playing, reading, relaxing

We are just enjoying the weekend and taking it easy. I read the book that Drews class has been reading last night, I must be running out of evening things to do. Hatchet was a great book and I enjoyed it alot, I found it to have some great life lessons and thought it was a little advanced for a 6th grader, mainly the lines about Brian's parents getting divorce and Brian's secret. This is the first time I have read a book that Drew was required to read, come to think of it this might be the first year he has been assigned to read a class book. We have been doing alot of cooking this weekend, Friday night we made a cake, this morning we made waffles and this evening Drew wants to make his famous nachos. I cooked a meal last week that was awful, I don't even think I could have given it to the poor or even put it in there trash bin it was awful.
The kids have been playing out side and going for walks, battling with branches and enjoying the nice weather before the rain just started a bit ago. We did go out to dinner last night for sushi it was great.
I have not mentioned that we have satellite TV here and when it is cloudy or the weather is not good we can't watch TV so now Drew is writing a book and Mariah is drawing a picture for Doug.
DID I MENTION WE MISS DOUG!!!! 2 weeks plus to go and counting.
I don't post so often now because it seems as our life is boring and routine. We have been here as a family over a month and Drew is starting to plan a visit to Durham maybe for Nov or Dec...Both kids are doing great. I must close for now we are going to practice Spanish and put a puzzle together. Peace to all,
Missy, Drew and Mariah

School Holiday etc...

Just getting back into the grove. The kids enjoyed a half day of school on Friday and no school on Monday. We received the report cards and both Drew and Mariah did great. We spent Sat and Sun at a all-inclusive resort called SunVillage we had a blast and the kids were completely worn out. I have been spending some time doing real estate and this is very interesting and challenging for me. I have been going to different properties and negotiating agreements for the company I am working for and have come across some interesting folks. I now feel ok when I am lost and seem to quickly find my way to a place I remember. I am a bit homesick for certain things but all in all things are great. I am sending out mailing address so that anyone wanting to send mail or great dvd's, books, magazine, and any other fun stuff is welcome.

Missy Daffron
BM 300782
3508 North West 114 Av.
Suite A
Miami, FL 33178

I was excited to set up an account with Business mail and Cargo so that I can receive and send mail. We received a package from Doug today and the kids were so excited, I was happy to get my past issues of People mag.

Have to run to a meeting...

Hugs,
Missy

WOW MOM LOOK AT _____________!!!!!!

Rooster waiting for his owner to come out of the store...How do they get the bird to wait patiently? Oh it's legs are tied up. (Can I do this with Mariah)?

7-SEVEN BREATHING PEOPLE on a MOTORCYCLE unbelievable...(2 adults and 5 children)
This is a record for us I thought 5 was alot.

Beach toilets..I have never seen people dig a hole in the sand do there business and cover the hole...Not behind a tree ***out in open public.

More later...

M

I WANT TARGET or something close..

So I must vent a bit.


I have a friend who is going to deliver her baby girl next Wed. I decide to take her with to POP to go shopping for a few things she does not have. Well, the store is where everyone has been telling me to go that it is the best on the north coast. We leave after I drop the kids at school, arrive in Puerto Plata at 9ish and head into Casa Nelson I saw a few interesting things that I did not need and went up stairs to the baby dept. Sandra really wanted a diaper bag so we looked around and well the clerk show us the 2 to choose from 1pink with flowers and a blue one ok thats done wish there were more selection and the quality was better but this is what you get. I look for blankets she only has one and says oh I have ONE this in enough Missy??? What about pee and puke or other things like leaving it somewhere, got to have another. No 0-3 months sizes I wonder if babies just stay naked until they are 3mths old. Please send me a note when you hear of a WalMart or better yet a Target is coming this way.
Enough,

M

Checking In...

This is a photo of Mariah at school. Ms.Vesna gave us a disc with lots of great photos of Mariah and her class!!! Hope you enjoy!!!

Just want to check in and write about a few things that have been happening etc. We are busy and enjoying school, activities and sports. Doug left the island on Monday for his month away and the kids and I have been missing him a lot. I have some projects I have been working on and staying busy. I attended the first PTA meeting at the school and found it quite interesting. I hope it will be a great group to get things accomplished. I felt is was a bit of a fashion show with 20 something women and 1 guy I only ask 2 questions which were how many students are enrolled in the school 178ish and how many families are there, the director said he did NOT know that they were still working on this. I did not know a sole and was content to listen and observe. We have our next meeting Oct 1. I have a dance project of some sort and have been meeting speciality dancers and this is fun and interesting. I decided to purchase full coverage insurance for my car, some folks say this is the thing to do and some say not. Well, for peace of mind and my security I wanted to contribute my 1000usd and go for it. The lady that inspected my car and went over the details tells me if I have an accident to go straight to the police statio and instead of putting you in jail while they investigate the accident you are sent to Santiago and put in a hotel next to the jail this is covered by your full coverage insurance...if you hit a person on a motorcycle and there is not to much blood quickly put them in your car and drive them to the public hospital before angry family and people migrate around the scene. I must say there is so much to learn when living in a 3 world country. I noticed the smell of cow poo when in the house the other day and I think the sewer must be screwed up or something, I look around the house and go out side only to see right NEXT door about 12 or more BULLS grazing. These are my neighbors for the time being until they have eaten enough to clear the lot and go to another place in the neighborhood. The weather here continues to be bloody hot and I wonder if this will be the case through the winter, I need more summer clothes here my washer is hell on our clothes and line drying fades navy uniforms pretty fast. I must confess over all I feel there are so many pro's to living here, I will say it is not for everyone and I must think who in my pool of friends would like it and no one comes to mind at this moment. I think on the other hand to vacation here well almost all the folks I know would like it so dodge the winter and come hang with us.
PS Bring some flavored liquid coffee creamer!
Off to dodge the flea's
Missy

Back in action...

Dear Friends,
Sorry for my lack of blogging. I have been trying to recover from the dance competition and transition back into real life. The United States Dance Sport Championships in Orlando Fl was wonderful and the company I represent had 4 national champions and so much business I worked from early in the morning until late into the evening, not even leaving the vendor area to see the daylight on some days. I do enjoy this but the strain on my body is had to recover from.
Doug and the kids had a super week and things went very smooth. I have been resting alot and catching up on my sleep during the day, hanging with the kids after school and just being lazy over all. I have been doing stuff on the computer and the phone for the dance biz but this is pretty much it.
Drew is enjoying soccer and had his first pratice at school on Monday. This is a school wide team for grades 6th 12th and Drew was awesome he was goalie and the other teamed only scored on him once or twice. Doug attended practice and well the guy is out of shape and needs some major conditioning but he hung in there and was on the opposing team of Drew. It was great to watch. Drew is still enjoying Baseball and the other kids really cheer for him when he is up to bat and makes a great play. Drew is going to explore surfing this next week so I will keep you posted.
My Mariah, she is into tennis and starts karate today. We will also explore horse back riding and see how she does, she loves animals so much.
I continue going to my Spanish class and am still on the introductory package just trying to learn the basics I am the turtle but very persistent.
Doug is off to the golf course and I plan to read this after noon and wait on the plumber to come and un clog my sink.
Thanks for reading.
Take care,
Missy

1st Week Nuances

While Missy has been working in Orlando this week with the United States Dance Championships, I have had the luxury of getting Drew and Mariah to school and other activities.
Well the things started happening the very first morning. I set my alarm for 6:30am just like I was suppose to do, however, for some reason my phone did not change when I got here. It was an hour and 12 minutes behind. How could this happen, fortunately Drew woke up at 7:10 and got us up and moving. We made on time after all. Whew!
Mariah likes school so much she does not want to leave. She has made a friend, Layla and they have to play for 20 or more minutes on the playground.
Tuesday all went well up until after school, when I was to take Mariah to a place for her tennins lesson, again a mix up with her coach who thought he was meeting us at a different court,although he was the one who told us to go to the court we went too. So after waiting for about 20 minutes with Mariah and her not so patient self, this was not too fun.
Wednesday was open house day and this was just great. There were many parents attendening and all went well. Then we tried to go to our pool only to find out that they are resurfacing or repainting it, so no fun here back to the happy house.
By Thursday the school thing is all going fine but when I came home to load some music on my computer to download on Drew and Mariah's mp3's I find out that my DVD-CDRW player on my computer is missing. The darn thing does not read any thing put into it. I could not rip the two new cd's I got for them. After several hours of trying to fix it I gave up and will try tomorrow. After school, Drew was to go to baseball. Here is where Missy does a great job, however I am not as determine to make everything happen so when we could not find the director of the field and since our spanish is very lacking I just said Drew you sit here in the stands while Mariah and I go get some ice cream. When we returned sure enough Drew was in the outfield and was playing. Kids can work things out if they really want too.
Friday was a Super day. Mariah had her tennis lesson and her backhand is starting to become a reality. Her forehand is still chopping at flies but in time she will improve, she really likes it in the high heat of the day. The only thing that could have went off course today was when I tried to find the German butcher shop. I was driving looking for it and I passed it so I was going to turn around and put my blinker on and was about to turn left when a car was speeding by and passing me on the left. A very near miss.. Double yellow lines have no meaning here, and if you do not use the mirrrors at all times it is very dangerous. No sudden moves here and no afterthoughts. This must be a very alert and cautious way of driving. The cars and motor conchos(motor scooters) are flying by all the time both on the left and the right.
The weekend is coming up and Missy will be home on Sunday Night, I can't wait, but I must.

until next time

doug

Doug's first day in paradise

Today was a truely great day. We spent the whole day at Williams place. This is a 3 bedroom/2 bath condo on beach with a wonderful pool. I am later to find out that this will be our new residence as soon as Missy sells our house. We will be in his condo while we build a new house in the same community that we now live in, Terramar Estates. It takes about a year to build a house down here as they are built to last and sustain any crazy weather, like high winds or that crazy thing called hurricanes. I like that word better with the Carolina Hurricanes Hockey team.
Mariah, Drew, William and his kids Jefferson and Stacy and me had a great time in the pool. Missy and Judy spent most of the time in the shade talking. I of course forgot sunscreen on my first day so my shoulders and face have that caribbean red tint. After a glorious day in the pool and on the ocean, Will,Judy, Missy and I had a long evening and discussed the possiblities of making money here on the island. As these opportunities open up we will let you know more of our accomplishments. Over all I am happy to be here with the full family, but as many of you know Missy is headed to Orlando on Monday for the big United States Dance Championships where she will be vending with dance dresses for the whole week.. tomorrow she will show me the ropes of the school and all the activities for Drew and Mariah. I can't wait.

Doug

Doug's Arrival

Wow I am finally here in the DR. My traveling day was a mild adventure. As alway's I spent all day Friday getting ready. I had many errands to run for Missy gave me a big list to get stuff for Mariah's class. I also got the house in NC ready for our new housemate, Sjorn. This is a great guy Missy knows from Duke. He will be watching over our house as well as getting our mail. I, as usual spent all day and night getting things ready for us to be away. I crawled into bed around 2:50 am and was going to nap until 4:45am and then my neighbor was coming @ 5 to take me to the airport, unfortunately he could not remember if it was 4 or 5 to come to the house so he came about 3:45am and could not wake me with his knocking, fortunately I forgot to lock the front door and he came in and scared the holy **** out of me. At least I got to the airport 3 hours before take off.
The flight was good and I snoozed big time. Missy had me fly into Santiago as the flight was much cheaper but it is about and hour and half ride to Sosua. I had trouble keeping my eyes open as my driver, our friend Wilson, brought me to the house.. We arrived around 4:45pm.
I was greeted with enthusiasm from everyone but especially Mariah. She had to hold me for a long time, then Missy took her to the supermarket while I caught another catnap before dinner with our friends Will and Judy. We were supposed to meet at 7:30 and Missy made sure we were on time, and granted I have not ate anything since 6am at the airport in Durham. They were mixed up on the time and arrived at 8:30. As hunger sat in I was finally thankful for our food around 9pm. We had a great dinner and more fun at another place for after dinner drinks. I was so spent I just wanted to get back to the house and crash, which we did around 1 am.. Oh well the adventure can now begin.
Doug

FUN!!!

Tennis, sleepovers, treehouses, baseball....
This is what we have been up to for the last day and a half. Drew was invited to a playdate that turned into a sleepover. I had to go and check out the treehouse the neighborhood kids were building so that Drew could go and play. Yes, I did take my fat but up the ladder to the treehouse and wow is it cool, it reminded me of the Treehouse book edition for kids. I also couldn't get over the fact that it is a stones throw from the ocean. The boys wanted to sleep there and camp out but I convinced them that DOUG the awesome camper would arrive soon and would really dig sleeping out side with them hhehehehehe. Mariah went to Raquels and had a blast, I don't know if I mention that I have to use the water hose on her body after a playdate at Raquels she is the dirtest of any kid I have ever seen..just plan nasty...but oh so so happy.
Baseball was this morning at 8am I asked my Spanish teacher to meet us at the field so that she could help us see if they would let Drew play and get all he information.
Drew was the only gringo so he was like a neon sign and really stood out. He seemed to have a great time but mentioned about how hot it was. They had like 4 games going on at one time on the same field and kids were praticing using sticks and popcorn kernals and were wearing sandles AND>>>the helmet was like an object they only see on TV and is not used in this league...The practice, games started at 8am and finished at 12 can you believe this 4 hours. They also practice on Tue and Thur. We joined and paid the 180 pesos which is about 5 us dollars and I left to go and get Drew water. No way was he going to drink out of the hose all the other 60 boys were using and the water where was it coming from scary. I return and a lady wanted me to sign 2 forms I say no problem and tell her my husband will bring them next week. Well, the forms say that if you get a baseball contract you will give this guy who sponsors the league 20% of your contract...I couldn't believe this I know for sure that some of these poor kids are going to go somewhere with there talent they were so great and talented..so do you think this is cool should I sign it not that I think Drew is going to the major leagues but for me its the principal..
Drew and I want to get in touch with colleges that have baseball teams and ask for there old balls and other supplies that might be useful here maybe a drive called BASEBALLS NOT KERNELS
or something else catchy.
Doug is arriving today and Mariah is so excited. She had her private tennis lesson today. I must say this girl of mine sometimes gives me hell, so when I got in the car with her I complimented her and told her what a great swing she had and she really did. Well, she said I'm not doing tennis any more
ok I say then what sport do you want to do
she replies MOTORCYCLE RACING
where in the heck did she get this I need to find and purchase a helmet for her because she is going by motorconcho to some places and I will feel better when she has a helmet. Just for the record NO one wears a helmet here don't ask me why and seat belts are for building houses not saving lives...go figure.
Mariah is napping and I will see how much longer until Doug and his taxi arrive.
Peace to all,
M