Holiday

Well, we are back from Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and it was a blast!  (and I love the way Europeans call it a holiday vs. a vacation).  Holiday, indeed.  It was the first time I had been at an all-inclusive resort, and it was glorious.  It was pretty rough to have our major decision for the day to be whether we should go to the pool or the beach (or both!) and/or what to drink.  Nowhere to be.....nothing to go.  Bliss.   Highly recommend this location, as you can see from the pics, it was absolutely gorgeous there.

 

 

It was much needed after the winter we've had and the spring that continues to be virtually non-existent. Evidently we missed an entire week of rain and temps in the 40s.  Bonus!

 

I thought it would be really hard to be away from the kids even though I knew I was really looking forward to the break. We knew they were in good hands at my in-laws house with their 2 older cousins who also live there though.  It was good to miss them and be really excited to see them again. Highly recommend it. Get away from your kids! It's good for everyone!  Well, perhaps I should just speak for myself, but we went with several other couples, almost everyone also had kids. Adults on the loose with free alcohol!  LOOK OUT.

 

Some moments to note:

• D and I went zip-lining for the first time in the Dominican hillside.  Breathtaking, but we had to pass through an extremely rural and poor area (no indoor plumbing, etc) to get there.  Their economy does not benefit from all the resorts, as they are not owned locally, which is hugely unfortunate.
• Several times I got drunk and couldn't find my way back to the room/pool/lobby. The place was set up with 60+villas spread out with little paths in between and many palm trees. It resembled a very large retirement community.  Everything looked the same. There was more than one way to get places. Eeek.  Once when I was wondering along, I had a flashback of being in the hospital after my C-section and shuffling by the nurses station in a drugged haze on my way to the NICU on another floor. Then I shuffled back again after going the wrong way. To say I'm directionally challenged is a bit of an understatement.  (Although my husband routinely uses his GPS to get around the small city we/he's lived in for 10+ years).
• I managed to contract some sort of GI bug of some sort, although it only lasted a few hours. A few hours of sporadic diarrhea, and I didn't feel sick.  However.  HOWEVER. One of the instances left me BOLTING from the beach back to our room, which really wasn't very far.  Uh.  I didn't make it.   I didn't make it at all.   *SIGH*.  At least I didn't see anyone.  I had some....um cleaning up to do though. When I finally got back to the beach, D said "What happened to you?  Where did you go?".    You have no idea.
• There were flamingos outside our room in a little pond. They would "honk" at each other back and forth and follow each other around.  I tried to pet them.  They ran away.  D took pics. 

 

So in short, I'm a super fun travel companion when I'm not lost and/or shitting my pants.

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