Zev finds rocks and tosses them into a deep hole worn onto the surface of one of the biggest boulders, just to  hear a “Plunk!” sound and to see the water splash.

Banana trees, cycads and ferns loom above us on either side of the waterfall. Rainforest vines creep into the watery crevices between smaller boulder cracks.

After a week of kayaking, snorkeling and horseback riding on Vieques. We packed-up and moved our home base into the rainforest in El Yunque National Forest, the only tropical rain forest in the national forest system.

Down the street from our hotel, Cafe Mamasongas, a restaurant with an open air balcony on a second story, was shrouded in iguana filled trees. From the balcony, while eating lunch, we observed the complex social structure of the iguanas. They were territorial, and Zev learned from a large male in a branch next to our table that, “Head-bobby, head-bobby,” means “My tree! My tree!” As the waiter cleared out plates, he dumped the leftover french fries onto a balcony ledge. The iguanas came to eat the leftover food. Who knew iguanas liked french fries?

There were ambient hermit crabs. Wherever you walked along the beach you would find 1-2 inch long scuttling hermit crabs. One evening, walking back through the hotel garden, we found this little crab right in the middle of the path. We adopted him as a pet for the evening. We named him “Leaving,” because he kept trying to leave. He had very good survival instincts. We shared some fresh star fruit with him at dinner and he lit Chanukah candles with us, then we tucked him back into his garden at bedtime.

And back to our story…

Our first adventure in Puerto Rico was to see the bioluminenscent flagellates in Mosquito Bay on the Island of Vieques. We met at sunset in a big field with wild horses. Unfortunately, Mosquito Bay is aptly named, and to protect the flagellates that we were visiting, insect repellent is not allowed. We got eaten alive. Once we were in our kayaks though and the sun had set it was beautiful, and the flying biting beasties left us alone. The water is stunning. When you sprinkle the water from your fingers, it twinkles like stars. The vortices around the kayaks and paddles glow. Schools of fish swimming through the water glow.

After Thanksgiving, we said “Good bye!” to our friends and family, and flew to Puerto Rico.

My friend, Kellie, and her family came to join us at my parents house for Thanksgiving. Kellie has a three year old son and I wanted to set-up something fun for our kids, so Arthur and I decorated the living room as an interactive story to explain immigration across continents. The right side of the room was our European Village, built from wooden toy blocks. In the center of the room, was a tub of water and a toy boat, representing the oceanic crossing. On the left side of the room was North America. Arthur made teepee out of an old sheet,  all of the brooms in the house (much to my mothers chagrin, since there were no brooms left for cleaning up after the aforementioned toddlers.) North America was a particularly fun place to play with all of the native North American stuffed animals I could collect from around the house. The boys used the ‘three sisters’, (beans corn and squash seeds) to plant fields, grind them and make pretend food. My dad, a retired historian, provided details to support historical accuracy where it was possible.

Okay! I’m back!

Our first stop on vacation was to see some friends and family. We spent Thanksgiving at my parents house in Maryland. My mom had a basket of gourds as decorations. My friends all have kids now, so visiting Maryland fills-up my parents house with people, and lots of them quite young. The kids used the decorative gourds for everything. The littlest kids used them as colorful teeters, the two year old cohort pretended that they were tools for modifying the furniture, and the older kids used them as pretend food for living room picnics. Here is a brief drawing, of some of the variety of colorful, multipurpose, autumn gourds.