Let's Go Fly a Kite!

This is the old Fort parade ground in Old San Juan. Kites and family picnics are parading instead of soldiers. It is a magical place to fly a kite! We didn't bring kites on this day because we weren't going to be there very long. However a very nice lady gave Rowan her kite and another kite just found us!
Here are Rowan and Tadbit flying their kite.

Amy, Rowan playing while Julian flys the kite.
This picture actually has many kites in it, but most of them are not big enough to show up in this picture. The fort and parade ground is on a finger of land and so is surrounded by ocean on all but one side.

Puerto Rico fruits, veggies & animals

This is the view from Kirs and Rob's balcony. The view to the right of this overlooks the airport. Plane landings and takeoffs are a favorite hobby.

A favorite hobby of the locals is cock fighting. There are cock fighting arenas, chickens and roosters everywhere. They are roaming free and in cages in backyards.
There is strange and exotic fruit on trees, but very few green or yellow vegetables in the stores. There are a lot of root vegetables, avacados the size of a small football and the best mangoes you have ever tasted. I expected their food to be spicey, but it is actually very bland seasoning wise and often breaded and fried.
There are iguanos everywhere. They are the Puerto Rician squirrel.

Rowan actress extraordinaire

Rowan is very dramatic and has faces and body motions down pat. This is her happy camera face.





She is always on stage. We were at an Indian Village and she is dancing, entertaining the troops.
Here are her sad and mad faces.


And here is her final curtain call and bow.

Spring Flowers

It's spring which for Phoenix is the beginning of summer. Today, I consumed my first iced tea of the season while I was working in the yard. Today was also our 1st 90 degree day, 95 to be exact if it reached the prediction. This is a great time of the year, I can work in the garden w/o having to get up at 4 or 5am in the morning! I'm loving every minute of it! I have many flowers blooming right now. I have included pictures of a few of them.



Below are iris and larkspur with lover's lane red rose.





















This pink rose is called Memorial Day and it is the sweetest smelling of them all!


This is the end of the citrus blooms.


It is about the middle of the nasturtium season. They are great for a spicey, colorful addition to salads.

The sunflowers and hollyhocks are just starting to bloom. They will bloom all summer.



The Mexican primroses are just starting to bloom, and are amazing for their dainty, delicate beauty.

Ponce, Puerto Rico

These are pictures from Ponce. Below is a building overlooking the town square. I really liked the colors, peach and turquoise. Down below was a Subway. I felt it destroyed the integrity of the building. They have a lot of fast food places in Puerto Rico.




These are school kids in their uniforms on an outing.


To get to Ponce from San Juan you drive up over the mountain range which runs through the middle of Puerto Rico. It takes about an hour and 1/2 and you pass many toll booths where you have to throw in money. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for the amount but seems to to anywhere from 50 cents to $2. Ponce is a picturesque little town with much charm. The kids spent a lot of time exploring the town square. They loved chasing the pigeons.
This is the church which sits in the center of the town square with parks on either side. The next building is a hotel.













This is the old fire station, now a museum, painted the original colors. It sits right behind the Catholic Church. Pretty flashy!




The church from behind. I thought it looked very elegant from this angle. The fire museum is just off to the right. There is a little ice cream store just across the street that has local ice cream and gilatto flavors.