Catching Up

Wow, it's been a while. No apologies, it'll happen again.
I'll try to provide some quick updates with some photos. Let's see. Way back in October, we celebrated Spirit Week at the school. Some of our friends and family ask if the Dominican Republic celebrates Halloween and the answer is definitely no. I've never even seen a hint of a costume down here. Actually, Christmas decorations are usually popping up by then.
So, instead of Halloween and such, we have Spirit Week where we get to show our school spirit (which isn't much in a program like ours) and dress up in different themes each day. Terry definitely outdid me in the costume department, even Hazel got into it.
The first picture is of "Unsung Hero Day". Terry went as "4-Square Man". If you know the game, it'll make sense. The students play it during break and whenever they get the chance. I ran out of ideas and had to go as Captain Canada and Hazel was my sidekick.

This is our staff photo on "Nerd Day". You can't really tell, but I'm dressed as Terry and Hazel and I are both sporting uni-brows. Very gross.

This is the Friesen Clan on Hick Day. We end spirit week with a chili bake-off and square dancing. Lots of fun!

In November, Terry's sister, Chris and her husband Frank, came to visit for almost 2 weeks. We had so much fun. We spent 2 nights at a gorgeous villa on the North Coast, some day trips to waterfalls around Jarabacoa and one day at 27 waterfalls, the coolest place on earth. We tried to give them as many Dominican experiences as possible but instead of showing them new things, Frank ended up showing us new things he had found in his wanderings. Including a great new bakery and roasted sweet potatoes from the orange juice man.
This is the gang out for dinner in Cabarete.

This is the first waterfall of 27 Waterfalls. Frank brought his camera along, so we finally have pictures of this mystery place.

I think this is Carrie going down one of my favourites. It's a natural waterslide with a drop into a pool of water.

Hazel hanging out with her dad and the waves.

Shortly after they left we celebrated Hazel's first birthday!! I was worried about having a party in our tiny house but decided to do it anyways because we wanted our neighbours to come too. Luckily we have a car port and moved everything outside. We had experienced a Dominican Birthday party before and knew what we were going to be up against. I told Terry that I wasn't going to have a party like that, that we would all sit down and eat cake like civilized people. Well, things didn't go exactly as planned but we all had fun (at least some of us).
Just when the neighbourhood kids started showing up, Terry was blowing up and hanging balloons. Unfortunately, we had about 3 bags of balloons and once the kids started, there was no stopping them. Hazel had a blast as she hadn't really seen balloons before this. She did look a little dazed and confused as to why there were so many noisy people all staring and talking to her. It was way past her bedtime by the time we finally sat her down to enjoy some of her own cake. She was a little unsure at first but eventually dug right in.

Can you see Hazel in the middle of all the balloons?