Hola Punta Cana!

 So, we started out our journey to Dominican Republic by flying north to Chicago, only to go south to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. With two energetic little boys, the extra flight miles were not appreciated, but when you use your air miles, you really don't get to be choosy.

 They let some energy out at the airport by pushing each other around in the stroller.

 Once we arrived we were greeted with beautiful palm trees and sunny smiles. We got to our hotel lobby and were greeted by our friends Melanie and Chris Karsanac and their little girl Ava, who was 8 months. They arrived an hour or two before us.  We spent the first day at the kiddie pool, which was actually quite relaxing b/c the whole huge pool was only 2.5 ft so Kaleb was able to explore the whole pool without any problems. They had 3 cool slides like the whale behind him.

Chase wanted nothing to do with the pool or water, but was very happy to chill on the sun beds while Kaleb did the Dominican salsa shoe dance.

 This was pretty much our view every day.  We tried to spend as much time at the beach every day as possible so we only ended up back at the kiddie pool again on the last day due to Kaleb's relentless requests.

 There were 12 different restaurants and after the stunt that Kaleb pulled at the first one, we were glad because we didn't have to show our faces there again.  The first night we went with our friends to the buffet restaurant and we all sat down and a waitress came to take our drink orders and stood right behind Kaleb.  Kaleb suddenly grabs his knife from the table, stands up in his chair and swings his knife into (near) the waitress throat saying "I'm going to get you" or something along those lines. The horror on the ladies face was extreme and she did not come back to our table for the rest of the night. We were sooo embarrassed and I have no idea what got into him! No more kung fu panda for him!

 Chase is such a picky eater these days. We thought it would be great to be at an all inclusive so we could just get something else if he didn't like it. Well, the only thing he would eat the entire week was rice and chicken nuggets from the kids menu, so he had that for lunch and dinner every night.  He did like the little band that played "La Cucaracha" for our table.

 This is about as close as Chase got to the water on his own.  He loves to play in the sand box at home and we thought he would spend hours playing in the sand, but he really seemed to scared to leave the beach beds.  He was very happy the whole trip (until the airplane ride home) so I did not complain that I had someone to chill out with.

 Kaleb was very happy any time he got a sweet drink or dessert. Vacation strategy #1: Just keep the kids on a sugar high all day long and they will crash hard at night!

 Chase took his 2 hour naps every day on the beach. We were so excited because we thought we might have to go back to the room every day, but since he doesn't fight sleep it was pretty easy to drift into a nap with warm weather, a gentle breeze and ocean noise in the background.

 There were so many palm trees everywhere that they would just take machete and cut them down and cut the tops off for you. Jason thought it would be fun to try a few.  Unfortunately, they did not tell him that coconut juice is a natural laxative.

 Thank goodness, Kaleb did not like his.

 The regular pool was very beautiful too, but we did not spend a lot of time there.  I'm a beach girl, and I want sand in between my toes every chance I can get.

 Ah, there's that sand!

 One day we took the catamaran out for a spin. Melanie and Chris watched Chase while Kaleb, Jason and I went out an we watched Ava while they went out.  Ava and Chase had a blast climbing on the extra catamaran that was beached.

 Don't they make a cute little couple!

 Kaleb quickly took a liking to Ava, which I must admit is a little strange because he has never been interest in younger kids, especially his brother. She liked him too and the parents enjoyed the fact that they were entertaining each other, especially at meals.

 The beds were great jungle gyms.

 Every night while we were cleaning up for dinner the boys would watch a little TV. There was actually a cartoon channel in English, but before we found it Kaleb did not mind watching them in Spanish.

 Check out Kaleb's face. Every family picture we tried to take he would make that face. Hopefully its only a stage and he will stop soon since we're getting a family portrait done in June.

 Any time we got near the water Chase would grab our necks and hold on tight.

 Towards the end of the week he loosened up and would leave the beach bed to play with Kaleb.

 We reserved a table at the Italian restaurant one night and we got this awesome thatched hut with a private table and private walkway.

 The flamingo's would come up for some food. Unfortunately, Chase thought he would like his paci and threw it in the water. Yes, he has a good arm, b/c you can see how far from the water he is sitting. Now we were left with only one, so prayed nothing would happen to it. It made it home.

 The last day when we returned to the kiddy pool, Chase finally got brave enough to get in the baby pool.

 Our last meal was pretty pitiful. The boys were so tired and Kaleb actually fell asleep in Jason's arms while we were waiting for the food to come.

(Picture taken by Kaleb) We couldn't have had a better vacation. It was great to be at an all inclusive where we could walk to dinner and lunch every day and it was great to be with friends who we could hang out with after the kids went to bed. We got to do date nights and go on little outings like the catamaran trip and get a couples massage. It was definitely one of our favorite vacations. I would recommend the Dominican Republic to anyone.