It's Been a Busy Month

Wow, I've just realized that it's nearly the end of October, and I've only posted twice this month. It has, though, been a really busy month for us, what with selling one house, buying another, and finally getting a vacation.

We just came back from a lovely week in the Dominican Republic, at the Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus in Bayahibe. This is our third time visiting this resort. The first few days, I was completely lazy and relaxed and forgot about packing, moving, houses, etc. Unfortunately, by about the fourth day, I started having dreams about packing, and it was no longer quite that relaxing. We did a lot of playing around in the pool and the sea, played lots of ping pong, and of course ate a lot.

My daughter March made friends with a German girl named J, and her family really adopted us! J's father spoke fair English, and J and her mother spoke just a tiny bit. J and March played backgammon a few times, and mostly played around in the pool. One night, we taught them to play "BS" or "Bull". They loved the game, and were quite addicted for the remainder of our trip. We all exchanged email addresses, and promised to write and send pictures, etc. But when we left, March cried her eyes out, and J's mother hugged March really tightly and was crying herself. So sweet!

I'll pretend that I took many pictures. But, really, I'm stealing these from elsewhere online!

Here's what the lobby looks like. Very open and airy, and when you first arrive, they bring you a "welcome drink" while you're registering.

We spent a lot of time at the pool, because it's easier to keep from burning here.

The beach is gorgeous too. The water is very clean and clear, and the waves are very mild. Even 50-100 yards out, you can stand in the water. When you look down, you'll see fish swimming around your feet. That lighthouse is actually a bar.

This is what happens when you tip the housekeeper. You get lots of these little towel swans all over your room!

Mmm, food. There are tons of choices in the food buffet. For breakfast, I mostly had eggs, granola and fruit. For lunch and dinner, I usually had fish of some sort and fruit/veggies. Plus dessert of course!!

June's favorite part of the buffet--all you can eat mango!!! I was seriously concerned that the entire island's supply of mango would be depleted before our departure. I would guess that she ate at least 3 mangos at every meal.

There are lots of little ponds and man-made water areas on the grounds. In them live lots of ducks, geese, swans, flamingos and turtles. June fell in love with the one white goose, who she immediately nicknamed "Aflac". The girls fed the animals every day with bread from the buffet. Most of them were pretty gentle while they were actually being given bread, but swans are very nasty animals!! If anyone stood near the edge without food, the swans would nip and bite the people's feet! J's father was teasing one of them, and the swan was really chowing down on his hand.

We're not big fans of the nighttime entertainment. I suppose if you're from some small town in the middle of nowhere, and you've never seen live entertainment, then these shows are very exciting. But for people who've lived in big cities all their lives, they seemed totally amateurish and dull. We did manage to stay through this one though, a version of the Lion King. They had asked June to be in the show, but she said no.

All in all, a nice vacation, and now we're home to start really packing in earnest. We are out on the 6th!