Happy Birthday, Harli!

Yes, today is Ms. Harli's 1st birthday! Our little girl is growing up so fast! :)

From a small pup, barely registering on the scales...

...to the "big girl" she is today, busting the scales at nearly 10 lbs!



It's official! She's a "Rock Star"... see- she even has the T-shirt to prove it!


Happy Birthday to Harli! Don't worry- although we love our little pup, we're not the kind of people who do crazy things like throw birthday parties for their pets. (We just blog about their birthdays!) :)

Punta Cana...Part Tres

One of our most favorite parts of the trip was an excursion we took on our fifth day in Punta Cana. It was an all-day "safari" type of trip that allowed us to see the countryside and how residents of the Dominican live. We traveled in an open-air bus, which was great (except for the 10-minutes of rain we had to drive through!) :) Here we are on the bus in the countryside...

One of the things that made the trip so fantastic was our tour guide, Nacho (yes, like the cheese.) He was very entertaining, and you could tell that he loved his job! He was college-educated and spoke six languages. Since tourism is such a major source of income for the country, being a tour guide is one of the better employment options available. Nacho spent the entire tour hanging off the back of the bus. As if this wasn't dangerous enough, he was also making us drinks while doing so! His main specialty? Rum and Coke! He had a cooler full of old-fashioned, glass bottles of soda. He would toss the bottle over his shoulder in order to pour out the top portion of soda. Then he would refill the bottle to the top with rum... and voila- Instant Rum and Coke! The photo below shows Nacho's bartending skills in action, as he is pouring the soda out over his shoulder.

As part of our tour, we travelled through several small towns. As you might expect, there were many impoverished areas. Life there seemed very simple and slow-paced. However, there were still many glimpses of modern technology, with a "Dominican twist." For example, we saw some houses with TV antennas on the roof, however they were on poles made of bamboo!

Below is a picture of an actual "gas station" in one of the small villages in the country. If you think that our gas prices are outrageous, gas in the Dominican costs the equivalent of $5 US! As a result, motorcycles and scooters are their major modes of transportation. The gas station below allows them to pull their motorcycle right up and filler-up!

As we drove further into the countryside, it was amazing to see how lush the landscape was. It looked like something straight out of Jurassic Park! In the picture below, you can see the overall scenery- we eventually drove up into the mountains in the background.

Once up into the mountains, we stopped in a small community. There we were able to see how they process several of their main exports- coffee, vanilla, cocoa, and sugar. We also had the opportunity to sample these commodities in their freshest forms. Here are pics of us enjoying fresh-cut sugar cane.



After our time in the mountains, we headed to one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. It was very secluded, and I felt like we were on our own little private island! It was perfect!

They also had boogie boards available for us to use. Here is Scot heading out into the waves to give it a try...


And here is his bald head riding on a wave. I didn't get the picture snapped quick enough to catch him higher on the wave!


All things considered, it was a perfect day trip for us. And on a snowy day like today, it makes me really appreciate how great it was!

Punta Cana...Part Dos

As I mentioned in my previous post, we did experience some excursions outside of our resort while vacationing in Punta Cana. As wonderful and luxurious as a resort can be, I still like getting out and seeing the "real world," so to speak. Our first excursion was the KonTiki snorkeling cruise. Some people might refer to this as a "Booze Cruise" as there is music, dancing, and an open bar on the boat for the entire trip. While we did enjoy the music and the occassional beverage, our main goal for the trip was the snorkeling. We were, however, a little disappointed with the quality of the snorkeling we experienced. The water wasn't very clear that day, and the fish and coral weren't as brightly colored as they have been on previous snorkeling trips we had each been on. Nonetheless, we still enjoyed getting out in the open water. We took some pictures with an underwater camera, but I'm not sure how well they are going to turn out. Here our some other pictures from our "Day at Sea"...

Here was our guide. We cannot remember his real name because Scot and I affectionately nicknamed him "Crabman." For those of you who watch "My Name Is Earl," then you know what we're talking about. For those of you who don't, well you're missing a really funny show!



Here is picture of us as we were cruising out to the spot for snorkeling. As you can see from my "comb-over" hair do, it was a little windy on the top deck of the boat!

Here is a good view of looking back at the beachfront while we were out in the water. The beaches here had the most beautiful, white sand, and the water was a brilliant turquoise in color.

And here we are after our snorkeling experience, enjoying the drinks and music on the main deck of the boat.

You can't really see it in the picture above, but there were actually several baby strollers behind us! We were amazed that there were a few people that brought small children on this excursion. I mean, what part of "Booze Cruise" makes you think it would be a good family outing? Plus, in order to get onto the main boat, you had to wade out into the water and get into smaller fishing boats first. It was quite entertaining to see the dads trying to carry their strollers out into the ocean and then get them into the boats! It was also funny to see how many of them went straight for the bar when they finally got onto the main boat! :)

All in all, it made for a great day. I will post pics from our other excursions in the next day or so. But now I have to finish up some other things before American Idol comes on! :)

Punta Cana... Part One

Wow! It has been forever since I've added any postings to this blog. However, life has been a little hectic for the last couple of months. Planning a wedding can occupy one's time enough. But when you are also doing this during the holiday season, it leaves very little time for blogging.

ANYWAY... Scot and I rang in the New Year with a small, intimate wedding in Mexico (Missouri.) Everything went as planned and we had a great time! We returned back from our honeymoon a few days ago, and are now settling into married life. We went to Punta Cana in the Dominican for our honeymoon, and we had a remarkably good time. Most people have not heard of Punta Cana, but we would highly recommend this beautiful island! While there, we took a lot of pictures to help remember our travels. In a futile attempt to portray what a great place Punta Cana is, I will post some of our pics from the trip...

Here is a picture of me at the Iberostar Punta Cana resort. The grounds were so lush and immaculate.




We met a lot of great people there, and everyone was so friendly. One of the most important people we got acquainted with was Marcello, one of the resort bartenders. He was always singing and dancing, and overall very entertaining. Plus, he was one hell of a drink-maker! :) In addition, he thought Scot was "Bullseye" from the Ben Affleck movie, "Daredevil." Funny enough, this wasn't the first time that someone has told Scot this!

For those of you who are not familiar with "Bullseye," I have attached a picture for you to see the comparison. Here's Scot and I during one of our many trips to Marcello's bar...

And here is "Bullseye." I must say that there is a bit of a resemblence...although I have never seen Scot make such a serious face (and then there is the whole bullseye-in-the-middle-of-the-forehead thing.)

This is George, the resident rooster that roams freely around the resort grounds. Although you can't really tell in this picture, he was the biggest (insert joke here) rooster I have ever seen!


We also treated ourselves to massages on the beach. This was the first "real" massage either of us had ever had. While I enjoyed it thoroughly, I was amazed at how it was actually painful at times. However, I was completely relaxed when it was over with. Granted, this could also have to do with the fact that I was on the beach with an unlimited supply of alcohol!


We also took a few excursions while we were there, but since it is getting late in the evening I will save them for another post. I hope to get them posted in the next day or so (not the typical 2 month's time that it has been taking me!)