Cotten Family: vacation

When we picked Conni up from camp, she was able to give us a tour of the grounds and lots of stories and memories for each spot.

When they are getting ready to load up and leave, the girls unload their cabin into piles out on the grass. This is what it looks like.

Let's see..... which swim suit is mine?????

Tim getting help loading Conni's trunk.

She's going to miss this little cabin and her friends here.

Hadyn, a new friend. Two sweet girls having to say goodbye.

Conni with Morgan and Mollie her couselors.

This is the lake. Lots of swimming took place here, as well as bathing!

The horse riding was one of her favorites. Demonstrating the climbing wall.

For bathrooms, they used out-houses. There was the "home office", "foreign office", and this one was called the "United Nations". Two seaters!

Everywhere you look, there is a gorgeous view. This is Jump Mountain.

This is the spot that they had morning devotions...every day for 21 days. It was a sweet spot to Conni and loaded with good memories. Nancy talked to the girls here every morning. The camp verse was: "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord my strength and my Redeemer."
It was a little sad for her telling me about it and having to leave it.

Now this one is so funny. She said that she gained something she's never had in her life. A calf muscle! We really got a kick out of that. They walk so much and everything is either up hill or down.

This is a really cool way they keep track of who's in the lake. Everyone has a tag. If you are in the lake, the tag with your number on it has to be turned over.

All the campers ready for the closing ceremonies.

LeeBo, the camp owner, giving his speech.

Your name is called, you go up and receive hugs from Nancy and LeeBo, along with your awards and certificates.

Then lots of hugs and tears as the girls say goodbye to each other. This is Madi Myers.

All the camp counselors got in a line and the campers got to go down the line on the way out and give hugs and say goodbye.

Hugging Carmen Linder, a camp counselor.

Morgan. Conni's counselor that was in her cabin. Sweet girl.

Hard to say goodbye knowing at best, you won't see any of them until next year and maybe not even then. She's going to miss her new friends and all the experiences she had here. We're so thankful she could have this time at this wonderful girls camp.

We feel like it was a wonderful experience for Conni. We wouldn't hesitate to do it again or to recommend it to someone else. Hope you enjoyed the little tour of Camp Lachlan in the beautiful rural countryside of Virginia.

It happened rather quickly. We needed some concentrated family time and after looking at our schedule for the next few months, we realized that the beginning of April was going to be our best bet for all of us to get away. Either that or wait until sometime in the fall. Not a good idea. Tim got online and started looking for location and tickets. We wanted somewhere south; somewhere warm; somewhere with a beach. We looked into Charleston, Outer Banks, Florida. The only problem with all of these: you still have cell service. I wanted somewhere far enough away that there would be no cells phones, texting, email, facebook, etc. We eventually thought of Dominican Republic. Tim and I have been there before - about 8 years ago. We loved it and have always wanted to take our kids to the Caribbean. Thus, that became our destination of choice.

We took a late flight out of Reagan; went straight to Miami. Since our flight out of Miami was early the next morning, we opted to spend the night in the airport. (Save a few bucks too.) That was one of the most miserable nights I have ever spent. It was freezing cold! Hard benches with no pillow. I tried to curl up in the seats, but I'm a bit big for a seat with arm rests on each side. And to top off the whole scenario, every 15 minutes on the dot this would come blaring over the P.A.: "The current local time is 3:15 a.m, 3:30 a.m, 3:45 a.m." and on and on ad nauseum! Like I said, miserable. I wish I had taken a picture of Tim, Angi, Marci, and Abel somewhere around 2:00 a.m. They were lying all together in a corner; smashed up against each other trying to stay warm. Poor Abe was freezing. He had given his hoodie to Angi and she had it wrapped around her feet! They looked so funny and pathetic. Conni and I probably looked about the same.

We made our flight the next morning with no problem and landed at Punta Cana around 11:00 a.m. It was fun to watch the kids faces as they observed different things at the airport. Like the fact that the whole airport has only a thatched roof on it - no windows at all! Like how 52 different locals offer to take your bags - almost pull them out of your hands - just to make a $1. Then of course the taxi ride to the resort. Crazy roads, crazy drivers. If it is smoother on the left side, then you drive over there. If it's easier to pass someone on the right on the shoulder, then that's fine - go for it! Whatever works the best for you. And everywhere are motorcycles. Seldom do they carry just one passenger. Usually 2, often 3, and a few times we saw 4 on one bike!

Here are a few pics of us on our resort. Hope you enjoy. Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and you can almost feel the sun on your face, the sand on your toes. Suffice it to say that it was wonderful.

Marci and Conni got their hair done right off. It is so cheap there! Only $15 for Marci's hair! It took 2 hours to do. So nice for them - they didn't have to do anything to their hair other than wash it for several days! What's not to like?

Of course, with their hair done like this, this next pic was a necessary part of each day.

One of Conni's favorite things: fresh coconuts on the beach. $5.

Every evening, we had dinner reservations at a nice restaurant. It was fun to dress up and go enjoy a leisurely 4 course dinner.

In the water. We had unlimited use of the kayaks and catamarans. Conni and Marci would kayak out to the reef and take turns snorkeling. They loved it!

Conni bought a hat made of coconut leaves at a little shantytown bazaar. "Cheapy, cheapy price for you today! My price best price!" It was kind of fun bargaining back and forth with them.

One evening as we were chilling in the central area, listening to some cool, native music, they announced it was going to be karaoke night. We convinced Angi to sing. She sang one song by herself and then she and Tim sang "Unforgettable" by Natalie and Nat King Cole. A good oldie. The hilarious thing that happened before they sang was Tim tripping and almost wiping out as they went up on the stage! So funny!

One of the highlights for me was getting to visit a local mercado, or market. Amazing! The lack of sanitation was unbelievable. But notice the types of food. It's all whole, good-for-you foods. No premade stuff.