Puerto Rico!

Old San Juan

I’m on a roll now! Having finally got the pen rolling, I don’t want to risk falling into writer’s block again so am going to strike while the iron is hot and write about our fabulous trip to Puerto Rico!!

We began in old San Juan, the capital city and home to quaint old streets with brightly coloured houses and flowering trees in every courtyard and window box. We stayed at El Convento, a former convent, now converted to a spectacular hotel with a deep courtyard shaded by an ancient medlar tree (a fruit of which narrowly missed splatting Jenny at dinner which was a surprise!). Our room offered spectacular views out over the city towards the bay, both just waiting to be explored.

Jenny at El Convento

We visited the old forts of El Morro and San Cristobal (a big hit with Jenny, who loved charging around on the open grassy areas with the sea breeze in her hair) and walked on and below the city walls right down on the water. Jenny took great pleasure in terrorizing the local ferral cat population and being confused as to why she could never catch them.

We then rented a car and headed down to the south coast to Guanica, near Ponce, Puerto Rico’s second city. Our accommodation was a surprise hit offering not only a lovely beach but 6 swimming pools, 3 of which were Jenny sized. She tried out her armbands and little inflatable boat and spent many happy hours floating around. We took a day trip to Ponce (spectacular ice cream!) and visited the Guanica dry forest – a unique eco-system of cacti extending right down to the sea.

Jenny on Guilligan’s Island

We also took a boat trip to Guilligan’s Island (named after the TV show although I don’t think there’s actually any connection) where we enjoyed wading and floating in a beautiful knee-deep lagoon surrounded by mangroves.

Next, we drove down to the lighthouse at Cabo Rojo on the south-western tip of the island. We adventured on a bit of off-roading down a 2km dirt track to get to the saltpan and lighthouse. Our endeavours were rewarded by spectacular cliff-top views and a very close encounter (from less than 1m!)  with about 5 large iguanas!

Iguana at Cabo Rojo lighthouse

I don’t think they see humans up there very much and were just as intrigued by us as we were by them. We then hit one of the most wonderful beaches I’ve ever been to – white sand, zero polution, water as warm as a bath and most importantly hardly another soul there; heaven!

Last, we headed up to the north-western tip at Aguadilla, the surf capital of Puerto Rico (although I fear that was lost on us!) and stayed at the magnificent Villa Montana which had a distinctive safari feel to it.

Playa Shacks at Villa Montana

We took a very adventurous day trip into the interior to visit the Arecibo Observatory; the radio telescope used in the Bond film Golden Eye. The drive was certainly interesting and reaffirmed why husbands should always believe their wives’ navigation over anything SatNav can tell you! (lesson: if your SatNav asks you if you want to include unsealed roads, the answer is no)

And then it was time to go home, boo. You’ll not be surprised to hear that as soon as we touched down we started plotting our next trip, destination TBD, watch this space!

Better late than never!

I meant to write at Christmas. Then I was going to make a post following my 12 week scan. Then it somehow got to 20 weeks, and another scan, but still no post. And now we’re here, I’m 28 weeks pregnant and only just getting round to telling the world! Will he be in college by the time I announce his birth???

So, without further ado – we are pregnant and it’s a boy! We’re very excited, Jenny I think is starting to get the idea that something is up with Mummy’s tummy, as even after a big meal it doesn’t normally get quite this huge. D-day is 7th August, so am hoping for a not-quite-as-hot-as-2010 summer this time around.

I am loathe to write my usual ‘more details coming soon’ just in case I don’t get my finger out. In fact I’m not even trusting myself to remember to go and upload scan pics and then add them to this post before publishing, so they will follow at some undefined moment in the future.

Schofield Christmas wishes!

Happy Holidays!

We’re off to England today to do the tour of friends and family and will be back in the new year. We hope 2011 has been as great for you as it was for us. We’ve written a round up of the year’s activities for anyone who would like to read it: Schofield Christmas Wishes 2011

Recent developments include Jenny launching herself into free air walking for the first time without direct encouragement from us (she was chasing our neighbour’s cat!). She also got her first molar and celebrated by cramming an entire large strawberry in her mouth (which, incredibly, she did manage to swallow without choking!).

Jenny beats eating personal best

Grub's up!

Jenny ‘hollow leg’ Schofield astounded even me with her spectacular feat of eating yesterday. As you know, our skinny girl can certainly put it away but this was on a whole new level even by her standards. For dinner she ate:

3.5oz pureed peas & green beans
6oz pureed apple & cherries
1 boiled egg
1 slice of ham
4oz yogurt
1 slice of whole wheat bread
4oz milk
2oz cheese

For those without voracious one-year-olds, this is enough food for an entire day (and then some), except she ate it in one sitting (having already had a generous breakfast and lunch). I was not wholly surprised that she then had a huge sleep and her trousers were a little short when I put them on this morning. It’s incredible to see her grow before my very eyes!

Oregon continued

Ok, life seems to have got in the way of my blogging plans, so here is the much delayed follow up to the first thrilling installment of our Oregon adventure.

Crater Lake

I think we’d got up to Crater Lake, so here goes….

We stayed in a lovely little log cabin on a cattle ranch a few miles from the spectacular Crater Lake and drove in to take a boat trip and a tour of the rim. The water was incredibly blue, apparently because it’s about the purest water in the US, or probably anywhere.

We had a slight mishap getting to the boat as you had to hike down from the rim to the water’s edge, and to cut a long story short, I thought Andy was at the bottom, he thought I was at the top, and the upshot was I ended up going down, then up, then back down again carrying Jenny in the Björn in the heat of the day without lunch. So, grumpy, hungry Mummy and Baby boarded the boat and stropped at Daddy most of the way round. Anyway, I got over myself enough in the end to enjoy the ride and truly spectacular views.

Jenny & Anne hottubbing in the High Desert

Next stop, Bend! The outdoor pursuits capital of Oregon and also hub of volcanic stuff. We stayed in a gorgeous house in the High Desert. It had an outdoor fireplace and hot tub, need I say more??

We explored the nearby lava butte, lava flows and tunnels, and even an obsidian flow full of black volcanic glass which was amazing. All too soon it was time to go home, but not before Jenny had done one last thing…learned to crawl! She celebrated her 11 month birthday by taking her first faltering paces towards her eager and delighted parents. What a perfect way to end another fantastic trip.

Next stop Barbados, more info coming soon!

Oregon

View from the house

Wow! Just got back from a wonderful trip to Oregon, what an amazing place! We flew into Medford and then headed down to the coast near Brookings (near the California border), where we stayed in a wonderfully rustic log cabin tucked away in the woods, with views of seastacks and rock arches in Samuel Boardman State Park.

The half-mile gravel road through the woods leading up to the house proved to be the ultimate adreneline experience of the holiday: although the track was well maintained, after experiencing the near 45 degree angle of the slope with huge drops on each side, we soon decided the ‘treat’ of a lovely hike through the woods each morning and evening was preferable and opted to leave the car at the bottom.

We spent a few days at the beach and were treated to incredible panoramas of glittering blue sea, crystal clear waters and deserted beaches. The famous sea stacks lived up to their reputation for being awe-inspiring and Jenny got to paddle in the Pacific for the first time (she wasn’t that keen though as the water was freezing!).

Grey whale in the river

We had some incredible wildlife encounters including having a seal come up and take a look at us from only a few metres away while we were paddling in a deserted cove, and seeing a beautiful grey whale from a bridge because it had swum up the river!

One of the nearby highlights of the trip was visiting Redwoods National Park, just over the state line into Northern California: the majesty of the trees was truly humbling, and we got to see several amazing groves of Coastal Redwoods, which are the tallest trees in the world. For other children of the Star Wars era, I’m sure you’ll be disappointed to hear that we spotted no Ewoks on the forest moon of Endor – they filmed large parts of ‘Return of the Jedi’ here!

Next stop Crater Lake, watch this space for the next thrilling installment…

Jenny wrestles a hippo by the mighty Amazon, sorry Hudson River!

Jenny rides her first hippo

No longer content with merely playing on the swings, Jenny took it up a notch at the playground this week and, with a little help from Daddy, climbed aboard a hippo in the Riverside Park! 

Spring has melted into a sweltering summer in NYC with temperatures soaring and humidity going from zero to what feels like 100% in a matter of weeks. Not to be put off by a spot of weather however, the adventurous family Schofield headed into the wilds of the Hudson Valley for a day of hiking. 

We took the train up to the ominously named Breakneck Ridge train stop (I don’t think you can really call it a station). In truth, the most likely point at which you could break your neck would actually be getting off the train onto the very small make-shift platform which looked suspiciously like some bleechers that had been pinched from a nearby little league field.

Anne clutching her caffeine fix

 

Braving swarms of flies that would put Uluru to shame (NB there is a reason why those Australian hats with corks on are famous, as we discovered last year on our trip to the Outback) we ventured into the woods and began our steamy ascent onto the ridge overlooking the majestic Hudson River.

 

Jenny celebrated reaching the summit by falling asleep.

 

Coming soon, the tale of the family Schofield’s adventure to South Carolina (ok it’s a month since we got back, but it’s a long and complicated story so has taken a while to put together), watch this space!