Dominican Republic

It has taken me a long time to load and go through all the photos that I took during our big family vacation of the summer but finally, I have done it!  At the start of August, Pop and Bub took us along with Aunt Kimmie and soon-to-be-uncle Kurt on a Williams family vacation.  They had purchased a package deal at a charity auction and we got to take advantage of the benefits!  Hooray for freeloading!  We had a private house for a week which was so big we couldn’t even fill up all the room!.  It came with a pool, a beautiful yard, a butler (Marco), a housekeeper (Noelle), and a chef (Rosa)!  It was absolutely amazing.  Rosa cooked amazing meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday.  We never had a meal out the whole week.  We never cooked, washed a dish, folded a piece of laundry or anything!  We were so pampered.  We got the back end of a tropical wave (which is a step down from a tropical storm) when we first got there but overall the weather was great. Aiden and Court loved spending every waking minute in the pool or in the ocean.  Even more, the boys loved the attention of Pop, Bubba, Kimmie, and Kurt who is now both of their new best friends!  It was very relaxing and a great way to spend time together.  Thanks for inviting us Bubba and Pop! It was pretty darn dreamy!

IMG_9572IMG_9575

IMG_9581

Kurt, Aiden, and Court with the ever popular Pokemon stickers

IMG_9607

Lego time!

IMG_9594

Relaxing with a little TV. The boys were slightly annoyed that the TV’s in the house only “spoke Spanish.” Spoiled!

IMG_9602

Court dressed up in my PJs

IMG_9609

Court, Kurt, and Kimmie won the most fierce kickball game the DR has ever seen.

IMG_9635

Torrential downpour!

DSC09881

This little guy greeted us every morning and bid us Buenos Noches every night.

DSC09895DSC09897DSC09903DSC09915

DSC09916

Bub and Pop are ready for breakfast

DSC09917

The backyard with Willie waiting for someone to jump in the water!

DSC09925

Exploring Altos de Chavon which is a 16th century replica of a Mediterranean village set up high above the Chavon River.

DSC09928

Court’s photo skills. Don’t worry, Court, Grandpa will teach you how to crop out the camera bag later.

DSC09936

Looking over the River Chavon

DSC09941

DSC09949

Once again, Court’s photo skills at work

DSC09955

Baseball in the Dominican Republic is huge. Unfortunately, it’s not baseball season but we did get to visit a practice. The boys got invited to “hit” a few balls. Very generous. Now we just have to work on their contact with the ball!

DSC09958

DSC09960

At the marina at Casa de Campo. We all picked out our favorite yachts.

DSC09964

Serious sand castling

DSC09973

The boys swam for hours with their goggles in the beautiful water. They couldn’t get over the fact that they could see the fish, sand, coral and their feet. SO different than our Atlantic coast beaches.

DSC09976

Kimmie and Kurt. This is why we all love Kurt – he is hilarious. It was nice for our family to get to know him better this week. So excited to welcome you to the fam, Kurt!

DSC09977

Pop and Bubba soaking up so

DSC09982

DSC09988

Ahhhh this is the life!

DSC09995

Ok, this is a terrible photo as the humidity was messing with my camera. But, this is Aiden standing under a mango tree! In the backyard! Fresh mango for breakfast?Heaven!

DSC00001

This is the green orange tree. Marcos picked the oranges and Rosa made us green orange lemonade each morning for breakfast. Delicious!

DSC00003

Our crew! Noelle, Rosa, and Marcos are in the middle. What a wonderful vacation! I miss Rosa the most 🙂

 

Court’s preschool triathlon

For the first time this year, the McCarthy preschool triathlon at the YMCA used timers and gave out places to the participants. Guess who got third place? Court!! He’s not the fastest in the swim but you should have seen this kid passing everyone on the bike. He had the eye of the tiger! So proud of our Court-man for doing his best!

image

No pre-race jitters here!

image

Jumping in to get ready for the atart

image

Swimming as fast as he can

image

Speedy biker boy

image

Run it home!

image

A medal?!

image

Post- race celebration at Krispy Kreme with Bubba and Pop

The Epps visit

Tyler, Melissa, Malone and Trey Epp came to visit from Kansas City and used us as a trial run for traveling for the first time as a family of four! We were honored to host their first fam fun trip and I think it went smashingly! Trey and Malone are such fun kiddos. Aiden and Court could NOT get enough of Malone and pretty much frightened her off with their affection the entire weekend. The kids got to play by day and the adults got to hang out by night! We only hope that they had as much fun as we did.  Please come back next year!

image

Trey, Court, Malone, and Aiden

image

Trey enjoyed Tyler’s birthday cake! Happy birthday Tepp!

image

Tyler and Bruno bonded. Don’t let the sour look on his face fool you.  He is acting all tough and cool – he loves that dog!

image

Malone and Court in a tickling match.

image

image

Trey and I coloring

image

I literally took NO photos of the cookout that we hosted in honor of the Epps visit.  Ugh! However, someone sent this photo to me and I just love it.  Jen is feeding Jackson and Naya while Melissa and I act as high chairs.  Sometimes it takes a village!

We took the kids to Ray’s Splash Planet one morning.  Let’s just say it was a big hit.

imageimage

Children’s Theater Camp

Aiden was fortunate enough to spend a week at the Children ‘s Theater camp in Charlotte. What an amazing week for him with a space theme! He has discovered his theatrical side, loves to be on stage, memorized every word of his lines, and delivered them beautifully. He loved it and his favorite thing: “singing and dancing.” He IS my son!

Warning:  these are long and probably only suited for grandparents due to their length.