After spending a week in the Dominican Republic, my children now think they are trilingual; English, Russian and now Spanish. Although they look at me like I have two heads when I speak any Russian to them and they know about 10 words of Spanish, they have both pretty much become proficient in English.
We had a great time in Punta Cana, despite getting there one day later than planned; the Punta Cana airport was shut down when we were supposed to land due to the fact they had no runway lights - pretty important if you are landing at night, like we were supposed to do. So anyway, we got there on Wednesday morning. The resort was beautiful and after checking in, we decided our room was too small, so we upgraded to a suite! Yeah, lots of room, a jacuzzi on the balcony and a view of the ocean. We wasted no time in putting on our suits and securing our spot at the pool under a palapa and ordering something alcoholic, fruity and tropical. Ahhhh, life is good. We were a little disappointed with the beach as it was not the clear blue Caribbean waters we were looking forward to; instead, we were located a little too far north and were on the Atlantic ocean, therefore the water was more brown and murky, so we spent the majority of our time at the pool. "Lather, rinse, repeat", that was pretty much our existence for the week we were there, no sightseeing, didn't really care to do it; no late nights, too hard with kids that insist on being in bed by 8:30 pm. Just eat, find our spot at the pool, people watch, chat with other vacationers, eat some more, decide where we were going for dinner while we were eating lunch, lay by the pool, read, time for a snack, pool time, get ready for dinner, eat some more and then to bed! You get the picture! It was a great week and I highly recommend an all inclusive if you have kids, they have a great kids club that keep them busy all day long, the food for kids was just right and the only money you need is for tipping those friendly waiters that keep bringing you something to drink with little umbrella's in it! Here's some pics of our week:
On the plane, we're going to the beach!
Getting closer, on the bus to "Dreams", Caroline is soooo ready!
We are finally here!
Caroline and her beautiful Toycha Gail, celebrating Toycha's birthday
Looking for fish in the pool! Sorry Caroline, wrong place!
The kids having fun in the jacuzzi
The view from our balcony
Mama Peacock and her baby outside our room
The building our room was in and part of the huge pool
Caroline "chilaxing" before dinner
Chase just looking too cute!
Brother and Sisterly love
Chase getting ready to do the mexican hat dance!
Okay, now for the big reveal from my last post; I was offered and accepted a fantabulous job! Yeah! This has been two years in the making, and it finally happened. The only issue is that we have to move back to Dallas. As much as I wanted Austin to be our permanent home, it was just not meant to be. I am so glad I only rented a home here and did not buy one right off the bat. I actually start this coming Monday and will be living in corporate housing until I secure something permanent (the company is paying for my living expenses for 3 months until I find something - this is such a sweet deal). The kids are going to go and stay with my sister Gail for the rest of the summer while I get myself situated in my new job and find somewhere for us to live. They will be going to their old school, so everything is falling into place just beautifully. I am so excited, I work in healthcare, but in a terribly small niche of it, so these jobs are not just falling off trees (as if any are these days!), so I am so fortunate that this happened. I do have a question for anyone of you out there that might know: What are your experiences with Au Pair's? I will be doing some overnight travel and need to secure reliable childcare for when I am not here and thought an Au Pair might be a good solution. If you have any thoughts on that or suggestions for other childcare options I would love to hear about them.
Until later, Adios!
