Is it Christmas without snow?

So let's be honest I am really slacking on this whole blog thing. Life gets crazy and I don't give this the time I should. So as one of my New Year's resolutions (which I have never kept before) is to keep this up better - we will see if it works. In the interest of full disclosure - I am only writing this right now because this is my last day of a 14 day vacation, I have a ton of "house chores" to do and I am delaying the inevitable. But no matter what got me on here - I am here.


This Christmas was my first Christmas not in a snowy atmosphere. Back in the summer my sister came to me and told me that the Grieshop family was going to Puerto Rico for Christmas and she wanted me come along. I jumped at the chance. How could you not?!


So the planning and hectic pre-holiday life began. Getting ready to bring some presents for the boys, figuring out what to pack, finding someone to deal with snowfall at my house, and making sure my house looked lived in for two weeks. Thanks to a good friend Molly Joyce, who drove me to the airport at 3am so my car could remain in my driveway, my stress level was less and to the Mason's for watching/taking care of my house.

 On December 18th, I flew out to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I had no idea what to expect. We had a total of 12 people on this trip til 12/24, and then our number when down to just 8. Until 12/24 we were in Luqillo, Puerto Rico with the ENTIRE Grieshop clan. Then on the 12/24, Matt, Amanda, the boys, Andy Grieshop, his fiance Marge and I all traveled to the Mountains of Puerto Rico, Utuado - to stay with some friends, Warren & Olga, of Matt and Amanda's.

The first 6 days of the trip were wonderful. They were filled with beach days, Rainforests and family.

Seven Seas Beach, Puerto Rico 

 

Mangrove forest we found when we hiked around the beach

 

The first few days the weather was great. The next few is was slightly overcast and very windy. From what we heard from the locals that is very common for their winter. Once the wind started the beaches were very windy and hard to swim in. 

The boys watching the large waves.

With the wind setting in we ventured out and explored the Rainforests and caves in the area. The Rainforest was amazing - we hiked around a beautiful waterfall. The family enjoyed being right next to that. 

The beautiful waterfall

 

 

 

 

 

We spent the day in the Rainforest - we hiked around, took in some amazing views and enjoyed the rivers and warm rains.

 

 

 

The next day all twelve of us took a bit of a car ride to head closer to the mountains and hike to an amazing cave. Once we got there we took a ton of pictures and just hung out for large chunk of time. 

The entire Grieshop Clan!

View from inside the cave.

 

 To make the most of our time we wanted more beaches - since the ones on the east side of island were too windy & wavy we headed to the southeast area. We took a boat ride to what ended up being one of my favorite places, the Island of Culebra. The boat ride was very hard - pretty much everyone got some sea sickness, even me and I have never had that before. 

The Island of Culebra

We came here to snorkle, but before we could do that we needed to eat some lunch. But we didn't eat alone.

Our lunch visitors.

Before we new it the first half of our trip was over. It was time to say goodbye to some and hello to some new friends. We arrived in Utuado on Christmas Eve. There was already a party underway, the party included lots of family, friends, rum and pork.

Christmas Eve dinner - now that is a lot of Pork.

Warren & Olga's house sits on top of a mountain in Utuada and over looks some amazing views.

View from the porch.

 

The house has a wrap around porch and on it is an amazing hammock that I have to admit I laid in, read my book, and took a small nap... what - it was my vacation.

Warren is a local guide for an adventures touring company. One day when he had a tour he took us into the mountains, gave us a hand written map to a river that flows through a 2,000 foot cave that you can swim through. The hike to the river was amazing. The river was incredible.

The River. Behind the two rocks was the cave.

The bridge we crossed to get to the river. 

 

 

The river was incredible, it was also freezing cold. But once you were in, it didn't feel so bad. We swam through a cave, we jumped off of rocks and watched people who were on the tour zipline over our heads. It was a pretty incredible day.

Waking up early is not something I love to do, but getting up early in Utuado meant getting pictures like this:

Every morning we were so high we were above cloud level. To see the clouds roll in over "lower" Utuado was beautiful and worth waking up for.

The trip was amazing, of course it was hectic with some bumps (come on there were 12 people at any given time) but I wouldn't have traded it for the world.


I kept having to remind myself that it was December, that Christmas was upon us. I was in a tank top and short, not scarves and a winter coat, the kids were playing the sand and sea not the snow and cold, Santa didn't get cookies and milk, he got Wine, Cheese and Rum (yes - this will be a tradition I adopt). But overall the sense of family was there, the Christmas morning excitement was there, the fun was there, and memories were made. So is Christmas still Christmas without snow? Yes, just a different type of Christmas.


I cannot thank the Grieshop clan enough for letting me invade their family vacation. I cannot thank Irizarry family enough for housing us, entertaining us and feeding us some amazing foods and incredible fresh off the tree fruit. However, I think it will be a long time before I eat more pork :).

This was a once of lifetime trip, that I will never forget!