Betty's Shower

Our dear friends Jason and Betty are getting married! Wendy and I "hosted" a bridal shower for Betty at Roaring Fork Friday night. The weather was crazy rainy and the parking lot was packed, but we had a good time.

Betty and her fondant bride cake

My contribution; I hope Jason likes it. :P

Me, Betty, Wendy, and Yuri

Last Dominican Post

Our last full day in the Dominican Republic, we went to the 27 Damajagua falls. We hiked through a forest and got to go up and slide down seven of the falls; what an adventure! Unfortunately, since we had to swim to get to each fall, we couldn't take our camera, but we did purchase a DVD of the day's activities. Hopefully one day I'll edit it and post a clip of Trung and I got up (or down) a fall.

After the falls, we had lunch in a small village.

Check out our view!

Our ride

Cock fighting, a favorite past time in the Dominican

Children chased our vehicle shouting "menta, menta". They sure do love candy!

We visited a farm, learned about some native fruits, and...

fed hungry cows.

The next afternoon we left for Puerto Rico, where we basically just looked for a place to eat and went to sleep. Too bad we couldn't see this beach during the day since our flight was at 7 AM; it was only four minutes away too!

Lydia was still awake when we arrived back at Trung's parents house. When Sophie woke up, we asked Ma to get her so we could see her reaction when she saw us.


Yay, Mommy and Daddy are home! All smiles!


Our last strawberry shortcake in Florida


Lydia's strawberry milkshake is better than yours

Tradition

Even though we didn't explore the Dominican Republic like we usually do with other countries, we got to taste some traditional foods and see some sites without leaving the resort.

The mountain across the resort that blocked all our sunlight

Trung loved sancocho, a traditional Dominican soup

Roast pork, anyone?

My sweetie with sweets

Yup, even lobster was included.

Paradise Island

We took a VIP excursion to Paradise Island and were delighted to find out that the sun did shine for more than ten minutes in the Dominican Republic. Breakfast and drinks were awaiting us aboard the yacht as we first took a ride to a swimming/floating spot. We were served tiny, fresh oysters and champagne once we boarded the boat again. Then a short trip to Santa Rosa for a banana boat ride, and a Dominican lunch with Coco Locos (coconut juice with rum). Finally, we arrived at Paradise Island, which was basically a sand bar with five huts...no restrooms. We went snorkeling and enjoyed just being out in the sun. Ah...paradise!

Our ride

Taking in the scenery

The view from our swimming spot

Trung lost at "ocean"

Drinks and noodles

The moment I had been waiting for...oysters!

Snappy pelicans at Santa Rosa; you don't want to get too close to those things!


Get in the boat, the banana boat! Falling off is a must!


How about them coconuts!


Alas, Paradise Island


The day was so sunny that Trung couldn't keep from squinting.

Trung and the tide

Trung staring out into the endless wonder

Trung's artistic picture


Footprints in the sand

Artistic Trung again

Trung got the camera wet filming this clip, hope it was worth it.

Dominican Days

The weather was muggy and rainy almost our entire stay at the Dominican Republic, so we remained in our room most of the time watching cable TV. Every now and then we would pop out and eat or walk around the resort, but for the most part, we were happy to just not have kids to deal with.

The first walk on the beach

Mad mangroves...check out those roots!

Our second day, we went to Ocean World, about a fifteen minute walk away from the resort. We just watched the shows, but the "zoo" had interesting features, like swimming with tigers with only a thin layer of glass between you.



I found the seal show quite entertaining

A glimpse of the dolphin show


Being "loved" by lovebirds


I must say, the Dominicans are some of the craziest and funniest people that I have ever met!

Dominican Republic

We arrived in the Dominican Republic around 5 PM (3 PM C.S.T.), and the weather was a humid 80-something degrees. After a 30 minute drive to the resort, we got settled in, and went straight to dinner. Then we explored the resort and met "Coca-cola", a young Dominican who told us about the dance performance that night. We only went and stayed because we didn't know what else to do, at least we got to see some interesting costumes.

Lifestyle Hacienda Resort

The entry

Casa Blanca, an all-day buffet

Our bedroom

The pool bar

Our view of the Atlantic everyday

The view from our porch

Our porch

Left Behind

We are leaving the girls with my father and mother-in-law until next Sunday while Trung and I enjoy a much needed vacation in the Dominican Republic. We have not left the girls in over a year and a half, so I hope they do okay without us. Just last night I got teary-eyed as Trung and I were explaining to Lydia how we would be gone for awhile, but would be back for her and Sophie. She seemed to understand and she seemed to be okay. I'm hoping that she can help comfort Sophie if she "most likely" gets upset. I'll miss my little monsters, but will of course try and have fun too!

Orlando Magic

We were not in Orlando/Kissimmee for vacation, but we were busy converting the garage to a game room, amongst many other projects.

Before...

and after. Not bad, huh? I did the detailing of the red and white paints.


Busy brothers