Every year we go on a huge family vacation with my husband’s entire family. At this point there are 16 of us, in 3 different states on opposite ends of the country all trying to coordinate and agree on a common meeting point. The only non-negotiable sticking point for my sun worshipping in-laws is that it must be warm and sunny. This year the destination of choice was San Juan, Puerto Rico and the Intercontinental Hotel.
None of us had been to Puerto Rico before and we didn’t know what to expect. I think it’s safe to say we loved it. For New Yorkers there couldn’t be an easier trip – direct and under 4 hours. For everyone the lack of customs and immigration was a huge bonus after a couple of years of going to Mexico. The lack of people soliciting you the minute you get off the plane is incredibly refreshing. And, most importantly for this family – the food in Old San Juan was fantastic.
Here are my San Juan Stand Outs:
Intercontinental Hotel – Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that we had a snafu when checking in – our room wasn’t ready for a very, very long time and my daughter had a massive meltdown because of it. How did they rectify this? They gave us an enormous room upgrade – I mean HUGE. So, that made us feel better. But, what really won us over was the incredibly kind, attentive and accommodating staff. Professional and friendly without being unctuous. They made our stay exceptionally lovely. And the pool and beach are great too.
Food, activities and food click on! (more…)
Both of my daughters did not show up on my first sonogram. For 8 weeks I thought I was having a normal singleton pregnancy with all of the usual excitement and anticipation a first pregnancy brings. My husband missed that first sonogram so to be nice my doctor did another one at my next appointment. As we all stared at the throbbing lima bean on the screen the doctor pointed out the “head” and heart, and then she stopped. “Well, what’s that?” my husband asked pointing at another blob. “Um,” she said, “that’s another heart and another head. You’re having twins!” And as the blood drained from my face and my stomach fell to my toes my husband pumped his fist in the air and yelled, “Yeah, twins!” (He later said he did this to reassure me because he had never seen me look so frightened. I think it was a momentary celebration of feeling like he had super sperm)
With only a couple of days left we realized that there are still some restaurants that the owner’s of our villa recommended. I don’t know if I mentioned the amazing book that they left us filled with notes on towns worth visiting, cards from the best restaurants all over, maps of cities and parking tips and directions all over Umbria, Tuscany and Lazio. This book has been our bible while we’ve been here. It’s given us ideas, helped us plan itineraries and always shown us the best places to eat! (They also left an incredible array of tour books, history books and cooking magazines. Everything we could need to research and prepare for our various journeys this past month)
The last couple of days have been a paradigm of summer laziness. We’ve done nothing but hang out at the pool, eat, drink, read and for the girls, paint in the garden. This is it, our final week in Italy and so we seem to living it as low key as possible. Plus, the girls have basically boycotted getting into the car. They are so over any sort of excursions and sightseeing, though we may have to rouse them a couple more times just to feel like we’ve covered every inch of this slice of Italy.
Our last day in Paris was just as chock full as the first three. We had to check out our apartment early because the next family was arriving by 10. Actually, they arrived while we were still there, and poor them we made them wait outside until we were ready and the owner had arrived. We decided to check our two small suitcases at 
Our first full day in Paris was an experiment in family travel – specifically how to squeeze in what the adults want to do yet placate the kids. We hit a pretty good balance. We started out on the Metro with our 3-day passes and headed for the Louvre. Unfortunately the weather was unseasonably cool and threatening rain but better too cool than too hot I think. Besides, a legitimate reason to shop in Paris is always a good thing.
