Friday, August 17, 2012

The DR trip continues…Last Days & Heading Home

The weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL on our fifth day!Punta Cana 147Punta Cana 152Punta Cana 158Punta Cana 160Punta Cana 162

We usually stayed at the pool till lunch, then headed to the beach afterwards.  Jon read one and a half books while we were there. He the last book he remembers reading all the way through was Dr. Dolittle!! Ha!

Punta Cana 170Punta Cana 171

Punta Cana 172

Laura, the sun goddess, made sure she was always in full sun- even if she was all by herself on the middle of the beach! Jon said she was a contender for the darkest person out there….

Punta Cana 173

The boys rocked it out under the umbrella while Laura worked on her tan…so after I finished my book I hit up Zumba on the beach!

Punta Cana 176

We came in around 6 to get ready for our dinner reservations….

Punta Cana 178Punta Cana 179Punta Cana 183Punta Cana 184Punta Cana 188Punta Cana 190Punta Cana 192Punta Cana 193

On our way to dinner….

 Punta Cana 194Punta Cana 195

We had Mexican….and it was DELICIOUS!!!

Punta Cana 196Punta Cana 197

Of course we made friends with our sweet little waiter. He practiced his English with us while we practiced our espanol…

Such a fun night!!

************************************************

Our 6th morning was also our final full day. Boo!

I took this lame-o self portrait in the gym to show how long my hair is now!! It’s growing like CRAZY!! Thank you, OMEGAPLEX!!!

Punta Cana 200

After our workout & breakfast, we

Punta Cana 202Punta Cana 204Punta Cana 205

Lunch….yum!!

Punta Cana 206Punta Cana 207Punta Cana 209

For our last night of dinner, we decided to head back to Italian because it was our fave!!

Punta Cana 211Punta Cana 213Punta Cana 215Punta Cana 218Punta Cana 223Punta Cana 224Punta Cana 228

We were so sad the trip was coming to an end because this meant back to reality and back to work! (Laura & I teach together….that’s how we met years ago…and Jon & Brian grew up together. We actually introduced them a few years back.) We both love teaching, but the end of summer is always bittersweet.

Our flight was delayed about and hour…

Punta Cana 232

..So we made friends with a family in the airport who we’d seen all week around the resort. It was so obvious that her kids absolutely ADORED her, and it was just so precious!! I also noticed that she had a SMOKIN’ body, so after 3 kids, I asked her how she pulls that off. She told me she trains 3-4 times a week at home either in the mornings or at night (while kids are asleep). She does videos & lifts weights in the basement gym, HIIT & weights….and eats clean as often as possible. She was almost 40 and looked AWESOME!! It’s inspirational to see women like that because it reminds me it CAN be done….

Punta Cana 233Punta Cana 234

Our flight home was another charter flight with a movie, meal, etc. Typically I’m really good about packing snacks so we don’t have to spend money on airport food, but we ate them all on the way down and while we were there. (MONEY SAVING TIP: I typically bring almonds & walnuts, apples, & peanut butter energy bites. Since you can’t bring liquids, including water, I also bring an empty water bottle and fill it up so I don’t have to pay for the outrageous $8 waters!) Unfortunately we weren’t anticipating the delay, so I ate the meal on the plane. It was a t.v. dinner type microwavable meal, and my body swelled up BIG TIME from all that sodium! It made my belly feel kinda yucky too. It’s amazing how your body starts to reject certain things after a while…

We really had SUCH a great time, and if you’re looking to travel, I DEFINITELY recommend the Dominican Republic!! It was absolutely GORGEOUS and was cheaper than the Caribbean. I also recommend traveling somewhere all-inclusive, because we spent around the same amount of money we would spend on a weeklong trip to Florida after considering gas, groceries, eating out, hotel, etc. We will definitely be heading back there…

2 comments:

lauren said...

did you stay at melia caribe??

Alisa Marie said...

That pool looks amazing, I wish I was there right now.