Dominican Republic

After almost two weeks of travel and living out of a suitcase in Haiti, we took a 7-8 hour bus ride to the capital of Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo.

The view as we crossed from Haiti into DR reminded me of the green Pacific Northwest:

We spent a few days at the beach with two other couples from MCC, enjoying time away from the internet and near a beautiful beach.  It's very rare that we take time away as a family, so this was a special treat, and we were ready to relax after a hectic several months. 

The beach looked like a postcard. 

Ruby was not super happy with the intense heat and humidity, but she was all smiles at the beach, with the nice, warm breeze.  

Me and my littlest chica. 

The colors were unreal.

We were mesmerized by the softest, whitest sand we'd ever seen, in contrast to the sparkling turquoise of the water and sky.

My little hams make the beach a lot of fun.

A couple attempts at a family photo.
Goofy Girls.

Attempt #2.

Awesome sand castle. 

For our girls, nothing is more fun than sand and water. 

You know it's fresh when the guy is selling live shrimp. 

We spent our last two days in the DR visiting friends who live in Santo Domingo. These are friends from our time in Pennsylvania and Michael and Tom studied international development together. They are working in DR with another development organization.

We got to visit each other two years ago in Honduras, so it was super fun to see them again, two years later, with 2 more kids in the mix.

Here's a flashback to two years ago, after we had just arrived to Guatemala, and spent a few days in Honduras:

Hanging out on some old Mayan ruins. 

2 couples, 4 girls

The 4 girls, ages (not in order) 3, 2, 1, and10 months in May 2013.

And fast forward two years:

We both have 3 girls, and our girls have a similar spread in ages. Lined up they were ages 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and 2 months. 

It was fun to visit Santo Domingo, the oldest city in the "New World," founded by Christopher Columbus' younger brother, and even more fun to reconnect with old friends.