by Judy Handley | Apr 19, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 109: Surfing, Sea Glass, Snorkeling, and Tacos
Date: Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Weather: Tropical Sunshine and Rain; High 87, Low 74 degrees F
Location: At Home in an Airbnb in Rincon, Puerto Rico
We packed a lot of activities into this day, but it all was done in relaxed vacation mode. I was the first one up this morning which seems like a miracle. I am never the first one up. Soon Heather and Jed joined me, and we got the day started. First on the agenda was a trip to Steps Beach for most everyone and a trip to Domes Beach for Sam to have his first surfing lesson with Uncle Justin. Jo had to teach this morning, so I went to pick up Justin, Coco, and Ziggy. By the time we got back to the ‘pool house’, our new name for our Airbnb, everyone was ready to go. We all piled into one van, and with me as chauffeur, I dropped Heather, Jed, and all the kids but Sam at Steps Beach, and then traveled on to a surfboard rental shop with Justin and Sam. They went in to rent a board for Sam and then I dropped them at Domes. I watched as Sam and Justin walked to the water’s edge with their surf boards and it brought back many memories of taking Justin to beaches to surf when he was a teenager.
I then drove back to check on the others. The weather had gone from sunshine to rain to sunshine and back to rain by the time I got back to Steps Beach. We were having a typical tropical weather day for this time of year—a mix of sunshine with bursts of rain. I wanted to make sure the kids were okay with the rain. I found them on the beach under Ziggy and Coco’s big almond tree with great climbing branches. But instead of climbing, they were all searching for sea glass. They had planned to snorkel but decided that sea glass collecting was more fun. Actually, the water seemed a bit rough for snorkeling, so the sea glass was a great diversion. We all then went back to Domes to pick up Justin and Sam.
Sam felt like his snowboarding experience helped him a bit with surfing. He had a few good runs, but also a lot of crash and burn runs. He and Justin were ready to head home.
The afternoon was more snorkeling for some of us and water play in the ‘pool house’ for others. We continued to have bursts of rain and one downpour, but we just simply decided to ignore the rain.
By this time Jo had joined us and she needed to run some errands. Heather, Jed, and I wanted to go back to Steps Beach to snorkel. So that left Uncle Justin with the kids who spent the time in the pool and then went for a walk to get ice cream. The snorkel at Steps Beach was fantastic. There are huge elk horn coral, sea fans, and a wonderful variety of colorful tropical fish. I don’t know when I last snorkeled, but whenever it was, it was too long ago!
Tonight, we went to Justin and Jo’s for beef and shrimp tacos. Everything was absolutely delicious. After dinner Ziggy made cookies for all of us and Justin built a fire.
Instead of sitting around the fire, Jonah and Coco started a basketball challenge. Who could shoot the most baskets? Those of us who entered the competition had a great time, but Jonah and Jo definitely made the most baskets.
Tomorrow we travel to the waterfalls. The family fun continues.
by Judy Handley | Apr 18, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 108: Enjoying Life in Puerto Rico
Date: Monday, April 18, 2022
Weather: Hot with a Threat of Rain; High 87, Low 74 degrees F
Location: At Home in an Airbnb in Rincon, Puerto Rico
Day one of our family vacation in Puerto Rico was wonderful. Heather and I were the first ones up this morning and we made a run to the grocery store to get food for lunch, plus a few other necessities. Breakfast was taken care of by Justin and Ziggy. They arrived at our Airbnb with the ingredients for Ziggy to make pancake batter which Justin cooked on the griddle. Then we all walked to Marina Beach to snorkel.
After snorkeling a bit, the kids decided they really wanted to rent a paddle board (they ended up renting two) and spent the next hour messing about on those boards.
Lunch was back at our BNB. While the adults fixed lunch, the grandkids played in the pool. We had not made plans for the afternoon as we wanted to let the kids decide what they would like to do. A decision was made that Justin, Jo, and I would take the kids to Finca Maravilla, the name of Justin and Jo’s two-acre homestead, to explore and just hang out. Heather and Jed stayed home and went to Steps Beach to check it out, while Justin introduced the Sam, Jonah, and Ollie to their horses, Hopi and Barnaby
and let them each have a try at using a machete.
Sam cut down some rogue almond trees while Jonah got to cut down the banana plant and Ollie got to chop the stalk of bananas from the tree.
And Ollie got to feed Rabbit, the pet pig.
Then the kids took off on a little exploration while I sat on the porch. So relaxing.
At the end of this perfect day, it was out to dinner at a new Thai outdoor eating venue. The service was extremely slow, but the food was absolutely delicious. And finally, it was back in the pool at the Airbnb.
Tomorrow surfing and more snorkeling are on the agenda.
by Judy Handley | Apr 16, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 106: Fingers Crossed—Puerto Rico Tomorrow
Date: Saturday, April 16, 2022
Weather: Partly Cloudy and Windy; High 62, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It looks like the Goldstones and I are headed for Puerto Rico tomorrow morning. Everyone has tested negative for Covid, Heather just in the nick of time. None of us will be able to relax, however, until we are on the plane, and it is in the air. Heather is exhausted as she had to spend her entire afternoon totally repacking everything. Once the two big bags were packed, they were seriously overweight. So, she repacked everything in to four bags. It was cheaper to pay for four bags than two that were overweight. I delivered Shadow to Meghan and Sheri’s. Not everything got done, but it will still be here to do when we get home. I’ll head to Heather and Jed’s at 7 am and we will head to Boston from there. We take-off at 10:40, arrive in San Juan just after 3 pm, and then get in a rental van and head the two hours or so to Rincon on the western coast of Puerto Rico. Can’t wait to get there!
Tonight I watched another movie, the 2018 version of A Star is Born with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. What a powerful, powerful story of love and loss.
by Judy Handley | Apr 15, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 105: The Tide is Turning
Date: Friday, April 15, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Windy; High 63, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The tide is turning. Heather’s Covid test this morning showed that she is just barely positive. If things continue moving at the current speed, tomorrow she will test negative. Yay! Yay! Yay! Heather, Jed, and the boys are so anxious to be together as a family again. Heather has been living, sleeping, and eating separately since she knew she was exposed to Covid. I don’t know what they decided about having a seder for Passover tonight. I usually join them, but if they did have the meal together, I thought they should have it together without anyone else involved. I stayed home and watched a movie. I watched CODA (stands for child of deaf adults) and absolutely loved it. What a beautiful story. If you haven’t seen it, you must.
I spent my morning and early afternoon with the Goldpebbles shopping for snorkel gear for our time in Puerto Rico and then came home and packed. We are flying on Frontier which means you have to pay for everything, even carry-ons. When we booked the trip, we decided to pay for only two large bags. Today I packed a carry-on with my things and delivered the bag to the Goldstones late this afternoon. When they are packing tomorrow, if there is room in the two big bags for my things, they can make the transfer. We are not taking a lot of clothes, but there are six of us. And the snorkel gear, especially the dive fins, takes up a huge amount of room. If everything doesn’t fit into the two bags, they will leave my stuff in the carry-on, and I will just pay extra for it.
So, I am packed, but not quite ready for take-off. I need to change the water in the aquarium, transplant some of the seedlings to larger containers, clean up the mess I made while packing today, get Shadow packed and delivered to Meghan and Sheri, and clean house if time permits. Things are falling into place and hopefully this family vacation is really going to happen.
by Judy Handley | Apr 14, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 104: Shadow to Groomer, Shopping, Laundromat, Sam to Rowing
Date: Thursday, April 14, 2022
Weather: Mix of Sun, Clouds, and Fog; High 59, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I managed to spend my entire day in my car driving from one thing to another. It started when I took Shadow for his every six weeks’ grooming appointment. I dropped him off and then drove on to Boston on a scuba scouting trip. I wanted to check a couple of dive shops to see what they had in terms of snorkel masks, snorkels, and fins for the Goldpebbles. The places I checked out had almost nothing, but by the end of the day I did find two possibilities. I drove back to the Cape by way of Costco. I ran in quickly to see if they had gotten in swimwear, which they had not, stopped at a Petco to get food for Shadow as the pet stores here in Falmouth have not had a delivery of his new food for two weeks, stopped at a laundromat near Shadow’s groomer to do laundry and wait for Shadow to be done, and finally picked him up and headed home. I had five minutes to get him in the house and head back out to pick up Sam and take him to rowing.
That is a four-hour commitment as he rows for two hours and it is a 40-minute drive to and from, plus the drive from my house to Heather and Jed’s. Whew! What a day.
At least I now know where to take the Goldpebbles tomorrow to get the scuba gear they need. I’ll do that in the morning and then come home and pack for Puerto Rico. At least that is the plan.
I was so sad to hear from my friend Detta that her son Matthew just tested positive for Covid. He lives and works in New York City and says cases are rising there, as they are here. Like Heather, he was exposed to Covid though a work-related activity. I hope Matthew is as lucky as Heather and has a mild case. I have a real soft spot in my heart for Matthew as he was one of my favorite students ever.
by Judy Handley | Apr 13, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 103: Book Club and Soccer Practice
Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Warm; High 63, Low 49 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Woohoo! Jed and the three Goldpebbles all tested negative for Covid today. I have not tested, but I have had no symptoms. We still have three days to go before flying to Puerto Rico, but so far, so good. Heather is still slightly congested but has no other symptoms. The scratchy throat is gone, and she says she feels fine. We are living day to day, but hoping we will be on that plane on Sunday morning bound for San Juan.
This morning my book club met once again on Zoom as a measure of Covid caution. Every member is gathering with family this weekend, so we decided to be extra cautious. Thankfully, our group has found meeting on Zoom almost the same as meeting in person. We do miss the face-to-face socialization, but the discussion of the books is just as effective on Zoom as in person. Today we discussed a book I had recommended, Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley, It is a ‘must read’ if you are interested in what it might be like to grow up in modern day America as the member of an indigenous community. The author is an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa Indian tribe, an Ojibwe community in the upper peninsula of Michigan. This is the setting for the book. And she is the daughter of a tribal ‘firekeeper’, a person whose responsibility it is to keep the ceremonial fire burning during spiritual activities while providing cultural teachings through stories.
This evening I took Sam to his soccer practice which was at the Cape Cod Academy fields between here and Hyannis. I enjoyed watching his game on Sunday because the team seemed so upbeat and supportive of each other. I’ve watched a lot of grandson soccer games, but I had never seen camaraderie quite like I witnessed on Sunday. Then this evening when Sam got out of the car this evening, team members ran to meet him with big smiles on their faces, even hugs. It is such a treat to see teenage boys so happy. Part of it must be cultural. Most team members and two of the coaches are Brazilian. But they have obviously ‘adopted’ Sam as one of their own. He admits that he has never had so much fun playing soccer, even just practicing, as he does with this team. How lucky he is to be associated with this team.
I then drove back to check on the others. The weather had gone from sunshine to rain to sunshine and back to rain by the time I got back to Steps Beach. We were having a typical tropical weather day for this time of year—a mix of sunshine with bursts of rain. I wanted to make sure the kids were okay with the rain. I found them on the beach under Ziggy and Coco’s big almond tree with great climbing branches. But instead of climbing, they were all searching for sea glass. They had planned to snorkel but decided that sea glass collecting was more fun. Actually, the water seemed a bit rough for snorkeling, so the sea glass was a great diversion. We all then went back to Domes to pick up Justin and Sam.
Sam felt like his snowboarding experience helped him a bit with surfing. He had a few good runs, but also a lot of crash and burn runs. He and Justin were ready to head home.
By this time Jo had joined us and she needed to run some errands. Heather, Jed, and I wanted to go back to Steps Beach to snorkel. So that left Uncle Justin with the kids who spent the time in the pool and then went for a walk to get ice cream. The snorkel at Steps Beach was fantastic. There are huge elk horn coral, sea fans, and a wonderful variety of colorful tropical fish. I don’t know when I last snorkeled, but whenever it was, it was too long ago!
Instead of sitting around the fire, Jonah and Coco started a basketball challenge. Who could shoot the most baskets? Those of us who entered the competition had a great time, but Jonah and Jo definitely made the most baskets.
