I say "our" island because often times we felt like we were the only ones in paradise. Vieques is not your typical Caribbean Resort Island. On this island, you have to drive to the beaches. Each path you wonder where it will lead, but when you reach your destination you realize the path you chose was the perfect one! Our days began with eating a fulfilling breakfast and then going to find our beach of the day. With our jeep packed and cooler replenished each morning - we were ready !
Michael getting his morning run in...he says he takes mental pictures and catalogs them for later use :)
And here we go - Lyla's approach to that HUGE body of "wa-wa"....
Okay so day 1 actually didn't go as well as we wanted...she wasn't too fond of the sand and water....ut oh!
But if we show her we are happy than maybe she'll catch on....it worked!
DD's idea of exploring is to get his fins and mask on. And boy did he hit the jackpot on this one. He found the most beautiful starfish - amazing!
A scene we all became familiar with...daddy taking Lyla out for a swim...
Cock-a-doodle-do! Holy Roosters! They were everywhere....and you can be sure that Lyla is saying "ooooc-a-doooooo" now...her perfect version of course!
The balcony ended up being a death zone for Lyla - but come on - I come prepared. We popped her tent right up and viola, problem solved!
When I say explore - here is a perfect example. Check out Michael and DD looking at the map, trying to figure out what dirt road we were on...
If only I would have captured the look on Michael's face when we came to a "bridge" we had to cross. A had-to-be there moment - but still worthy of mentioning in case we ever forget.
Wild horses! WOW - wild horses. You don't see this everyday. They were absolutely beautiful. Our experience of watching for deer crossings back in Ohio had nothing on this...horse crossing signs are a tad scary at night.
Who is having more fun?
Looking for glass on "Glass beach" - my mission was to bring enough back for a project but unfortunately we didn't find enough big pieces :(
Our visit to a 375 year old tree on the perfect day - Earth day.
Thanks DD for bringing masks for all...I got Michael out there once :)
All rules went out the door this week. Lyla definitely picked up some habits during this week - but this vacation wasn't about saying "no" it was about letting her do whatever the heck she wanted to do. Even if that was eating Combo's for breakfast :) Heck it's vacation.
Our biggest "adventure" I'd have to say was our kayak experience through the
Bioluminescent Bay.
In short, it's one of very few in the world. You can only explore the bay at night. When you jump into the water at night you glow. YES glow. I went into this knowing I would not jump in...but something about being under the perfect crescent moon and millions of bright stars....I jumped in right after Michael and DD jumped in right after me. This is something that can not be explained - something about floating on your back in the ocean, at night, looking up at the stars and looking down at your body glow - AMAZING experience. We are so thankful we had the opportunity to experience.
Here we all are tied up after kayaking out to the middle of the bay - waiting for the sun to set completely.
Okay we are getting closer to the green light to jump in....
Almost time....
You need a special lens to capture the glow so I stole this photo online...to give you an example of what the heck I am talking about.
Our week was filled with lots of exploring and adventure. It can be done with a toddler. Luckily for us we had some help and Lyla is the go-with-the-flow toddler that we had hoped when it comes to vacation. There has to be something said for taking a leap of faith and planning a vacation with a toddler. I've learned you can not let it stop you. This vacation could have easily been more work than a "vacation" but it's all in your mindset - I think. Even if we were trapped at Cookie's Paradise and exploring wasn't part of our week - to be able to spend a week with Lyla and her grandparents - you can't go wrong.
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