Category Archives: Pets and Animals

April Update -Finca, Flowers, Friends, Fruit and Fun

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Hanging with my little guy in Rincon

If it weren’t for me being a chronic photo-taker, I don’t know if I would ever blog anymore. The pictures help me to remember what we have been up to which has been a lot of fun! We have been busy with visiting friends, the flower business continues to grow (literally haha), the cabana has been booked regularly and we have seen some cool sights as well. Aeden is growing up fast and at 7 months can now sit up on his own and eats sooo much regular food! Here are quite a few pictures that tell so much more than my hands can type.


Babies grow so fast! I had no idea. Compare 1 month to 6 months


Britton and Aeden at Rompeolas in Aguadilla


We have a bunch of new varieties of flowers coming in right now


Family fun at the farm


Why is Britton usually carrying Aeden? Because he is huge in comparison to me! These pictures were taken at the same moment in time 🙂


And work -clearing out more underbrush and dead trees to plant fruit trees and flowers


One of Kitty’s last pictures 🙁


We buried him near the bridge so we can think of him every day. We miss you, Kitty. You were a good cat


I am also so saddened by the death of our former bandmate, drummer, artist, jokester and friend, Rob


We finished the concrete staircase that enters the jungle and added solar lights


Fun in Aguada


With the babe


At the pool of Casa Islena -Aeden loves kicking water


At the pool of Villa Montana too!


With his sweet little friend and our new friends


At the pool of Rincon of the Seas

 
With friends Tracy and Fernando


We’ve had some large orders of flowers lately!


And more and more keep growing like these gardenias


Peek-a-boo!


New variety of starfruit started growing on a tree we planted!


And our first ever Siam Rose flower bloomed! We weren’t sure about this one since it usually takes a lot more rain than Rincon gets

Grosella tree is going off!


So I brought a bag of them to Roots Bar to see what magic Sashary can make with them!


These gals are so fun!


So sad to see our good friends the Kersches move away (at Ode in Aguada)


Chicken in the bushes


We spend a lot of time outside on the farm with the munchkin


Manzano guineos as they ripen – apple flavored bananas! Not your typical store banana!

 
It’s a colorful time of year! Ornamental Turmeric Flower and caladium from our farm and a Reina de las flores in the market

Our little boy is growing up too fast!


Go where love grows! My two cowboys!


Yeehaw at Cowboys in Rincon


Palm Sunday procession in Rincon


Gecko visiting an ornamental banana flower


“Bienvenidos” is too cool! And a great part of Rincon


Stopped in at the Ag Fest in Mayaguez


And the ArtWalk -we don’t go out at night much anymore with the little guy


Britton, bananas and baby!


Fun seeing our friends Matt and Jamie again


Hanging at the beach


And my friend from high school/Colorado, Sarah and her family at Villa Cofresi


Pineapples are growing good!


And more bananas! These are the “Cuban reds”


More flowers! Double hibiscus and orchid


We also ate our first jaboticaba after about 4 years of waiting!


The gardens are really coming in beautifully!


Driving along in Mayaguez, this horse was standing there like “Am I not Magestic? You should take my picture!” So I did


Plantain delivery in action!


Saw these ornate Don Quixote (I assume) carved figurines in a garden store!

Check out this stinky star flower I saw walking around too!


Cool mural in Aguada


Selfie time!


Papaya grows wild here! We didn’t plant this, but we sure did eat it! Tasted like cantaloupe


Well, that’s all folks! Until the next time!

Oh and here is Aeden’s 7 month update video! Enjoy!

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Hacienda Marak in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico

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Aeden checking out the donkey Sancho at Hacienda Marak

We recently had the opportunity to visit Hacienda Marak in Mayaguez. I was very impressed with this farm as it has nearly everything I would love to do with our place only on a much larger scale. Markitto Tremblay is the owner of the property. He is the former owner of the unique boutique hotel in Rincon, the Blue Boy Inn, but has since retired to his 65 acre slice of paradise on the mountainside of Mayaguez. I have been following him on Facebook and just knew I had to meet him and check out what he has been up to. He has some exotic plants that you just don’t find in the nurseries here, a beautifully remodeled home (a former coffee plantation and hacienda), various fun animals and even the pond I have been wanting! The icing on the cake is that he is a native French speaker and I am currently taking a French class, so that was extra fun.

  


Some very cool plants including even apples!


Gorgeous orchids


I loved his eye for style


And landscape design


The columns and terrace area got me thinking of some fun ideas!


The pond was one of my favorite parts of the tour! Something I have been talking about with our property for a long time to put under the bridge



The animals were so cool! Chickens, goats, sheep, parrots, a dog (that looked remarkably like Schnoodle), donkeys, koi, and we gave him some of our turkey babies too to add to his menagerie!


Sancho the donkey was super friendly and fun


I have always wanted a tortoise too. I think this one is an African Spurred Tortoise


She may live to be 100 years old!


Thank you Markitto for opening your home to us! It is lovely and an inspiration to us to keep going on our tropical property!

Here’s a video of our time with Markitto. Aeden was kind of squirmy and whiny so it is somewhat choppy, but I hope it shows a little what a magical, magnifique place Hacienda Marak is!

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Paso Finos, Pulgueros y Playas

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Britton and Aeden at the beach

We’ve been staying pretty busy with the kiddo, the cabana rental and the flower business but we also get out and about quite a bit as well. We recently went to Costa restaurant in Mayaguez for brunch (very good place!) after selling flowers at the farmer’s market and stumbled upon a Paso Fino competition. Paso Finos are a type of horse that has a very light gait (Paso Fino means Fine Step). The riders “jinetes” were judged on their posture, how their hands were in the reigns and other signs of an easy ride. The judges checked the horses for an even step on each of the four hooves as well as the general aesthetics and beauty of the beast. It sort of reminded me of rodeos in Colorado except you would never see a cowboy there in a tuxedo haha!


Paso Fino Competition Mayaguez


Me and Aeden at the competition


Paso Finos


Playa Buye

Then we drove down to Playa Buye for a quick afternoon stop. It is always a busy and popular beach.


At Buye Beach

We’ve also been checking out the local Pulgueros. Pulguero means Flea Market and is almost a direct translation since the word flea in Spanish is “pulga.” We like to go to the big market in San Sebastian on Friday mornings and we also made it just in time for the one in the Mani sector of Mayaguez Sunday mornings. We are not so much interested in all the household and random goods as the produce, plant and animal selections we can find. I am trying to talk Britton into some water features at the property and would love to have ducks, geese and koi fish for them. We found some pretty neat fruit trees, flowers and other interesting plants as well as a connection for some more heliconias and gingers. Britton says he can’t believe he is back visiting flea markets since he spent so much of his youth at them that he came to avoid them. But they are a little different here than in Colorado as you can see.


Angel Trumpets are awesome plants that smell wonderful but they are also semi-illegal/regulated in Puerto Rico because of its dangerous poisons (I still want them though!)


This variety of banana is called “Johnson” here in Puerto Rico. It’s actually a Cavendish but look how big they grow!
Flea market fried food fare: The golden brown thing is a “taco” (very different from a Mexican taco) and the darker brown one is an “alcapurria” They are both stuffed with meat, potato and seasonings


We saw this as we were leaving San Sebastian! Holy Plantains!


Mani Pulguero as it was clearing out -A seaside flea market!


At the Mani Market


Checking out all the kids stops too: at Yogufruti in Anasco (I love frozen yogurt so the fact that kids love it too is just an excuse! 🙂 )


Aeden really is a good kid and just goes along wherever we go! We need to start bringing a stroller though because he is getting big and harder to carry!


Nuestro bebe colora’o

Whenever we go out people exclaim “Colora’o!” “Colora’o!” At first I thought they knew we were from Colorado and then I realized that they were talking about Aeden’s red-colored hair! 🙂 They also LOVE, LOVE babies here. Women almost always get a super high pitched voice and say “Ayy que lindo! Dios lo bendiga” and sometimes can’t help but touch him. I will often offer him up to abuelitas (grandmothers) to hold when I see them longing for him. They love to pat him and smell his head. They also tell me about their children and grandkids and give lots of advice. It’s very sweet.


At Pepe’s Pizzeria in Stella of Rincon another seaside favorite

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Re-establishing a New Normal with Baby!

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Not long after my discharge from the hospital (about one week), I began to feel very sick again. I soon felt weak and faint, could hardly breathe or walk and started to develop another fever. We ended up going back to the emergency room at Mayaguez Medical Center and I spent another week in the hospital with major hemorrhaging from placenta that was still retained even after having a D+C the week before. I lost so much blood that I needed 6 more units transfused for a total of 8 (the human body only has about 10!). Suffice it to say that it was a very scary time for us.

I am not sure we have fully processed that ordeal, but we are now looking forward to re-establishing a new normal as a family of three.


Britton and Aeden

Now we are happily trying to deal with the lack of sleep, feeding and changing schedules and the sheer confusion that comes with an infant instead of worrying about life and death issues. Thankfully, I am recovering quickly and am beginning to enjoy going outside and even working a little more in the gardens -something I hadn’t been able to do much of at all throughout the pregnancy.


“Hey, Momma, more boob!”


“Ok, enough with the pictures!”

We have mostly just been recuperating and settling in at home, but we have made a few voyages off the compound and we’re getting better at it.


A visit to the ocean


Enjoying our new normal at the finca -Aeden’s 1st month picture


And poor Kitty feels like he’s playing second fiddle, but we still love him! 🙂

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