Who Invited Al Pal?

The family all went on a victorious beach trip this morning! As we were all headed to the car, Aidan asked, "who invited Al Pal?" Not as a criticism, more as a genuine question, but it sure was damn funny.

The beach was lovely and the weather was actually fabulous, but the water was shallow and there were lots of rocks and creepy growing things underfoot. Plus the water was choppy, which made it difficult to get a good footing, so you got knocked around a lot. Scrambling to get a foothold resulted in several scrapes and scratches to the soles of my feet. When I was packing, I almost brought my Teva's (water sandals) but eventually thought, "naw, when would I need these?" ...turns out the answer is - my first full day here! Well, it helps to toughen up my feet now that I'm mostly barefoot most of the time. But that feeling of putting your feet down right into a patch of kelp... ich... Adian and I had great fun digging in the sand, and I did get a little sunburned, though it's not as bad as I initially thought. Plus, Dave lost his wedding ring, so on the whole I got off pretty lucky.

I'm having a fantastic time here so far, but just when I begin to really lose myself in vacation mode, I'm snapped back to the reality that I'm here for a long, long time, and that this is my life now. Starting Monday I'm acting as Aidan's summer school, playing and learning with him from about 6:30 in the morning til around noon, then as soon as he starts his real school again, I'll probably need to find me a real job. Plus, in my off time try to learn Spanish. That's a whole lotta NEW for someone who's not a big fan of having to learn stuff. But it's my choice, and this is what I've chosen. I'm just a little worried that the voice in my head telling me I've made a huge mistake will be right. The upcoming year will require me to make a lot of decisions that may come to have an immense effect on the rest of my life. This is both thrilling and terrifying.

But at least there's really good food here. (Compliments of Dave Pernal, NOT the cuisine of Santo Domingo!)