Trip to See the Grandkids

Morena and I went up to Enoch to visit Jon, Janice and the grandchildren on Friday and Saturday before school starts back up next week. Jon fixed my laptop. Thanks Jon! Janice made us some great meals. Thanks Jan. Kaylee sang us the ABC's. Thanks Kaylee and Regan pooped early morning when all were sleeping and Papa(Grandpa or me) got to change it. Thanks Regan. It was a great time. Kaylee is turning into quite the conversationalist.

Picking Samantha up in Las Vegas

I went to pick Sam up at the airport as she returned from her visit with Jack'ee. We left the airport at about 11:45PM MST and didn't get home until after 2:00AM. Sam helped keep me awake by talking to me all the way home about her trip, Jack'ee... It was a very good talk. It was a fun trip home. When I got home I was so wired I couldn't get to sleep until about 4:00AM.

Taking Sam to the Airport in Las Vegas

We took Samantha to Las Vegas for her flight to Phoenix where she will be spending several days with Jack'ee. We went to the Bellagio to see the Garden and then to the Venician to eat Italian. The we dropped Sam at the airport and Morena and I checked into our room at the Excaliber. When we checked in they offered us a free upgrade to a suite. The room was nearly as big as our first home! It was very nice as you can see from the pictures. You can also see Morena got carried away with the soap in the Jacuzzi tub. The next day we ate Vietnamese food at Treasure Island and then went to the Factory Outlet stores off of Charleston Blvd. It was a lot of fun.

Sunset on the Square

The city of St. George puts on a movie in the town square the second and fourth Friday's of the month. We went to see The Flyboys. It was filmed locally in St. George and surrounding areas. It was a good movie. Janice, Jon, Kaylee and Regan came down and we had an enjoyable evening.

another weekend visit

Kaylee took Yaiyai for a spin around the block.




She wore Papa's hat. And her soccer shirt.




And Regan turned 8 months old. He likes to "feed" himself. And still loves his fingers.

a weekend visit

Jon and Papa work on the back yard while Kaylee plays in the kiddie pool. This picture was taken before the manure was spread. There will soon be grass for the grandchildren to play on.

Papa and Regan ready for church. A very handsome pair.

Day 8 Las Vegas to St. George

I arranged with the hotel a later checkout so Morena could sleep more. We left at a little after noon and stopped at a Smiths to get food. Then we stopped at the Valley of Fire to get gas and had trouble getting the car to start. When it finally started we headed home but after about 10 minutes a warning light came on letting us know that our fluid was low. We stopped in Mesquite to buy anti-freeze and called Eric. He said check the reservoir and if its empty he wouldn't drive the car. It was empty so I filled it and watched it leak out very fast. So I called the insurance and they had a tow truck come and take us to St. George and drop the car off to Eric so he can fix it. After that Eric lent us his car and we drove home. And thus our great summer adventure ended.

Dominican Republic Day 7 the Trip Home

A Random Caribbean Island From 36,000 Feet

Dominican Republic From 10,000 Feet

Our Sandals Spend One Last Moment on the Beach

Morena Bidding Farewell to the Caribbean

The Caribbean

Clear Water

Bye Bye Caribbean

Footprints

Morena

We got up early and took a walk on the beach and Morena went in to say goodbye to the Caribbean. Such calm clear water. Our ride came at 10:15AM and we arrived at the airport at 10:50AM. We got our tickets and went through all the security checks. We forgot the Vanilla that we bought so I had to go back out and check that luggage and come back through security. It took a while because there was now a long line where the luggage gets checked in. Then we had one last Dominican meal got on the plane and left. Flying over the Caribbean was nice. All the different shades of blue that the water took on. All the small and bigger islands. Then we arrived in Miami about 2 hours later. We had 4 hours until our flight to Las Vegas but it took about 1.5 hours to clear customs then get our checked luggage then clear customs again. Our flight to Vegas took off on time and was about 5 hours. We had a little turbulence some of which was bad enough to cause more than a few people to say Whoa! But not too bad and it didn't last very long. We arrived in Las Vegas caught a shuttle to long term parking to get our car. Next we went to In and Out Burger and got some food that we brought to Excaliber Hotel where we had a room for the night. Morena is starting to get sick. We didn't get to sleep until about 1:30AM.

Dominican Republic Day 6

Sugar Cane

Paul & Morena with Guide Dominic

Morena and Paul in Truck

Rolling a Cigar

Waterfall

Morena Buys this Boy an Egg

Beauty Salon

Food at Outside Market

Today we went on a Safari (Dominican Lifestyle). We went to see how the locals live. We first stopped and had some sugarcane in Hato Viejo 2. While doing this we were offered the "National Vitamin" which is Cola and Rum (Ron). We of course just had the Cola for the toast. Our guide, who I think is Jamaican, was happy to take our share of Ron. Then we stopped at a place to use the restroom and buy things (of course). We had children come in and beg for money but the owner chased them out telling them they would have to do that outside. We bought some lollipops called BonBon. We were told we could throw them to the local children who would run out and wave to us as we rode by. Next we stopped at an outdoor market in Bayaguana. We had a little boy follow us. We gave him some candy but he continued with us as we walked through the market. As we were getting ready to get back in the vehicle Morena heard the boy trying to buy a hard boiled egg for 5 pesos but the lady wanted 6 pesos and wouldn't lower the price even when the boy said how hungry. Morena offered to pay but before she could check to see if she had the money the kid was eating the egg. Morena had American change but the lady wanted nothing to do with it it. She finally found some pesos and paid for the egg and gave the change to the little boy. After this we saw two beautiful baseball fields in the middle of nowhere. They belong to the Florida Marlins and the New York Mets. Then we headed up the mountain. Seeing the housing you see how spoiled we are in America. Little children would run out and wave and we would throw them candy. We stopped and got a tour of a typical home. We also tasted Coco before its dried and ground and ground coffee in a hollowed out log. The others drank the coffee but we did not. The place where we did this is called Conatillo. Next we went to this beautiful Waterfall and went under it and showered. There were more people trying to sell us stuff. On the way out I ended up with this big gray spider on my arm. I have no idea if it was poisonous or not. After leaving the waterfall we at lunch. It was good. We headed home. We were covered in dust. Morena wore white that was now brown but she washed it at the waterfall and hung it up to dry while we ate. On the way back to the hotel it started to rain very hard. Thunder and lightning, it was cool. It cooled things off and knocked down the dust. We made it to the hotel in about 2.5 hours. We ate at El Fogon and went to the big show after not realizing that one night a week the audience was the big show. We ended up on stage learning and dancing the Salsa. After we tried emailing Barry but Morenas laptop was not working so we paid to use a computer there. $5 for an hour. It didnt work too well but I nursed it through and was able to get a short email off to Barry. Then we did most of our packing and got to bed late.

Dominican Republic Day 5

Morena and Paul on their way to Catalina Island off the Coast of the Dominican Republic
The "Bebo off the side of our boat.

Catalina Island

Morena getting shuttled to Catalina Island on the "Bebo"

Clear blue waters off of Catalina

Catalina Island

Port we left from

Morena heading to boat.

Our ride to Ramona and the boat

We started of with breakfast, fresh fruits, potatoes, juice, sausage, bacon, eggs... Our ride came to get us at 8AM. It was a 45 minute ride to where the boat was located. From there it took about an hour to reach Catalina Island. We first stopped at a place on one side of the Island for snorkling. The water was crystal clear and about 10 feet deep. There is a coral reef there with all kinds of fish. It was beautiful. The crew of the boat were fishing while we were snorkling and caught quite a few fish. After snorkling for about 30 minutes we went to the other side of the Island to lounge on the beach. It was a beautiful beach with crystal clear waters. It was very hot and there were these huge horseflies that wanted us for lunch. We put on insect repellent but they apparently thrive on DEET. Then we had this guy come and try to sell us something by giving us a gift and only asking us to stop by his store before we left. We did but he wouldn't come down on price so another local salesman gets taken to task by Morena. We went to the Fogon for dinner again. They serve local Dominican cuisine. We had a musician come to our table and sing Gema for Morena. Then we of course watched the big show they do every night.