Dec 31, 2012 - Buzz in Dominican Republic - Mikayla's traveling teddy

Bonjour à la classe de M. Boutin et bonjour Mikayla!!! Tu me manques! XO I found I was getting a bit cold in Canada, so decided to jet off to the Dominican Republic, in the Carribbean, for New Years! Enjoy the photos! Happy 2013! Buzz

Oct 9, 2012 - Gabi Beach Day

Another leisurely breakfast and then headed out to Gabi Beach (next to the Melia Caribe Resort). An awesome spot to just lay back and relax. Spent most of the afternoon in and out of the Ocean. Beautiful white sand beach and the water was unbelievably warm. (Punta Cana is on the Atlantic (eastern) side of the island, we'll be on Caribbean Sea side during our excursion next week.) Nothing too much to report today as it was a beach/relax day. We did have an amazing lunch at the Gabi Beach Bar & Grille. Seems like all we've done so far is...

Oct 6, 2012 - Arrival In Punta Cana, D.R.

Well all, we arrived safely (extremely long flight)to Bavaro Beach, Punta Cana, D.R. We found the arrival sights very similar to a Mexican Resort, greeted by local, upbeat trio playing local music. A perfect ending to a long tiring 3 flights. Our last leg of the trip from Montreal (Montreal itself is another story for later) we were diverted to Philadelphia, PA as one of our passengers had a Medical Emergency. (turns out he was diabetic and his blood sugars were out of sync.) Medical help tried on the flight to get him under control but...

Feb 21, 2011 - Feb 20th - 21st, Dominican Rep

Crystal, Gavin, Shane, Bill, Turkey and I all got up early to catch the jeep ride through the outback, for a Ziplining adventure. It was a first time for Crystal and Gavin, and I’m pretty certain they enjoyed it. More young students arrived each day, and by mid afternoon we were outnumbered by about 1,000 loud and obnoxious young people. They partied all night long! I can’t remember having that kind of stamina …..LOL

Feb 19, 2011 - Feb 17th - 19th, Dominican Rep

Well, after a full day of sun and pool, all of the women met in the hotel lobby to celebrate Claire’s bachelorette party. We dressed her up in the usual “Steele” garb, and paraded her around the lobby bar while she fulfilled her bachelorette duties. LOL While we were keeping her busy, all of the men got together and entertained Scott (our nephew, the groom) Feb 18th was the wedding day. The wedding started at 4 pm, so most of the guests enjoyed lounging around the pool until early afternoon. The wedding was on the beach, as was the...

Feb 16, 2011 - Feb 14th - 16th, Dominican Rep

Well, what can I say? We spent the next 4 days sunning and swimming, between the ocean and the pool. We had a few morning showers, but not enough to worry about. We had a great time with all of the friends and family. We booked into the Mexican A la Carte for supper on one night, and the Steakhouse on another. It was enjoyed by all. Someone played a “Farmville” joke on my sister Debbie, and decorated her room with all kinds of farm animals. Too funny!!

Feb 13, 2011 - Feb 12th & 13th, Dominican Rep

We left the condo on Treasure Island and headed for the Tampa airport with Rob and Lorraine. Unfortunately, the Isaacs headed back to the land of snow, and we headed for the Dominican Republic for a family wedding. We left Tampa at 3:25 pm and headed for Miami, with a 3 hour lay-over. Miami to Punta Cana was a short flight, but we landed at 10:30 pm. Our transportation that we booked through Cheap Tickets was Coco Tours. Well, that didn’t go so good. They were unorganized and it took them forever to find our names on their roster. (and we...

Feb 12, 2011 - Punta Cana, Dominican Rep

Hi everyone, Unfortunately we don't have internet access here in the Dominican Republic, except for a small internet cafe, and are paying by the minute. We will update our trip journal after we get back to Tampa, on Feb 23rd. Pics to follow also. Patti & Turkey

Jul 13, 2010 - Intercontinental volleyball and our final day at Dreams

The bachata lesson today was simply stunning. There was this one kid out there who has easily having the most fun I have seen a person have in a long time. It was evident that he had some sort of mental disability but this did not stop him from tearing it up. Helma and I watched in awe as he twirled and stepped with no sense of timing but every ounce of personal style he could muster. I was won over immediately. Later we ran into our friends from the Japanese restaurant and organized a game of pool volleyball. I regret to say that Helma’s...

Jul 12, 2010 - Off road adventures

Let’s take it to the jungle. Today was our ATV off road experience and I was excited. The precursor to this late afternoon excursion was, as you can imagine, sun, sand and food so by the time 2:50pm rolled around, we were ready to rumble. We took a well air conditioned van with a handful of guests from other resorts and made our way to the tour starting point. On the way, our fellow resort goers told us about the massages they had had at a small beach hut just a stones throw from their hotel. Apparently it was a little more. . . involved...

Jul 11, 2010 - Magic fingers

We woke up late this morning and thanks to the weather from the past couple days, all of my clothes were pretty much unwearable. When I learned that laundry was not part of the all inclusive package, I decided to load up the bathtub with water and body wash and go old school on the clothes cleaning. I must have put about 2 detergent caps worth of body wash into the water and by the end the manual agitate cycle compliments of my massive hands, the water had a not so appealing gray/brown tint. Lovely, I know. After a thorough rinse, I was...

Jul 10, 2010 - Saturday night fever

Oh man did I feel good after a 9 hour sleep in the humongous king sized bed of suite 6110. The company was not bad either, let me tell ya. Once ready for breakfast we stepped outside to be greeted by our new best friend, John P. Humidity. “Welcome to the Caribbean,” he said. “F U man” responded the sweat bead forming on my head. The spread at the World Café was enough to make even me wonder if I was game. It was like going to a grocery store where all the food was already open and ready to eat. I took a deep breath and did a lap to assess...