Dominican Republic- The Bateys

The next three days of our trip we traveled out to local Bateys (poor sugar cane farming communities) to provide dental work.  The people living in the Bateys are extremely poor, the average farmer makes $1 a day.  Most people live in shacks without flush toilets or electricity.  They usually make enough money to buy food for the day.  Children attend school half day until about 5th grade.  

The organization that we worked with provides micro-loans to the women in the community so that they can have small businesses such as corner markets, clothing stores, or salons.  The associates (the people in the community who utilize these loans) are also offered services, such as dental care.  At each Batey, we gave out 100 tickets to the first people in line.  A lot of those people waited all day until it was their turn for service.  Many of the people had terrible teeth and desperately needed a lot of dental work (that's what chewing on sugar cane all day can do to your teeth.)  It was very humbling to be part of this experience. 

Dave got to do some hands-on dental procedures like filling cavities and extracting teeth.  He really like it so looks like he's on the right career path!

Teeth and blood are not really my thing.  I painted some of the girl's nails while they waited.

 At the second Batey, the nail painting turned into a riot!  I toughened up and started organizing dental instruments (without looking at any of the bloody procedures or listening to any of the screaming going on around me!) 

 This little girl's mom was getting some work done so I got to hang out with her for a little while.  She eventually fell asleep in my arms.

 We spent long days in the Bateys and it felt great to be part of something that was making a difference in these people's lives.  

Dominican Republic- Sanoa Island

 A couple of months ago I was at my weekly ortho apt, when our good friend/dentist/orthodontist invited Dave and I to join him on a humanitarian dental trip to the Dominican Republic....I totally wanted to go the minute that he started talking about it.  I have always loved to travel....uninterrupted time with Dave in a beautiful country was just icing on the cake!  Dave was pretty excited when we talked about it and somehow everything fell into place so that we could go. 

We spent a full day of traveling (driving, red-eye flight, layovers) but it was totally worth it!  The first day in the DR we went to Sanoa Island and it was pretty much perfect!  

Here's Dave and I about to board the boat. 

We stopped at this shallow area for a little swim and found some sea stars.

 We spent the day on the island swimming, laying out, and eating lunch.

 The journey back was on this Catamaran Boat....we got to sit up front on the netting, watch the sea go by under the boat, relax, and chat with our group.

March

March was a busy month for us!  I started a part-time photography business and it is already pretty busy!  I love doing pictures, but I still need to find the right balance so that I am not too busy or distracted for these pretty girls!  

Milan and Eden loved learning about Dr. Suess's birthday and celebrating his birthday at school.  They also wanted to model their cute hat at home!

I got to hang out with these cute ladies at home and just goof around.  

We were also very very fortunate that Dave and I got to go on vacation to the Dominican Republic while the girls got to hang out with grandma and grandpa.  Our trip was amazing and of course I have lots of pictures so that will be a separate post. 

When we got back, we rewarded the girls for good behavior with a trip to Disney on Ice!  Milan spent a lot of time deciding if the characters on the ice are real.....she was a little disappointed that Tinkerbell did not actually fly, but decided that everything else was real.  Disney on Ice was a great show and I was so happy to take the girls!  (Cora would have been a disaster on the bleachers so she got to hang out with daddy.)  

Easter morning!  The girls were so excited about the Easter Bunny hiding eggs around our house that it took them a while to notice their baskets on the table.  Milan and Eden worked together to find all the eggs then scoped out their baskets with floating Barbies and candy.  

The girls in their cute coordinating Easter outfits!

 This crazy little girl has been getting into EVERYTHING!!!

She learned to climb the stairs while we were gone.

 We started letting her eat with a fork and she is so proud of herself!

 Whenever she hears that the dishwasher is open, she crawls as fast as her little legs will take her.  If she gets the chance, she will climb right in!

Tonight, she walked behind her walker toy for the first time!  She loved it so much that kept doing it back and forth.  She has been walking along furniture and walls for about two weeks now.  I don't think it will be too long before she is running right behind her sisters!

February

Valentine's Day was of course the highlight of the entire month!  First thing, the girls got pick out their favorite Valentine's at the store.  Milan picked out Barbie Valentines with removable tattoos....she wrote all her classmates name on them as soon as we got home.  Eden picked out Hello Kitty cards and mini notebooks for her preschool friends.

On Valentine's Day, Milan and Eden were super excited to wake up and find new Polly Pocket sets and candy waiting for them.  The fun continued when Cora and I got to help out at both of the class parties.  

 Eden got to tag along to Milan's class party too and loved being a big kid just like her sister!  Milan was super excited to show Eden the ropes!  (Ms. Taylor recently told me that Milan talks about Eden all the time at kindergarten....that just made me feel all warm and fuzzy!)

Of course, we also had some snow in Feburary.

 Milan had her Route 66 concert at the University of Wyoming campus.  I spent a lot of time out in the halls with some very tired little girls, but I did get to see Milan's whole performance and of course she did awesome!

Milan has been asking me to take her ice skating all winter so she tagged along with me and the Young Women.  The ice walkers were great and Milan had a blast!  She skated by herself, played with her friend Jack, and whenever she crossed the ice she didn't even look around her so I'm sure she was nearly run over several times.  Most of the time, I skated behind her and pushed her walker....we got going pretty fast and it was really fun!

Milan's girl scout troop was asked to carry the flags for the African activity.  After the flag ceremony, she stayed to play African games, eat African food, and listen to a special guest speaker from Africa.

Cora and I get to hang out all day!  I love to sit on the floor and play in the morning while the girls are at school.  She loves to crawl around, explore, and put everything in her mouth.  She sure is a busy little girl!

 I love this little expression!

This is Cora's favorite place to play!  There's just something about tearing all those cookies off the cookie sheet that she loves!