Dance

Here are some photos from parent observation night at dance.  The pictures are great as I had to sue my phone!

Addie LOVES tap!!

Avery didn't want to dance that night.  She was mad about her tutu that she wasn't allowed to wear.  She literally refused to do anything, so I have no photos except this one of her pouting.  We ended up leaving early because she didn't' want to do anything.  She couldn't get past the tutu.  

(Ya gotta luv those 4 year-olds!)

Oh!  and this one of her sound asleep on the way home.  Maybe she was a bit too tired for dancing!!!

Zoo Looking

I'm quite aware I have many posts about the zoo!!!  We do love going there when the weather is nice though and it makes for cute photos too!  Here is yet another post about the zoo.  Regardless, I hope you like the photos!  Addie really loved feeding the sheep!

Sheep-looking: Note that Avery isn't terribly thrilled with the sheep.

Notice how far back Avery is?  She didn't really want to be near them.  Addison was enthralled. 

Avery was going to attempt to feed the sheep - but once they drew close, she chickened out!

She did manage to brush the back of one sheep.

Addison was literally trying to heard the sheep.  

They discovered they were bigger than penguins.  (Which made them happy!)

Tortoise-looking

Elephant-looking

Climbing!!

Gorilla-looking

Posing!   

Army ROTC

Nick is in the Army ROTC program at college and a few weeks ago he completed his German Armed Proficiency Badge.  He had to swim, shoot, ruck, and other various physical activities.  Each had to be done in a certain amount of time in order to achieve a gold badge.  If you fell below the gold standard in any area, you earned a silver.  Here he is swimming laps in his army uniform.

 This picture was taken right after his run.  The weather that weekend was VERY cold!  

 More swimming - in fatigues - sounds awful to me!!!

See the horribly cold weather?!?!?

Here he is taking a break with a friend who didn't want his photo taken.

 Nick getting on a helicopter  ready to fly to a location.

 He had to cross the "minefield" on the wooden planks you can see on the ground.  They were not allowed to touch the ground.

 Here is pulling the Flintstone car.  He and his fellow cadets had to pull it three miles.  It looks perfectly miserable to me!!

 More pulling.

 Here is Nick "arresting" a cadet that was resisting arrest.

Here is the helicopter called a "Chanook" that transports soldiers.

Here is a photo taken right after he finished the swimming part.

I am SUPER proud to tell you, he was one of the few to earn the gold badge!!!  He will now be able to wear that on his uniform forever.  He was so happy as you can see!  

Love you kid. Am so proud of you!

Vacation! -The Dominican Republic

 We went on vacation - without our children - from February 15-22 with our brother & sister-in-law.  We went to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic to enjoy some sun, beach and relaxation!! 

So I apologize, but my pictures are completely out of order but I'm going to just go with it!

This picture was taken in Punta Cana at a local restaurant - not in the tourist area- (recommended by our dive instructors) where we found great seafood that was really cheap.  Here is a photo of the fish we ate.    

More photos of our meal.  The round yellowish things were tostones which are fried plantains.  Plantains are starchy potato-like fruits that are sliced battered and fried.  I really loved them!  

Troy & Angela at the restaurant

Here is the beach right outside our condo.

More beautiful beach

El Presidente is the local Domincan beer.

So Saturday, February 21st, Angie and I took a  day-trip to Santo Domingo - the capital of the Dominican and also the oldest city in the new world founded by Christopher Columbus.  Here is a national park in The city called "Mirador Este Park" and these three lakes were located in a cave system.  The lakes are called Los Tres Ojos.  They were so beautiful.

The following are all photos from this park.  The lakes and caverns were originally inhabited by the indigenous people of the Dominican called the Taino people.  

We had to take a boat to the second lake which was really cool.

This lake had an open "ceiling" which was really neat.  The guide told us a James Bond movie had been shot there.  It was very unique!

Another location we visited in the capital was the "Zona colonial" (colonial zone)  This area is the oldest area of the city and has been preserved beautifully. One landmark we visited was the home of Christopher Columbus. It was built in 1509.  It was where he and his family lived while they were in the Dominican.

Here is Angie inside the home of Christopher Columbus.

Here we are again in front of the home of Christopher Columbus.

This was an old church that is now where the heroes of the Dominican are buried.  There are always soldiers guarding it and an eternal flame.

Inside the memorial church

Here we are in front of the soldier who guarded the church.

Here is the oldest church the the New World: La Catedral Primada de America.  It was built between 1512-1540.  

Inside the cathedral.

I wasn't allowed to wear shorts so they gave me scarf to cover up my legs.  

Impressive. Beautiful.

Here we are in front of the Cathedral.

Here is the national palace where the president lives!  

Here is a little town we went through named San Pedro.  Here is the Catholic church for that town.

There were all kinds of Dominican flags flying as they were getting ready to celebrate independence day. (Feb. 27th 1844)  They celebrate their independence from Haiti on this day.

Here we are on our way to Catalina Island which is located in the southern part of the island called La Romana.  It is a beautiful island about 2 miles from the mainland.   The Caribbean waters were breathtaking.

A little bit of the island,

Look at this water.

On our way to the island we saw the sugar can factory (Sugar Cane is one of their biggest exports)  The factory has the black smoke piling out of the chimney.

The wealthy homes on the coast of La Romana.

A little fishing boat.

Little boys on the bridge as we went under it.

A view of the city of La Romana.

There were multiple rainbows as it rained off an on there.  They were beautiful.

Here is a sunset view from our balcony.  Can you say "heaven!"

Here is the town behind out building.  From our rooftop terrace we could see the entire town.  

So pretty. 

Here is another sunset photo.

Another day, we drove to the southern coast to a small fisherman town called San Rafeal Del Yuma.

It was a beautiful little town.  We were going to dive off the coast of Bayahibe.  I think this was my favorite town and my favorite diving.  

We were drinking coffee, surrounded by Italians, (There were a TON of Europeans there!) watching the boats load up with divers.  Perfect.

The ocean view on the way to our dive site.  Isn't it perfect?!

After diving we ate at a cafe by the sea watching these little boys playing in the water nearby.  So picturesque.

Here a photo of out condo.  It was so nice.  We were on the 4th floor, our balcony overlooked the beach and we also had a roof-top balcony.

More photos on out way to Catalina Island.

 The whole crew

 out to eat!

 The water.

 Us - right before we dove

 All of us diving.

 More condo photos.

 The view from our balcony.

 Getting ready to dive!

 On the roof-top terrace.

 All of us eating

Us - on the beach

Photos from our flight home - "The heavens declare the glory of the Lord."

  "O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens." -Psalm 8:1