Arruh, avast ye matys.  'Twas a wonders event, to be all told.  By the spirits of the see, a celebration of the quite proximate annular completion of the cosmic sailors Macrus Jamos and Molly Elizabet.  Fur three and five long years these scallywags have strode upon the waves of the cosmos in search of hidden treasure.  Congratulate them on their magnanimous achievements!

Oh ya, and I got to wear some face paint, to look like one of those crazy Frogs.

My (our) version of our trip to Dominican Republic...

I mostly just want to post more pictures on here.  It was a very relaxing resort. Very beautiful.

Vacation

Kalee and I got a chance to vacate our typical locale, for one in a much different latitude.  Crossing the Tropic of Cancer at a rate of 650 miles per hour, we arrived in Santo Domingo mid afternoon, and rode by private van to the Gran Bahia Principe Cayo Levantado resort.

Tropical luxury was the order of the day.  I worked on my Spanish skills, while Kelee honed her suntanfoo. Leaving the kids with Kalee's parents was a bit of a hardship, but we worked through it with dinner and dancing.  I probably paid way too much for a box of cigars, but how often do you get to haggle with a Haitian over Cuban cigars at a 5-star, all inclusive resort.  You have to take it all in I say, $8 cigars and tropical sea side sunshine.

The resort is on its own island, rented from the government of The Dominican Republic.  The DR shares western side of Hispanola with Haiti.  I first saw Cayo Levantado on a whale watching tour right about ten years ago.  Ever since then I wanted to have a stay on the beautiful island.  In that meantime, the old dock appears to have been abandoned, but the hotel itself has really grown.  We ended up staying in one of the villas that surround the main hotel.  We didn't have an ocean view, but had our own veranda with its own hot tub.










We went whale watching again, and got even closer than I did last time.  We got to experience a cow and calf together.  I even saw the calf breach (jump out of the water).  They were quite the couple.  Besides pools there was a range of beach space to occupy during the day.  Basically, it was a remote, restful luxurious experience.

Newman's New Man (hangin with the nephs)

So last night I got to hang with the Newman's new man.  Thomas James Newman was born Saturday Night, (February 25th).  Big bro Sam was awesome, and I got to be the awful uncle who teaches bad words and tickles and wrestles the kids till they scream.  Consensus is that Sam looks like Sarah and Tommy looks like daddy Mike.

Congrats to both!

Christmas 2011... kinda late.

here are a couple fun pics from Christmas.  Chaney and Molly are so cute...

Really she is just after his brownie...

got it!

And this is the best family pic we got in all of 2011! Except the one jessi got in the fall.  She only got 5 minutes to take pics of our family.  my kids are impossible. But they have fun!!

Finally, some Christmas pics for ya!

It has been a fairly uneventful winter. We mostly watch tv, because that is what the kids like and it's easy.  Fortunately, a person can show them educational stuff from time to time.  When not watching tv, we end up with broken arms and fingers stuck in treadmills. So, usually, tv it is!  I can not wait till summer is here. We could all use some time outside!  We haven't had  a lot of snow till recently. Last year Molly didn't love it outside, but this year she does.  I had to make them come in because it was dark outside.

After naps today, we intend to go back out there!   We also went to Bounce U this winter.  This was before Molly broke her arm. I wanted to make sure it was good and healed before I took her back there. You can see her at the top of this big slide.  They really had a lot of fun here.  Will add more pics soon.

I almost forgot my login to the blog...

It has been soooo long since I have done any blogging, I really almost forgot my login and password to this silly site!  I have some pretty great pictures since the last time  I was on here.  We have gone to Philly a couple times, with all great reports. We actually just got back and we don't have to go back for 6 months. We will also go to the eye dr here in a couple months and do a real eye test to see what Molly can see. I am pretty excited about that.

We have been to the childrens museum, the zoo, grandma and grandpa Richter's house a couple times, and the pumpkin patch.  Lala and Papa's house a million times.  Cousin Sammy came to town to visit. That was fun.  So many things.  And i would love to show you all pictures. but i cannot get the pictures off my card and onto the computer!!  So until another day... hopefully not far away, see ya later!

Kalee

 Marcus was a dinosaur and molly was a lion.  Yes the same lion that marcus was last year!  I ran out of time to find her something.

 This is Marcus and Molly with cousins Charlee and Gracie... they dressed marcus up as a girl.

At the best park EVER with some friends. we had fun grillin, playing on the sub-par playground equipment and then best of all, digging for dinosaur bones!