Catching Up With The Carrolls: Catch Up: Puerto Rico PT.2 & Dominican Republic

Daniel's been going to this amazing hitting coach that people in baseball refer to as "The Wizard". He's known to be one of the best guys in the business. His hitting facility is a hour and 45 minutes away from our home, but we feel the drive is worth it. So along with the title of "baseball wife" also comes the title of "carpool buddy" for days like these. It worked out though because while Daniel is hitting, I'm currently sitting at a Starbucks with some motivation to write a blog.

So seeing that I haven't blogged in months and there's been so much that's happened since, I am once again going to try to play catch up.

Here it goes,

We are already down to our annual Spring Training Countdown. Todays count: 11 days until we head out to Arizona. Where has the time gone? Seeing that my last blog talked about being in Puerto Rico. Looks like there's LOTS of catching up to do. Because the fact that this a "catch up" blog and I don't want to bore you with countless stories, I'm going to try to summarize it up as short as possible, bare with me though, I tend to ramble :)

Puerto Rico was absolutely AMAZING and beyond our expectations. We were there for a total of 5 weeks and enjoyed every minute of it! Daniel's parents, Grandma, aunt and uncle came out to visit for a week, which was so much fun for us. While our family was out, we planned a day to take the ferry to Culebra Island, which was named to have the 2nd most beautiful beach in the world (how could we not go?). Well....running on "Carroll" time, we were of course late and ended up missing the ferry! We we're so bummed when we walked, no ran, up to the dock only to see the ferry floating away. It was a scene straight out of a movie. The disappointment we felt was as if our loved one was sailing away in that very moment. Within minutes, like in all great movies, someone came to the rescue! A cute little 4 foot Puerto Rican woman offered to take us to the nearby airport in hopes to catch a flight to the island. We we're hesitant at first because the price of the ferry compared to the flight ($2 vs $40 per person) seemed like a lot, but Daniel's dad was quick to say "Let's do it, we're on vacation"! We weren't going to argue that and before we knew it we we're buckling our seat belts and heading the the airport. The plane we rode on was a 9 passenger plane and we were told we would be there in 15 minutes. We all said a silent prayer as the pilot started the engine and we were off! Although we had a bumpy landing (as in our life flashed before our eyes kinda bumpy) we made it there safe! Remind you, Daniel's 83 year old Grandma was on the flight! She was such a trooper! She still says that airplane ride was her favorite part of the trip! Funny thing too, while we we're flying we could see the ferry below us and we even ended up beating the ferry there! It was beyond gorgeous and completely worth every life fearing moment. The water was crystal blue and it was everything and more then we had imagined.

During our time in Puerto Rico, Daniel and I got to hike the El Yunque Rainforest, which was one of my favorite things. The trail we took ended up at a waterfall at the end and of course, Daniel didn't hesitate to jump it. We also got to explore the San Juan Forts and were able to learn and appreciate the history of Puerto Rico. It was incredible and beyond our expectations, we were really blessed.

In baseball though, things happen quick. We received a phone call on December 5th asking if Daniel would now play for a team in the Dominican Republic for 3 weeks while they were in a playoff race. Although we were enjoying Puerto Rico, we felt this was another opportunity he couldn't refuse. So we were off on a plane within 24 hours waving goodbye to Puerto Rico and saying hello to the Dominican Republic. The DR was a different experience for us, but one I am also thankful for. It took me out of my comfort zone and opened my eyes to how truly blessed and "rich" we are here in America. We were in San Francisco, DR- which is one of the poorest and most crime ridden areas in the country. We were pretty much confined to the hotel and ballpark. I ended up getting food poisoning twice. My stomach did not sit well with the food there. We also were greeted by a frog in our shower and there was a shoot out in our hotel parking lot at 4:30 am one night (that's another story). We definitely made lots of memories there.

Daniel would leave around 3 everyday for the field and I would be picked up at 7:00 for the game and ride with other young players from the Dominican that were in a baseball academy near by. Daniel's Spanish is pretty strong and could get us by. Me, on the other hand, I know only a little. Fortunately, there was a 15 year old Dominican player from the academy who spoke fluent English because his mom worked at a resort, so he was so nice to help interpret for me if needed.

Baseball wise, while in the Dominican Republic, on the last game of the regular season, Daniel got a base hit and scored the winning run in the top of the 10th inning allowing his team to clinch a spot in the playoffs. It was really exciting! If Daniel had continued playing in Puerto Rico, then we would not have been able to return home to California until early January, but because he was playing in the Dominican, we were able to be home by Christmas! It was so nice! Daniel's parents didn't think we would be home until January so we were able to surprise them when we returned home December 22nd!

It was a sweet reunion to be back home with our families. And of course, I couldn't wait to be reunited with an In-N-Out hamburger! You bet I enjoyed that! I'm so thankful for opportunities and experiences like these. Looking forward to making more memories this upcoming season and blogging along the way.