I am a lucky girl. I live on a beautiful island full of beautiful, fun people and get to make beautiful memories with my beautiful, healthy family. What else could anyone ask for? Anything extra is a bonus and there are plenty of bonuses. Here is a snapshot of YEAR 3 in the Dominican Republic:

 

We are fortunate to live close to the beach and to spend long weekends relaxing in the sun and drinking frosty rum drinks.

The Bluffs, originally named Praxe’s Bluffs after the friend who discovered this sweet corner of Earth for us, is easily one of my favorite places here – or anywhere. To get there, we drive up the sidewalk (yes! the sidewalk) and park the car on a bluff overlooking the ocean and in prime location for gorgeous sunsets. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s child-friendly though we have brought our kids.

We spend almost as much time at the playground as we do home. Correction: we spend more time at the playground than at home. We love it there as much as the kids do.

This is one of my favorite pictures of this year. It so clearly sums up what life is here with kids growing up as island babies where they find coconuts in the backyard.

There are two things about this picture. Like the picture above, the first is that it tells the story of where my kids live, a place where mangoes grow on trees. But the second (and more important detail for me) is the note: “Mango de la beba.” These mangoes are from Ayalibi, one of the maintenance workers of our school, and one of about 5 people that brings me mangoes for our kids. Apparently, everyone knows that our littles love mangoes so co-workers, maintenance staff, nannies, and parents scout trees, pick, and deliver mangoes to us for Rafa and Santiago. It’s in these moments that I think this is the only place for me.

Our family is our major priority but we like to remind ourselves that we are the first priority. You can’t have a happy family without a happy marriage so we try to take sometime for us as a couple made easy peasy with our nanny.

Milestone moments! Santiago’s 1st birthday was even more special because his grandparents were able to celebrate here with us – a major bonus considering most birthdays abroad are grandparent less.