The Dominican Republic

After the Disney Cruise we flew to the Dominican Republic for a week. My brother-in-law, Brian, served his mission there and so he planned this part of the trip for us. It was a really beautiful place and neat to see.

A few of the places that we got to see were: The Columbus Memorial Lighthouse, The Dominican Republic Temple, and The Colonial Zone (all located in Santo Domingo). We stayed in Boca Chica & Barahona at all inclusive resorts. We got to snorkel for a while in Barahona and that was fun!

I decided that the next time I go to a Spanish speaking country I want to learn to speak Spanish first! Brian is the only one who spoke Spanish in our group and sometimes that was hard because he was the only one who could communicate with the people there. And with 12 people in our group it would have been nice to have more people know Spanish!

The big story about this part of our trip is what happened the day before we came home. We stopped to eat lunch at a turn-off where there was some shade. It seemed like a great place to have lunch and it had a beautiful view of the ocean. We all enjoyed our food and afterward Brent, his brother Brian, their dad Loran and three of the kids started walking up the road a little bit to check out the view. In-between the main road and the turn-off road there were some trees and bushes and apparently that’s where two robbers had been hiding. One of them had a gun and they both had their faces and heads covered up with shirts. I looked up the road to see them come out after those guys and I couldn’t tell what was going on at first. I heard Brent saying, “That’s it! That’s all I have!” while holding his wallet. Then all of a sudden I see a gun to Brian’s head and I freaked out! I said, “We’re being ROBBED! Everybody get the kids, get in the van and lock the doors!” We were all in COMPLETE SHOCK and we didn’t know what to do. They ended up taking money, Brent’s Treo 680 cell phone, my in-laws digital camera, Brian & Jaimee’s digital camera (which had ALL of their pictures on it from the entire trip – even the cruise).
After the robbers ran off, the next people to drive by on the main road were two Dominican guys on a motorcycle. Brian stopped them and told them what had happened and to go get the police. Some other Dominican people stopped to help us look for the robbers, but they got away and we didn’t see them again. We drove into the next town and filed a report with the police. It was a horrible experience but I am glad to say that nobody got hurt and we are all home safe! Even though they got away with our stuff I am glad that everyone is okay. I have never been so happy to return to the good old USA! We are so blessed to live where we do. I know that sort of thing can happen anywhere, but being so far away from home where not many people speak English made it seem so much worse! Overall we had a good time in the D.R. and I am glad that we went, but I will be okay if we never go back again!

Highlights of Our Trip...

I know, I know, I am REALLY slow at posting about our trip! I posted a lot of the pictures on Facebook and to be honest that took WAY too long and I got burned out! I guess I should've started with the blog.
So the trip began with our flight to Orlando and a fun day at Sea World! We loved going to all of the neat shows they have there. My favorite was the dolphin show, but the "Believe" show with Shamu was really exciting too.

The next part of our trip was the Disney Cruise! Brent and I went on a cruise for our honeymoon and it was good, but this cruise was awesome! I would highly recommend a Disney cruise! I had heard it was the best of the best and I would have to agree. Brent and I decided that cruising is the way to go! Why travel any other way? You pay before you go and everything is included: food, lodging, etc. Then you don't have to pay for transportation anywhere, the cruise ship takes you there! Here are a bunch of pictures from our fun times on the cruise ship!
The ports of call we stopped at were Key West, Grand Cayman, Cozumel Mexico, and Castaway Cay. In Key West we walked all the way down Duval St to the southernmost part of the US. Then we went to a butterfly conservatory that was really neat and all of the kids enjoyed it.
In Grand Cayman we took a bus tour around the island that took us to a turtle farm and a little place called "Hell". So now we can say we've been to Hell and back! In Cozumel we did a little shopping, got a massage, then decided to take another bus tour. The bus took us to the Mayan ruins and we all stood on the fertility altar. Our tour guide told us if we come back in two years with a baby not to blame her! After that we were off to a beautiful beach area where we ate lunch and swam in the ocean for a while.
Our last stop on the cruise was Castaway Cay which is the island that Disney owns. That was the favorite! We all loved it! We did some snorkeling, played on the beautiful white sandy beach, soaked up some rays and ate a delicious lunch. I think we were all a little sad when we had to board the ship because we liked it there so much! But the cruise ship was awesome so it wasn't all that bad!

We had two days at sea which were really nice to just relax, watch a few movies, swim with the kids, etc. They had so many fun things for the kids and a lot of chances to take pictures with the Disney characters. Gavin really loved Mickey! He was so happy when he got to see him. The last part of our trip was to the Dominican Republic. That post is for another day! Sorry folks, it's late!

Off We Go!

Tomorrow we are leaving on a vacation! Hallelujah! Since we have to stay close to home all summer because of our business in Bear Lake it will be nice to get away for a while! Our first stop is Orlando, FL where we get to go to Sea World! Yay! I love Sea World so I'm excited for that. Growing up my family would take trips to California a lot and we went to Sea World quite a few times and after that I grew up always wanting to be a Marine Biologist.

Anyway, after Sea World we get to go on a DISNEY CRUISE! Yipee! We reserved and paid for this part of the trip about a year and a half ago, so it has been a long time coming! My mom is coming with us on the cruise and I am so excited for her because she has never been on one and it has been her life dream! I can't wait to see her go crazy because I know she will love it and have so much fun!

After the cruise my mom will fly home because she has to get back to work :( but the rest of us are off to the Dominican Republic! My brother-in-law, Brian, served his mission there and he thought that if we are already down in Florida we might as well take the 2 hour flight to the D.R. We thought that sounded like a great idea!

So you might not see any posts from me for a while. But don't worry, once we get back I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to post!

Logan Canyon Slideshow

Here we are 7 years ago at the same waterfall for our engagment pictures! September 2001

Logan Canyon

Last Sunday Brent had a good idea to drive up Logan Canyon and look at the leaves. I can't believe that it is fall and the leaves are already starting to change color. We went on a little hike and took some pictures and videos along the way. We also stopped and took some pictures by a waterfall that's up there where Brent and I actually took some of our engagement pictures 7 years ago!

As we were walking along the trail Brent would run ahead and then jump out and scare Gavin! It was pretty darn cute. Gavin loves being outside and so this little trip was great for him. We found a leaf that had turned red and fallen to the ground and I showed it to Gavin and he just had to carry it around the rest of the time. Here is a video of Brent scaring Gavin...

I have more videos and pictures on our computer at home but we are at Bear Lake right now, so I will just post this video that I saved on here earlier and then add more to it later!

Thank-you Nemo!

Pround Mom Moment!

(Warning: this post might have TMI: Too Much Information, but I'm so excited I don't even care!) So tonight Gavin and I were chillin' at my grandma's house in Tremonton and she told me that I better show Gavin her new toilet seat because he will love it. (She knows him well!)

We went in the bathroom and she had a brand new fish toilet seat with a clown fish on it that looks like Nemo. Gavin got so excited! Well, I had been drinking a lot of water and I had to go! So I went and then Gavin wanted to go! So I put him on the toilet and he went pee in the toilet too! Hallelujah! I was so happy! Nick & Linsey and Sean & Wendy were outside checking out Nick's "man cave" (that's another story!) so I ran out there to share the happy news. I was jumping up and down and doing a little dance and I'm pretty sure they thought I was crazy! I hope this is an indication of things to come! Time to find a Nemo toilet seat...

Gavin's first fishing trip...

Last week Gavin and I got to go fishing with Brent's dad, Loran, at First Dam in Logan. Gavin loved it! He loved splashing in the water, looking at the ducks, and he especially loved touching the fish!

Here he is learning how to hold a fishing pole...

We had a successful trip and I think we caught 6 fish in about 45 minutes. Not too shabby! I am going to miss this nice weather when we can't do stuff like this for a while. I am not looking forward to snow...can ya tell?! Thanks Grandpa Hirschi for a fun time!