Dominican Republic Orphanage 2012

This year for Ben's 12th birthday he decided instead of birthday presents he would collect much needed school supplies and jeans for an orphanage in the Dominican Republic . It was SO rewarding to see and visit personally the kids that received the donations.

The children at Niños de Cristo come from all over the Dominican Republic: from villages to the west near the Haitian border and to the east including La Romana. They come from a variety of background situations ranging from being orphaned to abandonment, or having a parent in prison, or a parent with serious mental illness, or a parent having no resources to support the child. Many of the children have been sexually abused and have been taken in at the request of police, courts, or government agencies. There are several brothers and sisters.

These two little girls I was holding wouldn't let me put them down! So cute but heartbreaking. It is nearly impossible to adopt any of these children. Most of them do not have birth certificates & Dominican law restricts adoption for different reasons.

Ben playing soccer with some of the boys.

They LOVED playing with our hair. They kept smelling it :)

I really need to learn Spanish...all the kids only spoke Spanish. Our kids surprised me at how much they knew.

Chris enjoying Spanish conversation with the kids

Music was playing and Ben was trying to get them to dance! So funny, they just looked at him weird.

When Baylie first walked in they thought she was Hannah Montana...we had to really convince them that she was not Miley Cyrus either! So cute.

The kids really wanted to hold your hand, sit on your lap, touch and play with your hair all the time. They loved the attention. I hated to leave.

Our kids said by far this was the best day of any vacation they have ever had. What a great testament of how serving others really does make you happy.

Puerta Plata DR

Baylie's first experience at beach sales. This lady REALLY wanted to braid Baylie's hair. (for the low, low, price of $100) She REALLY did not want to take no for an answer either! :)

Wind surfing is very popular

We were all so excited to get to visit Chris' old mission!! Cannot believe we have gotten so old so fast and this is his first time back...20 years later. We are so lucky to have shared the experience with Elder Stone, his wife and Bro. Elmer (John) and Cheryl Elmer. Dinner on the beach...of course Chris never got to eat like this on his mission.

Rancho Veragua Horseback riding near Puerta Plata

In the middle of the horseback tour we stopped at this little store. They were only able to sell us their one and only unopened bottle of water...we all shared.

While at the "store" we met some little girls holding this cute baby. We gave them money for bread and milk <3

Rancho Veragua is a 3,500 acre horse ranch near Caberete/Puerta Plata

2 tall girls on small horses

Baylie's face when she was told she has to wear a helmet to ride the horse

Nolan is trying a gandule, or pigeon pea, a staple food source in the DR

Trying fresh coconut with Bro John Elmer

The family that owns the ranch and has lived there for 5 generations...super nice. They invited us to stay for an authentic Dominican dinner. We couldn't, we had to start our drive back.

la bandera dominicana again & again

We stayed here in Puerta Plata right on the beach

In the DR a popular dish is ‘la bandera dominicana’ - the dominican flag - which is made up of bean stew, white rice, meat, (we chose the chicken opposed to goat or pork) fried plantains and a simple salad. We ate at this resort area 3 nights in a row. (we knew the food was prepared with high standards...I was scared someone would get sick!)

Cabarete Caves

Dozens of caves are scattered throughout El Choco National Park, near the town of Cabarete, but only a few have been developed for tourists. Guides tell stories of playing in the five-million-year-old caverns when they were children and point out art on the walls made by Taino (Arawak) natives, who were living on the island when Columbus arrived in 1492.

The highlight of the tour is a visit to one of the largest caves, where you are invited to swim in the deep, clear, spring-fed pool that fills the bottom. Ben and Nolan were brave and swam! I cannot believe I was brave enough to let them.

This was very scary...the only way you could tell, since it was so dark, to see if it was cave floor or water was to touch it. Some of the pools were 60 feet deep in narrow little holes.

The cave frogs were hard to photograph

Fortaleza San Felipe DR trip

Fortaleza San Felipe is a historic Spanish fortress located in the north of Dominican Republic in the province of Puerto Plata. Is also known as El Morro de San Felipe and was used to protect the City of Puerto Plata from pirates and corsairs. It is located on a hill at thePuntilla Del Malecón, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean; its strategic location protected the entrance to the city's seaport.

Today, the Fortaleza San Felipe serves as a museum showcasing the important role it has played in the history of Puerto Plata, and the Dominican Republic. The Fortaleza houses military artifacts from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Fort was the scene of one of the few land battles in the Quasi War, against the United States in May, 1800. The Battle of Puerto Plata Harbor saw the North American forces overwhelm both the French and Spanish forces. The fortification Fortaleza San Felipe, which was built in the 16th century and served as a prison under Rafael Trujillo's dictatorship, lies close to the port of Puerta Plata. The Fortaleza San Felipe has been used in various occasions throughout its history as a prison, it was where Pedro Santana jailed one of the founding fathers, Juan Pablo Duarte.

The Fortaleza was converted into a museum in 1965, underwent a major renovation in 1972 and in 1983 was officially opened to public. Today, the Fortaleza is the only remnant of the 16th century in Puerto Plata, as everything else was destroyed in battles or fires during the War of Restoration.

As you can see, Chris is in the background, convincing our kids that this history lesson is not boring. K, yeah...they never wore the $10 headphones. Ughhhh.