June seemed to fly by for us and it is now already past the 4th of July. This year this holiday just seems to be here though...we haven't seen fireworks yet because they were rained out last night and it rained all day on the 4th...kindof a bummer.
June was the end of school for Sid...but not until June 11th. The day after she got out of school, we packed up the car and headed to Iowa. The kids were staying at Grandma and Grandpa's house and Chris and I went on a great vacation to Puerto Rico! It was a blast and we really enjoyed not having to change a diaper for 9 days. We stayed at a great resort that was off the beaten path and saw the ocean every day. We did do a lot of great things and a few of my favorites are probably hiking in the rainforest (you just don't get to do that in Minnesota), doing some wake boarding in the ocean...or at least trying to, and reading a book. I haven't read a book in probably about a year. I read "The Shack" and that book could have a blog post all on it's own. Many different things to ponder with that book and make you really think.
The views in Puerto Rico are amazing! Rainforest and mountains in the middle of the island, ocean on the other.
We had some fun experiences with the language as well. Spanish and English are spoken in Puerto Rico but if you get out of San Juan you may not find many who will actually speak Spanish or not as fluently as we do here. We ate at a KFC and the person taking our order understood but didn't speak it very well. The menu was entirely in Spanish but we could figure most of it out. The did have a few different things, like no "extra crispy" chicken and you don't get a biscuit with your meal unless you pay more for it. They also don't have butter or napkins...just wet wipes to use.
I've been to Mexico and have seen many people on the side of the road selling things. The same thing happens here in Puerto Rico. You are at a stop light and people are on the corner willing to wash your windows, selling water bottles and different foods. There are also quite a few that are asking for donations for a child. I couldn't read what the container said that they were holding so I can't say what it was for other than that.
On the topic of driving...we had a few fun experiences with this. As we were getting our car at the rental place the guy next to us said, "Be careful, they drive crazy here." He gave us a few examples but without really knowing what to expect it was hard to picture what he was really saying. People speeding up mountains? Skinny roads? Won't stop and will just go around you? Yeah, like people will do that! Oh, they do in Puerto Rico! Some roads have lines, others don't but the lines don't mean too much. They switch lanes so many times I don't think it matters what lane they are actually picking at the moment, they will just move without using a blinker in about...oh, they are already cutting in front of you and you are lucky you didn't hit them.
Another day we were driving and the power was out and a few of the big intersections lost power with the lights. Here, we take our turn and go one side at a time. In Puerto Rico, everyone goes all at once and you are just in a grinding halt until the truck next to you backs up a bit to let the car turning actually make it through the big intersection that is just jammed pack full of cars going all different directions. The word "gridlock" doesn't even begin to describe that experience or how we even made it through that intersection.
Puerto Rico also has a few expressway roads that you can take to get around some of the busy roads. These roads have a speed limit of about 65 mph. Most of the people in Puerto Rico will speed and race around on every road but the expressways. Most were going 30 to 40 mph...go figure.
The rest of our June was adjusting back to our life for 2 days and then we added 2 more kids to our family for about 9 days. My little brother, Justin and my little sister, Josie, came to our house while my mom went on a vacation. This was supposed to be a vacation for her and my dad to Alaska but because of his health he wasn't able to make it. We were very busy with Josie and Justin and they got to be part of our day care crowd for a few days and we did a few fun things as well. We went to Thursdays on First and we all got Henna Tattoos...my mom loved this...we cut their hair...my mom loved that too :) ...we went camping in the backyard and slept in a tent, had smores, made a cake that looked like a watermellon, made blankets for the Ronald McDonald House, helped Chris made coffee, worked on landscaping, went on walks, walked to Culvers for ice cream and played some games.
That was our June! Now, bring on July...we have just as much stuff going on this month too :) Missions trip to Sisseton, Williams Golf Outing in Wisconsin, my brother had a baby and we will try to see his new little one at some point, Vacation Bible School and hopefully getting the coffee room ready for Narrow Road Coffee...that will soon be up and running.
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