left the streets completely gridlocked and the plows unable to clear the roads. I was in that gridlock, along with many others, and after getting my car pushed several times and my gas light showing that I wasn't going to last longer in the traffic, I seriously considered abandoning my car (as many people did that day) and walking the 4 miles home. In a stroke of luck, I turned around and found a different route that got me home safely. However, the scary experience stuck with me and I have just not been able to drive my car on a snow day since. Obviously, a little bit of an issue where I live.

So, now with the additional issue of a baby on the way, it was time to get an all wheel drive car for me. After shopping around for a long time and test driving about 10 cars (and having to deal with car salesman for almost every single one of those), I chose what I wanted. Then for bargaining.

You would think, in this day and age of car companies going under, this wouldn't be difficult. However, about 4 different Nissan dealerships made it extremely difficult for me to get a fair deal so it made the process extremely frustrating and tiring. Most of this happened before we left for PR. This is what happened this week.

Monday night we went to car dealership #3, title to my car in hand, insurance binder ready, Internet quote agreed upon and checkbook open. I still left without a car. We couldn't get anywhere close to what we wanted for a trade in. Oh, and I guess it's worth mentioning that we had to spend an hour of craziness jumping the car to take it in (wouldn't work, jumped with alarm going off, calls made to dealership to problem solve, etc)...ugh! One of the "quirks" of the design of my car is that it's "meant to be driven" and the battery will be drain if not driven for, let's say, a week while you're on vacation.

Tuesday, Mike took my RX8 to another dealership to see what they could do for us. Still no dice. I contacted my Mazda dealership and they said they did buy backs, so Mike then took it there. They gave us, by far, the best price yet so Mike sold them the car on the spot and I took a lunch break to go pick him up.

Once I got to the dealership, Mike let me know that we had to head down the street to their sister Nissan dealership to pick up the check. Um, hello, Nissan dealership? I had no idea they were associated with one. My Mazda dealership has been great to me over the last 5 years so we had them set us up with folks to talk to once we got over there. Sure enough, we were easily able to come to terms with them on a deal and signed the paperwork! Of course, they didn't have the car in stock and had to track it down, but by Thursday, I was driving my new car!

2009 Nissan Murano LE with Navigation and Dual Moon Roof

So far, I absolutely love it and am more impressed with the options and handling every time I get in the car. Can't wait to take you for a ride!

Adding to the Curb Appeal

Upon our return to Boston, we found a few surprising things. 1) It had been in the 50s all week while we were gone which had melted most of the mass amount of snow in the city and 2) Our new retaining wall and stairs were done! Yay!

The new and improved front of our house (obviously a little cleanup needs to be done and grass planted once spring comes). The mud pile looking thing on the street is what's left of what was a massive snow bank:

Instead of an awkward cement wall that curves out into our driveway wasting room, we now have a wall flush with the house and stairs from the driveway onto the landing:

We think it turned out great and just loved the company that did it. It was truly one of the easiest, lowest drama renovation projects that we've had done on the house and it adds some serious curb appeal. So, if anyone in the area needs a landscaper, I would definitely recommend this company.

The completion did make a little addition to our hectic week back as we had to 1) coordinate final payment with the landscaper and 2) start the new project of getting estimates for railings. Hopefully our railings will be completed soon, weather permitting. I'll be sure to post more photos once the next phase is complete.

PR - Here on Gilligan's Isle!

For our last full day of vacation in PR, we decided not to leave the resort. After a little breakfast in our room, we slathered on the sunscreen and rented a couple of kayaks. Just around the bay from our resort is a small island that they call Gilligan's Island. There are some ferries that can take you over, but we had been wanting to kayak all week, so we worked the 25 minutes it took us to get there. On the side of the island we arrived is where all the public beach area is set up and where the ferries drop. It was a little crowded, so we decided to explore.

Through the island are 2 canals that are entirely tree lined and all you see are roots going into the water and branches up above. Very pretty! I hit a few of the trees with my oar while paddling but I'm pretty sure I didn't damage much. On the other side of the island, we found a little beach area to pull up on and it was like we had the whole island to ourselves! It was so much fun to get out and explore. We were like two kids on the shore looking for shells because they were no "ordinary" sea shells. The beach was covered in huge conch shells (much like the ones lots of folks buy in souvenir shops) and coral washed up from the reef. It was truly a treasure trove of fun! We picked up a lot and chose a few to bring home with us. Mike even found a living treasure - a little crab! I had brought my small camera for a couple of shots (the battery was low and we forgot to bring the charger) so I decided this was worth the photo op:

Mike with Mr. Crab

And then I went in for a close up of Mr. Crab. That's when he decided to give Mike a big pinch! So, here's all I got in the frame:

And then my camera died. So, unfortunately, those are the only 2 pictures of the spectacularly fun time we had on Gilligan's Island. Luckily, we didn't have to wait to get rescued and kayaked back.  The rest of the day was pretty much spent like this:

After a day of relaxing, we grabed some daiquiris and sat on the beach to enjoy our last sunset in Puerto Rico. It was a fantastic one!
We cleaned up and then had a nice, leisurely dinner at the cafe and were again serenaded by a (different) talented guitarist. We wanted to get one "nice" picture of us while in Puerto Rico, but our waitress was not good with a camera so we tried to get another shot on the patio of our room. Good night Puerto Rico!

Sunday, we got an early start, packed up, drove two hours back to San Juan and flew back to Boston. Mike's parents were nice enough to pick us up from the airport. We had dinner with them and then crashed. It had been a long travel day to end a wonderful vacation! 

For all the pictures of the day (mostly a lot of the beautiful sunset), click here.

PR - Guanica Dry Forest

Well, we've been back almost a week now and boy has it been a crazy one! So, I'll have to finish up the details on our last few days in Puerto Rico then I'll get to local occurrences.

Last Friday, we decided to explore the Guanica Dry Forest which was basically "across the street" from our hotel (of course we drove about 10 minutes to get to the central park of the forest to the trail head). Hiking here was really the only time during the week that we were hot. With it being so dry and us without the benefit of the ocean breeze, we felt the 90 degree heat. However, we still had a great time exploring the forest, spotting lots of butterflies, cool birds, plants and other forest critters.

Since we didn't get any nature guides, nor do either one of us know much about names of insects and birds, we had no idea what these things were called so we gave them our own names. 

Camouflage Butterfly

Green Bird with Little Red Spot (I know, creative, huh?). With the wonders of info on the Internet, we think we've found his real name of San Pedrito Tody.

After about an hour and a half to two hours of walking, with lots of stops to stalk butterflies and trying to take pictures of the wildlife, we came upon this wonderful view of the Guanica Dry Forest with a backdrop of the Cordillera Central mountain range and even a view of "our" bay (where our resort was).

And, of course, we had to do a self portrait shot!

Then we headed back. Right after getting back on the path, we saw a little land crab. I picked him up for a better view and for a photo op. Mr. Land Crab was NOT pleased and gave me a good scratch (hence the somewhat stained face in the picture)!

After our nice hot hike, we went back, cleaned up and then spent the afternoon napping and reading on the beach. That night, we headed to the nearby town of La Parguera for dinner and a cruise of the Bioluminescent Bay. At our resort's recommendation, we ate at a restaurant called Aquazol. If you are ever in the area, we highly recommend this restaurant. It was definitely our favorite meal of the week! We even got homemade pumpkin ice cream for desert! Yum!

After dinner, we bought tickets for the BioBay tour and, after a bit of waiting, headed off. Unbeknown to us, this boat, on the way to a natural phenomenon, was a party boat! Man, those Puerto Ricans LOVE their music and the only way to listen to it is deafeningly loud (yes, I know I sound like my mother but Mike and I couldn't even shout at each other sitting next to each other...that loud). I wondered how many of those lovely bay front homes had to listen to that music several times a night on a daily basis.

So, the sight we were to see was the glowing of the dinoflagellate glowing in the water. Unfortunately, the best time to see this is under a new moon and around 7-8pm. We had an almost full moon and it was almost 10pm by the time we got there. There were a few divers on the boat that jumped in and splashed around. They would make "snow angel" type shapes with their body an you could see an extremely faint green glow in the white of the stirred water but it was definitely not the full effect of the phenomenon. But, still cool to see. Pretty much the only picture we took of the night where you could see anything cool was, of course, a self portrait!

It was a long, great, eventful day and we were ready to get back to the resort for a good nights sleep. So, that's what we did.

For more awesome pictures of the day, click here.

PR - Castle Serralles

After a long night's sleep and a leisurely breakfast, we decided to make a little trip into the city of Ponce, about half an hour from our resort. The destination was Castle Serralles, a family estate turned museum. 

Our View At Breakfast

The tour of the house was great. With the incredible original family furniture filling the rooms, intricate decor and a great tour guide, we had a great time seeing the "castle." The grounds were also impeccably kept. Since we couldn't get pictures of the house, we took some exterior pictures.

Side View of Castle Seralles

Us on the Back Balcony Overlooking Ponce

After a stop to pick up our late lunch\early dinner and fighting rush hour traffic to pick up a few things at the grocery store, we were back to our resort. After eating dinner, we played a little tennis. Apparently, large Puerto Rican moths are huge tennis fans because they were all over the court. We saw 4 different kinds all about the same size...monsterous!

After tennis, it was another leisurely evening at the hotel. Ahhhh! Being on vacation is great!

For more pictures of Castle Serralles and ginormous moths click here.

PR - Lazy and (Somewhat) Wasted Day

After the intense activity of the last two days, we were pooped. Given the torrential rainfall San Juan got all day Tuesday, it was an excellent excuse to hang out at the hotel and do absolutely nothing. Being lazy is what vacations are all about, right? (Ok, I've only really had one lazy vacation in my life, but all the new parents at my work recommended we take this opportunity while we could.) So, other than a little workout at our hotel's exercise room, we watched tv, napped, read and ate. I actually never even left the hotel. Mike popped out to grab us some lunch, but we had breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then had pizza delivered for dinner. True laziness! Even though it rained 98% of the day, there were a couple of sunny moments that morning and I was able to get a nice shot (reflected out of our cool mirror in our "reading room") of the beautiful view.

What I Did All Day

We had grand plans for today (Wednesday). We got a very early start to the day and were up and out of the hotel at 7 am. A quick trip down to Old San Juan to get a picture of the cool blue brick streets and we headed out of San Juan. Our destination - the caves at Camuy. We wanted to get there in time for the first tour then check out the Arecibo Observatory and get to our hotel in Guanica to relax for the afternoon.

Street View of Old San Juan

Blue Bricked Streets

We got to the caves at about 9 am. Unfortunately, due to the mass amounts of rain received in the last couple of days, tours were being delayed due to mud clean up in the caves. So, we waited. After about 30 minutes, they let us in to watch the intro movie then it was out to the trolley loading area where we waited. Apparently, they still weren't quite ready to give tours. So, we grabbed a snack from the cantina, entertained ourselves with feeding some of the 12 stray cats that hang out in the area and waited. Finally, we boarded the trolley and headed out to see the sink holes. They were impressive sites! 

Three Points Sink Hole - 400 Feet Deep

Nerd in Hard Hats (Yes, They Made Us Wear These)

Camuy Sinkhole-Bat Entrance

Looking Up From Sinkhole

So, when do we finally get to see the caves? Apparently, never. They were having some "problem" in the cave they were trying to resolve so that we could go on the tour. After viewing the sinkholes, we headed back to the kiosk area and waited. Then they made the announcement that there would be no tours today and we could get a raincheck. So, 3 hours after arriving, we left and had not gotten to see the caves. Bummer. The Observatory is in that area and it was something Mike really wanted to see. However, after reading a bad review from a tourist about the Observatory the night before, Mike didn't think he could handle another disappointment for the day so we decided to just head south.

With map in hand and google directions, compliments of the iphone, we headed off. It was a trip neither one of us will ever forget. At first, the windy mountain roads gave us absolutely breathtaking views that we thoroughly enjoyed. But, as the winding road became S and hairpin turns on a 1 and a quarter lane wide road for about 2 hours, we had had enough! I was getting car sick in the front seat and Mike's arms and leg were getting sore from all the turning and braking. We hope to NEVER go on that road again! But, we got through it (mostly) unscathed and arrived at our beautiful hotel in Guanica.

Mike Starting Out on the Windy Road

Our first stop at the hotel, check out the shaded lounge chairs on the beach, do some reading and enjoy a strawberry daiquiri (non alcoholic for me, of course). Ah! It quickly melted all of our road stress away. After more resting in the hotel room, we had a lovely dinner at the "casual" outdoor cafe and were serenaded by a wonderful guitarist. The lighted tennis courts were beckoning, so we went to them and hit a few balls around after dinner and now it's time for a movie and a good nights rest! Buenos Noches!

Self Portrait on the Beach

Gorgeous Sunset!

For more pictures of the day, check out the full album here.

PR Day Two - El Yunque Rain Forest

On our second day in San Juan, we headed about a 30 minute drive east of San Juan to the El Yunque Rain Forest. The sky was looming that morning, but after a 10 minute shower just after we arrived, we didn't get rained on again. The heavy cloud cover did obscure some of the views at times, but we still were very much able to enjoy the beauty of the national park.

Our first site was along the road - La Coca Falls. It was one of those rare opportunities where we were able to get a picture together (not self portrait style).


Next stop, a hike up 98 stairs to the top of Yokahu Tower. It boasted amazing panoramic views of Luquillo mountains and Luquillo beach.

Yokahu Tower


Luquillo Beach


Los Picachos and El Yunque Peaks

Of course, the beauty of the rain forest can't really be experienced except hiking through it by foot. So, Mike an I chose the most challenging path, of course, El Yunque peak. It was really beautiful to walk among all the interesting trees and listen to the calls of tropical birds and tree frogs...unfortunately, we didn't actually get to see them. However, we did get to see these 2 really cool guys when we took a break on a bench by a random chimney.

Little Lizard Dude


Big 'Ol Snail

Finally, we made it to the top! Although we did get a few glimpses of the amazing scenery through a few moments of cloud clearing, we only got a few snapshots.

Luquillo Beach from El Yunque

Los Picachos from El Yunque

Not surprisingly, after a 4 hour hike, we were exhausted. That's the most physical activity I've had since carrying the bambino. And, although my energy level has increased just a bit (somedays), it's definitely not what it was pre-pregnancy. I was so pooped by the end of the hike, I could barely keep my eyes open to watch where I was going on the last part of the trail. A low key evening was definitely on the books.

I did get a little perk up on the way back to San Juan when my wonderful husband popped by Baskin Robbins to get me some ice cream. Yum! When hiking in NH in the summers, this is one of our post exercise traditional treats, so we couldn't mess with tradition. After cleaning up back at the hotel, we managed to leave the room again just for dinner in the lobby and then it was a long night's rest for us.

For more pictures of El Yunque and our hike, please view the full album.

Puerto Rico - Old San Juan

Pretty much last minute, Mike and I planned, and I use this word loosely, a trip to Puerto Rico. Other than setting aside Presidents Day week for a vacation, we had nothing booked until last week. For the last several weeks, we've been debating where to go. The whole pregnancy thing put forth a lot of limitations, yet we wanted one last childless travel to enjoy together. So, we finally landed on the U.S. Territory of Puerto Rico. The flight was not too long, the medical care available great, warm climate, and, most importantly, neither one of us had been there before. And, after doing some searching, we decided the week before Presidents Day would be MUCH more affordable, so here we are!

So, we left bright and early Sunday morning and still had a good bit of the day left to play in San Juan. Our hotel, located just outside of Old San Juan, wouldn't have a room ready for us until 3 so we wandered out on foot to explore and, more importantly, find food. Our first stop, just behind the hotel was the beach where we picked up some fried pastry thing (we didn't understand the name) to snack on. Then, we walked around the beach for a while and finally found a familiar face - Subway! Yay, lunch!

Mike & His "Chimichanga" on the Beach


A View of Old San Juan from the Beach


Self Portrait on Beach

After having lunch and checking into our hotel room, we decided to do a little bit of sightseeing. We did experience a few showers, but armed with rain jackets, it didn't slow us down a bit. We first drove down to Old San Juan, found a parking spot and went to Castillo San Cristobal, the largest Spanish fortification in the new World, parts of which were built as early as 1539. It was built to protect the city from land attacks. We had a fun time exploring the fort and taking pictures of the scenic views from it.

View of part of San Cristobal and the Ocean


Troops Quarters....Looks Very Comfy!


Self Portrait at the Fort


Cool Turret


So cool, in fact, that they stuck it on their license plate!

After exploring the fort, we set out to check out the streets of Old San Juan. There were lots of cool old buildings, but for some reason, my favorite picture of the day is this ruin of a building near where we had parked our car.


After all that walking, we were hungry, so we ducked into El Asador for some food. We decided to try out a local favorite, Mofongo, which is mashed up fried plantains, and a side of mashed yucca and sweet potato.....YUM!


Since we were up at 5am for our flight, it had been a VERY long day (especially for a tired pregnant lady). So, we headed back to the hotel and called it an early night.

For more pictures of the day, see our album.

IT'S A........

Spoiler alert, spoiler alert! For any of you out there that for some reason want to be "surprised" at the birth (instead of now), do not read this post! Of course, I still don't understand why folks won't want to know the sex of my child, but to each his own. You have been warned.

This morning we had our 18 week ultrasound. It was really cool! For about 20 minutes, we got to see every little part of the little tyke. I just can't believe that, with me only kind of starting to "show," that the baby is so big that we could easily make out all parts it. We saw all the heart chambers, arms, legs (they even measured bone size), feet, hands and all 10 fingers and toes! It was also really amazing that we could see every little vertebrae on the spine. Wild. The ultrasound technician even measured the circumference of the head. Really, truly incredible to see that much detail of our child.

Of course, she also checked out another part that was very telling. We had her write it down and put it in an envelope so that we could "discover" the sex while it was just Mike and I together. So, once we were back in the car, we opened up the envelope and found out that it is a (are you on the edge of your seat yet?).......BOY!! Needless to say that, since I have been absolutely convinced the last few months that it's a girl, I was a little shocked. However, I immediately started thinking of all the wonderful things that having a son would bring to my life. Very exciting!

Oh, and after all the cool things we saw on the baby today, the only pictures we got were freaky head shots that definitely make it still look more alien then kid. So, enjoy the picture and I hope it doesn't give you nightmares!

Snow Play and Snuggles

Last weekend our new friends Lisa and Harley joined Mike and I for a weekend of fun in NH. We drove up together Friday, had some bonding time in the car, then let Harley love on us.

My new snuggle buddy...Harley!

Saturday, we all got up and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, a la chef Mike. Then, we dropped Mike off at the mountain for an afternoon of snowboarding while Lisa, Harley and I set out on a snowshoeing trip.

We set out on a flat trail that I had explored last fall. The area is a big cross country ski area apparently. So much so, that they "groom" the trails for them. I had no idea trails were groomed for cross country skiers! Anyway, we set out on an non groomed portion of the trails and soon hit the groomed portion. While it was completely acceptable for snowshoers to be on the trail, we found out after hiking a ways that pets were not allowed. We were too far into it to turn back, but a couple of folks did stop and let us know Harley wasn't allowed (poor Harley). However, we also did have a few folks that just stopped to love on him so at least we didn't anger everyone!

After getting to the trail we'd set out for (non groomed), it was actually a good thing that one skier had been through that way or poor Harley wouldn't have been able to get through the snow (and we would have been VERY slow going on our snowshoes)! He was deeper in than his legs when he went "off track." Lisa, Harley and I had a fun time AND got a great workout!

Harley and Me

Lisa and Me

Lisa in the snow

After our snowshoeing adventure, we picked Mike up at the mountain and headed back to the condo for a snack and a rest. After a while, we all rallied, showered and headed out for a much needed hot meal at one of our favorite "local" places, the Country Cow (or Cow Palace as Lisa likes to call it). Apparently, they've obtained their own vehicle. We HAD to return the next morning on the way out of town to snap a picture.

We had a great meal, returned to the condo to watch a movie and then all slept very soundly that night. Sunday morning, Mike and I took Lisa to our favorite breakfast place - the Sugar Shack! Pancakes! Yum! Then it was back to the condo to clean and pack up. But, we did get a (self-portrait) group shot of us before heading off.