I Saw a Monkey in Puerto Rico

I have tried to add a few little stories to this, but each time Little Man wakes up after just a few lines, and there is NO typing when he is around.... He thinks that is his job. He just went down for a nap, so let me hastily describe a few of our little PR Adventuras:

For years, Tyler's family has wanted to go to Puerto Rico, and this year Travis, Kelly, Mindy and Lindsey all worked there in SanJuan, installing alarms for the summer. Grandpa Conrad and Gramacita made the rest happen: a Monson Family Vacation!

We stayed with everyone in Caguas, so Conrad got to play with Carter. He had a great time trying to keep up with Carter, who is 4 months older and a great walker and runner. Each time he'd catch up, C tried to swat at Carter like a little lion. Not Carter's favorite. Since he's a mellow mannered little guy (with the cutest giggle), he'd just walk away.
In Old San Juan, we went to the old fort that Tyler took me to 4 years ago. This is the same picture I have framed, but now with little C. Also, Tyler's hair is much more out of control!
Conrad loved having his best friend around, and they played and played and played.

Much of the vacation was spent in the monkey's stroller. He's heavy!

Gramacita posed with us in one of the famous Puerto Ricanian turrets. The view is breathtaking and the breeze a relief from the heat and humidity.
This was our little monkey's first time in the ocean. I was worried about the salt water and the waves. And at first, he did not like it. Mindy showed Tyler a little trick to getting the water off C's face before it got into his eyes--brush down before he has a chance to rub--and Conrad stopped drinking the ocean...he morphed into a little tropical fish who flopped and fussed when he was taken out!!!
Tyler proposed to me on a mountain peak in El Yunque four years ago this month. It was completely out of the blue. He hadn't mentioned the M word to me ever before. He always says that he asked me on top of the sheer cliffs so that if I said no, he'd have some leverage. His mom has always laughed at that, and we've always wanted to show his family the gorgeous scene that surrounds that "pico."

We went one afternoon to El Yunque, driving through rain and a washed out road and the accompanying traffic to get there. Finally, we found the trail head around 4 in the afternoon. If we hustle, I thought, we can make it up and back before the park closes. We started climbing, passing the baby around. Like I said, he is heavy. Everyone took a turn. The going was slow, between hefting the baby and taking a gazillion pictures (that didn't have enough light to turn out). Tyler was guiding us through the forks in the trail. Right, then left...or was that supposed to be another right? None of it looked familiar to me. As he was deciding that it was a right at the last fork, I realized a sad, sad lesson of life: It is not wise to wear little ankle socks to hike through the rain forest. In a word, blisters. Still, I can't stop longer than to nurse Conrad in the middle of a mountain trail in the middle of the rain forest. Bugs. Snakes. Rabid mongeese!

It was getting dim, but we figured we had to be close. Tyler and Bret went ahead to discover that we had been going right the first time when we forked left. It was too late. We didn't want to get locked into the park, and the Park Rangers didn't seem like the type to hang around and put in any overtime. It is Puerto Rico, even in a National Forest. Instead, we climbed a precarious "flight" of 40+ cement stairs to a different peak, hoping the intese cloud cover would break long enough to show the rest of the family the incredible view of the entire island. There was a breeze, clouds moved, but all we saw were a few othere picos. Still, everyone took a bazillion photos of clouds.

Maybe we stayed too long taking pictures. The real adventure started as we began hiking back. It got dark fast. There was a light spritzing that got through the folliage to us, not a rain, but Conrad was damp and tired. I finally passed a wailing monkey off to Tyler, who tried to wrap him in his shirt, also a bit damp. Tyler dropped his phone, and I picked it up, then realized that Grandpa C and Grama Debbie weren't right with us. The trail down looked nothing like the trail up. I was getting a little nervous, and Tyler was a broken record about everyone staying together. It just wasn't happening, so at a fork in the trail, I stayed and Tyler kept up with Bret, Lindsey and Melissa, screaming (by this time) baby in arms.

I don't know when it got so dark, but as soon as Grandpa C and Gramacita caught up, I was using Tyler's phone as a flashlight, trying to point out ridges, cracks, and sheer drop offs, and trying not to think of snakes and rabid mongeese.
Soon, we caught up to the others--who were waiting for us at another turnoff. Actually, we heard CT's screams first. He hadn't stopped protesting. I took the exhausted monkey and Lindsey and I started singing Armies of Helaman to soothe his nerves. It worked. We made it back to the car. When we were safely back on the highway, Tyler reminded me of the huge danger we had avoided. The jungle is famous for ladrones after dark--even the rangers won't stay. Luckily, they left the gates open, and we were able to drive off to the Luminescent Bay--this awesome bay that glows at night when you paddle or swim or disturb the water--but that is another story!