A few weeks ago (right after I got back from Portland) I headed on a trip to Puerto Rico with my sisters and nieces! It was such a fun and relaxing trip hanging out with family!

Get ready for a super photo-heavy post about it all! (Sorry for the varying degree of quality on these pics — some were taken with my iPhone, some with my small point and shoot, and some with a DSLR)

The resort we stayed at was really nice. Right on the beach (although, unfortunately there was a really bad undertow in the water right outside our hotel, so you could really only wade into the water a little bit), our rooms had pretty ocean views, there were four different pools, hot tubs, restaurants on site, free towel and beach chair service, the whole works. (Although, I don’t think I got any pictures of the rest of it)

Most of our days we spent relaxing by the pool or the beach, but most evenings we ventured into Old San Juan to try out various restaurants there. All the food we had was really good! It seemed like the most abundant “island food” were plantains. (sorry, didn’t get any pictures of food either!)

We enjoyed walking around Old San Juan in the evenings. It was really pretty there. It reminded me a little of the French Quarter of New Orleans, but it was much cleaner and the buildings (which I think are actually older than those in New Orleans) looked much nicer, newer and better kept. They were all painted really pretty colors. (I wish I had gotten some good pictures of them in the daylight!)

One day we ventured down to El Morro (also in Old San Juan) a 16th century citadel/castle. (read this if you want to learn more about it)

Georgiana and I ended up wearing matching shorts that day!

My and Jill’s shadows in the grass.

And BEHOLD! this might be one of my most favorite pictures of all time:

It makes me laugh every time. There was this stray cat laying there (we saw a lot of stray cats there actually) and we somehow managed to get this crazy, not really planned picture of it. They were all sitting there and I just kind-of maybe said smile and this is what became of it. Captured that moment well.

The grounds and all the old walls and stuff were really pretty and we walked around there for a while. Unfortunately, it was ridiculously hot outside and there were these swarms of really irritating little flies everywhere. They were all over and inside our hair and clothes. It was gross.

The inside of the fort was really neat as well. There were lots of little nooks and crannies and hidden-ish passageways to explore. It was huge!

A different day, the bigger kids (Bob, me, Kelsey, Jill and Evie — Blair stayed behind with Gigi and Jack during naptime) took a little trip to Laquillo Beach so that we could see a little more of Puerto Rico and swim a little farther into the water than we could outside the hotel. The mountain views on the drive were really pretty.

The beach that we stumbled upon was really pretty! It was more wild and natural than any other beach I’d ever been to. It was really cool.

We had fun checking out the coconut palms, swimming, and exploring a little river/lagoon-y thing that we found. The water was really clear and the view was picturesque.

Another day, while exploring, we walked across this bridge over a lagoon, where the water was really clear and you could see different fish swimming around. My favorite find of the day was this really awesome starfish! We were really high above it, but it had to have been around 15 inches wide.

On our last evening there, we dressed up in coordinating outfits and took pictures on the beach. Here we are in the elevator on our way down.

Love my sisters!

Apparently we were there towards the end of the rainy season, and the forecast showed rain everyday, but luckily we missed out on a lot of it. It was mostly clear and sunny everyday. Something interesting about there — it gets completely dark by 7pm every night. In the US, the sun sets much later in the summer, but it doesn’t in Puerto Rico.

Such a fun trip and great time with family! I miss relaxing by the beach/pools at the resort! We had a great time, but since there were 8 of us and we were only there a few days, we only got to see a little bit of Puerto Rico. I’m sure there are tons of other great things there to explore!