date night

We went out the other night and had our friends Bryce and Paige (and their kiddos) come over to watch the boys. We have been borrowing the Jenkins scooter during the break (they went back to the States), so we drove it up to De Champs (a bar/restaurant), ate dinner, enjoyed the perfect view, and then... in true Dominican style... it down poured! :) We had to ride the scooter back in the rain, at night, going about 5 miles an hour! :) Here we are back from our date, soaking wet!

Thankfully Paige and Bryce had no problems with the boys while we were gone (they were asleep already). We have done this date night swap a few times now, and I am LOVING it. It was so nice to go out without the kids, talk and catch-up and not be preoccupied with anything. Even the ride home in the rain was fun. Thanks guys, let's keep up this date night tradition! :)

hot tubs

We went with the Fredericks to the hot tubs again. (We are the pastey white family in the top picture, I swear in person we have tans!)

Here in Dominica that doesn't mean a hot tub in the sense you might think. It is a natural hot spring in the middle of the jungle that has bubbled up and formed a small pool. Hawken wore swim trunks for the first time. I think he looks so old in them. :)

Matix wanted to explore more than staying in the hot tub doing nothing, so he and Paul wandered around exploring the jungle most of the time. I love having Paul available so we can go on these little adventures. He is back to studying already though, but only half days, and we have had date night almost everyday of the week. Love it! :)

Messy messy messy

Hawken has now expanded his ever growing repertoire of foods, to carrots! :) Oh the anticipation!

Despite the fact that it looks like none actually got into his mouth, it did, and he really likes it! :)

Maybe messy eating runs in the family.... This, at one point, was a delicious looking cupcake. :)

Hawken crawling update

Hawken is 4 months old, and still, no crawling... Well, no crawling forward, that is. :) He can crawl backward fairly easily, but gets frustrated that the toy he is aiming at keeps getting farther and farther away. Sweet thing.

Our Village

Since we have been on break, lots of our friends (and the boys friends) have left. Some of them just went home for a visit, but some are done with their time on the island and they are off to 5th semester in the States. We are all really missing them.

I was asked to give a talk on Sunday at church about raising children. The conclusion of it came to the fact that everyone who knows a child can be an influence on their lives. After which, I have been reflecting on how many people help us on a daily basis. You know the phrase "it takes a village to raise a child"? I really feel like that is true and I am so thankful for the "village" we have of friends here. I love how supportive we are of each other and am forever grateful for the help, encouragement, and love they give to us. :)

These are some pictures I have collected of our little support network. Friends who help, even when we don't ask. :)

Sorry I don't have pictures of everyone, but you know who you are. Thank you. :)

Updates

Friday we had our usual root beer floats (YUM!) and Matix asked to hold Hawken (by tapping his own tummy, indicating "my turn"). So we put them in the stroller together. So cute! Matix is such a good big brother, I can hardly imagine life without Hawken in our family. He just fits so well. :)

Matix also learned to cross his fingers (like you do when you wish someone good luck). You can sort of see it in this picture, but he does it ALL the time. He is pretty proud of himself when he does it.

AND... drumroll please... Paul got his grades back and has passed all his 8 tests from the past 3 weeks. YAY Paul! :) We are so proud of you and are excited about being halfway done, well, halfway done with THIS part of Medical School. :)

Red Rock.... Rocks!!!!!!

So there is this little stretch of Dominica called Red Rock beach. A resort found the best beach on the island and set up shop but lets anyone on the beach in front of their resort.

Our friends Amber, Tom, and Lilly happened to know a little Portsmouth hook-up that allowed us to only pay $5 EC to get to the resort (the day before we went to a beach that was almost as far and payed $60 EC), needless to say, their hook-up was money in the bank! :)

Once we got there Matix thought the ambience and mood was just right to make his move on Lilly, she's an older gal, so he was a little intimidated, but found his way into some hand holding on the way to the beach. :) Red Rock Romance.

This is a picture of all of us, Jessie "The Paparazzi" Berg figured out the perfect camera timer setup, she's a little trigger happy on the camera, but we're working on her addiction. :)

The little guys got pretty tuckered out and crashed in shade for a few winks. Matix on the white blanket, and Hawken on the orange one. :)

Jessie and I swam out to the rock behind us in the third picture (in this post) and it was awesome. The view touched the soul, and just kind of made you feel bad for all those people going to medical school back in the states that couldn't enjoy these amazing benefits of a caribbean education. :)

This my beautiful wifey and her standard beach bun style with more of the endless Dominica beauty behind her.

These are our friends that went with us ... we had a blast with them, and were super bummed that they were leaving for 5th semester in Miami, FL. We'll for sure catch up with them somewhere along the way and have some more adventures, good luck you guys, we'll miss ya!!!! :)

Just another day living and lovin life here on the D-Rock!!!! :)

Number 1 Beach

On Friday we went to #1 beach and had the best time! I am in love with all this Paul time we are getting! It makes everything so much better! :)

We played in the river, splashed in the ocean, ate some food, and had a wonderful time all together as a family.

After we were there for a few hours, some friends joined us. They played games with the coconuts and I cut up a million mangos to share. So much fun! #1 beach really is properly named. :)

Mangos for sale!

Yesterday while walking home, we saw a few locals selling bags full of mangos. Each bag had about 20+ mangos in them. And guess who got FREE mangos?! Matix!!! Yay Matix!

After Matix got 1 bag for free, Paul bought 1 bag for $5 EC dollars ($1.90 US dollars) and they gave him another half a bag free "for the babies". Really, if you come here, you need to bring kids, or borrow ours. :)

Today we brought a bag to #1 beach and cut them all up and shared with some of our friends who joined us there. More pictures of our beach adventure today coming soon... :)

Earth Day

Since today is Earth day, we decided to give a little back to our Earth that we love so much. :) After Paul got back from his LAST FINAL (YAY!!!), we headed out, trash bags in hand.

Matix didn't really get what we were doing, but he had fun picking up little scraps of things and putting them in the bags. We collected 4 bags of trash total. We figured we would do 1 bag for each member of our family.

Since it is pretty hot out, we decided to reward ourselves with cherry juice and air conditioning in the CAC (student center). Paul, Hawken and I sat on the cool floor, Matix drank all the juice himself, and we watched a couple guys play ping pong.

We are very grateful for our Earth and want it to stay clean and beautiful. Whoever reads this should pitch in too. Pick up 5 pieces of trash this week, it really will make a difference and you will be happy you did. :)

Messy Hawken

Yes, Hawken is still getting fed by us... yet he gets THIS MESSY! :) What?! Well, he talks, coos and giggles while we feed him which makes it go everywhere. The more of a reaction we make to the mess, the wilder he gets. :) So funny. This is also why we have changed his bath time to right after he eats. :)

Such a BOY

Trucks and bugs... what more could a little boy need? :)

Take a Break!

After Paul's mini exam last week, he actually took some time off from studying (shocking, I know) :) and came to the pool with us. It was so nice to have him there. He had fun too, even though it was pretty cloudy that day.

Matix and Emmy and Shane had more fun in the shower than they did in the pool, as usual. :) How cute are these kids?!

And, after his last final this Thursday, we plan on stealing away LOTS of Daddy time. We need it and I think he needs it too. There is only so much your brain can handle when you are learning SO much information so quickly, like here in Med. School.