The Beach Part V: The Precious Moments

These pictures don't need any explanation.

The Beach Part IV: Quote of the Day

The quote of the day is brought to you by DJ.

"Mom, I love those bumps." (Get your minds out of the gutters. He wasn't even looking at the girls.)

"You mean the waves DJ?"

"Yeah, I love those waves."

Wait! Don't leave yet there is at least one more post coming. . .

The Beach Part III: The Action

Did I mention how much fun the kids had? If we have time we'll definately be going back.

Alexandria and AJ getting wiped out by a giant wave.

Isabel laughing at Alexandria and AJ getting knocked over by a giant wave.

DJ showing us what the giant waves do to him. (They make his cute little butt appear and fill his swimsuit with sand.)
AJ deciding he's going to surf the giant waves instead of get knocked over by them.

All the Cesar kids together just having fun catching some giant waves.

Don't leave yet. There is STILL more to come. . .

The Beach Part II: The Model Shots

Here we have all the Cesar Family sans Mommy (someone had to be the photographer) looking fabulous in their beachwear.

Alexandria

AJ: Check out his muscles.

Papi: Hands OFF girls. He's MINE!!

Isabel

DJ

And yes there are more so stay tuned. . .

Puerto Plata Beach Part I

Finally, we made it to the beach. Alexandria let Papi know that the ONLY reason she left school to come here is because we said we could take them to the beach. Yesterday was Papi's day off so we packed an overnight bag and headed to Puerto Plata. We stayed at a fabulous resort, Hacienda. (Mom, check your list of resorts to see if this place is listed.) The food was DELICIOUS. It was all included and we stuffed ourselves to the max for dinner. They had everything even a turkey. Normally, I would have skipped on the turkey but since I don't think we'll get turkey on Thanksgiving I figured that would have to do. I don't know how they cooked that thing but it was the BEST turkey I have ever eaten. It was actually juicy.

The kids had so much fun playing in the waves. Here's a few pics to get started.

And the all important name in the sand pictures. Just in case you can't tell who's who.

There are more pictures coming. To be continued . . .

Video Teaser

We just got back from Puerto Plata and I'm working on downloading all the pics but until I get that done here's a little video teaser.

P.S. Sorry, I didn't realize Isabel was peeing until we got home and I watched it again.

Bienvenidos a la Republica Dominicana

So I know all five of you who read our blog are waiting for some Dominican Republic posts. We flew all night to get here but we made it and actually the flight wasn't so bad. We had a 3 hour lay over in Salt Lake but luckily there was a play ground there so the kids had something to do while we waited. Then we took the red eye to JFK and on to Santiago early the next day. Dionys had a game that day but we were all so tired we slept right through it. Our first little excursion was to "El Monumento" right here in Santiago. It's a huge monument that they built to honor the heroes that fought in the revolution. They just remodeled it in 2007 so it's really nice now. I'm sure during the day you can go inside and go up to the top but you know how we're night owls so we got to see it at night when all the lights in the city are on. It's pretty that way too.

But I think the highlight of the night for the kids was the horse ride. This thing goes fast! And since I wasn't really sure how sober the driver was I was only a little nervous when it felt like it was going to tip over. I guess that's all a part of the Dominican experience.

Sleepy Student

This little girl is spoiling her mommy. She is the best student. I hardly ever have to tell her to do her homework or help her with it, she just does it. Even if it's late and she's falling asleep she still will try to get it done. Sometimes though sleep just takes over.

A Little Scare

I haven't written about this yet (or a whole lot of other things) because it's really hard to stay motivated blogging when you're private. I just have to remember that I'm doing this for the blog book too and so I do need to journal things for our family.

A couple of months ago Isabel got sick, really sick. After waiting a couple of days hoping that it would just go away and I wouldn't have to make the dreaded trip to the doctors office I finally gave in and took her. They looked her over and were very concerned. But she tested positive for strep so they gave me the antibiotic and we were on our way. It took her longer than was expected to feel better but she finally did get over it and we were all happy again.

About a month later the doctor's office called me. They were still concerned and wanted to see her again since she was so sick at her last appointment. I thought this must be bad so I made an appointment for that same day and took her in. They again looked her over, asked if she was eating and sleeping normal which she was but they still wanted to run more tests. I was pretty sure she was fine so I finally asked what they were looking for. The answer, leukemia. She had a few signs so they just wanted to do a blood test to make sure she was okay.

The next day we got her blood work done. You would not have believed how good she was. She sat on my lap and watched as they poked the needle in her arm and began to take out the blood. She didn't cry, didn't even flinch just watched the blood fill up the syringe. I was so proud of her. I had told her that they were going to take some blood from her arm but I think she misunderstood because after she asked if she got to keep her arm on her body. I guess she thought that they were going to take her whole arm off.

We waited a couple of days. I was pretty sure she was okay but still it wasn't fun waiting for the results. Finally, the doctor called. It wasn't leukemia. YEA! There was something going on but she wasn't really sure what, mono maybe, mild neutrophilia probably. They tested her blood sample again for mono but that came back negative. So it really turned out to be nothing more than a little scare. She's healthy and happy. And we are so thankful for that.

A Birthday Vacation

Our children are so lucky. They have grandparents and a great aunt who LOVE Disneyland. The boys got to go with them to Disneyland for their birthday this year. They were so excited! (Thanks to Uncle Adam, Aunt Fabi and their new little baby, Monique, for giving them the best birthday present ever and letting them have Grandma for just a couple of days.)

They had a great time at Disneyland. Their favorite rides? Space Mountain, oh yes they are their mommy's boys, and Buzz Lightyear. A little accident happened on the way there but I think it just made if for a more exciting trip. AJ still talks about how the van wouldn't go after the mean person in the truck hit them and took off. Using his hands he explains that, "one wheel wanted to go this way," he puts one hand straight forward, "and one wheel wanted to go this way," his other hand points out to the side. He's so cute.

After they got home we had to have cake and presents too. They wanted chocolate cake with blue frosting and two sets of five candles. Happy Birthday Boys!

Time to Dress Up

My kids LOVE dressing up. We have a two big boxes full of dress up clothes. So you know Halloween has to be one of their favorite holidays. This year Alexandria was Hermione from Harry Potter. DJ was Optimus Prime, AJ was Bumblebee from Transformers. And Isabel was a Care Bear, Cheer Bear if you know your Carebears. I forgot all about the camera though on Halloween so I snapped this pic of the boys on another day when they were playing in their Transformer costumes. Just try to imagine a cute little Hermione and a Carebear standing next to them.

Isabel Turns 3!

I'm a little late with these next posts but better late than never.

Isabel had her birthday on October 27. She turned 3. I can't believe my youngest is three years old. It's scary to say but I think life is getting easier. All my kids are potty trained and they all know how to dress themselves and eat on their own and only sometimes need my help with things.

So to celebrate we had a cool castle cake. She got LOTS of presents and we just had a fun party. When Papi asked her how was her party she said, "good because there were a lot of people at my party." Thanks everyone for coming. She loves the attention. Here's the pictures.

Oops!

I forgot to show you our cute pictures from taking Isabel's Joy School group to the zoo. We had so much fun. We got super close to the monkeys. We were so close we could have reached out and touched them! One almost jumped on my head. That would have been a good pic.

And we got to practice standing like the flamingos. That was tricky for four little three year olds. I think we did wear them all out. And we had a great time doing it.

Call Me Biased . . .

. . .but seriously these are the cutest brothers ever!

Ever Had A Dream You Were Flying?

These kids decided to help their dreams come true. While they were supposed to be cleaning their rooms I walked into this mess just as DJ was flying off the top bunk and landing softly on the two mattresses and 10 blankets below.