Punta Cana

Punta Cana... Where do I begin?! This was an amazing once in a lifetime trip with my entire family. I'm so thankful for this opportunity to not only spend so much quality time with loved ones, but do it in such an incredible location. The Hard Rock all inclusive resort was stunning, the weather was gorgeous, the service was outstanding, food delicious, and well... everything was... perfect.

Once we got there anyway... We had some major drama at the airport when they almost wouldn't let my dad fly! His passport had gone through the wash, making the cover worn looking and I guess giving people the impression that it might have been tampered with. When we were boarding the plane we honestly didn't know if we would see my dad board it too. He did though, and we had to hold our breath that Punta Cana officials would let him into their country and not send him back to the states. He made it through, thank goodness! Then we felt like we could really celebrate!

 

The kids enjoyed their first flight. Olivia was in front of us with her cousin Savannah and Aunt Brooke, while Henry was in the window seat with us. He went bonkers with excitement of the take-off, entertained himself quite well through the 5 1/2 hour flight, and slept right through the final 20 minutes and landing.

It was also the kids' first experience with the ocean. They loved it! In fact, with all the amazing pools to swim at, the beach was everyone's favorite place to hang out. We loved standing and letting the waves come in and hit our feet. The big "kids" jumped in the waves much farther in and spent hours baking in the sun while napping or reading books. The little kids could play in the sand for days, digging holes (Henry's favorite), making sand castles, looking for shells (Mama's favorite), and getting buried (Olivia's favorite).

Of course after scoping out the beach it didn't take long to also check out the bars. The first round was shots of Mama Juana. After that glasses were kept full with a variety of tropical drinks. :) The favorite for Olivia and I was the Pina Colada.

Our daily routine would consist of a big buffet breakfast, beach time, a later lunch, Henry and Pat heading to the room for a break from the sun and nap time while Olivia and I continued to swim, showers for all of us, meeting up with the family for dinner, and then some evening entertainment.

Each day we would decide where we wanted to eat as a family and make plans to meet up there at 7:00. Sunday was Savannah's birthday and she wanted to eat at the Hibachi grill. It was by far our favorite meal and dining experience. Our chef was very entertaining! He made a heart out of the rice, tossed cooked egg pieces for everyone to catch in their mouth, and would make jokes. We laughed that Olivia had her jaw dropped for such a long time as she watched with amazement. The kids had their first experience using chop sticks (even Henry sort of figured it out), and eating sushi (all of us liked it)! Savannah got a special treat too as the staff came out with joyous singing, instruments, and cake.

A snapshot of our beach time:

It always felt good after a day at the beach to shower off. The salt water, sand, and wind did a number on our hair, and the sand stuck everywhere! Then we got dressed up and headed to the restaurant we picked for the night. This night of dining was one of my favorites. It was at the Surf & Turf restaurant. I honestly wasn't too excited about it at first because I don't really care for steak and seafood, but this place changed my mind. The food was amazing, and plated so beautifully. And then there was music... A DJ was playing Caribbean music at a dance floor and I could see workers were trying to get people to dance. I asked Henry if he wanted to dance with me, and when he said yes, I was so excited. Dancing with Henry in this open air restaurant, with the ocean breeze blowing through, fun music playing, full bellies of amazing food, and family around us. It was one of those magical moments I just didn't want to end, and I know I will remember forever.

This trip provided a chance to cross a few things off my bucket list. Well, none of them were actually on my list, but with them available I mentally added them to my list so I could cross them off. Unfortunatly I don't have much of pictures of many since they try to make sure you can't take pictures so you pay oodles to get the pictures they take of you.

1) Horseback riding on the beach. The sweet old horses took us on a trail a little ways from the beach, but still through the sand. We caught sight of a rainbow that formed over the ocean, and had a laugh as the horses took us right through the ocean waves for a bit.

2) Swimming with dolphins. Olivia and I went on this adventure with Brooke, Savannah, and Shelby. We had a blast! We were in the ocean with a trainer and two dolphins. We saw them do tricks, got to touch them, and learned about them too. We held out our hands and the dolphin put their fins under them so we could "dance" together. Then we cupped our hands together and the dolphin would put his head in our hands to give us a kiss on the cheek and lips. Olivia's dolphin kept kissing her. The picture from the professional was absolutely adorable, but for $80, I just couldn't justify buying it. We will just have to have that memory engraved in our minds forever. The experience also involved a bird show and sea lion show, which were both fun.

3) Snorkeling. Pat and I went with all of the other big kids. We took a catamaran out to a place in the ocean where we walked down steps of the boat into the ocean water. My snorkel wouldn't work so I started with a bit of a panic as I couldn't get a good breathing rhythm. Pat traded snorkels with me and once I had my head in the water it was so calm and peaceful. The tropical fish were fun to watch, and so pretty. The waves were a little choppy so I did scrape my knee a bit on some coral. Still, it was a neat experience overall.

Then we hopped back on the catamaran and took it to a different area where we swam with sharks. I admit I screamed under water when I saw the first one. Really they weren't scary, not at all interested in is, and stuck toward the bottom, but still, it was a shark!

4) Ordering a drink from a swim-up bar. Honestly, I wouldn't have ever thought I would be in an experience where this was possible, so I got a kick out of it. We all laughed as we positioned Olivia and Savannah to belly up to the bar with drinks in their hands.

A few more pictures and memories to round out our trip...

• A night out at the club with my siblings.
• Random trips to the ice cream shop, because we could.
• Uncle Brent teaching Henry it's okay to jump on the bed on vacations.
• A circus performance that had us all in awe by the performers' abilities. (And had Olivia do her jaw-dropping thing again.)
• A magic show that has us less than impressed.
• Angry Birds which kept Henry busy through a few extended meal times.
• The lazy river where Olivia was anything but lazy and would pull us along.
• Henry building the home of "Scary Grandma". I don't know where he got the whole Scary Grandma idea from, Olivia thinks it was from a TV show, but it sure kept him busy in the sand.
• An extra birthday celebration of Ryan's birthday (although his birthday is in October).
• Drinks with most meals... wine, tequila shots and margaritas with Mexican, slushy drinks on the beach.
• Henry learning to ride a big-boy bike.
• Arcade time.
• Fancy deserts with every meal.
• Finishing the book 7 by Jen Hatmaker (Kind of contradictory to read it on an all inclusive vacation, but a good read.)
• Trying to capture an ocean sunrise, only to get rained on, and waking up early again the last morning so I could finally capture it.

I am so thankful for this experience. So thankful to my parents who made it all happen. And while I have said it was once in a lifetime, I sure hope it wasn't. I don't know how likely it will be for all of us to be together again on such a luxurious trip, but time with family is what I cherished most. Hopefully it can inspire us to find other ways to go on trips together. These memories we made... will stick with me forever. I sure would love to make millions more like them.