Cabarete, the wind surfing capital of the Caribbean!
100 - number of kite surfers we saw on Cabarete beach
70 - feet below the surface Mommy went scuba diving in the Sosua bay where she saw lizard fish, striped eels, parrot fish, puffer fish, butterfly fish, an eel garden, fireworms and large fan and staghorn corals
Larimar I and II, at 45 minutes dive to 70 ft, then dive #2 on the West Wall.
40 - number of years that Daddy turned on our first day of vacation and was the excuse for us all to get together!
27 - number of waterfalls Mommy (and Leslie and Jess) jumped off of (including two that Mommy did a flip off off) at Damajagua- unfortunately we don't have any pictures to prove it but you can read about it here or watch a similar video here. It was awesome!!
11 - number of kids (all 7 and under), each with their own recliner in the movie room
10 - number of adults (6 of whom are Macalester alums)
#heymac - TJ, Seth, Marty, Fernando, Katie and Leela
8 - number of bedrooms in the mansion, all with their own private bathroom (and most with walk in closets too)
The well loved golf cart (with no breaks)
7 - number of kids that wanted to ride on the golf cart
6 - number of years that Mommy and Daddy have been married (celebrated our 6th anniversary on 2/19, married since 2011)
5 - number of family performances at the talent show on the final night. Watch the video here or here:
4 - number of times Mommy vomited after having too much fun in the sun at Cabarete beach
Shots on the house (after spending $350 on lunch and alcohol for 21 people)
Eating delicious shrimp at LAX in Cabarete
3 - number of laps Theo did on the pony at the Sea Horse Ranch equestrian center
Theo enjoying his pony ride
2 - number of nannies we had everyday to help watch the kiddos (can't beat the rate - $5/hour)
1 - very large (25,000 sq ft) Lionsgate mansion in the private gated community of Sea Horse Ranch, near Cabarete, on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic. A few of the amenities include a walk in refrigerator, giant swimming pool, large hot tub, maid service, underwater room, outdoor dining area, movie theater, lagoon, putting green, basketball court, and a chef to prepare all our meals!
What a wonderful trip! Can't wait to get together with these guys next year...
Our vacation as told: by Theo
We went on two airplanes and then we drove on a bumpy road over the mountains until we got to the smooth roads and we had a fast golf cart to get to the park. We had a big house with a pool. We went to the beach, we played in the waves, made sand castles, and find shells and rocks. My favorite thing to do was going in the pool. I swammed, played and jumped in, and dived in. Big Lily was my best friend. She was 10 (actually she is 7). And Cece who is 3. The funniest thing that happened was that Lily thought she saw a ghost. The meanest thing that happened was that Bahar (Lily's 4 year old sister) told a lie to Lily that she didn't see a ghost. Overall, it was fun!
Throwing kids in the pool
Haiku (sorta) by Marit
Airport.
Ponies on vacation.
Wearing a hat in pool.
Beach. More pictures of the trip:
At the Seattle airport starting at 10PM and finally arrived at the mansion at 4PM the next day!
Practicing on the putting green
The living room
Walking out to the pool
Throwing Marit in the pool
Love my puddle jumper floats!
Look at that house and the pool!
The water was warmer in the hot tub, can you tell?
Kids table
Fried red snapper - one fish per person!
Adult table
Suri and Marit sharing a chair in the movie theater
Popcorn and movie night #1
Popcorn and movie night #2
After
Walking along the private beach
Buried Theo in the sand
Playing in the waves
Theo and Cece playing in the waves
Waiting to get hit by the waves
Seth and Fernando swimming in the waves
Suri, Bea, Cece, Bahar, Lily, Theo at the beach
Theo, Cece and Marit building sand castles
Playing in the waves at Cabarete
Running from the waves
Lunch time at LAX
Yum, French fries!
Table for 21, si señora!
Cabarete beach
Playing in the waves with the kids
Jumping over waves
Marit learning to body surf
Theo did great on the pony
Marit wasn't so sure because it was bumpy
But she smiled anyway
At the playground at Sea Horse Ranch
Jumping on the trampoline at Sea Horse Ranch
Sand castle building time
Jumping over the waves in the secret cove
Theo buried at hermit crab beach
Hermit crab
Hi Seth!
Going for a walk on the grounds of the mansion
Making s'mores on the campfire (Marit, Bahar, Lily, and Bea)
Kids table
Popcicles and ice cream were dessert every night (did they even eat their dinners?) (Theo, Lily, Grey, Marit)
Race up the hill
Dance party
Mac bball boys - TJ, Marty, Seth and Fernando
Private sushi chef for lunch
These kids love technology - Grey (3) and Marit (2)
Hot tub action 24/7
Hot tub - kids loved the warm water
View from the rooftop lookout
After dinner the kids would go "play" by themselves, mostly just watching movies in the movie theater and/or watching the iPad/kindle
Snacks on the beach
Day #2 at LAX in Cabarete
The Mahony family
Leslie, Cece (3), Mommy and Marit (2)
More shots on the beach
Yay!
Who's ready for the dance party? (Theo, Lily, Cece, Bea, Bahar, Marit, Grey, Suri, Levi)
Painting everyone's nails for the talent show
Time to go home
Woke up at 4:30AM (EST) for our 7AM flight out of Newark. Nice sunrise over NYC. Only 5.5 hours later, we landed in Seattle, but without the carseats.
Got two loaner car seats from United. As of 10PM tonight, the still haven't arrived...
Benziger Family in Chi-town 2019 Downtown What you see is what you get girl Don't ever forget girl Ain't seen nothing yet until you're Downtown Have you heard the song, "Downtown, downtown" by Macklemore? Our one trip this summer was a long weekend going downtown - to Chi-town. A quick 1 hour direct flight from Duluth makes it an easy get-a-way with lots of great restaurants and cultural opportunities for the big and little kids. Luck for me, our Thursday night flight was delayed two-hours so that I finished reading all my echocardiograms and cleaned out my Epic in basket with just enough time to spare to get home, change clothes, finish packing and leave our house exactly 1 hour prior to flight departure and still drive to the airport, park, check a bag, get through security, and buy some candy before the plane started boarding! Gotta love the DLH international airport! "Long" security lines at the airport < 1 hour prior to flight...
Our little baby, Theodore James, was born at Swedish Hospital in Seattle last week. He was born early because mom developed some preeclampsia which necessitated his sooner-than-expected delivery. Boy was he a peanut - weighing in at 5 lbs. 9 oz.! He had to spend a few days in the Infant Special Care Unit because he had low blood sugar and needed IV fluids and frequent blood sugar monitoring. He was such a champ and tolerated the heel sticks without a peep and didn't mind the continuous heart rate and oxygen saturation monitoring either. We were lucky that he had a full time nurse watching him so we could get some sleep those first nights but then we quickly became accustomed to his rigorous schedule of feeding every three hours - 3, 6, 9, and 12 around the clock to maintain his blood sugars above a certain level. After four long days in the hospital, we were discharged home. Since coming home, I'd say this was the longest week of my life as it was full of new ...
Theo in the Grand Tetons at sunset Theo pointing to Lake Haiyaha in Rocky Mountain National Park where he had hiked the day before Give me a T-T, Give me an H-H, Give me an E-E-, Give me an O-O, What's that spell? THEO! Our baby boy is 12. From 5 lbs, 9 oz and 18 inches to over 90 lbs. and 5' 4", he's not such a little peanut anymore. He enjoys playing lots of sports - soccer, basketball, volleyball, disc golf, mountain biking, and gaga ball in gym. He loves swimming, tubing and knee boarding at the cabin. In the winter he loves sledding at Holy Rosary and skiing at Spirit Mountain. He's in his 6th year of piano with Ms. Roberta and wants to do the drums in middle school next year. His dream day is to play Fortnite all day and night with his friends. He's kind, competitive, and funny. He's a good friend and does very well in school. Theo winning the golden boot at his last tournament game for Gitchi Gummi Theo's birthday interview What's your n...
Comments
Post a Comment