Latest TKD pics of the family

Some recent pics of the TaeKwonDo family. They scanned a bit blurry but not bad.

Only in Puerto Rico ...........

............ and probably anywhere else that doesn't care how you drive (sometimes includes crazy Utah drivers).

During our stay, we traveled in a 500 person van when we wanted to go exploring. Please remember that we now have 19 people in our immediate family (10 adults, 6 kids, 3 babies). If we all travel together, we need MAJOR transportation.

Okay, maybe it was only 15 person van but it seemed HUGE. Luckily we had a great local-type driver that got us wherever in one piece. Jeffe (aka: Greg) was amazing in the craziest traffic I've seen since Thailand. He even learned how to honk at his displeasure of other drivers (it's a courtesy thing; they all do it).

However, this is how ALL the babies traveled whilst screaming thru said traffic:

This is Evan being held by his dad, Steve. Please note the look of complete and utter satisfaction on Evan's face. He knows that this position is completely wrong and is enjoying his moment in the sun with absolute bliss.

I didn't get pics of Lyla or Ivy in the same position but trust me, they enjoyed it too. So much in fact, that the mothers (as well as myself) wondered how much pain they would be in when real life slapped them upside the head (figuratively of course) once they returned home to binding, uncomfortable, backwards-facing (really??) car seats.

I, of course, wouldn't be able to experience their final discomfort on arrival because I'm an old woman with baby-making way behind me. All I can do is cluck my tongue, offer a few words of sympathy and then waddle (yeah, waddle: did you see me on the beach?) off to my car that had two giant children in regular seat belts and go to sleep even before the car left the airport.

A few more pictures. What a great time.

The little kids, Thomas and me.

Historic fort in Old San Juan - 500 years old.

Leaning out of the tower in the rainforest.

Jennifer and Ivy, making their way up.

My exceptionally handsome boy Robee.

The boys checking out the scope. (l to r: Maxito, Owen, Ryan)

Looks like well planned baby making.

(l to r: Jen/Ivy-17 mo, Ang/Evan-10 mo, Em/Lyla-6 mo)

Ben, in a moment of vacation happiness, twisted his ankle trying to catch a football at the beach.

Rainforest waterfall.

Maxito, Eric, Greg under the freezing cold waterfall.

Miss Biss (Alysa) in the hotel.

Em at breakfast.

Ben showing his breakfast that was $22 as opposed to Kelsey's that was $14. That's when we decided to go buy a few food items to cut down some of the cost.

Owen being Owen. My friend.

Steve and Evan. I love his shirt "I still live with my parents"

My kids have never seen a gecko before. I rememer them from Thailand.

Felix on our balcony.

Some of what I do have.

The view from our balcony

There were iguanas running around everywhere



Even in the pool. They just hopped in and would swim from end to end.

El Yunqua Rainforest Waterfall. (i'm now thinking i spelled that wrong)

My favorite pic of all. This was a beautiful ocean.

New computer - I can post again!

Man. I've been trying for the past month to post but I've had a psycho computer that would not let me on my blog.

Grrrrr.

So I'm WAY behind and I wanted so much to post while I was in Puerto Rico but was on another foreign laptop (not to mention it was being monopolized by my spouse) and finally gave up.

And THEN my beautiful camera found some water in my backpack (surprise surprise since it was pouring rain in Old San Juan AND my water bottle sprung a leak - lovely) and my picture taking came to a screeching halt. So I had to depend on my phone camera. Ugh.

I also have Halloween pics (as per usual, we had the best costumes EV-AH) that I wanted to post but alas, the stubborn computer who wouldn't let me post won again.

That computer has been hacked and tossed and now I'm on another one. My biggest concern was all the THOUSANDS of pics I had on the hard drive. A long time ago, I lost all my pics and I didn't want it to happen again.

SO .... I have to sit and compose again ... which I will ... but I'm *yawn* still on Puerto Rican time and it's 1 am there so I'm going to hit the sack and try again later.

Suffice to say, we all had a great time. The plane ride back was hell, absolute hell. 10 hours in the same bloody position makes for blood clots. Gads. And the poor babies and their moms; I felt worse for them. Those babies were done the last three hours of the trip home.

Sadly, two of us had bad news during the trip.

Jen found out when she arrived home that her kitty, Elliott, died the day after she left. So I'm going to find a spot in my Pet Cemetery for her in the next couple of days (yes, I have yet another cat on ice - hey, what other choice is there?) and lay her to rest. Poor thing. I seriously believe she was poisoned; there is no reason a 10 yr old cat drops dead after being perfectly healthy the day before.

And I have the other sad news: I found out last Friday that my wonderful teddy bear Uncle Paul Van Alfen died in a horrible car crash outside of Wendover. Absolutely devastating. My Aunt Shirlene (who was with him) suffered multiple injuries including a broken leg and several ribs. Their son, Cam, broke his ankle. Cam's fiance', Char, flew into Uncle Paul's seat, and died from severe head injuries. They were to marry in May. Uncle Paul is my mom's youngest brother and is the youngest child of the Van Alfen Clan. So now I all I have left is Aunt Virginia and Uncle John (and their spouses, Ray and Joyce). My mom's family is disappearing.

The funeral is Tuesday.

Sigh. So sad. Such a funny nice guy. That's him in the grey shirt and and beard.

On that note, I'm off.

Goodbye Uncle Paul. See you in the next life.