Puerto Rico 2012

We were invited to attend a business trip to Puerto Rico with Scott's boss and his wife in August.  At first I wasn't sure if I could leave Kinley for 5 days but Scott booked the tickets so I didn't have much of a choice!  I'm glad he did because we had an amazing time!

 

We arrived Sunday afternoon, rented our matchbox car, and got checked in.  There was a welcome event planned that evening and it was amazing!

They held a meeting and then we got to see all the new Yamaha (watercraft) products for 2013.  They had amazing food stations and free drinks, what more could we ask for! There were 2 parrots that lived in the lobby and one night they got to come out and play!

The next morning Scott & Bob attended their seminars and Lanae and I went to the gym...yes, I went to the gym on vacation because I never have time at home!

 

Here's the zen garden where we could meditate and do yoga.  I didn't do any of that, but it's gorgeous! :)

 

Here are the views from our room:

Par.a.dise.

 

We hit the pool that afternoon but it rained...a lot.  We didn't let a little storm ruin our afternoon though, we just sat at the bar!

 

One thing Yamaha knows how to do (besides make awesome boats) is how to throw a party.  They spared no expense.  One night was they held a "white party" - yes, like P. Diddy.  ;)

They had a comedian during dinner and some crazy entertainment around the pool for the after party.

(hard to see, but there's a dancer in the floating ball)

We hit the casino every night after each party was wrapping up but I obviously couldn't take any pictures inside the casino.

 

We could be found at the pool most days from the hours of 10-4.

 

Wednesday we went to the resort's private island for demos of the new boats and waverunners.  Boarding the ferry:

We stayed in the part of the resort that was up on the hill.  This is down at the marina village looking up at the resort on the cliff.

 Another full resort picture from the island.

 

Welcome to Palamino Island

Scott did his best David Hasselhoff impression for me, I wasn't impressed.

The island was beautiful and we found out that they filmed one of the Pirate's of the Caribbean movies on the small island right behind Scott.

 

We explored the island a little...

We waded out in this clear water while it rained.  Then Scott got attacked by some angel fish...kind of.

 

Scott & Lanae out on one of our test drives.  And FYI - test driving a supercharged boat on the ocean is scary!

A group testing out the waverunners behind us.

Scott & I took out a waverunner but I didn't have anyone take pics.  He almost threw me off but I had already decided that I was NOT falling in the ocean and getting eaten by sharks!

 

 

Here we are back at the resort looking out to the marina and another resort.

Beautiful but there always seemed to be rain clouds somewhere.  Thank goodness they mostly missed us.

 We didn't venture off the resort so we only got to see the "real" Puerto Rico when we were driving to and from the airport.  We had an awesome time enjoying the island paradise but I was more than ready to get home and see my Kinley!

Summer fun!

We've had fun things to do all summer but sometimes it's nice to just enjoy a lazy day at home.  Kinley has been crawling and pulling up more and more.  This particular afternoon, she learned how to push the buttons on the couch.

Enjoying one of our favorite summertime activities - swimming!

Pool party!

Kinley was trying to crawl out of the pool & I was hot so I joined her, ha!

A boat day with the Tuckers!

Sitting in the lift, waiting for a tiny storm to pass.

Trying to drink the soda.

Love these beauties!!



Tied up in the cove.

At the kid friendly party cove :)

Pre-4th of July Fun

We were excited to start our 4th of July celebration a few days early, especially since Kinley had 5 different red, white, & blue outfits!

I met Sue & the kids for lunch on Friday and Kinley got her 1st big kid souvenir cup from the Corner Pub.  She loved drinking out of the cool straw!

Friday night we went out on the boat for "light up the lake."  Lets just say that it was a lot more comfortable than last 4th of July...

 

Saturday we got up bright & early & drove to Aurora for the Jimmy Buffett concert.  Here we are packed in Rob & Sue's car:

Kinley was next to me snoozin' away..

We stayed with my in-laws and the girls took Kinley on the trampoline for the 1st time.  She seemed to like it until I came outside and she saw me.  (Realizing that mommy's not holding her is always a good reason for a meltdown).

We grilled out and made our own cheeseburgers in paradise and margaritas before the concert.  Rian made a mega burger!

Kinley rocked her dress that the O'Connors brought back from Hawaii - perfect Buffett attire.

K & me before the concert.

Since all of the adults were going to the concert, it was Kinley's 1st time staying with a "non adult" babysitter.  I must admit that I was a little anxious but they are very responsible and Kinley loves her cousins so that helped!

I got a pretty good report - she was good but the girls had to sing 'twinkle, twinkle' a million times before she finally fell asleep. ;)  We loaded up the next morning and made the trip back home for the annual Tucker 4th of July party.  I had to snap a pic of the kiddos in the back:

 

We got home at 11 so I went home, made fruit pizza, went to Jeffers' pool for a few hours, ran home, and tried to get myself & Kinley ready for the party at 4:00. 

Unfortunately, I only allowed an hour to get us ready and finish the fruit pizza so it was just another case of me trying to do too many things in one day... I'll never learn!  Therefore, I was late to the party and had a million things to carry so I felt like a failure as a "single" mom!

A few pics from the party:

We had a fun but exhausting weekend but it made us even more excited for the real 4th of July celebration!