Punta Cana

Ahh...Home Sweet Home at last!!!!

Trace & I just returned home from a 7-night, 8-day vacation to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic to celebrate our 10-year Wedding Anniversary.  In addition, we were celebrating Trace being 100% cancer FREE.  That is cause for celebration alone!  Let me just say that it was INCREDIBLE!  It was a gorgeous place to be and our resort was indeed 5-Star!  We were very impressed with how beautiful and fancy it really was.  It was great spending time there relaxing and enjoying one another. 

My nerves and stomach calmed down once we arrived there and then began again about a day before we left.  I was very anxious to get home and be with our daughter.  The thought of holding her endlessly was at the forefront of my mind.  We missed her like CRAZY while we were away from her.  As soon as wheels touched ground in Des Moines, all of my anxiety was gone and I felt normal again. 

Prepare yourself for a TON, I mean a ton of pictures.  They will set the stage and tell the story of our awesome time in Punta Cana.  It's hard for me to choose only a couple because they are all so good and they help show the true beauty of where we were. 

We are so blessed to be able to go on vacations like this and I'm so glad we did even though 8 days was maybe a bit too long.  I'm usually sad to leave, but this time I (we) were chompin at the bit to be back in Iowa.

Enjoy!  And, thanks for your prayers.

 Our plane from Des Moines to Atlanta.

 Our arrival and departure off the plane in Punta Cana.

 Punta Cana International Airport

 The airport...all open; quite different from any other airport we've ever seen.

 ALL of our luggage!! This was excellent because we often times have trouble with our luggage!

 These next number of pictures show our Resort.  It was simply beautiful!!  Top notch.

 Our home for the next 8 days!

The balloons and special decorations was for our Anniversary!

Our In-Room Bar!!

TV area

The view from our balcony!

My 1st drink the 1st night.

This guy was on stilts dancing with the guests and going around giving High 5's.

The show the 1st night was Circus!!

I had my toe nails and finger nails done before leaving Iowa!

The large pool area.

Trace BEFORE coffee...

...Trace AFTER coffee!

More pictures of the beauty of the resort.

We could see the ocean from our balcony as well!  Beautiful.

I absolutely loved the landscaping here!!

Our Room...3135!

This is what we woke up to everyday!  It was so relaxing being in this environment for a week.

This is the building we were in...only steps from the pool and beach!

Ah  yes...the ocean!  I could live on the beach.

Trace soaking up the rays.

Trace took this picture laying on the beach.  This palm tree was directly above him.

The sand was so soft and beautiful.

On my way for a dip in the salt water!

This is a palm tree nut on the beach!

Enjoying some drinks at the swim up bar!

We got the best service all week!!  The crew was always on their game.

A pretty display of drinks one evening on our way to supper.

The 2nd night we were there we tried the Japanese Restaurant.

There are 5 specialty restaurants at the resort and if you wish to eat at them you have to make reservations every day for the one you want.  The restaurants are small and only have limited space, but the food is absolutely divine so it's well worth getting up every morning at 8:00 a.m. to make your reservation!

Sushi

I had chicken and mushrooms!  It was delicious.

Fried Ice cream dessert

Resort in the evening!

Every night after supper, we would go to the outside entertainment area and have drinks together.  We always had so much fun!

There were shops at our resort, but also this trail down the beach to even more shopping!  It was about a 15 minute walk.

Mr. Banana! We bought a couple of canvas art prints from him.

My drink of choice for the week...Miami Vice!

YUMMY!!!!

Our maid!  She was great...and short!

My tired hubby!!  We did a lot of pictures ourself so of course I thought he was smiling when really he wasn't!  He's so funny.

So...we would have to take another picture!  This was the look on our faces the entire time!! (Except when we called Aubri and heard her voice then we just wanted to be with her).

This is Alejandro.  He was in charge of the bar service outdoors and did an outstanding job.  He was genuinely nice and we visited with him daily.

This is the bar Trace & I would go to before supper every night.

Italian Restaurant

This picture is for Aubri!  She loves snails.  We saw plenty of them.

More pictures of the inside of the main building.

Trace loves to read.  I think he read 4 complete books while we were away.

Waiting for our ride to the Boogies Excursion.

These were our rides for 4 hours.  It was raining this day too which made it that much more fun...and muddy!

Instructions

First, we drove to a private beach and spent some time there!

This boy followed me all over trying to get me to buy a hat or just give him some money.  As we were getting ready to leave, he helped me fasten my seat belt so I thanked him with cash!

This is the little boy I bought a fruit bowl from! 

Next, we took a long drive through many mud puddles to this cave.

Down a long stairway, there was water.  Jump in at your own risk!  They don't know how deep it is, but Trace jumped in feet first, went down about 15 feet and didn't touch a thing.  The big splash is him jumping in!  Only a hand full of people were brave enough to take the plunge.  I wasn't one of them!

Trace is the second one in from the left!

He loved it.

Check out the mud.  This was just the beginning, it got worse on the way back!

I got to drive back.  It was a blast.  There was mud and water splashing all over us, filling the floor of the buggy.  There were times I couldn't even see so was hoping I didn't hit the person in front of me!

Trace swore my fruit bowl was a hat!

These next few pictures show the dark skies from the storm that was pushing in due to the hurricane in Haiti.

Again...Miami Vice; such a pretty drink!

This was our bus we rode in to the Dolphin Excursion during a thunderstorm!

Welcome to Dolphin Island.  Prepare to enjoy an encounter with our wonderful dolphins!

Visiting prior to going out to the dolphin island.

We got kisses, gave kisses, swam with them, directed them as they sang to us, waved to them, and simply enjoyed them!!  This excursion was so magnificent.

I had a smile plastered to my face the entire time!!  It was awesome.

More kisses!!

We enjoyed visiting with this couple from Illinois.  Any American was great, because they were few and far between this trip!

Another lovely towel creation!!

The Gourmet restaurant, one of our favorites, next to the Steakhouse!

Cheers to our 10 Year Anniversary!!!  I love you.

Trace's favorite dessert.

We asked for this couple to take a picture of us and he decided to hop in on it too!

Then...just the 2 of us.

Tired again!!

We had so much fun together being silly and loving on one another!!

The Brazillian restaurant.

Trace looking over the large menu board outside the restaurant.

The final bar at the restaurant...Dessert!

La Bodega

This was some yummy food!  I went through the salad bar twice!!

This is how the meat was served...cut right off the stick!  They brought 7 different meats around.

Trace's scraps!  We left here very full.

Martini's!  I had a Kurant and Trace had Espresso.  They were very good.

 There was light entertainment daily on the beach!

 A drink straight from a coconut!

 The Nacho Bar.  I often times would stop here on our way up to our room for a late night snack!

 This was the night before the day we were leaving.  I was exhausted from the sun and ready to go home!

 Finally...I captured a picture of a lizard.  They were around, but usually too fast for me to grab a picture!

 On our way to the airport.  A picture of the police station.

 Some American fast food at last!  Good 'ole Wendy's

 The moment we waited all week for...our little girl back in our arms!!!

 This was very exciting.  She was trying to take it all in!

 My baby girl.  It's been a LONG 8 days.  Next time you're going with us!!!!

Your's is the face I've been dying to see!!

You are my world!!

It's good to be home!

 We got home around 12:30 or so and stayed up until close to 2 a.m.  We brought Aubri lots of souvenirs, but the guitar was a hit!!

And of course, the colored pencils and paper!! She loves to draw.

We had a fantastic time.  Now back to the grind of reality!!