It is amazing what can happen in a year! This has been without a doubt the greatest year of my life. I am confident that it will never ever be topped. It can all be accredited to one person.

Thank you so much.

Karli and i celebrated a year with another incredible meal at the hotel atlantis, they gave us a private gazebo on the beach and food that has my mouth watering just typing this.

To all of the American friends and family in my life: Happy Thanksgiving.

Karli, the OPP and i returned to Las Terrenas for a Carol Morgan traditional turkey feast. The rumor was that seventy-one people participated and the food and drinks were amazing. Of course it was followed by a thrilling sunset game of five-hundred in the ocean and then a bonfire with guitars and s’mores under the stars. Not too difficult to find something to be thankful for! video

The rest of the weekend was spent in full relaxation mode which was a little different then a year previous.

As seen in the photos the weather a year later…was perfect. i have to admit it was a little hard to swallow after the stress all the rain put us and our guests through a year earlier. We talked about it a lot, then at 5:45 on Saturday out of nowhere a storm blew in that would have killed our wedding – especially because no one could have seen it coming. We wouldn’t change anything.

Oliver liked having the beach to himself; He put himself on a steady diet of sand (literally by the handful) and absolutely loved it when i buried him (video). He has three new teeth coming in, including two on the top – it is really going to change his gummy baby smile.

I have had a year to mentally compose a better way to thank all of the people that helped make the twenty-sixth of november two-thousand and six so incredible – i am still at a loss for words. The friends and family that made it here will never fathom what your presence means to Karli and me. We returned to the Villa Marcus on Saturday night (Karli had to give me my ring – for the third time), just being there sent a wave of emotion over me unlike anything Playa Bonita has ever seen.

It is incredibly fitting that our anniversary will be forever linked to the giving of thanks.

Upon returning to the capital we all needed long baths to get all that sand out of our hair!

Due to a scheduling or communication error we gained an extra day with Granny and Boppy. Truly, what was the loss for the medically needy in Lynden was our gain. We are lucky to be able to live and work overseas yet still be close enough for ten-day long (even if we stole one) visits! As is the usual case they came with two suitcases and left with one - leaving gifts a plenty - literally in every room of our house, we are all feeling very spoiled today (swinger video).
According to the weather network they are flying into 0 degrees celsius that feels like -4; it has to feel colder then that if you woke up in 26 degrees though doesn't it? With Oliver continuing to strengthen his, "i don't want to wear clothes" attitude, i truly am nervous for the festive season.
Oliver was terribly excited to open his first Christmas gift with mom (right) - he thought the box and the wrapping paper were awesome (he declined comment on the contents however).
Karli and i both took personal days last Friday enabling us to spend some time at a near by beach, sleeping in and enjoying the four extra hands that were eager to help out. Boca Chica is a great place especially when it is your "local."

Without stepping on next week's toes, Karli and i have begun the week long celebration of our anniversary. It is hard to believe how much can happen in a year! Everyday we are talking about what was going on and the emotions we had a year ago. Those of you who participated in Las Terrenas or from afar we want to renew our thanks to you.

The most difficult thing about being international teachers is being away from friends and family. That is an easy and obvious one. The benefit is when you do get to be close to your loved ones everyone seems to appreciate things just a little bit more. You will hear that a lot on this circuit; i am a believer.

Yup you guessed it, mom and dad are visiting. Ollie, Karli and i are fully enjoying being spoiled. Oliver loves his Granny and Boppy and again i am amazed by the intrinsic strength that family possess, how does he know?
Sure, the fact that he is the spitting image of Boppy might have something to do with it, but he most definitely knows.

This visit is particularly special, of course as any new parent would say having a son really changed my relationship with my parents and gave me a new appreciation for all that they have done (and continue to do) for me; that said this visit feels more peerlike then the relationship i have known for the last thirty years. Mom and dad are visiting our home, and we are taking our turn at spoiling them (a little) too!

They arrived on Friday and we showed them our new home, and then caught up over dinner and some Euchre. We went to the beach Saturday morning and enjoyed the sun and sand, Oliver showed off his new bathing a suit at Boca Chica (see the video of him and his friend mia here). We returned to the house for more feasting from our grill.

On Sunday we took Oliver to his first Licey game, he was impressed with los tigres 6-4 victory but was disappointed with the 3 runs they gave up in the 8^th and 9^th. We walked in to see two Azucareros get thrown out, then in the next minute a foul ball landed within 6 feet of us - a little overwhelming but he didn't seem to be upset. The volume of these games is something that defies explanation and truly needs to be experienced. He loved the game and it will definitley not be our last visit to Estadio Quisqueya.

So its Friday, its virtually next weekend and i haven’t written a word about last weekend, sometimes life seems to move a little quickly…
Well last weekend was a three-day, which gave me one more day to write about and one less day to get it done; no excuses. A year ago at this time Karli and i decided we needed to take a break from wedding planning and stress and head to the southwest of the island for a weekend of relaxation – the calm before the storm, last weekend we tooka major step towards making this an annual event.

The southwest of the Dominican Republic is unlike any place i have ever seen. It is incredibly gorgeous and refreshingly underdeveloped for this island. Kilometer after kilometer of desolate rock beaches and cliffs that just drop off into shimmering blue water, it truly eludes definition. The highway is likely the most gorgeous stretch of highway that i have ever driven. i am anxious to compare it to California number one but as for roads that i have driven only the sea to sky in B.C., the Cabot trail out east and a road that circumnavigates Majorca come close to comparing.

It became obvious to me in writing the paragraph above that this is a situation where i should let the photos do the talking, they are so much clearer then i, enjoy:

The hotel we stayed at (coralsol) was in a truly magical location, small cabañas up on a hill over a pebble beach - seriously from a dream. The highlight had to be the high reef out front that created a natural pool of calm sea water that was continuously refresed by the waves crashing over. Just writing this makes me want to go back today!




Here Is Karli enjoying her book on the beach with the green hills and our little cabaña behind her (right). Check out this little video to see the importance of WIFI.








WOW i just realized i hadn't put a picture of the OPP in, here he is enjoying the sunrise.






So on Saturday night, under the full moon we dragged our mattress out to sleep in its light over the water, it was absolutely incredible.





The only complaint anyone could really have about the southwest is its Xtreme heat, luckily coral sol has a pool that is fed by the frigid river water rolling down the hills, it has great coverage by the trees and is a great place to spend the hottest hours of the day.

Karli and Ollie basking in the morning sun

Yesterday was the worst post ever - i hate it. So i changed its title to the worst post ever - nuff said.
Anyway, today you get to see the worlds' cutest Egyptian.

special thanks to Uncle Jordan and Aunt Anne for the costume direct from Cairo; to Granny and Boppy for fast shipping and to Jeff, Kathryn, Aidan and Mia for delivery.

Halloween is celebrated here with the PTO's biggest fundraiser, the Halloween Frolic. It is essentially a carnival, lots of inflatable rides, slides, candy and a tonne of hyper kids whacked-out on sugar. The major difference from home is all the white clad nannies chasing around the kids while their parents chat on thier cell phones. Yeah it is a stereotype but there was lots of it going on. Oliver unsurprisingly was amazing, he did appear a little shellshocked for much of the evening but when i reflected on the evening i realized this was more people (far far more) then he had ever before seen, or knew existed on this planet. He likely thought there was Mommy, Daddy, Myra, family and some people who come over now and then...all of a sudden...he sees that the world is a bigger place. No tears and he absorbed it all, he fell asleep before his head hit the pack and play. (right: what is he thinking?)
He woke up as cute as he had gone to bed (below), still wearing his costume. In a press release he stated, "halloween is good, i approve and we will continue to celebrate this holiday."