Puerto Rico Vacation

Last week Blaine and I took a trip to Puerto Rico! The best part was that most of it was paid for by Blaine's company since he met his work goals last year. Good job honey! The second best part of the trip was that Blaine's mom was able to fly down from Washington and watch Cannon for the week so we could spend some time alone before our second baby arrives this summer.

Blaine's company flew every employee (and one guest) who met his or her goals last year to Puerto Rico for four days. We stayed at an amazing resort, the St. Regis, which was just barely built in January of this year in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. At the resort, we enjoyed some time on the secluded beach (the water was perfectly warm), swimming in the pool, golfing (Blaine), getting a prenatal massage (Erin), riding bikes, kayaking, watching a very cool thunderstorm one night on the beach, going to the nightly dinner parties with Blaine's employees, and admiring the beautiful plants, trees, and animals (mostly Iguanas, HUGE Iguanas) on the resort.

The last three days of our Puerto Rico trip were spent in Old San Juan. Here, we stayed at El Convento, a recently restored building that used to be a Carmelite convent 350 years ago. Today it is one of the oldest historical hotels of America. While this hotel was not nearly as beautiful and spacious as the St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort we stayed at earlier, it definitely had a historical elegant charm to it which made it very warm and inviting.

While staying at El Convento, Blaine and I explored the old city of San Juan. The city sets itself apart from other older, historical cities throughout the world by the giant stone wall that surrounds and protects the city. The wall reminded me of the Great Wall of China, but not nearly as large and long. This wall protected the city for centuries against attacks from other countries and, especially, pirates! Amazingly, some of the original wall still stands today, although much has been restored over the years. The coolest part of the wall were the forts included in the wall. The two forts that still stand today are the San Felipe del Morro fort and the San Cristobal fort, which were both completed over a span of 200 years. These two forts managed to help protect the city from invaders for 400 years, until the United States came in and took control of the city and Puerto Rico in the 1890's.

Well, there is your history lesson for the day. :) Pretty neat, huh? Overall, Blaine and I had a great time and were able to relax and enjoy some time away from work. However, like almost all vacations I have been on, I was ready to come home by the end of the week. Being away from Cannon was hard on both of us and we were definitely anxious to see our little guy when we got home! Here are some pictures of our trip...

St. Regis Resort:










The beach and pool at St. Regis:





Blaine with some random old man on the beach:


Fancy dinner night:





El Convento Hotel:






San Felipe del Morro fort:








San Cristobal Fort:






Old San Juan Cathedral (where Jennifer Lopez and Mark Anthony were married):


Old San Juan city pictures: