Cabrits National Park & Fort Shirley

Today we went to Cabrits National Park and Fort Shirley. We can see the bright red roof of the Fort from our apartment and we finally got to explore it as a family. Here we are in the museum learning a little Dominican history.

We took a 30 minute hike up to the battery. We were a little disappointed to find that this was the only cannon up at the top of this hike. As you can see Miriam wasn't impressed either since she fell asleep on the way up.

Miriam got to catch a ride on Dad's shoulders. She loved chewing on her hat strap like a bridle.
Along the way, Dr. Fife gave us a brief science lesson on hermit crabs.
Look closely and you will see the crab pinching Morgan. There were lots of these hermit crabs on the trail.

After the hike, I took a rest while Luke loved climbing on the cannons.
Fire!
Beautiful scenes of the Dominican coast.
The barracks at Fort Shirley. This is the building that we can see from our apartment.

Morgan and Luke trying out the old water pump.
Our family safeguarded by cannons.
Our kids loved seeing everything at the Fort. As you can see they didn't want to miss anything and couldn't stop looking around even for the picture!

Champagne Bay

On Saturday, December 15th, we went to Champagne Bay. It is about an hour away from Picard and is known for the tiny bubbles that are underneath the sea, hence the name Champagne. Unfortunately, we were rained on the majority of the time there. The kids didn't really enjoy being cold and wet but Luke loved throwing rocks.
If you look closely, you can see Morgan snorkeling. He's the closest body face down. :) He saw neon blue fish, giant sea urchins, schools of fish, the bubbling vents, and blue corral reefs. Maybe next time my courage will prevail over my fear and I will have stories to tell too.

My favorite part of the trip was the trip to Kentucky Fried Chicken on the way home. Next to Subway, it is the only American restaurant on the island. It was "finger lickin' good!"

Super Morgan to the Rescue!

I apologize for not having a picture of this as it occurred but it happened so fast! A few nights ago as Morgan was going out the door to study, a black moth the size of my hand flew into our apartment. It seriously looked like a bat! Morgan quickly changed into his super hero costume and called for Luke's Superman ball. For the next 5 minutes Super Morgan kept throwing the ball at the moth. Finally after almost shattering our light, Super Morgan defeated the evil moth and peace was once again restored to the Fife household. Luke got the biggest kick out of the whole event. Miriam just wanted to be where all the action while I was doing what I do best...freaking out.

These are a Few of our Favorite Things...

Luke loves to turn any item into a lightsaber. Here he is trying to coach Miriam into playing lightsabers with him.
Miriam loves to play with Luke...no matter if it is lightsabers! Luke also loves to wear his Superman costume. He wears it almost every evening once the temperature cools down to 70 degrees.
This is Mom's favorite thing...nap time!

Luke loves to play frisbee.
"Go get it Mom!"
Miriam enjoys playing with balls and anything that Luke will let her touch.
We love seeing our friends and playing with them!


We love to sing Christmas songs. We taught Luke "Away in a Manger" last Monday night in Family Home Evening with picture cards. For the next 3 days he asked me to sing it to him over and over again. Now he sings it all by himself!

Loving Each Other

Luke's kisses are the best!

Trimming the Tree...literally

After Thanksgiving Dinner, Morgan set out to make our Christmas tree...
Dad, we want to help!
Luke pasting the tree together.
Here is the finished product! The kids and I were tuckered out after our dinner and left Morgan to finish the tree alone. I was so surprised at how well the tree turned out. If anyone can make something out of nothing, Morgan can. He is so awesome!

When Morgan came home for lunch on Friday, we started to decorate our tree. Luke was so excited to take our ornaments out of their packaging.
Let's get this on the tree!
Silly Morgan!

Luke concentrating on putting the ornament in the best spot.
Even Miriam gets in on the decorating.

Our beautiful Caribbean Christmas tree!

Later on Friday afternoon, the cleaning ladies came by and gave Morgan an A+ for his Christmas tree. Alina said that she had never seen anything like that before and that Morgan is so creative. If they could only see some of his other projects!

Rub-A-Dub

Rub-A-Dub-Dub, two kids in a tub,
And whose kids do you think they be?
OURS!

Puzzle Genius Luke

Luke really loves this puzzle that Maw-Maw sent him in the barrel. It is 24 pieces and at first I would have to sit with him and coach him. Now he puts the puzzle together all by himself...and rather quickly too. This picture was taken right after he put the puzzle together by himself for the first time.

Belated Halloween

OK...I know that Thanksgiving is this week but here are the kids in their official Halloween costumes. Luke is obviously Superman and Miriam is our lil' pumpkin. Luke was very sick on Halloween so we missed the branch party but we still like to dress up every now and then.

Dominican Lawnmowers

A Family of Goats aka Dominican Lawnmowers off to work.
When the foliage gets too grown, you can bet on seeing a goat or a cow trimming the grass or bushes back. I think that we are going to get one for our yard when we get home to the States. Think of all the time we'll save in mowing...

Spouses Organization Halloween Party

On October 27th, the Ross' Spouses Organization had a Halloween Party for the children. Morgan was off studying but the kids and I had a blast. We arrived early so we headed to the playground. Luke is a big helper with Miriam. He loves to push her on the swings.Here's Luke just waiting for things to get rolling...
Luke playing the Ring Toss game.

What would a party be without popcorn? Here's Luke taking a break from the games and enjoying his favorite snack.

Fishing for Treats

Taking another break

to eat his second box of popcorn. Luke trying to win our family a cake in the Cake Walk. He didn't win a cake but got a big bag of Skittles for participating. I enjoyed those later. :)

Luke taking yet another break to eat his 3rd box of popcorn. I told you it was his favorite snack.

"Hey, where are you taking me Snow White?"

"Ring Around the Rosies..."

"We all fall down."