The Marsh Family

The Marsh Family

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

New Address!

Yahoo...we finally have the Internet! Our Internet has not been working all week so I am excited to finally be able to post today. After a year of waiting we finally have our own PO BOX down here in PR.

From now you may send mail 2 different ways - either to our home at: Villa Rosa 1, B1 Ave. Los Veteranos, Guayama, PR 00784. Or to our PO BOX at: PO BOX 1134, Guayama, PR 00785. How exciting!

Hope you are all having a great week. Happy Hump Day! Maybe we'll do something exciting this weekend so I can update soon. We'll have to see what the weather does.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Theme for this weekend: Relax and then FREAK OUT!

Confused?! Here's how this weekend has played out. We got up yesterday morning and did our 2 weeks worth of laundry (you can't do laundry when you have company!) then picked up our house. Nothing unusual about that. We then decided to go relax at the beach. Again, nothing unusual. It was a wonderful way to relax. We took all of the dogs so Winston and Benny played in the ocean, Miller and Lola of course did not. They were content to sit with Courtney and Brent and relax. Katie and I swam for a while until she got bit or stung by something which is when we decided to stay out of the water. After that we just laid out in the sun and chatted. When we got home the Dills cooked us dinner (BBQ outside!) because Courtney had worked on their car. After dinner we watched "Disturbia" which was a pretty good flick. This morning we got up and took it easy while waiting for football to begin. I'm still waiting as my Cowboys play in about 1/2 an hour...GO BOYS!! I was bored so I looked at a calendar and that's when I realized...the 5K Katie and I are running in is 3 WEEKS FROM TODAY!!!! OMG!!!!! I feel like I need more time! Still confused? Here's the story: 9 weeks ago Katie and I started working to get in shape. We found a program called "From Couch to 5K in 9 Weeks". It sounded pretty easy and like it would do the trick. We had been doing it for about 2 or so weeks when we told our friend Tori about it. She then brought up this 5K that is held in San Juan every year. Then she told us it when it was - it worked out perfectly because we would be done with our 9 week program and still have 2 weeks to get ready. Basically, on October 14th Katie and I will be running 3.1 miles with thousands of other people. Can you believe it? I know what you're thinking, if you know me very well, Kelly? Running? Kelly's not a runner! No, Kelly really isn't but she is working her butt off...I hope literally! About the race...it's called the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure and it's for breast cancer awareness and research. This race is held all over, in fact there's one in Wichita, KS next Sunday! I know this race is for breast cancer but for me it will be for all kinds of cancer. While I'm running I will be thinking of my loved ones who have passed from cancer and I will know that they are all watching me. I know this race will be rough because of the heat, the thousands of others participating (7,000 last year!), and because I'm not really a runner, but I look forward to how I will feel after it's over. I think I will really have something to be proud of. So, be thinking of me in 3 weeks and I'll let you know how it goes!!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The Little Tugboat That Could and Other Stories by Kelly Marsh

Well Joy, Scott, and Jason left this morning after five glorious days here in good 'ole Puerto Rico. I have some fabulous stories to tell from their trip here so grab your place around the story teller...shall we begin?


DAY 1: You're in Puerto Rico! Life is good, not baaaad!

I left work at lunchtime to pick up Joy and the boys. The timing was perfect as they had just walked outside when I was pulling up. We loaded their things and hit the road. Traffic was smooth and we were just truckin' right along. We stopped to eat their first meal in PR at the very authentic Burger King (or El Rey de Hamburguesas if you prefer!). We finished lunch and continued "truckin" when we came up to a truck loaded down with....you guessed it! Goats! There were 4 or 5 goats tied down (literally) in the back of a little truck. I pulled up beside the truck so Scott and Joy could take pictures. We then drove home, unloaded, drank a little, and headed to a beach to explore. After exploring we went home to turn in early so I could get up early to run...ha! If by early you mean Joy and Courtney talking until well past 1:00 am. Five in the morning comes awfully quick when you don't get to sleep until after 2:00. Here are some pictures I took from Scott. Wasn't Joy lovely on the plane? Check out the green drinks from Tranquilidad. And ah, the lovely goats...Can you see the smile?













DAY 2: Sniff, Sniff...My Lime.

On Friday Courtney and I went to work while Joy and the boys went to the beach. Friday was our first ever GPS pep rally...sort of. It was more like a "let the high school kids dance around" hour but it was alright. There was even 1 point where they called out teachers to the center of the gym to jump and "shake our booties" which Katie and I of course did. Courtney and Brent - not so much. When we got home from school we had a few teachers over for drinks and then we drove to this out of the way restaurant to eat called El Puerto. The food was so good and so was the sangria. We did of course partake of a few...pitchers that is. We also found out that our waitress is the cousin of one of our teachers and we have sung karaoke with her at his bar before...interesting! The title of this story was inspired by something funny that I said at dinner. I could have also titled this one "amethyst" but that's a whole other story! Here are some pics from day 2: fun at the pep rally, ride that wave, beautiful beach, Scott's very own Corona commercial, and drink 'er down.



























DAY 3: That June sure is Flaming.



We got up Saturday morning to head to Ponce to go to the museum. Yes we've been there several times but needed to go again. Why you ask? Well, Jason and Scott love the painting called "Flaming June", in fact they have a print of it hanging in their house. We happen to have the original June in the museum. Jason told Courtney about their print and they decided we would go and surprise Scott with her. We went there first so we wouldn't have to hide it any longer. Courtney and Joy think I tend to have issues keeping a surprise...whatever! She was of course as lovely as ever and Scott was pleasantly surprised. From there we went to the mall to look for "Puerto Rican kitchen stuff" or so we thought. Scott and Jason wanted to buy us a shaker set to make cocktails with. We were pleasantly surprised when they gave them to us...thanks boys! We met up with the Dills at the mall and then headed to the Castillo Serralles which is the original home of the makers of the Puerto Rican rum called Don Q. It is a fabulous run that really can put Bacardi to shame. Want to try it? You have to come to PR! They only sell it here...who's on their way?! The "castle" was beautiful! It was built for around $90,000.00 and is now worth somewhere around $30,000,000.00!!! It was amazing! Courtney and I had never been there before so we were really excited to go. We love to do new things with visitors! After the castle it was off to the baths in Coamo to get radioactive. Scott wanted to get "blessed" so we jumped in. That is where we saw the man with the "black hole belly button"! I was a little frightened that if he took a deep breath in we might get sucked in but it didn't happen. We drove home from the baths we came home and did the boring order of pizza. We knew we'd have a busy day Sunday so we wanted to get some shut eye. Picture time! 1) Flaming June...beautiful! 2) Cruceta del Vigia at the Castillo Serralles 3) Castillo Serralles 4) We're on top of the world! 5) I may look like a turista but I assure you I am not! 6) Aren't we a beautiful group?! 7) The "pool" area 8) The back of Castillo Serralles 9) Ponce from the top of the world




















DAY 4: The Little Tugboat That Could

Sunday morning it was off to El Yunque to see the rainforest and then try to find something to do on that side of the island. We got to "the Yunq" and got to the observation tower. We walked to the top, 98 steps I believe...Joy counted. We looked around and decided that we didn't feel like hiking so it was back down the mountain. We drove to Fajardo and found a boat taxi to take us to a small island called Icacos. We had never been there before so we decided the price was good and we went. The boat was funny - the seat that Scott, Jason, and I sat on was falling apart. The "captain" on the boat wasn't the nicest fella but oh well! We were on an island with beer and food and ready to swim. We got all set up and thought we were going to get rained out. We sat there watching the storm clouds over El Yunque and the main island and then they broke up and went away. Not even a drop on us! Joy, Scott, Jason, and I swam for quite a while and tried to snorkel but there wasn't anything interesting to look at. Courtney did what Courtney does and explored. There were several boats around that provided screaming and music for us. Then there was a blue boat. The people loaded up their boat and tried for a long time to get it to start. It wouldn't. They kept trying and we kept watching. Finally our "lovely" captain arrived and tried to jump their boat with ours but that wouldn't work either. That's when it happened. He tied their boat to ours and we became a tugboat! I sang a lovely song about "We are the tugboat, you are the barge..." but I won't go in to that right now. It was touch and go on the boat ride home. It took at least double the time to get back and we were swirving all around. We made it back and were trying to get their boat to slingshot around ours to shore...but they were Puerto Rican and didn't listen to instructions. Instead they came up beside us, caught a buoy's rope in our engine and it snapped. Of course our boat died, the "captain" yelled, the people didn't even say thank you...it was great! 1) The sign when you enter "the Yunq" 2) Cocoa Falls 3) The sign at the lookout tower 4) View from the tower 5) Anyone for pizza? 6) Jason and I on the ride home 7) We are the tugboat, you are the barge!



























DAY 5: Drinkin' Rum and Coca-Cola



I'm going to let you in on a little secret...I skipped work on Monday to spend the day with my company! Ssshhhh! Don't tell! We went to Old San Juan and took the tour at the Bacardi place...never gets boring! We even stopped and made videomails for mom, dad, Courtney, and Joy's work buddies. That was fun! After that we went to eat at a little hole in the wall place, went to Casa Don Q and had more free drinks and then went to San Cristobal before heading home. It was fun to get away on a Monday! 1) Scott's pretty drink 2) The set up for free drinks 3) A pretty building in OSJ 4) A beautiful picture taken by Scott at San Cristobal 5) OSJ from the fort
















We came home Monday night and Scott made a FABULOUS meal for us! It was so good! He made beer battered pork chops...Yum-O! We really had a great time with our company and were sad to see them leave. I'm happy that I (should) will get to see my sister again in 2 months. So - those are my stories. Thanks for listening!

PS: I know this isn't being posted until Thursday even though it says Tuesday. Our Internet(s) have been really terrible this week! Please forgive me!

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

My new baby!!

Now don't get your hopes up people...I'm talking about my new stove!!! I've been asking for one for a year and they finally sent someone over to look at our old piece of crap when it blew a fireball in my face. Sometimes you have to take one for the team I guess. They finally delivered it today and I'm so excited! Our old one was tiny and my cookie sheets wouldn't even fit inside! I think they'll work in this one. I will be making cookies for the handymen that delivered. Here she is in all her glory! (In case you can't tell - it doesn't take much to satisfy us Americans!)


Monday, September 03, 2007

Who doesn't love a 3 (or 4!) day weekend?!

We definitely love, and get our fill of, 3 day weekends here in Puerto Rico! We actually got a 4 day weekend because they cancelled school for students on Friday. We have a new Internet program where parents can check information, assignments, etc., and they've added the new feature of grades. We had to go to school on Friday to learn how to post the grades and send them to parents. Mind you this could have lasted 2 hours, 3 at the most, and we all would have been pros but oh no, not at GPS, YOU MUST GO ALL DAY!! After school on Friday we went to Salinas to check out a new bar & grill that opened that night. We had a good time - as usual - and ended it by coming to Casa Benny for more drinks and karaoke. On Saturday we did our usual of house cleaning, laundry, etc., before heading to a friend's house in the mountains of Patillas. She has a nice little pool so we swam, ate lasagna made with plantains instead of noodles (delicious), ate Mom's lemon cake (it was a huge hit!), and played Dominoes. It was a very Puerto Rican night...we had Rum, salsa music playing, and Dominoes. We headed home and decided to save our day trip until Monday so we could sleep in on Sunday. Yesterday Katie and I did some shopping and I bought a new Karaoke game...I know I am obsessed! We ended up karaoking most of the night before going to bed to get up early this am. Courtney and I went to Cabo Rojo (to the southern most tip of PR) last October for my birthday but the Dills had never been. None of us had ever been to San German which is the 2nd oldest city in PR so we took a little drive. We stopped first in San German to see the architecture. We particularly wanted to see a museum that was built originally as a church in 1606. It now houses a religious art museum. We also wanted to see their plaza which we heard was lovely and a famous bridge called Puente de Bolas or, in English, the Bridge of Balls. We saw the buildings and asked for directions to the ball bridge...we found it right away and were ssssoooooooo.....disappointed. It was 4 posts with a ball on top of each one and the bridge itself was about 5 feet long. It was also right in front of Burger King. Here are some pics from San German...

The Religious Art Museum















Beautiful street in the plaza, stained glass window, and our signature pose with an inanimate object.















CABO ROJO: I took many more pictures at the lighthouse where there are beautiful cliffs but I took them with my other camera. The last time we were at the lighthouse we could see a beach and found how to get to it but it was so dirty. This time we decided to make the trek and go to the beach. It was crowded but the water felt great! We swam for a while and then the sky got dark and there was thunder and lightening so we decided to leave. The walk back to our car was lovely...what a great aroma we smelled! I took a picture of the issue...the salt flats around the beach. On the drive home we figured out that PR has no ditches so there is no place for the water to drain when it rains. Therefore we drove through numerous puddles which made our trip a tad longer. Oh well! We got home a few hours ago and have to get ready for school tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!