The other side of the sunrise...

A major impact that Oliver has had on my life is re-introducing me to the morning. There was a time – not too long ago – when the only way that i saw the morning was by not having made it to bed by the time the sun came up. Those days are gone, and sometimes i wonder how i ever survived them. Don’t get me wrong, they were fantastic and hilarious but things change. Mornings are full of smiles and laughs now and when they happen to come on a secret beach that you have all to yourself there really isn’t much to complain about.

This weekend was incredible; special in so many different ways. Of course the most difficult thing that Karli, Oliver and i deal with is living so far away from our family and friends. The upside to that is that you have a tendency to bond quickly and solidly to the people that you are with, creating intense and fast friendships. This is bittersweet because the nature of these friends is that too soon they (or you) will move on to new adventures in new places. This of course ensures a great network of tight friends spanning the globe – but it can also be hard. This is the time of year when teachers decide who will stay and who will go. Conversations are dominated with questions of the future or the sad realization that the friends you have seen daily for years will be on the other side of the world sooner then you wanted.
este es nuestra vida.
Live it, that’s all you can do – strive to get the most out of everyday with the people who are here now and worry about tomorrow when it is here. That’s what this weekend was about.

We were on the highway shortly after 3:00 and had swum in the ocean before a fish dinner on Friday. Hearing the waves crash while lying out on your porch is something i do more then many – but can you ever do it enough? Saturday we went and explored some river fed pools (see the video and turn up the volume so you don't miss the squeal!) that we had to ourselves before spending the afternoon between naps on the beach. The other guests had left leaving the hotel totally to us for Saturday night to play games relax and enjoy the good life before going up to a feast that made the huge dinner from the night before look like a snack. Fresh lobster, fish, sweet potatoes, salads, … the plates kept coming and coming – it was honestly too much! Sunday was more beach and pool time before loading up for the drive home. Ollie continues to amaze with what he will put up and we remain the luckiest people i know.

some explaining may be necessary for this one:

the ice cube was too slippery to pick up, so yogababy went to it.

One step closer to becoming a Master of the Universe…

It was a long a difficult week but Karli finished yet another Masters class. Oliver and i got to spend a lot of time together solo which is always great; he is still hilarious walking (with very little assistance) and talking (in his own tongue) non-stop. He certainly keeps you moving but there is really nothing i would rather be doing.

We got back into routine well and i am constantly thankful for the lives that we are leading.

Friday was a great dinner hosted by incredible friends giving us time to catch up as to the highlights of an active festive season. Saturday was busy running errands watching a little bit of football – just having some guy time, before heading out for a hilarious birthday party. i realized while at the birthday party that once again i am surrounded by incredible people. Really positive and all hilarious, i don’t know how i have gotten so lucky in my life but with this new crew of teachers it seems the good times will keep on for awhile.
I coerced a couple of friends to watch Oliver for the afternoon Sunday so i could squeak out and get a little kiting session in. The wind was blowing harder then i have ever seen it (gusting up to thirty-five miles per hour) but the vast majority of the day was very sailable and it felt great to be back on the water. We are developing into a little crew out at Salinas, at first it was just us teachers (two) but now we can have six or eight easily. As far as flat water sailing goes there isn’t a better spot on the island and it is the only real option as a day trip from Santo Domingo. It was my first day on my new sail and she performed wonderfully, i would have liked something smaller but was amazed at the de-power. Most importantly Ollie was his happy and charming self for the sitters, leaving them as an option for future windy Sundays.

The month long health kick/detox is in full form and has been successful so far; in fact it has me re-impassioned with cooking and i have been inventing lots of new gems – which i am anxious to share. Come for a visit.

mmvii

Seriously did you ever think we would make it here? i have to be honest; i had my doubts, but congratulations to us.

A three week long Christmas vacation is a real highlight to being a teacher and it afforded us the opportunity to celebrate Ollie’s first Christmas with both sides of our family; a real feat considering that they are more than 3500 kilometres apart. It was a wonderful break and although we would have loved more time to see all the people we missed and spend more time with our friends and family, i have to admit it was nice to return to our own bed.

Now that Santa guy is only supposed to deliver gifts to the nice kids not the naughty ones right? If that is true how come we left with two suitcases and came back with four?

What did we do for three weeks? Well i hope you are sitting down…I can’t give you a play by play cause neither of us have time for that. What i can say is that we enjoyed family, friends, sites and sounds in SanFran, Brantford, Toronto and even places as exotic as Coburg to their fullest. The list of people we need to thank for their hospitality, friendship or just company is incredible - we are so lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends and family that we get to see a couple times of year.

To the friends and family we didn’t get to see, for our part we are so sorry and we really hope to see you either here in the beautiful Dominican or the next time we are in your neck of the woods.

Whether we saw you or not look for me on the big screen in The Good Shepherd (wedding scene about 15 minutes from the end), it is my debut and the Oscar buzz is deafening!

As usual our camera was going crazy and i have put together a little slideshow (link here), but for now here is Olver with some guy you might recognize: