I like to boogie

The days of our grand, superb, adventurous vacation almost always ended in the same place: the hotel lobby. 

It's here that we would re-group with our new friends, and hang out with our employee buddies while they were "working." We made friends with pretty much anyone who would have us: 

  Christian insisted on getting his picture taken with his favorite bar tender, all 5 of them. He was having such a good time, when I said: "Smile a smile that shows how much fun you're having!", he did this: 

Here is Hector, one of the best, fun, most entertaining people I have ever met: 

Once a week, his job requires him to cover himself in glitter, and stand by guests for photo-ops. He says he loves his job....I know what you're thinking: "How does he get the glitter out of certain sensitive places?" Wonder no more because I marched right up to him and asked.....

...and he promptly wiped my whole neck and chest with glitter. 

I'm doing three things in the picture below: swallowing the sip of beer I just took while smiling a "OH NO YOU DIDN'T" smile and killing him with my eyes. 

No joke, I found some of that glitter in those earrings a week ago.

The most special people we met, were our friends from France. Ambre (who we Americanized as Amber) was 17 and Tom, 19. They were on vacation with their dad, Fred. We met them early in the week while playing beach volleyball. The rest of our trip was spent trying to bridge the communication gap with slow speaking, and unnecessary hand gestures. Lucky for us, Tom and Fred could speak English very well, and Amber caught on quickly. The majority of our time was spent with them:

Hi friends, we miss you!

We met Luke (far left) the same time as Tom and Amber. There were a TON of tourists from New Jersey at our resort, but he was the only one we actually liked. 

We loved Amber and Tom so much we made them members of the family by officially marrying Andrew and Amber. It's true! I performed the ceremony myself, right in the discotheque (which my Missouri twang pronounced: discOH-tech). I'm quite certain the marriage was legally binding too......

Speaking of the discOH-tech, when you experience an entirely different country for 8 days, you allow yourself to become fully emerged in their culture (well, if you want to have a good time you do). So aside from drinking Presidente beer as our main water source,

we got to hear many of the 'popular, local' songs. We were so immersed within the Dominican culture, we heard these songs over the resort speakers again and again and again and again and again. If you want to feel like you were on the trip with us, just listen to these songs on repeat for 8 days straight:

Michel Telo- Ai Se Eu Tu Pego 

Great song to sing when your day could use a little accordion in it. 

Danza Kuduro- Don Omar
This song is perfect if you are in the mood to fake your Spanish skills...anything sounds right.

Shakira- Waka Waka

This song comes with dances moves that I never mastered, but I do like saying waka-waka-hey-hey. 

Lately, if Chris asks me a question I don't know the answer too, I just respond by throwing my hands up in the air and say: "Sorry, waka-waka-hey-hey!"

My dad's favorite song: 

This song's main lyrics are "Que calor, que calor." 

Beware when listening to this song because you will wake up with this phrase going over and over in your mind it's that catchy.

And finally, this masterpiece:

Literally meaning, The Cow, this song is perfect when you speed clean something. It is always quite appropriate to yell 'La Vaca, moo!' along with the growly voiced singer--I find it therapeutic. The fact that the video showcases sexy dancing girls, a singer from1995, and an assortment of cows is just a bonus.

I have now given you all tools needed to become a true, authentic inhabitant of the Dominican Republic: 

                        1) Friends in high places at the Lobby ba
2) Friends from France
                    3) Memorization of the above songs.

Don't believe me? Just ask Christian:

Prom Sneak Peak....

This last weekend was my little brother, Andrew, senior prom! We were so busy and Chris even got the privilege of chaperoning (he was SO excited....)! I took a ton of pictures for you and will upload them tonight!
In the meantime here is a sneak peak:

These boys have been best friends since kindergarten.  Richie and Carson perfected the "Dumb and Dumber" look.

This was Andrew's beautiful date. They aren't boyfriend and girlfriend, I don't think he has much game...

Every prom needs a party bus!

The family, we clean up nicely don't we?

Strawberry fields for Trevor......

The other day we were listening to some classic tunes on the radio when  "Drift Away", the classic  Doobie Brothers version, graced our ears. If you don't know this beloved hippie song, the chorus sings: "Ohhh give me the beat boys and free my soul, I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away....." I realized, as we were rocking out to this hit, that I still sing the wrong version.  For the longest time, I really thought the lyrics said: "Ohhh give me the Beach Boys and feed my soul, I wanna get lost in your rock and roll...." 


Why the Doobie Brothers needed the Beach Boys to feed their souls is beyond me, but I started thinking....what other great songs have been butchered by us mere mortals? What I found was nothing short of wonderful.  Sunday, while Chris was zoning out to football, I used my artistic skills to explore the notion of misheard lyrics:

Did you know that the Bee Gee's disco hit, 'Stayin' Alive', often gets mistaken for:

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Steak and a knife! Steak and a knife!"

You guys are so silly! The Beatles song says 'she's got a TICKET to ride'! Not 'a CHICKEN to ride'!

Apparently the 70's were abundant with misheard lyrics, because Abba's 'Dancing Queen' lyrics  '...feel the beat of the tambourine' gets mistaken for  '....feel the beat of the tangerine.' I decided if you wanted to hear the beat of the tangerine, it would probably look like this:

The banana wanted to name their band 'Fruit cakes', but the tangerine like the sound of 'Runts' better.....

And some people in the world think the well known Aerosmith song, 'Dude Looks Like a Lady' is REALLY saying:

"Ya! Ya! Dooo the cyclone lady! " Isn't she classy-such a lady!

And finally, a recent song. One that I was personally singing incorrectly for months, by Adele. When SHE was crooning: "Should I give up? Or should I just keep chasing pavement?" I was crooning:

"Should I give up? Or should I just keep chasing paper?"

This is a fun game, isn't it?!