Dominican Republic

We spent May 5-11 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for an early 15-year anniversary celebration. The weather was perfect - sunny and warm everyday. We had a great time with Courtney and Isaac Lynch, Todd and Mary Williams, Mike Rubin and Andrea. Grant and Courtney grew up together, we met Todd and Mary through the UPPA because we have kids the same age and Mike and Isaac were in residency together in St. Louis. It was an awesome group to travel with because everyone was relaxed and while we had a great time together, everyone was free to do their own thing too. Mike and Andrea arrived one day early and made dinner reservations at a variety of places - the French and Italian were my favorites.

We went on a tour on Thursday all together to an island. Courtney and Isaac and Grant and I went to CoCo Bongo on Saturday night and then we went shopping on Sunday. Other than that, we stayed at the resort and hung out. Grant and I got massages on Wednesday and did a 2-tank scuba dive on Friday. Most days we met on the beach in the mornings and then moved to the pool in the afternoon.

We stayed at the Palladium Royal Suites and it was fine, but I wouldn't go there again. The rooms were fine and it was nice to have a large variety of dinner options. But the staff wasn't all that friendly and they didn't have a good service mentality. The beach was beautiful and we found a "cool pool" that we met at most afternoons. The resort was really big and things felt very spread apart.

This is the ONLY picture I could find of all 8 of us! This was on our Thursday catamaran excursion.

San Diego - Happy 30th Birthday Eric!

The boys went to San Diego April 30-May 2 to celebrate Eric's 30th birthday. I understand the trip included fishing, poker, golf and lots of quality guy time. The crew included Mike Gullickson, Ron Gullickson, Nathan Chapman, Alan Keller, Eric, Ryan Gallet and Grant Walsh.

Cadie Lost Her First Tooth!

Papa pulled Cadie's first tooth last night! She was just so excited! I can't believe my sweet baby girl is so big.

We were having dinner at Nina and Papa's house and Cadie was eating corn on the cob and I noticed that one of her teeth was bleeding. I pointed it out and she stopped eating the corn and said that the tooth was really loose. After dinner, I took Colton home and then Papa was going to bring Cadie home later - Jack Ranger was spending the night. When Cadie got home she bounded out of the car to show us that Papa had pulled her tooth out!

Apparently they were walking out of the door and she told Papa her tooth felt really loose and Papa said, "I bet I could pull that out." Cadie said, "Really! Do it!" She let Papa reach right in and pull it out! She reported that it didn't even really hurt. She put the tooth under her pillow in a little orange box last night and then this morning she came downstairs crying. She said she wanted her tooth back! So, she is going to put the money back in the box tonight and see if the tooth fairy will take back the money and bring her tooth. I think the tooth fairy will do that :)

Cousins Rock!

We had a fun time on Saturday night with family at my parents house in Dallas. My cousin Kelly and her husband, Roman, and their daughter, Kiya, just bought a new house in McKinney. To help them get ready to move, my Uncle Mike and Aunt Teresa came into town from Lincoln, Nebraska and also my cousin Matt and his wife Christina. My cousins Kelly, Matt and their older sister Sarah and my brothers and sisters and I spent a lot of time together growing up at my grandparents farm near Horton, Kansas. I have great memories with them, but distance and busy schedules means we don't see each other as much as adults so it was an especially sweet time together.

Barcelona

I had a business trip to Barcelona - one of my favorite cities - April 11-17. The Tuesday before I left, I called Anna, my sister-in-law, to see if she wanted to join me - and she DID! She was able to jump-seat to Barcelona and I found a great deal with AA miles to get her a ticket back home. I arrived on Sunday and Anna arrived on Monday. I worked most of the week, but she and I were able to have dinner together on Monday evening and then we spent Thursday afternoon and evening together before we left on Friday morning. Anna was so fun to travel with and she was very adventurous during the day and did hiking, a bike tour and went to Montserrat. Our hotel, the Renaissance Barcelona, was in a great location and Anna walked all over the city.

On Thursday we visited Park Guell (I was disappointed because they charge for it now and it used to be free), did some shopping, toured Casa Batllo and ate a yummy dinner. The Casa Batllo tour was cooler than expected and included handheld technology that allowed us to view what the house looked like before it was a museum. Anna was so patient and let me shop for the kiddos at Zara Home (such a fun store) and she humored me with lots of selfies! We stayed out way too late on Thursday night laughing at dinner and I hope we get to travel together again.

My work meetings went well and on Wed. afternoon we went on a group tour on a double-decker Barcelona City Tour bus. We did a Sagrada Familia tour, beach stop, drive-by of Olympic village, appetizers at Hotel Miramar and then dinner at La Barceloneta.

Anna was a little nervous about the balcony picture (it was very high), but she humored me!

Amy Walsh, Sinead Newman and me - our BIS Communications team!

La Sagrada Familia is simply amazing.

Beautiful day for a tour with an open roof.

My good friend Scott Smith. He and I have worked together for almost 15 years.

 

Indian Princesses Daddy/Daughter Campout

I don't know much about the campout, but looks like they had a great time!