Punta Cana 2018

We went on a trip to a resort in Punta Cana last week to celebrate Bryan's birthday and because I am (very unusually) not pregnant or nursing and OH MY GOODNESS was it fabulous. I am normally not a beach person because I do not like hot weather or humidity (unfortunate since I live in Texas) but take me to the Caribbean in January where its 80 degrees 24/7 and I am a happy, happy camper!

We dropped our babies off at Grammy and Bee's (and Aunt Abby who filled in the gap for a day while they were gone!) and flew into the Dominican early in the afternoon. We chose to go to an all-inclusive resort because when you are cooking and cleaning and making little people and household decisions literally all day every day the LAST thing you want to do is put any sort of effort into any of that while on vacation. I was really nervous about what to expect with our resort because you never know with all-inclusives but GUYS it was more than we could have asked for! 

After we checked in we got a tour of the resort from our "butler" and then got to our room (that I didn't have to clean the whole week)!

This was the view from our balcony.

The resort had a huge open air restaurant that was open all day and looked out on the beach. We ate lunch there while we waited for our bags to get to our room and thoroughly enjoyed the endless drinks and food, sound of the ocean, and gorgeous view. 

Nice eating shot of my husband with his super healthy lunch. I don't think either of us could believe we were actually there.

The resort was big and super nice, in my opinion (and I'm extremely picky and get grossed out easily). I loved the layout and how everything was designed.

We walked around the resort and on the beach and then got ready and went out for a late dinner at the resort's Italian restaurant which ended up being one of our favorites considering that we went back two more times during the week. After that we made our way out to giant patio to get a few drinks and listen to some live music late into the evening (this became our nightly tradition). 

I was very impressed with the talent of the people in the cover bands. There was also dancing! Bryan danced with me a few times which I was quite happy with since he generally does not want anything to do with dancing (must have been all the free drinks).

On Day Two, we fell into a nice little schedule that we pretty much repeated every day with a few exceptions. We got up, ordered breakfast to our room, ate on the balcony, and then headed to the beach....

After reading/sleeping/ordering a few too many drinks from the waitresses on the beach, we would go to lunch at one of the buffets or food carts and then head to one of the giant pools or maybe back to the beach. FULL day, right? ;)

Every night we would walk a few miles along the beach right before sunset. These are some of my favorite memories because we were able to talk uninterrupted about whatever we wanted. It was awesome. 

After sunset we would go back to our room, get all dressed up, and then go out to one of the restaurants. 

On our second day we actually scheduled a late late dinner so we could go to the on-site sports bar and load up on football food to watch the Vikings/Saints game. We were very surprised to find out that a huge destination wedding was happening at our resort and everyone was from Minnesota so we were able to watch their (crazy) excitement when the Vikings won in the last second. I thought it was SUPER fun and a great experience! After that, we went to the Hibachu grill which was SO good and became Bryan's favorite. 

Not the most appetizing photo, but really our meal was better than any Hibachi restaurant I''ve been to in America.

On Day Three, Bryan went to play golf in the morning while I continued our usual routine which finally allowed for some reading time!

Bryan played golf two mornings of our vacation--the first time he was paired up with a group from Canada and the second time he was paired up with a group from France. So you know, golf + international culture. 

One of our lunch views. I really couldn't get over the perfect, perfect weather. It was between 75 and 80 degrees the entire length of our stay, even at night.

We went to the steakhouse restaurant on our third night and were impressed once again. Literally, I don't know how we got so lucky with resort restaurants...I feel like that normally doesn't happen. 

Before our live music/patio sitting ritual, we decided to go to the theater to watch the "Broadway Night". This was their version of Chicago.

And here we are at Day Four. As I said earlier, Bryan played golf with the Frenchmen this morning and I escaped to the SPA! I got a massage and my first facial ever which was awesome but also kind of painful. 

We ate lunch at the buffet and then did more of this....

Bryan asked me how many photos I needed of my legs and the view of the beach. #sorrynotsorry

Night Four we returned to the Italian restaurant and were up to our usual shenanigans afterwards. 

I should also mention that we made friends with many of the servers and bartenders while we were there, which I know is pretty common but it made our stay even more fun! Shoutout to Roberto, Margherita, and Alfonzo. 

Day Five was our last full day and I was pretty sad because I'm good and emotional like that. We did our usual beach + read + sleep + lunch + pool + beach + walk + dinner + drinks + entertainment. 

Perfect, as you can imagine!

Legs and beach pic #244. ;)

On our last day (crying), we tried our best to get up somewhat early, had breakfast, and then headed back out to the beach for a few hours before checking out. I was so thankful for the week and the resort and the beautiful beach!

Oh! Bryan and his birthday decorations on our door. Ha!

After an uneventful flight, we landed in Charlotte, NC for a one night layover. We decided to take advantage of this and booked a VERY nice hotel (thanks to Priceline) in downtown Charlotte. We got the top floor and free drinks and were excited for an evening in a new city!

As you may have noticed, we were welcomed back to the US with snow and neither of us had jackets or coats or anything that would keep us remotely warm so our ideas of walking around downtown were put to an end but we did make it to a local tapas restaurant called Essex which OH MY GOODNESS had some of the best food I've ever eaten in my life. And I have eaten a lot of food.

I know that's doesn't look good but I promise you it was the best. 

One last photo of the two of us. My absolute favorite part of this trip was just getting to be with my husband. It felt like we were dating again and weren't so focused on all of the grown-up things that we normally have to think about! I am so so thankful for him and still can't believe that I got to marry him. 

We were sorely missing our children by our last night and although we loved every bit of our trip, we were anxious to head back to Texas! When I saw our "beautiful" (post-harvest) cotton fields I couldn't stop smiling! 

Our kids were only mildly excited see to us (no but seriously) and very shortly after we got to our house I came down with a fever and chills so WELCOME HOME, KATY! I'm feeling mostly better today though, thank goodness!

 Here's to Monday. May your groceries be bought and you dishes be washed and may you all have a good week with your babies!