La Republica Dominicana

Monday Kari and I made the long trek home from the DR, leaving behind sad faced Marv and Linds, warm weather, and crazy security guards!  BUT the good news is I brought many photos and fantastic memories!  Enjoy -

We’re on our way!  We left Wednesday the 20th, for those of you following the Haiti situation closely, yes, that was the day of the 6.0 aftershock! 

View Full Album

 

Bienvenidos!  We made it to welcoming friends in Santo Domingo!

 

 

 

Thursday morning we headed up North to Cabarete, our destination of choice!  We found a great condo waiting for us and a beach too!  For three days we read by the pool, walked in the surf, chatted, shopped and swam in the pool and ocean!

View Full Album

This was on the way to Cabarete, we drove through a palm tree plantation!

 

In the evenings we went into Cabarete and had dinner on the beach.  It was so fun and carefree!  If GFS decided to move into the DR and needs a new sales rep in Cabarete, I call first dibs!  I’ll even brush up on my Espanole!

 

 

View Full Album

After dinner we’d head back to the condo for relaxing, Australian Open or a movie, and desserts!

View Full Album

Sunday we headed back to Santo Domingo and spent some time in the Colonial Zone.  This was cool for me because when I went 3 years ago with my tennis team, this was the area we stayed in.  It was fun to know a little of where I was and be able to point some things out to Marv and Linds too.

View Full Album

 

We went to McDonalds too, they have a delish Crunch Bar and Carmel flurry – there’s one area the US needs to get with the program!

Here are just a few extra sights from the DR –

View Full Album

Monday morning we stopped by Marv and Linds’ school to check it out before heading home.

Marv had attitude – but he was a great cameraman all weekend as you can tell!

 

 

Bienvenidos to the DR! - they say that when you’re coming and going, kinda like their version of Aloha!  Kar and I had a great trip, maybe there will be a sequel!?!?

View Full Album

Shout out to both Dad and gma Verwys who had birthdays while we were gone – Feliz Cumpleanos!

Back in the USofA!

Helllllllo faithful readers - all 6 of you! :) Kari and I traveled to and from the Dominican Republic safely and without any real incidents. Mucho mucho mucho pictures to follow!

Happy Monday!

Missing You!

This post is in honor of our dear MIA sister. She's an earthquake survivor, lives among wild beasts, and is dearly missed by her 'sisters'! LINDSAY COME BACK TO US! :)

Had lunch today with my 'sisters' minus the only one of the group who technically falls into that category! haha Went to Real Food Cafe, and stayed way beyond our welcome, but of course they were super nice and only tried to give us the boot before they knew we were getting cake!

Saved a seat for you Linds!

Tonight we're celebrating Grandma's 85th birthday - Happy Birthday Grams!

Q and A

So I've noticed I've had a few questions in the comments people have been leaving me. I dont like writing back in the comments section, so I figure I'll take a moment and write the answers here, and a few other things too.

Andrea asked what is a 'Chub'? Great question, I didnt know either and when Grandpa opened them for Christmas I was totally out of the loop and felt dumb, turns out Vicky didnt know either, whew! Chubs are simply smoked fish; but they're hard to find anymore. Apparently they were far more common back in the day, which is why Grandpa and Grandma love them, but have trouble getting them, hence a good Christmas gift, and funny! Also, delicious.

Lindsay asked if I'm following a training schedule for the 5/3 rbr? uhh sorta, kinda, I will eventually? I glanced at the official training guide that the rbr sends out, and I know that with my activity level at this point I'm a little ahead of what they're doing. I wasnt all that pleased with the schedule last year, so I think I might poke around on the internets and see if I cant find one the I like better. It was a little intense, and wearing.

Kari didnt have a question, but she said she's in for training for the race, YAY! she's also in for our trip to the Earthquaken DR next week! WAHOOOOO! :)

Road Warrior: It's been a good week, not so eventful or anything, just good. I'm back in a routine for working out, and I think with it, I'll be good to go for rbr come May. This week I went to the Y Monday morning, Tuesday evening, Thursday morning and I plan to go Friday night and possibly even run outside Saturday - it's been mild.

I hope everyone's doing well, if you're looking for a funny story head over to my SIL's blog!

Happy Thursday!

Perfect Timing

This weekend I had so much fun, and the reason for it is summed up in this post title 'Perfect Timing.' Melissa, my roommate from college, is from Traverse City and was home for the holidays from upstate New York and was still in town for a wedding on Saturday. My other good friend Dana and her husband Matt were at Lake Ann, 'The place to discover life at its best,' to do the music for the Freeze Out winter retreat. SO I got to see both of them in one weekend in one of my favorite places on earth! I just love being around all of them, it was such an encouragement to me! Melissa and I stayed up chatting and eating peanut m&m's (very us) and Dana and I went cross country skiing, tubing and I got to show her around my camp. The weather was absolutely stunning! Sunny and beautiful with shimmering snow, ahh! I only have a few photos, enjoy -

Melis and Me

It was SO beautiful

ahh camp...

Have a great week everyone!

Road Warrior

So I've decided I'm training for the 5/3 25k River Bank Run again this year - I've always been planning on it but now that it's January, I've decided. I wanted to be a 5/3 Road Warrior, but you have to be pretty dedicated to running and training, and unfortunately I'm a big fan of letting fun opportunities trump my gym time. Anywhoo I think that even though I'm not an Official Road Warrior, I'm going to use this blog to keep you updated and myself accountable to the training schedule. So, here goes nothing!

Monday - 3 miles, 30 minutes on Arch trainer.
Tuesday - 30 minutes on bike, 1 mile run, upper body lifting, 0.5 mile walk (thanks Em!)

If anyone else is considering training, I highly recommend it! Let's do it together!

Happy Tuesday!

A Capitol Christmas

For my family's fouth installment of Christmas we packed it up and headed for the Capitol city, Washington DC! It was a big weekend filled with several firsts, enjoy -

Ready to rock, on the road

Full House.

Our First meeting with Ellen

Elle is SO sweet, soft and snuggly!

When we got there Thursday night we had dinner and opened gifts before the kids went to bed - it was fun and they were very excited!

Sam and his tool kit - he fixed the whole house before the weekend was over! :)

Rita and Grace with new hair bows!

Marv, Linds, Sam and Grace - cheese!

Andrea opening her measuring cup dolls - great find!

Sam and Dad - Sam loved his new sock monkey!

Friday all the Verwys Girls headed out for a little Target, Chik-Fil-A and the mall. Grace wanted to get her ears pierced when everyone was there, I thought she'd chicken out, but she did so great!

Before with mom

Getting ready, holding Claire the Bear

The Big moment!

After - mom and baby girl were overwhelmed!

Looking the mirror for the first time

When a girl gets her ears pierced who to bring but a grandma, a mom, two aunts, two sisters, and boat load of moral support! :)

Ta Da! Posing after

Rita and Linds all ready to go Saturday morning

Family pictures around the tree

I see, I see!

Rita was rockin' her new pink Cowgirl boots!

Sam! He was playing a game in which the junk yard dog lunges forward - couldnt have been better timing! :)

Two babies?

Iranian lunch - right before the power went out, DR style!

We promised the girls we'd take them swimming at our hotel, we finally got there Saturday night and then they stayed over too! Oh what fun!

Me and the bathing beauties!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!