Dominican Republic Here They Come

Bob and Susie started taking the kids on a trip of a lifetime for their 13th birthday. They started this with Brook and went to Paris. Bryce and Caleb have been thinking about their trip for 2 years now and they both wanted to go to somewhere tropical. After looking at options of going to Hawaii, Mexico and the Dominican Republic they all decided on the Dominican. I will admit that I was terrified to have them go so far away without us. I even got my passport just because I couldn't  have my kids leave the country and not have a passport. 

Andy went on the trip too. 

They had rented an Air BNB. It was someone's house that was right along the beach. The owner of the house, Klibi,  would drive you around and be more or less your security when you were there. His wife spoke English and would set up any outings that you wanted to go on. There was also a gardener named Alfonzo that the kids really liked. 

This was their view from the backyard. The gardener would rake the sand and pick up any debris every night so that it looked perfect all the time. The boys felt bad that he lived in a tiny shed. I think the whole experience was eye opening to them as to how poor some people are.

There was a restaurant just down the beach that they ate at frequently. The boys thought it was cool that all of their drinks were served in a fruit. Bryce and Andy ordered Lambie one night thinking they were going to try lamb. Little did they know, Lambie means snail. Bryce said he chewed the same bite forever and just couldn't do it.

Bryce told me that some random lady offered him an oyster on the beach so he took it. I guess stranger danger doesn't apply in foreign countries?

One of the days they went deep sea fishing. Caleb got pretty sea sick not being able to see the shore. It ended up being a successful trip though. They caught a huge fish that Kliabi's wife cleaned and cooked for them.

This was all the steaks from the fish that they caught.

They ate supper with Kliai and his wife and girls. He told them that he is working on the paperwork to come to the US. If he stays his girls don't have many options for their future. The schooling for girls only went until a little past elementary school and their only options would be to marry someone that could get a decent job. In the week that they spent there I think they all fell in love with this family!

They went on a day excursion to an island where they did a lot of snorkeling. This was one of their favorite things. They said they could see a lot of really neat fish.

Caleb somehow made it through customs with a lot of cool shells for the girls.

Bryce's Dominican style. The boys both thought it was pretty cool that they got to try Rum at the Rum factory that they went to. They brought home Rum and really good chocolate.

One of the days they went on a tour of 30 some waterfalls. If you know Susie at all you know that water is not her thing. It was pretty nice of her to put her fear aside so that they could do this tour. In the brochure it said that there was always an option to take the steps down the waterfall. I guess one of the waterfalls the steps were not an option and it took Bob, the boys and the guides to convince her that she could do it. She was terrified and screamed the whole way down up the boys thought that this was one of the coolest things to see ever!

They also told us that the roads were terrible everywhere. They described them as bad farm roads. Kliabi started buying Caleb a sprite for the trips since he would get car sick. They also thought that it was crazy and a little un nerving that someone with an automatic weapon would be standing outside of the gas stations. I guess cars and gas are a luxury there and the driver would tip the person with the gun to watch his car while he went inside. Caleb also said that the bread store had someone outside with a sawed off shotgun. I guess that store also needed protection? It is probably good that I didn't know any of this before they went or it would have made me worry so much more.  They had an amazing time and their 13 year old trip was a true trip of a lifetime!

Giraffes at the Zoo

We haven't been to the Lincoln Children's Zoo for awhile so we went to see the renovations that they made. They now have a giraffe area where you can feed the giraffes. The Children's Zoo has always been good at giving you an up close look at the animals and they didn't disappoint this time either!

Great Season for NE One

Abby had a really fun season playing with NE ONE. She has been working on her over hand serve and is getting pretty reliable at it. She served 6 in a row to win a set this season which was really exciting. She plays with 3 other Norris girls Claire, Maddie and Addison. It is fun to see how good of friends these girls have become. They also have all improved greatly on their volleyball skills. Their coach really tries to get them to get 2-3 hits on their side before getting the ball over. They played in the YMCA Spirit league games and they had 3 tournaments in Omaha and Lincoln. They finished 2nd in one of their tournaments.

Last Day of School

Last day of 6th grade for Bryce and Caleb, Last day of 4th grade for Abby and Last day of preschool for Emmy. They were so ready to be done! Bring on Summer!

First day of school 2018

Happy 37th Robb

Happy Birthday Robb! We couldn't ask for a better husband or dad! Your actual birthday wasn't nice enough to go boating but you got your first boating trip in shortly after your birthday. We celebrated with eating out at Lazlos. I hope 37 is a great year for you!

Landscaping

Every year we try to add a few more trees and work on more of the landscaping. This year we did the 

front landscape bed. It was a ton of work but we are hoping that we will love it for years to come. We were used to landscaping in town where you bought a couple bushes and you could fill the area. Now we buy 3-5 of everything and we still planted over 60 things. 

Making The Pond

Since we bought this land, Robb has been planning a pond. We have found out that everything on an acreage takes so much longer than we think it will take. Everything is a big undertaking. This spring Robb was finally able to get around to finishing the pond like he has been wanting to do for years. It involved renting a mini excavator to dig out some of the dirt and installing a pond liner so that we don't lose all the water. Robb recruited Andy and his Dad to help with that part because it was no small task! The liner itself was delivered my semi truck and had to be moved with the excavator. This also was done on a really windy weekend so Robb made Andy hang on to the liner in spots while he covered the edges with dirt so that it didn't blow away. Now we will keep our fingers crossed that we will have a pond this summer!

Kindergarten Physical

Emmy had her Kindergarten physical. She was nervous about it because Bryce had been talking about shots and Abby told her it was terrible. She was chatty with Dr. David as he put her through all the tests of writing her name, saying the alphabet, counting, identifying her colors. He also made her run, jump, hop, skip, throw and catch. She passed with flying colors. He mentioned that she had really good coordination for a kid her age, which we had also noticed. She was 42 lbs and 3ft 6 inches. He asked her if she was excited to go to school and she wasn't so sure. He did mention that he wanted her to have an eye exam because some abnormalities came back on her vision scan. I didn't really give this a second thought since we had to do that with Abby too. Once he was done we went to do the hard part of getting lab and shots.

Emmy was a bit more dramatic than the other kids had been with their Kindergarten shots. She did okay with the lab draw but the shots were brutal. We had to sit in the room for an extra 15 min so that we weren't scream crying through the lobby. She looked a little shell shocked when we got in the car. We went to get ice cream as promised. That calmed her down after a few minutes. When we got home she had to show all the kids her owies so that she could get a little more sympathy. Emmy is officially Kindergarten ready!

4-H at Nancy's

Abby and I decided that she wasn't going to do girl scouts this next year but she still wanted to do something. A friend of hers invited her to go with her to a 4-H meeting and she fell in love with it. It is all the craftiness and time with friends that Abby enjoys without the pressure of having to sell cookies in the freezing cold weather. The girls in the group take turns hosting the 4-H meetings and pick a craft or a topic and present it. Nancy our neighbor is and artist and does some really cool things. She used to offer kids classes so we asked her if she would be willing to host a meeting for us. She has such a fun art room to do it in and lots of neat ideas. She taught the girls about Native American tribes and how they would paint using items from the earth. She showed them how to make paint out of shells, berries, different types of rock etc. Then they used these to paint with. The girls also learned how to carve out a picture on a mat and use it to print or stamp on other paper. Nancy is really fun and great with kids. I think everyone had a great time!