Domincian Republic 2014

We just got home from one of the best trips we have ever been on.  The Dominican Republic has got to be one of the happiest places on Earth.  We arrived on Saturday into a "almost" tropical storm.  Here is a picture of the airport and its fuzzy because it was raining!  I get that we have higher winds in West Texas but something about being trapped on an island makes you a little uneasy.  Turns out the storm passed through and we had a perfect trip with perfect weather!

 I loved the Dominican so very much.  The weather, the scenery and the people were the best.  Everyone there was truly happy.  Tye and I spend a day traveling around a couple towns looking at the countryside and seeing the people live their everyday life.  It was so humbling.  They don't have much but what they do have they are grateful for.  On the other side of those mountains in the background is Haiti and its actually a lot further away than it looks.

 For the most part this is what a typical house looks like.  The roof is made out of a specific palm tree and is very popular in the Dominican.  Our resort and the airport had the same roof!  These ladies were sweet enough to let me take a picture:)  Some of the bigger towns in the Dominican Republic have very modern buildings.  For example, Santo Domingo is a big city and has very beautiful architecture.  We didn't get to go there because we just didn't have time!  Someday it would be neat to take the kids and see where Christopher Columbus landed in 1492!

We toured a very big cave in Higuey which was one of the small towns we visited.  This cave is a safe place for some of the islanders when they have big storms and hurricanes.  In 2008, when Hurricane George came through a lady gave birth to her baby in this cave...yikes!

This is one of the schools we got to see.  A sweetie little boy is standing in the doorway waving at us.

We also got to see a sugarcane, cocoa, coffee, tobacco and banana plantation.  These people work so hard to harvest things that we think nothing of when we buy them at the store.  Once again very humbling experience.

This is Maria and this is her kitchen.  She was very sweet to let us walk through her house.  It was one of the cleanest houses I have ever seen.  I told Tye I will not be complaining of dirt in my window seals anymore! 

At the sugarcane plantation this man ran the stalks of the plant through a presser and it squeezed out sugar water stuff.  We got to take a sip and it was delicious.

I think I ate my weight in pineapple while we were there.  It was so good and so sweet.  Here is a baby pineapple not quite ready to be picked.

My next favorite day was spent with the whole family.  Me, Tye, my Dad, Angela, Kelly, Donna, Kam and Whitney all went on a catamaran for the afternoon.  It was so fun!  We spent the afternoon riding in the boat, swimming, snorkeling, listening to music but most of all laughing and enjoying each others company.  I love my family so very much!

The last day we were there we decided to go zip lining!!  It was scary, it was fun, it took my breath away and I would so do it again.  We did 12 lines and I think I screamed on all 12!  Let me tell ya Whitney and I rocked our zip line attire....NOT!   

 

Another house sitting on the side of a beautiful mountain.

God's beauty around the world amazes me every single time.

The boat driver and guys working on this catamaran were hilarious.  We had the best time with them.  One of the guys name was "Baby Monkey."  He could crawl on the ocean floor like a monkey going up a tree...it was crazy!!

Our resort the Royalton at Punta Cana.  This resort was top notch!  This is definitely a place we will be going back to someday!!