Back to the Caribe Hilton

About thirty eight years ago (gasp) Dad/Richard and I took our first real weekend vacation. We had been married for four years and even though we were having fun it was also a keep-your-nose-to-the grindstone grueling life in the trenches. With the abundance of having two pre-schoolers and Dad being gone sometimes four days a week which was hard on both of us, we were pretty strung out.

Straight out of the Harvard Business School Richard accepted a job and helped to found a premier political consulting firm in Washington D.C. called Bailey, Deardourff and Eyre. While he was off with the candidates running for Senate, Congress and Governorships, I was into the life of exploding diapers, permanent black magic marker all over the walls and kids who wouldn’t stay in bed at night.

All that said to set the stage for the euphoria I felt when we were 30,000 miles above the earth flying to Puerto Rico without the kids.  Richard was running a re-election campaign for Carlos Romero Barcelo who was the major of San Juan (he won and later ran for Governor with Richard’s firm and won again).

Checking into the Caribe Hilton was a like walking into heaven. There were lots of firsts: A divine vine-ripened pineapple in our room, a virgin pina colada and authentic Caribbean black bean soup, complete with the traditional toppings which included sour cream, fresh onions, rice and hard boiled eggs.

It was a dreamy weekend which included two whole nights of uninterrupted sleep, white sand beaches and brilliant aqua water washing up on the shore. It was like finding an oasis after months of walking across the Gobi Desert without  food or water.

In addition I got to meet some of the people Richard had been working with at a town meeting that night which was scheduled for 7:00. Nobody showed up until 8:30 which apparently was the norm. No apologies. A lovely party at the Barcelo home the next night opened my eyes to a new world, even though I could hardly understand a word that was said.

I smile when I think about that weekend. Was it really that good? Or was I just desperate. Whatever it was, it always brings back great memories. SO there we were in Puerto Rico where we picked up the cruise and we just couldn’t resist. We checked in for a day and night at the good ol’ Caribe Hilton. The main building looked just about exactly as it did all those years ago. But urban sprawl had set in and there were enormous extensions out every direction.

 

Luckily the beach and the water don’t age. It is exactly as we remembered it!

 

We immediately found the maitre di and at the restaurant and told him about our memories of black bean soup.  At first he said they didn’t have black bean soup on the menu for the day but when Dad/Rick pleaded our case, he called the kitchen and persuaded the chef to make some soup just for us. In an hour and a half the delectable soup was sitting before us, almost exactly as we remembered it….sans the egg. Mmmmm. Yum!

 

The fabulous pina collates were to die for! The real deal!

Even though we had to giggle at ourselves about the innocence of our youth (we’ve seen a lot of great hotels since then) it was kind of like finding the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow after all those years. Great memories!

P.S. With almost no Internet service on the ship, these posts pile up. Being without a computer for a week is a great learning experience!

Crusin’

We were invited about six months ago to join a group of terrific people who wanted us to provide some new ideas for their parenting whilst cruising through the French West Indies and the British West Indies in the Caribbean. We figured we could probably manage that! I must admit that we gave it a couple of second thoughts after the horrible cruise ship accident last week in Italy. We wanted to meet the Captain before we left!

We weren’t the only speakers who showed up aboard the Silver Cloud.  We were fascinated by what world-renowned economist Dr. George Friedman had to say and were delighted to meet former President Vicente Fox who told us about what is really happening in Mexico. In addition we were joined by Alex Castellanos, a Cuban immigrant who regularly appears on CNN as a political  consultant.

In addition we heard speeches from Major Dan Rooney who has flown incredible missions over Iraq as an F16 pilot. He admitted that he hated war and he and his wife have now started a foundation for the families of those who served in the war and lost life and limb! A devout Christian, his stories were amazing as well as inspiring!

Michael Tchong, a social media expert caught us up with the latest trends and assured us that 69% of 2-5 year olds know how to navigate sophisticated computer games/iPads and iPhones but only 11% know how to tie their shoelaces (which begs the fact that most kids’ shoes have velcro). Dr. Miles Varn from Harvard taught us about “Why We Get Fat” and Jeauqeau Cousteau’s grandson was there to tell attendees about the importance of saving the seas.

We did two one-hour sessions and had so much fun with our audiences. A couple of mornings Dad/Rick and I were assigned to a breakfast table in the dining room for private discussions with about six people at our table. I was amused with this sign to designate our table. I love it when people call me Jane Eyre but I’ve rarely seen it in print!

 

 

The Islands were gorgeous and we had a chance to spend some time on the beach with our new friends.

 

This little landing strip in St. Barts for prop lanes bringing in tourists, food and supplies was amazing. That was the total length of it! Yikes!

At Prickly Pear we took a ride on a gorgeous big sailing yacht.

There was beauty all around!

On Anguilla Dad got to go horse-back riding on the beach. His cute little nag was not exactly Lady or Duffy! But he saw some great views as they ambled along the beach. See him up there with the white hat?

Our accommodations were “very nice” even though it felt twice as big as it was because of the full-length mirrors. The food was “to die for!”

Pretty Heavenly!

What a Difference a Month Makes!

Think of our delight as we had a chance to travel through NYC on our way to Puerto Rico to see our adorable new grand daughter after one month of life and lots of creamy milk from her mom who is a champion nurser. We only had about 36 hours there so we made the most of it. What an angel! When you talk to her directly she acts as though she knows exactly what you are saying. Just can’t answer back quite yet. What a delightful child!

 

She has learned to smile!

Loves to put her mouth in the shape of an O….

And is even occasionally giving her parents up to 5 hours of sleep at night. 

 

Tal may be just a titch sleep deprived but is such an adorable Daddy!

Her first outing to church was pretty cold and a bit disorienting but she survived all the attention like a champ. Could there be a cuter little dumpling?

The sad part is that we may not see her again until July. If she continues at the rate she is growing by then she’ll be about she’ll weigh about 26 pounds and about three feet tall. She is growing like a weed!

Since we got to see handsome Bennett a month after he was born too, this just keeps everything fair! Are we lucky or what?

Moving Out after 36 Years

We’ve been wadding through a houseful of memories! 

Although we’ve turned our family home of 35 years over to a renter the past 18 months, we have kept the office there and have picked up our mail there.  Our renter moved out on January 1st and we’ve been moving out too to get it ready to sell or re-rent. Since our renter was a single guy who wanted room for his bikes (go figure?), he allowed us to leave things in the closets of specified bedrooms. Now it was time to clear all that out!  I can’t believe how much stuff we have collected over the years. Besides all our beloved books and files (not so beloved) to sort through there was an endless supply of left-over high school mementoes, college memories, humanitarian trip paraphernalia, several wedding dresses including mine and left-over wedding gifts that kids couldn’t take as they moved across the country or across the world, not to mention our vast international instrument collection.

The “chucking” was time consuming and sometimes painful, but it felt so good once it was “out of sight”. The garage and balcony are stuffed with things that will be going to the DI and tags are posted on other stuff to be going to our place at Bear Lake.

Luckily Eli was home for a few days to see the process and go through some his “stuff”.

Amongst the “junk” of course we found multiple treasures that had long been forgotten.  Below is a poster that Eli’s Sunday School teacher made for the class when he was about 4. I vividly remember that little red plaid coat and cute Taylor in the middle. Neither of us could remember this cute boy on the right. (Eli these pics are taken with my new point and shoot….much better. Thanks for the help!)

 

Look at those non-existent front teeth, knocked out in an toy truck accident! Awwwh! Is he cute enough? 

 

The remaining pictures will only be of interest to our children but I am posting them here for a bit of family history! AND to prepare Charity who hyperventilating about letting this home of her heart go!

 

 

FYI, desk marked for DI, log bed made by Jonah marked for Kolob!

 

 

You gotta love the Cloud Room!

Crazy plant!

 

 

Thousands of batches of cookies, pizza parties and truckloads of macaroni and cheese have been consumed in this kitchen! 

 

And this one is the real tear jerker for all of Eyrealm. SO many wonderful things happened around this table…. from myriads of family meetings to the question games, one-minute speeches, Jerusalem Suppers,  pictures for TV shows and magazines, birthday parties as well as arguments and debates.  No family member can look at this picture without a flood of memories! And now, I, who don’t really get attached to things, am getting emotional so I’m going to stop. 

Life goes on.  Memories are held dear.  The thrill of life continues! And I must say that this house might look even better without us in it.  Nine kids can produce an unimaginable amount of “stuff”! 

Sorry about this Charity! Stop crying ASAP and go back to work!

 

A Significant Move!

For the past 18 months Charity has gloried in living in her favorite city in the world: San Francisco. She left a year ago last August thinking that she could easily get a job and start a career. Well, not so easy! She did find FOUR really nice jobs and thoroughly enjoyed the flexibility and fun of doing a variety of interesting things but we were all overjoyed when she landed a real job albeit in Palo Alto!

She started work on January 4th. Since it required buying a new car, attending a new ward, having new roommates and brand new work associates with an actual office, I flew out on Friday to help her move. She couldn’t actually move into her room until Sunday because of a strange situation with a roommate being evicted and some crazy stuff surrounding that. The details are too complicated to post but call her for details if you’re interested. 

The bottom line is that we had a free Saturday and we had a ball exploring her old life in San Francisco….Charity style (cram as much as you can into every day).

I can’t tell you how impressed I was with her work at Batter Bakery! Two women who have become entrepreneurs have opened their own business in the heart of San Francisco. One does the baking (McKay Badger works there as a baker and got her the job) and the other does gourmet food which can be bought over the counter or delivered to your home.

On the weekends they do a brunch that is to die for!  This is what we had: cornbread waffles with blood oranges and apples, exotic fruit syrup and pomegranate berries with crème fresh. Also a poached egg in polenta with maple beans and kale. We were swooning with the deliciousness! We met both of the owners and were so impressed with their cooking abilities and their business sense. Charity manned a downtown kiosk with the baked goodies which is a tiny little glass house towered over by a crowd of skyscrapers in downtown San Francisco. Pretty cool job!  In fact Charity has decided that when she retires, she wants to be an entrepreneur and do something like this.

 

Since it was Saturday we went to the Ferry building which was a stunning display of every kind of food imaginable! She has spent a lot of time there picking up food for the bakery. The weather was simply spectacular and we loved seeing all the stuff in the outdoor markets…as well as the indoor ones.

 

Such a fun place! And look at that blue sky!

 

 

Next it was on to the tower, museum and the botanical gardens at Golden Gate Park:

I loved this hanging display of charred wood from a church burned down in Mississippi in the 1960s and this totally different display of glass fruit that is just fun! 

 

 

On to the incredible arboretum:

 

After that little bit of heaven, we headed for what Charity considers heaven….the beach with the Golden Gate bridge in the background:

 

There’s always a bride on the beach!

And a sunset!

Dinner was fab! Charity truly lives in the food capital of the world!

I got a chance to meet the lovely woman from England for whom she has been working as a nanny and who was also nice enough to give her a great deal on the car she has been driving their kids around in for the past 18 months. She has moved to Suburbia!  She’s not entirely happy about that but she’s adjusting.

 

She now lives in this house of diversity with a Navajo roommate, one of Korean descent and a darling black girl!  There are two Caucasians too. One is an airline stewardess and one is an accountant and also the self-proclaimed social chairman of the house (and many in the ward). Good news! Funnily she used to live in Charity’s San Francisco house.

She’s working at Innosight which is the Educational Think Tank based on Clayton Christensen and Michael Horn’s book called Disrupting Class as well as others. She is working with Michael there, Clayton’s daughter Anne and two friends from the past all of whom she is excited to learn from!  It is truly a privilege to be a part of this stellar group!

The office looks out on a courtyard of beautiful trees but I’m not sure how much she can see from her desk which is behind the wall of bookcases below. The office wasn’t open so we took pictures from outside.

 

In the window, among other things:

After church (which was really fun to see as the chapel literally packed with outstanding singles from ages 26-31) we found a little park in Charity’s new territory with some beautiful outdoor spaces. Even though it doesn’t quite the same as the parks in San Fran, it’s someplace to go to get out of the world!

On Sunday night we drove to Fremont to visit Chris, Aaron, Adam, Kimberley, their youngest adorable Rachel.  I haven’t seen Aaron for about 4 years and couldn’t believe how tall and handsome he has become. What a great guy! Adam and Kimberley are pondering on their next move with some offers, one of which is in Cedar City. We’d LOVE to have them in Utah! 

Charity whisked me to the airport on Monday morning but wow, did I learn a lot about Charity’s world, which is a pretty spectacular one!  We’re about to see her bloom where she’s planted!