The last stop on our big spring break trip of 2023 was Abu Dhabi to visit our friends, the Merchants. Blaine was SO happy to be reunited with Sami! It was like no time had passed at all.

We arrived about midnight on Wednesday and went right to sleep. On Thursday we decided to take it easy and spent the day at Yas Waterworld, a giant water park. It was amazing; our kids are pretty cautious and skipped all the big slides, but they enjoyed the spray area, two lazy rivers, and the giant wave pool. Sami was more adventurous and went on some of the tube rides including a huge heart-pounding ride on a 6-person tube. I left my phone in the locker so have no pictures, unfortunately! Here’s one from the house that morning:

We stayed so long that we went directly from the park to dinner at a place in Mamsha al Saadiyat/Soul Beach. It was beautiful! Here are some pics Melissa took:

The Merchants live in a beautiful house in the Hidd al Saadiyat area, next to a gorgeous beach. How did I not take any pictures? Oh well.

Friday was the day we’ve been looking forward to for years, ever since Blaine learned that the tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. We drove to Dubai in the morning and were excited once the Burj was in view!

The entrance to the Burj is within the giant Dubai Mall. It wasn’t that crowded when we arrived but apparently it’s packed in the evenings because that’s what people do there, they hang out in the malls.

First, a yummy lunch at a dumpling place! Complete with chocolate dumplings for dessert.

Then we checked in for our timed tickets to the VIP SKY Lounge on the 148th floor.

Two short elevator rides later and we’d made it! It was breathtaking!

It was super pricey to get to the 148th floor but we figured, this is our one chance! The lounge was nice and calm, not crowded at all. They served coffee and tea and juice and little fig dessert things.

Eventually after we’d seen every side and checked out the outdoor terrace, we took the elevator down to the 124/125th floors which had other viewing decks.

It was a bit more crowded there so we didn’t stay too much longer before heading back down to the mall for some ice cream!

And then we checked out the Lego store. 🙂

We’d planned to go into the Old Quarter for some sightseeing and to have dinner, but we decided instead to go back to Abu Dhabi for a more relaxed evening, let the kids play in the pool, grill some dinner. It was nice to have a relaxing time to catch up!

The kids created a whole country complete with badges and paperwork.

Saturday was our last day of the trip! It was a full day — first Melissa and I snuck away for a brief time to play some tennis! It was hot, but felt great to get out and play!

Then we drove through Abu Dhabi and stopped to check out the Grand Mosque. Much like the Burj Khalifa, you enter through a mall where we stopped for lunch at the food court.

Melissa lent me an “abaya” so I’d be completely covered as is required, but I’d somehow left my scarf in the car. Not a problem, I just bought a $10 scarf from one of the many shops selling them for just this purpose. On our way!

I just had trouble keeping it on my head, it kept slipping back! I never learned how to properly use a scarf. 🙂

The mosque was huge! They kept the crowd moving, and had helpful signs with information. At the end they had a little tram you could ride back to the mall to exit.

It was just a brief stop because we’d booked an afternoon desert safari that was a bit of a drive outside the city. Let me take a minute now to thank Melissa and Farhan for all the driving that they did during our visit!!

The drive got pretty exciting toward the end as we started to see wild camels!

We arrived at the Arabian Village and got settled, then started on the activities. First, camel rides!

Fat tire bikes!

Dune bashing! This is an activity where you ride really fast in a jeep up and down the sand dunes. Sounded like fun, and I think it was the highlight for Blaine and Sami and Cyrus! But Melissa and I were feeling a bit queasy… Andrew and Sarah wisely passed on this activity.

Many of the activities resulted in a load of sand in our shoes… (side note– I am still feeling sand in my sneakers, weeks later).

After the dune bashing, we tried out “sandboarding” which is like snowboarding, but on the sand. It was tough since there’s a lot more friction than on snow. The kids tried sledding instead.

By then it was getting to be night time so the kids took a quick dip in the pool before dinner.

Dinner was buffet style with Arabian dishes. I guess typically there is entertainment as well but we were visiting during Ramadan so there was no food until sundown and no entertainment, but that was fine — the meal was delicious and relaxing.

Blaine said that the desert safari was his favorite part of the whole trip, even including the Burj Khalifa! That’s saying something.

We got up early the next morning to get to the airport for our 14 hour flight back to New York. Thank you to the Merchants for hosting us for such a wonderful visit!!

We were back home in Larchmont that afternoon for some Easter pizza for dinner and then went to bed! The two weeks flew by, such a memorable trip.

On our first day in Delhi (April 4) it turned out to be a holiday so everyone was at home spending time with family! Our driver helpfully told us this fact so that we could make the most of the break in the traffic to hit the sites that were farthest away from our hotel! Thanks for the tip, Kuber!!

So our first stop was the Red Fort — built by (guess who?) Shah Jahan, when he moved the capital from Agra to Delhi in 1638.

Beyond the entrance there was this old market area filled with stalls of crafts and other souvenirs in a non-pushy environment.

Inside the fort we found all the usual features — here’s the hall of public audiences!

And the hall of private audiences!

A lot of the structures were designed to have water flowing through them for cooling purposes, which was really impressive.

After the Red Fort we went to check out a modern Hindu temple called Swaminarayan Akshardham. It was a large elaborate complex with strict security — we had to leave all bags and electronics (including phones!) outside. So I don’t have any pictures except for this one taken outside the gate!

It was pretty impressive, particularly the carved marble domes inside the temple. The complex had lots of other offerings including a food court, playground, water show, boat ride, and animatronic show! We skipped most of it so we could get back to the hotel and relax. Back at the Oberoi, the view from our room:

And the view of the tranquil pool area.

That night we dined at the Oberoi’s fancy Indian restaurant, Dhilli. We had a delicious meal, and the kids were able to see directly into the kitchen through a viewing window, and even see the tandoor ovens they’d learned about in Jaipur.

The next morning we enjoyed our last fantastic Indian hotel brunch at the Oberoi. Blaine particularly enjoyed these donuts.

By this point in the trip Sarah seemed to be eating mostly plan baguettes at breakfast! Hmm.

Our first stop that day was the Qutb Minar, built around the year 1200.

Tourists used to be allowed to ascend to the top until an accident in 1976 when 45 people died in a stampede to exit after the lights failed. The kids kept looking for other things to ascend.

Next we went to another more modern site, the Lotus Temple, a Baha’i temple built in the 1980s. It was gorgeous!

Blaine enjoyed learning that the marble used in the temple was transported from the Penteli Mountain in Greece, the same marble used in the construction of many ancient monuments, including the Parthenon.

Next we went to see Humayun’s Tomb. You may recall from the previous post about the Mughal emperors that Humayun was the 2nd Mughal emperor; he died in 1556.

Our last stop was the Old Fort, aka Purana Qila. This site dates back to the 3rd century BC but was rebuilt by Humayun.

Unfortunately it’s also the site where Humayun met his end one night when he was stargazing on top of this structure, which was the library. He hurried down the stairs when he heard the call to evening prayer and fell; he died of his injuries two days later.

After that we went back to the hotel for more relaxing at the pool and a poolside lunch, then we showered and packed up to get to the airport for our evening flight to Abu Dhabi!

On April 2 we left Jaipur for a 5 hour drive to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. On the way we counted the number of cows we spotted — it was a lot. We also made some stops! First stop, an impressive step well called Chand Bawri. It’s huge!

Andrew found a yummy spot for us to stop for lunch called the Courtyard in Bharatpur.

After lunch we went to see a site called Fatehpur Sikri. It was built by Emperor Akbar to be the capital of the Mughal Empire in 1571, but then was only used for about 15 years and was then abandoned due to the lack of fresh water. It’s worth noting the sequence of Mughal emperors since most of the sites we saw in Agra and Delhi were related to that period of rule from the 1500s through the 1800s. The earliest Mughal Emperors were: 1) Babur, 2) Humayun, 3) Akbar, 4) Jahangir, 5) Shah Jahan, 6) Aurangzeb and then so on.

Our guide explained that this spot was used for musical performances because the water would amplify the sound.

Many of the buildings were covered in beautiful carvings in the red sandstone.

Our guide also explained that Akbar decided to found his own religion, with him as the head. His idea was to combine all the influential religions from the area into one religion. This pole shows all those religions represented — from the bottom you can see Buddhist flowers, Hindu swastikas, Christian window shapes, the Islamic arch, Persian zig zags, and the Lotus flower on top unites them all. He would sit on top of the central pillar with his 9 advisors all around him.

Unfortunately, his religion failed when he died because he didn’t force anyone to convert to his religion and his children were Muslim.

Next we visited the mosque, which apparently has the largest gate in Asia.

Our guide tried to talk us into making a donation to get our wish to come true but we decided against it. He also tried to sell us some marble sculptures but we headed on our way. This site was in a very rural and poor area, and was the most aggressive tout experience that we encountered in India.

We continued on to our hotel in Agra, another Taj hotel, and had a delicious dinner before heading to bed… the following day we’d be seeing the Taj Mahal!

The next morning we woke up and wished Andrew a very happy birthday! We had a delicious hotel breakfast and were on our way early to see the Taj before it got too hot. Here we are at the entrance gate — there are 22 small domes on top to represent the 22 years it took to build.

The Taj Mahal was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his 3rd and favorite wife, Mumtaz aka Taj. She died in childbirth and he was so sad that he vowed that he would never marry again, that he would take care of their children, and that he would bury her above ground in the Islam tradition.

The four minarets surrounding the Taj are angled slightly outward, so that if there were ever an earthquake which caused them to fall they would fall outward and not damage the central structure.

The doorways are framed by marble inlay with verses from the Koran. They are designed to be larger at the top so that the words maintain their legibility when viewed from the ground.

We were told that Shah Jahan had plans to build a matching tomb for himself out of black marble, and place it across the river. Our guide said that he got so far as laying the foundation for the second black marble tomb before his son, Aurangzeb, called a stop to his expenditures and had his father locked away in the Agra Fort palace. Aurangzeb had deposed his father and killed his brothers in order to take control and become the next emperor. Now that I look on Wikipedia it’s not clear if the story is true or just a myth, but it’s a good story!

There were a LOT of people at the Taj who wanted to take Sarah’s picture, and she was having none of it! A few of them took my picture as a consolation prize. 🙂

We went back to the hotel for some pool time! The Taj hotel has a rooftop infiniti pool with a view of the Taj Mahal! So we hung out there for awhile and enjoyed a delicious poolside lunch.

We got a late checkout so we could shower and pack and then we spent our remaining time on a quick visit to the Agra Fort, which was another site built by Akbar!

Another cannon!

The view back to the Taj Mahal that Shah Jahan got to enjoy during his imprisonment.

Then we headed to the train station to wait for our train to Delhi!

Tea on the train!

Next stop, Delhi! The train station was intense, so crowded! But we were met by a greeter from the hotel who helped us navigate the crowd and get back to the Oberoi hotel to settle in and have some dinner. They also greeted Andrew with this!

It was raining when we arrived in Jaipur pretty late on Thursday, March 30. We went straight to our hotel, the Rambagh Palace, a Taj Hotel. It is a beautiful property and looked very romantic in the rain. It was originally a garden house, then became a royal hunting lodge, and then was the primary residence of the Maharaja of Jaipur.

We were feeling a little hungry so we ordered room service — dal makhani, naan, and chocolate cake for the kids.

The next morning we enjoyed the beautiful buffet breakfast and met some of the hotel peacocks (there are 200+ across the property!) before heading out for sightseeing.

We’d booked a car and driver for our stay in Jaipur, and they included an English-speaking guide, Raj. Unfortunately the kids had trouble understanding Raj’s accent so usually Andrew would need to repeat everything for them anyway! Oh well, we did our best. Our first site in Jaipur was the Amber Fort. We stopped on the way for a view and saw a real cobra!

We also made another stop en route to check out this step well.

Inside the Amber Fort!

First we saw the Hall of Public Audiences where the Raja would listen to the requests of the public.

There were beautiful views of the gardens and the wall surrounding the palace, which is apparently the 3rd longest in the world (the 1st being the Great Wall of China and the 2nd being something I can’t remember).

Then we went into the private area of the king and queens, where we saw some baths and even the royal toilet.

We also admired the Hall of Private Audience aka the Sheesh Mahal (Mirror Palace) because of the decoration with mirrors from Belgium.

Beyond this was the oldest part of the palace, completed in 1599. It was the private rooms of Raja Man Singh I and his wives. He had 12 wives and designed this central courtyard with 12 rooms around it, each with access to his rooms which were on the level above.

From there our guide took us to a site where they keep elephants for tourists to interact with. We felt a little bad for the elephants but it was neat to see them up close! I love elephants.

From there we went to see the Jaigarh Fort, which is uphill from the Amber Fort and was built to defend Amber Fort. The kids were losing interest at this point so we made it a brief stop and primarily focused on seeing the Jaivana Cannon which was the largest cannon in the world when it was built in 1720. It was only fired one time, and someone died from the kick back.

View from Jaigarh Fort down to the Water Palace.

We made a very brief stop at the third fort, Nahargarh, because the kids were ready to call it a day.

It also started raining! We tried to get a pic of the Water Palace but then ran back to the car.

We were all happy to get back to the hotel and relax over High Tea on the patio.

The kids were disappointed the rain would keep them out of the pool, but it turned out the hotel had a fabulous indoor pool as well. The most beautiful indoor pool I’ve ever seen.

For dinner we went to the hotel’s fancy restaurant, Suvarna Mahal. The kids liked all the gold plated tableware. The staff was wonderful, making sure everyone was happy. When the kids’ butter chicken turned out to be a little spicy for them the staff had the kitchen make them a completely non-spicy serving of chicken.

The next day our plan was to see some sights in the city — the Jantar Mantar, the City Palace, and the Wind Palace. The first stop was the Jantar Mantar, a collection of huge astronomical instruments built by Maharaja Jai Singh II and completed in 1734.

The giant sun dial was particularly impressive, it’s one of the largest in the world.

Next we visited the City Palace, current residence of the Jaipur royalty.

Here you could really see the pink which gives Jaipur the name the “Pink City.” It was painted pink in the 1800s because that was the color of welcoming.

There was some story about these giant vessels — the ruler at the time was traveling to visit England and tradition was that the ruler could only drink, cook with, and bathe in water from the Ganges. So they took the sacred water with them on travels.

These holes were to give the pet birds (parrots etc?) access to the palace.

On our way out of the City Palace we stopped to enjoy a brief puppet show!

We headed over to see the Hawa Mahal (Wind Palace) and market via electric auto-rickshaw.

At this point the kids were getting pretty antsy so Andrew took them back to the hotel for pool time and lunch, and I went to see the palace with Raj. It was a small palace built specifically to allow the royal ladies to watch the city festivals without being seen.

After this our guide took me to see some local craftsmen, demonstrating how block printing is done and also hand made rugs.

Then it was back to the hotel for more high tea and to meet up with Andrew and the kids.

I can’t say enough good things about the Rambagh Palace! I think it’s probably the nicest hotel I’ve stayed at– beautiful rooms and grounds, and every staff member was so kind and helpful. The kids were interested in seeing the kitchen so one of the head chefs took them in for a private tour and showed them how the tandoor ovens work.

We went on a brief tour of the palace and saw this train (which houses a restaurant we were going to that night). We also went for a ride in a 1961 Mercedes and a horse and carriage.

Then we had dinner in a train car, at the hotel restaurant Steam.

The next morning we enjoyed one more hotel breakfast before saying goodbye to the Rambagh Palace and Jaipur!

Next stop, Agra!

We had some friends move to Abu Dhabi last summer so this spring break we decided to plan an extended trip to visit them, including some travel across India! Our first stop was Kerala, in the south of India.

We departed on Friday night, March 24, at 10:40pm. We hoped the kids would sleep on the flight! Sarah managed to get some sleep but we fear Blaine stayed up almost the whole night…

He also had a greasy steak sandwich for breakfast on the flight, and as a result he was feeling a little queasy during our layover… and he “lost his breakfast” on the moving walkway at the Abu Dhabi airport. We were off to a great start! 😀

He took a shower in the fancy Etihad lounge and felt much better, and was ready for some pita and hummus.

We arrived in Kochi at 2am and met up with our driver, who took us straight to our hotel, the Crowne Plaza, and we went to sleep. Phew! It was a long trip, plus a 9.5hr time change.

It was tough to wake up in the morning and drag ourselves to the hotel breakfast, but we were greeted with the local masala dosa for breakfast, and Blaine got the egg station to make him some chocolate chip pancakes! Yum.

Our first day in Kochi we went to see the Hill Palace which was built in 1865 by the Maharaja of Cochin. We had to take off our shoes to go inside! The Cochin royal family was notable for having a matrilineal inheritance system called Marumakkathayam which means inheritance by sisters’ children.

This was our first site in India, and the first place where Indian tourists asked to get a picture with the kids! Sarah is not a fan of photos, so we had to politely decline. This was the first of many times people wanted to take her picture, presumably because of her beautiful blond hair. She found it to be very annoying.

We spent the afternoon back at the hotel pool, which we shared with a large group of young men from the UK military. They told us that they were staying there to get acclimated to the heat before starting a 4 month deployment in the middle east. The kids were entertained by their pool antics– at one point they attempted a triple-decker chicken fight!

That night we had dinner at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant, with beautiful views over Kochi.

The next morning, Sarah threw up! Uh oh. We think it might have been the “fresh lime” drink that she’d had the previous day, which is an Indian drink similar to lemonade made with fresh lime juice (the fruit they call lime is like a combo of our lime/lemon), simple syrup, and water. It’s possible the water was not bottled? But who knows. At any rate, she was feeling well enough to keep up with our sightseeing plans for the day.

After another delicious hotel buffet breakfast we met up with our driver and headed into the town of Fort Kochi to see the Mattancherry/Dutch Palace. It was built in the 1500s by the Portuguese and then later taken over by the Dutch. It’s most notable for its beautiful murals of Hindu scenes which you’re not allowed to photograph.

After the palace we walked through the area called Jew Town which has lots of antique shops and cafes and went to see the Paradesi Synagogue, built in 1568. It’s still in use though the Jewish community there is now very small.

Next we went to lunch at a place that Andrew and I had enjoyed on our previous trip in 2009, called Malabar Junction. I’ve always fondly remembered the chocolate samosas in mango sauce, and happily they were still on the dessert menu! Bliss.

I also liked this description of Heineken haha.

After lunch we stopped at the Catholic church, St. Francis, which is where Vasco da Gama was buried in 1524 until his remains were moved back to Portugal at some point.

From there we went to see the Chinese fishing nets and adjoining square, where we got the first (and best) souvenir of the trip, a wooden articulated cobra! It’s worth noting that I briefly thought it was a real cobra when the man selling it first approached us.

Then we drove to our next hotel, Amritara A Beach Symphony in Mararikulam. It was a small hotel with four small cottages. We had a covered porch and they’d prepare and bring all your meals. It was at this point in the trip when Blaine ate butter chicken and naan for what seemed like days. Sarah was still feeling unwell and was avoiding food.

The next day we decided Sarah should stay out of the heat to rest and hydrate, and by the afternoon she was eating pretzels and crackers and feeling a little better. Phew! In the meantime, Blaine and Andrew hit the hotel pool, drove into Alleppey, took a short boat trip, and climbed a lighthouse.

The next day Andrew stayed with Sarah for a little more rest in the morning, and Blaine and I went on a canal boat trip in Ernakulam.

Ernakulam is known for the vast network of canals through rice paddies and these elaborate houseboats which you can rent. Sarah is not fond of boats which is why we stayed in a regular non-boat hotel.

At one point we saw a huge number of ducks, probably a thousand or more, all swimming down the canal. Our driver explained they were after the rice and there was a man herding them away.

We also saw lots of other birds.

Back at the hotel, we had a late breakfast/brunch and then went to the pool. The hotel manager got a freshly hacked coconut for Sarah which she refused to try. Andrew and I enjoyed it!

Then in the afternoon we went to the beach.

The next morning we went to the pool one more time and packed up for the next leg of our trip. A drive back to the Kochi airport, then a flight to Chennai, then another flight to Jaipur.

I was impressed to learn the the Kochi airport is run entirely on solar energy!

We did run into some trouble with security in Kochi… Sarah had decided to carry on her cobra to make sure it wouldn’t break, but when we went through security they were prepared to confiscate it! Apparently it is a “replica snake” and is not allowed as a carryon for a flight. Something about potentially being used as a weapon or to scare other passengers? It conjured images of Samuel L. Jackson and Snakes on a Plane. At any rate the story has a happy ending because Andrew was able to take it back to checkin and check through another bag so Sarah did not lose her beloved snake. Lesson learned!

Next stop, Jaipur!

Here are some photos from the first half of March 2023. Blaine and Sarah were invited to a birthday party at a new climbing place over in Yonkers called Hapik. They loved it! It was geared for children and we especially liked that all the walls had the auto-belayers so that they could climb independently without having to wait for a belayer.

Sarah hurt her wrist at a playdate and was complaining enough that we went for an xray. All was fine!

We went to see the Chatsworth musical, The Wizard of Oz Jr. This is a picture of the curtain call at the end showing the full cast — I think there were 10 Dorothys! I loved how they gave the big roles to multiple kids to give everyone a chance to have a starring moment.

Sarah’s coaches were very impressed at her improvement in basketball this winter! By the last day she was stealing the ball right and left, she even scored a basket! It might be her favorite sport now.

Sarah also had her first ever musical performance playing the violin with the 3rd Grade Orchestra. They played Hot Cross Buns, Twinkle Twinkle, and Boil Em Cabbage Down.

Sarah’s not that enthusiastic about violin, unfortunately. I think she finds it to be pretty boring because of how slowly they are progressing at school. But that’s probably because she’s still going with the piano lessons and has a head start on some of the other kids. She’s getting the biggest kick out of playing the recorder this year in music class! The teacher has a “Recorder Karate” program where you earn “belts” for playing songs of increasing difficulty. Sarah recently got her black belt and has moved onto the second levels of each color– she’s hoping to get to the final level (double black belt?) by the end of the year.

Blaine’s been taking a sculpting class on Sunday mornings which unfortunately is ending so we’ll need to find a new activity for him. Here’s a video that he made for school demonstrating a chemistry experiment:

We went to Puerto Rico this year for the kids’ winter break from school! We started the trip with a stay in Vieques, the island off the east coast of PR. Vieques is known for being very quiet and not built up, with beautiful beaches, wild horses, and Mosquito Bay, a bioluminescent bay. It’s also known for being a former Navy bombing range!

We got there via a connection at San Juan to a tiny plane run by Cape Air. I think it was a 9 or 10 seater, the smallest plane the kids had been on. Sarah was pretty terrified — I asked her if it was the bumpiness or something else that was bothering her and she told me no, she’s just afraid of dying! Poor Sarah. We all survived the trip though!

We settled into our airbnb and went to dinner in the nearby town, Isabel Segunda. The next day we hit our first beach, called Playa La Plata. It was beautiful, almost empty, with clear blue water and soft white sand.

For our second dinner we went to a place outside of town which was a combination of a BBQ and a sushi restaurant! Everything was very tasty.

The next day we headed to the western end of the island to a beach called Playa Punta Arenas. It had a view over to the main island but otherwise wasn’t our favorite spot; the sand was a bit coarser and there were boats stopping there on daytrips.

So we left early and got some ice cream at “D’Frozz”.

We had some dinner at the house and then headed back out for the highlight of our trip, our night time kayak trip through Mosquito Bay. It was amazing! I don’t have pics since it was completely dark, nothing would have come out. But here’s a pic from the staging area, and of the blacklight decorating the inside of the van.

The bay was fantastic, I’ve never seen anything like it. The water is full of a kind of algae called dinoflagellates, which light up when the water around them is disturbed in order to seem larger and scare off predators. So whenever we paddled through the water, or touched it with our hands, the water would light up a white/blue color. It was like magic! We had clear kayaks so they’d light up under the boat as we paddled and looked like a Star Wars lightspeed special effect. The effect is greatest during a New Moon when there is little light at night, and we timed our visit to coincide with the new moon so it was totally dark. It was eerie to be out on the water and not even be able to see the people in the next boat.

The next day we hit another beach! This time Playa La Chiva, which draws a bigger crowd than La Plata but we got a nice secluded spot under some palm trees. Until we were joined later in the day by an extended family of French people who were refreshingly unmodest about changing right on the beach! Ha. We had a delicious dinner that night in Isabel Segunda at the Coqui Fire Cafe.

There are horses all over the island, called paso fino horses, and apparently they are all owned by locals but just roam around. So the next day we made a last minute decision to go for a horseback ride! It was beautiful, short and sweet.

After our ride we had lunch nearby in Esperanza.

Then we went to see a lighthouse, which had some scary signs warning you about the areas with potential unexploded devices!

Then we spent our final afternoon back at Playa La Plata!

On Thursday we returned to the main island to spend the remainder of our trip in San Juan. Which meant another small plane! This one was even smaller, a 6-seater which took us across the water to Ceiba.

Our plan was to rent a car in Ceiba, drive through and see the El Yunque rainforest, and end up at our hotel in San Juan. Unfortunately our plan failed in two ways — first, Hertz messed up our car rental and did not have any cars available! Second, it was impossible to get a pass to drive into the rainforest! Andrew was on the park website right when it opened multiple days and never managed to get a pass. We think most/all of them must go to tour groups.

Oh well! We changed plans and got someone to drive us to San Juan. We stopped en route for some lunch near Luquillo beach.

We arrived early at our hotel, the Condado Vanderbilt, but we were able to spend the extra time poolside, beverage in hand. Here’s the view from our room:

We walked to a nearby restaurant called Havana for dinner (Sarah’s favorite of the trip because she ordered an adult portion of steak!).

We decided since we missed the El Yunque rainforest the day before that we’d cave and buy a tour through the hotel for the next day! But first, a yummy hotel breakfast buffet!

Unfortunately, when we were picked up by our tour guide we found that we’d been booked on a “serious hikers” tour! Ugh. We were in the wrong footwear, and the kids were not enthused. We tried to keep up for awhile…

But quickly realized the kids were not going to make it to the top!

So, Andrew took them off to some lesser sights and encouraged me to continue on with the other, mostly younger and fitter, adults, for a 1.5 hr hike in teva sandals to the top of Mt. Britton.

I did fine, apart from wishing I had worn more supportive shoes, and enjoyed the views from the top.

We met back up with Andrew and the kids at the bottom and continued on to the other sites, first another tower, and then a waterfall.

Sarah discovered numerous lizards to photograph, so here begins our “Lizards of Puerto Rico” series.

From there we went swimming in the river in some natural waterfall formations (not pictured) and then it was off to a yummy lunch of chicken and rice, pastelillos, and fruit smoothies. mmm

That night we got a sitter at the hotel and had a beautiful meal at the hotel restaurant, 1919 restaurant.

The next day we went into Old San Juan and saw the El Morro fort.

The view from the bathroom:

Blaine loved this triangular staircase:

Sarah loved all these giant lizards — or are they iguanas? — sunning themselves on the walls.

Blaine’s 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Acobes, is from Puerto Rico! She recommended that Blaine check out the restaurant in Old San Juan where the Pina Colada was invented. So after we finished at the fort we walked through the city to lunch.

I read that the streets were made out of a blue stone that was used as ballast in the ships from Europe in the 18th century. Beautiful!

A short walk later we’d made it to La Barrachina, home of the pina colada.

And now, back to lizards!

That afternoon we hung out at our hotel’s infiniti pool and enjoyed the views and the breeze.

Then we reluctantly headed back to NY the next day! We managed to get a little snow at the end of February and Sarah took full advantage to build this snow panda. He only lasted a few days, and that was the extent of our snow here in Larchmont for winter of 2023.

All the pics from the first part of Feb. Sarah started her chess lunch club at school and I got to volunteer to help out one day. The two chess teachers are both called Mr A and they’re both fantastic!

We celebrated “Ice Cream for Breakfast Day” on the first Saturday in Feb.

Sarah loved playing rec basketball this winter as part of the LMBA (Larchmont Mamaroneck Basketball Association).

Another milestone — we signed the school form to allow Sarah to be dismissed and walk home from school by herself!

It was a good thing, too, because it came in handy when I tested positive for covid for the first time! 🙁 It was the end of a good run. Luckily the kids had just gotten their booster shots a week or two prior so they were at peak immunity and did not get it again, nor did Andrew! I was the only one sick this time around and it wasn’t that bad a case, felt like a minor cold with a low temp for 24 hours and some fatigue.

So, I was home for awhile masking. This plant in our kitchen bloomed for the first time ever, these giant dragon-like flowers.

We also celebrated Valentine’s Day! Gram and Gran-dad sent this delicious box of chocolates in an edible chocolate box.

Sarah made paper cranes to give to her class. Blaine went a little more low effort.

We went to the Rye Nature Center’s Old Fashioned Winter’s Afternoon event one weekend. Sarah got to do some archery, and everyone participated in some log sawing! It was hard work.

Sarah’s panda collection:

We welcomed in 2023 with the traditional collard greens and black eye peas!

We also went for a New Year’s Day hike at Cranberry Lake.

The kids also enjoyed this treasure trove of Ninjago legos which were handed down from a friend’s son who just started high school this year.

On the 2nd we went for another hike at the Rye Nature Center. We came upon this bag full of helium balloons that must have escaped en route to someone’s party! So Blaine dutifully popped them all so we could dispose of them properly.

We spotted a herd of about 16 deer walking through.

Sarah finished up her after school chess club and earned a lot of “master chess points” from her teacher, Mr. Abrams, for answering questions. She signed up to continue with the chess lunch club in the winter.

On January 6th we observed Epiphany with a delicious Galette des Rois from Estelle Gourmet.

We decided to replace our old Jura espresso machine this year, which we got before Blaine was born. It served us well for 10+ years! Here’s the new one.

Sarah was briefly into origami, specifically paper cranes, which she endeavored to make smaller and smaller.

We also said goodbye to our Christmas tree!

We celebrated MLK Jr Day with a pecan pie. Mmmm

This winter Sarah signed up for the local rec basketball league, LMBA. She loved it! She progressed so much through the season!

On 1/28 we took a trip into the city and had lunch at Carmine’s, then went to the AKC Meet the Breeds event at the Javits Center. It was fun to get to see and pet so many different kind of dogs! Sarah’s been requesting that we add a furry friend to our family.

On 12/23 we got ready for our trip to PA by making lots of cookies! My favorite chocolate ginger and salted chocolate chip shortbread, along with decorated sugar cookies this year at Blaine’s insistence (he says he likes to make them, not eat them).

Christmas was going to be a lot smaller this year because the extended Mahoney clan had all gotten together in November for Clare’s wedding, so the Hank Mahoneys were spending the holiday in California, and the Jim/Jane/Peter Mahoneys were gathering in DC. That left the Ingeborg Road crowd to celebrate on our own but we were determined to keep up the bowling tradition, and Blaine suggested starting a new one — the “Mahoney Cup” Mario Kart tournament.

We woke up early on 12/24 to drive down to PA and we were all ready to head directly to the bowling alley, but it turned out it didn’t open until noon! So we started the day with the Mario Kart Tournament. Here’s Group 1 — Sarah, Uncle Fran, Josie, and Maeve.

Group 2 is not pictured since I was a participant! It was me, Andrew, Uncle Tim, and Nate. Lastly we had Group 3 featuring Blaine, Aunt Molly, Mom-Mom, and Aunt Liz.

The winners from each group went into a final round and Sarah emerged victorious, the first ever champion of the Christmas Eve Mahoney Cup.

Blaine awarded Sarah the “Mahoney Cup” which was an actual cup filled with chocolates — she got first pick and then all participants got to enjoy the chocolates.

After the racing we had a delicious lunch with Liz’s sister’s family, of pasta and meatballs.

Then after lunch we had the traditional Mahoney bowling. Sarah said that this is her favorite part about Christmas! We need to take her bowling more.

Uncle Fran scored a record high 172 (under the name Andrew)!

Then it was back to Ingeborg Road for a Christmas Eve dinner of ham and mac and cheese. We saved the ham hock to take back to Larchmont for our New Year’s Day good luck stew.

The scene on Christmas morning!

Christmas dinner ended up being a pretty large group with the Ingeborg crowd, our four, Fran, Liz’s sister’s fam, and two of Tim and Liz’s friends with their kids. I don’t even know what the total was, but there was plenty of food and dessert to go around.

The day after Christmas we went to the Franklin Institute with Tim and his three kids and Uncle Fran! It was a special moment for me taking our kids to the giant heart, which I loved when I was a kid.

There were lots of new exhibits too, including this one on the brain with a climbing area the kids loved. They even talked Uncle Fran into joining them inside!

We ran out of time and didn’t get to see all the exhibits so we’ll need to come back sometime! From there we headed back to NY — Merry Christmas, everyone!