The DR Pics

Things are slooowly getting back to normal after our week-long family vacation to Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic! We had PERFECT weather, delicious food, and the company of my side of the family from Wednesday to Wednesday.  Whitney enjoyed the entire trip and was so well-behaved that we are already talking about our next trip with her!

We left Orlando on Wednesday 3/16 and flew to Santo Domingo Dominican Republic. 

Whitney was a celeb on the plane, as all the little old ladies sitting around us loved hearing her laugh and talk along to her Cinderella dvd.

We didnt land and get organized at the resort until late Wednesday night, but we were up and headed to the beach early Thursday morning.  Mac was wise to order all of us pina coladas to celebrate our vacation and St. Patrick's Day appropriately. 

That night, after my brother arrived from Boston, we all headed to a delicious dinner at Le Cirque's Beach Club restaurant. We are all still talking about their food.  AMAZING!

The only group shot we got the whole week, and Whitney was DONE with pics for the night.

Check out the sunset in the background......great food, great company, and an amazing atmosphere!

Whitney was thrilled to hold two hands and play "1....2........3!" almost everywhere she went:

We didnt bring along a whole lot of toys since the beach and the pool were sure to keep Whitney occupied most of the days, but she was so happy to have her Mac read her FAVORITE bedtime story one night.  (Even if it made Mac get teary-eyed...)

Gramps fell asleep on the couch before Whitney was in bed, so Mac and Whitney woke him up by tickling his toes! Whitney thought this was HILARIOUS!

Check out this house my parents rented.  The furniture was perfect for the imagination of a toddler :) This giant round chaise was perfect for climbing and cuddling. And the "hershey kiss chair" in the background was another favorite locale for Whitney.

We got in some great cuddles and tickles before bedtime.

And Uncle Jay was nice enough to share his Ipad with Whitney for a bit :)

We spent the first few days on the beach, building sand castles, people watching, and just thanking God for the perfect weather and the blessing of being able to be together as a fam in such a gorgeous destination!

Eric and Whitney were Master Castle Builders after a few days, and Whitney loooooved the beach!  She was NOT a big fan of the "sea grass" at the edge of the water though.  She would run from it and dart out of the way if it was coming near.  We told her the seaweed was harmless and showed her that it wouldnt hurt her, but she wasnt diggin' it.  She would often say "no sea gwass!" as we walked to the beach, and has even repeated "no sea gwass" in her sleep, in her kiddie pool at home, and in our own swimming pool this weekend.  She apparently REALLLY doesnt like seaweed. 

These girls were on Spring Break from Gettysburg College in PA.  They loved Whitney right from the moment they stepped on the beach, and as we all got to chatting, I learned that one of the SPring Breakers was a Lauralton Hall graduate.  It was soooo fun to catch up with the latest info from my high school alma mater, and so funny to meet up with a fellow Lauralton grad a gazillion miles from the Connecticut campus. 

This is what I looked at most of the week:

Before dinner one night, my parents took Whitney out the back door onto one of the gorgeous golf courses at Casa de Campo.  Their "Teeth of the Dog" golf course is the location for the Golf Channel's "The Big Break" show, and is also the first place my dad ever had a hole-in-one the first time we visited the DR.  Whitney was excited to use her clubs from her Uncle Jake and Aunt Tina!! (Gramps smuggled them in with his own clubs in his golf bag!)

Such concentration!

LOOOOVE this pic:

This is what happens when you tell Whitney, "Put the ball in the hole!"....she picked it up and plopped it right in....with her hands!

Whitney was sooooo HAPPY to have kitty cat in the house there!  I grew up with cats, but developed a pretty severe allergy when I left home for college.  I'd LOVE to have a cat now, especially since Whitney adores them so much, but my allergies would really kill me.  But the housekeeper in our rental had this kitty and Whitney was happy to find her each morning and every time we got back to the house.

We spent a lot of our time at the beach at first, but once we went to dinner at the resort clubhouse and saw this pool, we decided that the resprt architects surely had us in mind when they positioned the kiddie pool riiiiiight between the cabanas and the pool bar. 

Once again, a beautiful sunset lent itself to some attempts at pictures. 

Finally a decent one....

It was so hard to figure out what setting to use on my lil camera.  I wanted to get the pretty sunset in the background, but then my parents were all blurry:

And here's with the flash....cute pic but the background was much prettier in person!

I was so proud to see Whitney jump right in and make friends wherever we went.  She loved building sand castles and running from "sea gwass"!

She reluctantly took a break to eat some yummy pizza on the beach.  She didnt drink one ounce of milk the entire time we were gone since the DR doesnt value cold milk the way we do.  She wasnt loving the parmalat milk, so we tried a can of toddler enfamil formula, and that ($40 later) was a no-go as well.  So she stuck with water all week.

I really like this pic :)

The pool at our rental house was awesome for our family! Whitney was able to walk around and play on the tanning deck in the pool and we didnt have to worry about getting in the chilly pool!

It. was. freezing. But felt good since it was really hot out! Just took some getting used to....

We went to one of my favorite places on the planet for dinner one night.  When my parents brought me to Casa de Campo in high school, we went to Altos de Chavon for dinner.  This little tourist stop was built overlooking a gorgeous river and valley that reminds me of far, far away places...I remember visiting in high school and thinking "it looks like a giraffe or elephant would just wander through those palm trees down there..." as we looked into the valley.  Its changed a bit and the economy has clearly effected the restaurant attendance, but I'll always count this amongst my favorite places Ive been.

My attempt to self-portrait my favorite scene.  There are huge mountains way off in the distance and Im disappointed my camera couldnt show them since it just adds to the beauty of the place.

As we were looking below, this random white horse meandered down a dirt path in the valley.  We were stunned to see it since the valley is really deep, and we joked it was really a unicorn :)

There is an awesome little chapel at Altos and this bride was arriving (with bridesmaids who had the most amazing shoes ive ever seen) for her big day! Her dress was to...die....for.  It was windy there, but she couldnt have looked more stunning.

My dad was suckered into riding this donkey by a local.  We try to keep it classy :)

We were trying to get pics of the "Super Moon" after a delicious dinner that night, but Whitney was in a pretty silly and goofy mood, so this is the best we could get.

We had a lot of "if we didnt get a good picture of it, at least we have a good memory of the event" moments throughout the week.  :)

Whitney was thrilled to have the kiddie pool entirely to herself the next morning!  Daddy and Whitney had a funny splashing contest that left them both laughing and soaked!

And did I mention the swim-up pool bar??

Whitney met an adorable little girl visiting from Ireland and they were fast friends :)

After another napless day, Whitney crashed hard on the golf cart ride to the restaurant at the marina!

LOOOVE these moments!

The next day was spent at the pool again, where Whitney found the cabana curtains an awesome place to play hide n go seek with anyone willing to engage with her!

"Uncle Jay, is that you behind there??"

"Peek-a-BOOO!"

And then Whitney learned of the delightful pool bar in the "big kid pool".....and we thought it was a brilliant idea to offer our one-year-old a (non-alcoholic) strawberry daquiri from the pool bar.  Because, if she wasnt gonna drink MILK all week, she might as well have FUN!

It was a HIT from the first sip, and of course the picture-taking ensued!

Three generations :)

Once the shovering set in, it was time to warm up at the cabana....and the cuddles were the BEST!

....and again, all that playtime wears a kid out. So she napped through dinner once again:

Our last day was spent at the beach before Uncle Jay had to head back to Boston.  Then we went back to Le Cirque for some more yummmmy food.  We had to attempt some decent family pics before heading to dinner....

And Whitney was clearly in goofy mood again:

...and a few more "1.......2..................3!!"s before dinner.

We couldnt have asked for a more beautiful setting for the end of our trip.  The sun, the palm trees, the food, the company of my parents, husband, and little girl.....it really doesnt get much better.

I was trying to get a cute pic of Eric and Whitney with the sunset in the background.  She's almost two.  I got a cute pic, even if it wasnt the one I had pictured in my head.

Our last morning had a little bit of pool time before packing and heading back to the airport.  We sincerely had a great trip and cant thank my parents enough for everything.  The house, the food, the drinks, the laughs and smiles from our daughter.  It was all amazing and we dont say it enough, but we truly, truly do appreciate it all!

And I got to relax and enjoy a giant glass of wine (couldnt let it go to waste as we left all of our groceries behind!) and some last minute sun on my birthday :)

....and we flew home on my 32nd birthday.  I happened to notice that it was 3:23pm on 3/23 as we checked-in at the airport under the JetBlue sign, so after scrambling for a bit, Eric caught the moment just in time :)

It was a great trip and we all had a great time! We are glad to be back home (although the "sea gwass" is still apparently on Whitney's mind quite often...) and ready to get back into the swing of real life :)