Tortola… Woke up to find we were pulling into Tortola. Ahhh the beautiful blue of the Caribbean Ocean. Truthfully, I never get tired of looking at it and am constantly amazed at how gorgeous it is. The beaches by our house are such a letdown in comparison… cold, green water. Ick. Anywho, I had a trip planned to take a group catamaran to another island about an hour away called Jost Van Dyke. Things started out a bit rocky –we had some difficulty finding the boat, there was some confusion about times and how we were going to be picked up. But, by the time we left the dock it was all ok. The trip over to the island took us by several small islands. Lots of people sail between them so there are always lots of boats out. Again, the water is so clear and blue. I could sail all day. We arrived at Jost –which is a bit famous in the Caribbean I guess –and spent about 4 hrs hanging out at the beach. The water was a bit colder than I was expecting. Not cold but cooler. G found a few other kids her age to play with and had so much fun that she gave me a bit of a tude when she had to walk away to eat lunch! She got over it pretty quickly though. Nothing like 4 hrs of beach time to wear a toddler out! She crashed out in my arms almost as soon as we got back on the boat. Poor little thing. One we got back we needed to get ready for the first of our 2 formal nights. Last trip we didn’t do too much in the dress up department. With it being the five us and trying to pack for WDW and then the cruise and checked luggage being so expensive it just didn’t work out. But this time it was just the three of us and we were able to bring a lot more luggage with Jet Blue so it made formal nights easier.

I thought Bobby looked so handsome in his suit and, of course, G looked absolutely stunning. By the way, there are hardly any kids on this cruise. Apparently only 80 between the ages of 3 and 17 and, of those, only ten age 3-6. This makes G quite a novelty. She always is but it’s amplified on this trip. All comments are very nice though. The usual “oh my gosh, she’s so beautiful” and the crew all call her “princess” which she enjoys.

Formal night in the dining room was very nice. The food was only ok. Bobby had lamb which he said was good not great and I had quail which tasted fine but there wasn’t much to it. The starters (carpaccio--Bobby and salmon –me) and dessert made up for it though. I’m also somewhat bummed to say that our wait service is only ok. They’re not that personable and for the second night in a row they forgot my salad. I know, not earth shaking but still, kind of annoying. After that we took the opportunity to get professional pix done by the photogs onboard and then headed to the show. It was a ballroom dancing performance. Actually quite enjoyable with beautiful costumes and fun music and G really wanted to go. We only make it through about half when she was finally so tired, we had to go back to the room. Poor thing fell asleep while I was singing her bedtime songs.

I guess Tortola is a pirate island because that was the photo op for the day. Us on the way to Jost G loves the beach. She absolutely insists on wearing her lifejacket. I'm not sure if it makes her feel safer or if she just likes the way it feels. In any event, it doesn't bother me I'm not sure if you can tell from this picture but the water was absolutely filled with these small fish. Thousands and thousands of them about 4-6 inches long or so. You couldn't feel them but you could see them in the water. Very cool!Because of all the fish, the birds including lots of pelicans, would dive down into the water and grab them. It was somewhat alarming because they had no fear of people and would dive down very near to us, grab the fish then either fly away with it in their claws or gulp it down on the spot. G would happily dig in the sand all day long. Little cutie! Bobby decided to try a Painkiller --a rum drink from the beach bar The Soggy Dollar. It was $6 and pretty strong. Several people drank many and true to their name, they seemed to be feeling no pain :-) Isn't the water amazing? As you can see, many people sail here, drop anchor and go into the beach for the day. Its one of the few places we went to in the caribbean where there is no charge for the chairs. Yeah! Mini family photo at JostThis little crab came up out of the water then we chased him up the beach.

Us at dinner. Note the bottle of hand sanitizer on the table to Bobby's right. They were absolutely crazy about the stuff. At the entrance to every restaurant and when re-boarding at every port they had someone standing there to squirt it into your hands. They didn't really act like it was voluntary either. And, at least twice a day, they had a public service type announcement reminding people of the importance of washing hands, for at least 20 seconds with warm water. On one hand it was annoying but on the other hand I was super glad they were encouraging people to wash their hands. Pictures, pictures, so many pictures! My beautiful girl. She felt like such a princess. After that evening she was regularly greeted by the ship crew and the majority of the other passengers as "princess". Oye. This is not the greatest picture of me but I like it overall. Its hard to get a good picture of the three of us, especially me. Tomorrow St Maarten/St Martin

Going on the big boat!!! We started out the day by sleeping in a bit then packing up the room. This took a bit longer than planned. Normally, not a big deal but we’ve been basically running G ragged since we left. Trying to find breakfast nearby proved to be challenging but we were finally able to locate a table near the ferry selling fruit. The girls selling the fruit were nice enough to give us a banana for G. By that time it was about 11:30 and the restaurants opened up for lunch, yeah!!! We had our second completely tasty meal at the hotel burger place then it was time to catch a cab to the pier. Check in was quick and easy--much quicker and easier than our previous experience with Carnival. Our room is, of course, small but we got the balcony which will make the next 10 days much more enjoyable. We walked the ship and found that they have some very interesting art. Some of it seems kind of random. The ship itself is very nice with soft colors. It’s a huge difference from the Vegas style decorating of the Carnival ship. (It’s impossible not to constantly compare the two experiences) Finally it was time for dinner. We were so tired from the day that we almost decided to opt for the buffet rather than do the main dining room. But, Bobby reminded me how much we both really enjoy it and off we went! Dinner was good. I wasn’t all that hungry so just had a small appetizer and some lobster bisque ---yum! one of my favs! I did manage two small desserts though :-) G went with the always classic spaghetti and a shrimp cocktail and Bobby went full board with Coq Au Vin which he said was totally tasty. They had a show but it was a late one so we skipped it and got G to bed relatively early instead. After that we hung out on the balcony watching and listening to the surf –something I never get tired of --then it was off to bed. Right after we got on the ship. G went straight to the veranda to check it out. Isn't she beautiful?? The 178 square feet that would be our home for the next 10 days With Daddy overlooking San Juan. The ship wouldn't leave until 8pm that night

With Mommy. We have these same pix for our last trip also. I think we've started a tradition!

This is one of sculptures on the ship. Cute, right? But random.

Big day planned in Tortola tomorrow!

El Yunque!
I had done tons of research in preparation for visiting the rainforest. Rent a car, go to caves, ranger tour times, shoot, I even knew what and where we were going to eat. I just missed one little detail... I didn't reserve the rental car. Oops. Stupid me, it just didn't occur to me that I'd have to reserve it ahead of time.

Since I still really wanted to visit the rainforest, Bobby suggested that we just go down to the port where the cruise ships dock the next morning and see if we could find something. So we did and we did-- a little too quickly actually as we hadn't had time to grab any breakfast!!! I'm sure I'm the worst mother in the world (G ate a couple bites of beef jerkey and some chips for breakfast and lunch (oops again). It wasn't the greatest trip of all time --there was zero flexibility and it was really short --but we did get there. On the positive side, it acted as a good intro trip for the next time we're in San Juan. I'm not sure when that will be but I have a pretty good feeling we'll be back here someday and when that happens, I'll be prepared!

However, it was still a very nice day and we got to see some nice sights. El Yunque is about an hour's drive from OSJ and very pretty. Amazingly, I got pretty good cell coverage there. Brett called me to ask how to cook corned beef and cabbage for his roommates (for St Pat's Day --he's so funny!) and I was surprised that ATT in the rain forest of San Juan is clearer than I can get when talking to him from home. Go figure.

After we got back, we caught the ferry over to Catano and had an early dinner. It was early so we decided to take a stroll around when Bobby got the idea to get some ice cream at the Ben and Jerry's we'd seen the day before. Unfortunately, we didn't realize how far away it was until he'd already told G so we had to walk over there. It was at least a mile! I think we've walked about 15 miles in the last 2 days, no exaggeration!

Photo stop on our way up the hill
The guide told us they grow medical marijuana up this road somewhere... hmmm.

In front of Coca Falls. This place was mobbed with people. I don't know how I got this pic with no one else around.

As soon as G saw this tower she started saying "I want to go in the castle mommy!!" Then she decided it was a tower "like on Rapunzel movie". :-)

So, we have just one more half day in San Juan before getting on our ship. Then we'll be on the boat and without internet access for 10 days. Its kind of love/hate thing with me. I love being able to access the net but it will be nice to unplus for awhile.

I'll post when we get back.

Forts!
Day 2 we checked out some of the historical sites. We started with El Morro which is the larger of the two forts in Old San Juan (OSJ). Its really beautiful and the weather was so nice. We walked all around the fort, upstairs and downstairs, over and over for about 2.5 hrs. Then we walked down into OSJ to find Bobby a hat, then back up the hill to El Morro, then down the coast to the second fort, San Cristobal, then up and down the streets of OSJ wandering, shopping, stopping for snacks, then finally back to our hotel. We left our hotel at 9 in the morning, returned at about 7 and had only stopped for about an hour for lunch. Yes, you calculated it right, that makes about 9 hours of walking. The good news is I'm feeling pretty good about all the food I'm probably going to eat on our cruise :-)

This is us in front of El Morro. The lawn area on the sides of us was the battlefield in the 15 and 1600s. Kind of cool. Now, people use it as park area. Its pretty windy so people fly kites!
G overlooking a little island area. It used to be a leper colony hundreds of years ago but now is being turned into a resort area.
G doing one of her many funny poses in front of actual canonballs --400 yrs old +/- 100 yrs. Overlooking the beautiful Caribbean Sea. These pix do absolutely no justice for how gorgeous it was.

Bobby and G in one of the garitas (watch towers). Only a few of the original ones remain. I don't think this was one of them. G has a pretzel in her right hand but her left is a pretend gun!

The lighthouse. I've always loved lighthouses. This one is quite a bit newer than most of the fort. I think it was originally built in the 1800s and has been rebuilt several times.

This picture cracks me up! I have no idea what she's looking at.

My beautiful girl! She had lots of fun running all around. Then she'd crash in the stroller for a couple hours.

More fort. It started to rain suddenly and we sought shelter at the stop of one of the stairwells with another family. Five mins of rain, just enough to cool things down, then the sun came back out. Nice!

Georgie just loves these pay a quarter telescopes. Mind you, she can't see out of them worth beans. I think she likes the idea of them more than anything else. "Oooh, a telescope!! Can I have a quarter Daddy?"

Another pic of the roads in OSJ. This one from about 1/3 of the way up the hill. Yes, we started our walk all the way down at the bottom by the ocean!! There's a reason there are no chubby locals in OSJ.

We came around a corner and saw this park filled with pigeons!! My first words "Georgie, do not scare the birds. Do you understand? Do NOT run toward the birds." Luckily, the pigeons are not too skittery and she didn't run at them, thank goodness. That could have been ugly. I guess they live there all the time and aren't really afraid of people. There's a lady there selling baggies with crushed potato chips to feed them. We passed. The tree trunk is pretty fascinating too!
The facade of an old church. Not sure when it was built but its old!

There's this very cool cemetary next to El Morro filled with statuary. We walked all the way down to it (see that little road on the left, it goes down to a very narrow tunnel that includes a blind turn. It was kind of scary. We walked back up very quickly and hoped to hear no honks of oncoming cars) but found that it had closed about an hour before. Bummer. Not that I'm really into cemetaries but this one look different.

More of G's funny poses! This was a garita at the smaller fort San Cristobal. Its about 2 miles down the coast.

The front of San Cristobal. In a lot of ways it was similar to El Morro. But, it did have a few things that El Morro did not (at least as far as I could see) like a dungeon. Eeek. I would not have wanted to be a prisoner in that dungeon. It was a tunnel about 30 feet long, 7 feet wide and 8 feet tall cut into the fort. The only air and light came from a small (think 6x12") hole cut into the side. OMG, I really feel sorry for anyone in history who had to spend any time in there. There are drawings of boats on the walls said to have been done by former prisoners. I didn't get a pic though cuz, I know its funny, but being in there creeped me out a bit.

Next post, El Yunque

Hola
from San Juan Puerto Rico! We made it! After a long and uneventful flight from Long Beach to Fort Lauderdale, a 3.5 hr layover and another somewhat shorter and uneventful flight to PR, we arrived. (I guess the only eventful part was that our second plane left 45 mins late due to "the brakes being broken." Glad they noticed that one!). BTW, aside from that brake issue, Jet Blue kinda rocks! We ended up with free movies (Hereafter, True Grit and the King's Speech), lots of yummy snacks and plenty of leg room. Oh yeah!!

We got to our hotel but couldn't check into our room for a few hrs. So, on about an hour's sleep for Bobby and I and about 4 hrs for G --over the previous 40 hrs or so --we started walking the city! Old San Juan is a very cool area. Its built on a hill starting from the ocean --where cruise ships dock for the day-- up to the historic fort area. Walking here is really good exercise. All the buildings are very old and built in rows a bit like San Francisco. The streets are blue cobblestone, mostly one way and lined with very narrow sidewalks. It makes maneuvering with the stroller challenging to say the least. Its a great tourist area filled with restaraunts and shops. Although, I have to say that these are probably the most boring of all tourist shops I have ever encountered. Everything is exactly the same and not even remotely interesting. And I normally love cheesy tshirt shops so this is really saying something. But, what makes the area great are all the outside areas to eat, the great architecture, the fantastic weather (daytime 80s, nighttime about 70) and the views of the ocean. Awesome walking area!

SJ reminds me of a very upgraded Mexico. For the most part the roads are pretty good and things are pretty neat and clean and, you can drink the water. But, its definitely not the US, in a good way I guess.

This is G with the Senor Frog. She was so excited when she saw it. She ran to it yelling "take my picture with the froggy mama!!!"
Bobby found this hat in one of the shops so he wanted to pose with an example of "local art". He's such a goof.
I've taken dozens of pix of the city and the streets trying to capture their unique look. I don't think I was successful but here's one anyway. Imagine rows and rows of these streets one after another as you make your way up the hill.

Another neat thing about the area is all the public art. There are sculptures and monuments everywhere you look. I can't remember who this guy is and I forgot to take a pic of the plaque, darnit.

Here's a pic of the blue cobblestone streets. A lot of them are being torn up and redone, quite a bit of construction going on. I'm not sure why the stones are blue, I'll have to look that up because it seemed unusual to me.

Tomorrow we visit the forts!

Cats!
I love my cats. They're soft, fluffy and do absolutely nothing other than sleep and eat and occasionally fight with each other. I wake up every day with them on my bed fast asleep. They're the sweetest things ever. But, they are super furry. I mean really furry and the cat fur does end up everywhere. It drives Bobby cuckoo crazy. One of the also tends to lick her fur a lot and ends up with hair balls. Yeah, not too attractive... so I decided I'm going to try to have them shaved and see if its better. They're 100% indoor kitties so they don't need the fur for warmth.

If it works out, I may never go back to full fur kitties so I thought I'd get their pix taken. I've tried to do them myself at home but, because they have those light blue eyes, I've never been able to get a good pic of them. Their eyes always come out red and the red eye reduction and fix things don't seem to work.

Because my kitties never go out they were quite frightened. Clem got used to it after awhile but Tallulah never did. After a bit she finally just curled up and closed her eyes. I'm sure she was wishing it would just all go away. I still think I ended with a few pix that are good enough.

On the steps: Tallulah (whose official name is Tallulah Does the Hula in Hawaii) on top, and Clementine (Oh My Darling Clementine) on the bottom.
Clemmy on left, Tallulah on right.
I'll have to post some pix of the shaved kitties later!

A night on the town!
Tonight was the last of our season at the Pantages. We usually go on Sunday nights but had to switch because we'll be out of town the day we were set to see the show. The sunday night shows always start at 6:30 which makes dining in los angeles a bit complicated. A lot of the restaurants don't open for dinner until 5:30 so it can be a bit limiting. Anyway, because it was our last show, I decided to have a special dinner. We chose the Gordon Ramsay restaurant at the London Hotel in West Hollywood.

First of all, the hotel is GORGEOUS!! Silk sofas, marble floors, that kind of thing. The dining room was also beautiful --even the bathroom was beautiful :-) hahaha. The whole experience is very haute cuisine. The food is tiny, plated beautifully and served by not one but two waiters wearing what looked to be business suits! The first carried a large silver tray, the second announced your food. I definitely had the impression of "dining" rather than "eating".

After a wonderful and surprisingly very filling dinner, we were off to the show. Tonight's was Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Honestly, it was fantastic! The sets were absolutely gorgeous, the costuming amazing and the singing talented. Truly delightful. It doesn't hurt that its my fav of all the disney movie stories. I just love Belle --she's tough and she likes to read! I was surprised that there were about 5 or 6 songs that are not a part of the movie which was fun. Its hard to even express how much I enjoyed this show. So much fun!

I'm sad to say that this is the end of the theater season at Pantages. I'm not sure whether or not we'll be doing another season. I'd love to though.

This is the dining room of the Gordon Ramsay restaurant. We actually sat at the booth in the bottom right of the picture.
The food was so beautiful. I was glad I had my camera in my purse to snap a few pix. This was my appetizer, steak tartare with roasted beets, mustard, capers and chives served with some sort of cracker. Yum!!
My mom's appetizer: miso glazed sablefish with swiss chard and sweet turnips and some kind of noodle. Again, yum!

My mom's entree: she chose filet mignon and braised short rib served with onion marmalade, chanterelle mushrooms and sherry wine. On the left is some sort of little potato cake like a latke.

My entree: carmelized sea scallops, globe carrots (actually one very small carrot), mushroom ravioli (one, placed on top of the lower right scallop) and fennel flan --its the little thing onthe top right with the sprig sticking out of it. Cute but not at all tasty unfortunately. The scallops were wonderful and the little quail eggs were kind of fun. I think the whole plate looks like modern art

My dessert: a chocolate cylinder filled with banana and whipped cream and topped with toasted marshmallows! The ball on the right was some kind of ice cream that I didn't like.

My mom's dessert: some kind of hazelnut mousse with a cranberry relish (I think).

Me and my mom after the show!

Overall, I give the whole evening an A++ So much fun!!

Mardi Gras
These are our March pix. Last year we did St Patty's Day but I thought it would be fun to do something a bit different this time. G did awesome!!! Its hard to believe that she used to be so difficult to photograph. She's gotten much better at looking at the camera. She's turning into a real pro and she loves it!!!

I'd been planning on going to the Mardi Gras celebration they were doing at Disneyland the weekend before but just did not have time. Bummer. Oh well.