Traveling...with 4 kids!

It's always fun to travel, it's one of my favorite things to do actually, just not with an 18 month old. We left Las Vegas on Wednesday night to come to Puerto Rico, La Isla del Encanto. We came home to visit James' family and to celebrate Halloween Puerto Rican style...don't know what that is...yet. We also came for James' oldest nieces Quinceanera. That is her 15 year old birthday party which is a very big deal in the Hispanic culture. We've watched Angelimar grow up and I can't believe she is already so old!!

Our flight left at 10:40 pm so everyone was a little cranky...mommy included! We flew from Las Vegas to New York, which we've never done before and the kids were really excited that they got to be in New York. I think that will be our next family trip. For some reason the kids love the city. I think it's fun that they knew all the things they wanted to see from the airplane....Statue of Liberty, the Yankees?, and many other things. Madelyn was a little dissapointed when it was dark while flying in. But we did get to see a beautiful sunrise while eating Burger King in the airport...breakfast for champions!

We finally arrived in Puerto Rico and Abuela picked us up in our rental van. Thank goodness she had picked it up early because that has to be the worst part of traveling here....the ineptitude of the service industry. 2 hours is the minimum length of time we've ever waited for the process to be completed. It's usually a nightmare!!!

We went straight to Abuela's house where she had cooked an amazing lunch for us of Abichuelas y arroz, and Polle encebollado. (Rice and beans with onion chicken) Delicious! Nobody makes rice and beans like Abuela. The kids ate it up! We got to spend time with Titi Zaida who is James' aunt that lives in Washington D.C.. She is also visiting for the festivities.

We are all having a bit of an adjustment from the trip. We came back to the hotel for a little cat nap and slept 4 hours. We went to bed last night around midnight and Malak woke up at 5 this morning ready to go. I tried pulling him into bed with me....big mistake because he didn't want to go back to his own crib after that. I realized when we were taking a nap together yesterday that that was the only nap I've ever taken with him! He's been such a good sleeper his whole life that he moved to his crib when he was 2 months old and I've never had to sleep with him to get him to bed. I still sometimes have to lay with Kai, but Malak is a great sleeper. I thoroughly enjoyed cuddling up to him during our nap and last night as well, but I think I will be in for long nights ahead until we go home. He's figured out what sleeping with Mommy feels like!!

Madelyn and Kai are still sleeping soundly and it's almost 8:00 here. It's 3 hours difference from Las Vegas. Jamie stayed with Abuela at her house last night. We only have 1 hotel room so we are alternating who gets to stay with Abuela. I think it will be fun for them....get them immersed in the culture....no air conditioning, no carpet, misquitos, open windows, etc. etc.