Dominican Republic- Resort Time

The last days of our trip were AMAZING!!!  Dave and I had so much fun enjoying paradise together!  We went to dinner at this amazing restaurant in Boca Chica and it was probably my favorite time of the whole trip.  We took a little swim just a couple feet away from our table then laid out in the sun for a while.

Hours later, we ordered our dinner.  We shared a humongous lobster and shrimp dish.  It was yummy, but the atmosphere was really the best! 

After dinner, we just relaxed, watched the sunset, and spent time together (which is not something we get to do very often with our crazy little girls!)

 We spent a couple of days at an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana.  Dave and I went for walks, did a little shopping, swam a lot, laid out in perfect weather, ate a candlelit dinner at the Brazilian Restaurant, watched a hilarious show, ate lots of ice cream, made fun of the old people in bikinis, and just enjoyed being with each other.  One thing we did not do was take pictures....oh well, I did steal these ones from other people in our group.

Vacations are so worth the money!  Hopefully this one will help Dave get into dental school too :)

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!