Punta Cana, DR vacation 2012

It is currently freezing rain outside - but I'm going to bask in the sweet Dominican sun for a few minutes while I take you back to our family vacation in October.

To state the nitty gritty details - we book our DR (Dominican Republic) vacations -we've been a few times now, most recently when Greyson was 6months old- through Apple Vacations and they always do an excellent job.  We book all-inclusive trips through Apple (airfare, hotel, in-country transportation, all you can drink and eat) and they take care of everything.  This year we stayed at Iberostar Dominicana and we had a great experience with booking, transportation, hotel accommodations, and service - as usual.

We always enjoy ourselves when we visit Punta Cana and we were anticipating how much more fun it would be this year now that Grey was old enough to play and run around and that Gem was able to crawl and dance.  Brandon and I were both ready for a solid week of no cellphones and breathing in salt air.  I will tell ya now, our vacation didn't disappoint.

We got did as much prep as possible for our vacation leading up to our fly date.  And then we spent the next 7 days...

Enjoying the hotel pools:

And blissfully running and playing in the sand and ocean:

And enjoying the resort and all it has to offer -

like Kids' Club activities and a show every night

he is his mother's son

and beach/pool aerobics

super fun beach dance parties

great options for dining (and drinking)

and the music.  we love the constant music

We were also lucky to celebrate two very big, important holidays while on vacation:  Brandon's birthday (28) and our wedding anniversary (4)

We also took advantage of the on-site professional photographers (our anniversary present to each other) and snagged some awesome family photos.

photo credit:  Amy from WBA

photo credit:  Amy from WBA

photo credit:  Amy from WBA

photo credit:  Amy from WBA

photo credit:  Amy from WBA

photo credit:  Amy from WBA

photo credit:  Amy from WBA

We kept it loose and relaxed this vacation.  We didn't care if all we did all day was nothing.  Not a thing.  We kept our kids non-sunburned by hanging out in the shade and making them wear sun protection (their sun bandannas are:  Sun Smarties Boy's Swim Hat)

photo credit:  Amy from WBA

and when the kids needed to sleep - we let them sleep (because if we have learned anything in 2.5 years...its a happy baby is a well-rested baby)

We even went so far as keeping Greyson contained in our hotel room for almost a whole day after he had ran himself silly-tired for the first three days of vacation.  He was visibly exhausted and was so tired that he was having trouble sleeping (hah, go figure).  So I hung out in the room all day with him napping and watching movies on the iPad while Brandon delivered us lunch and snacks.

But the real secret to why we enjoy our vacations so much (as do our kids) is that we travel with built-in support; vacationing babysitters...and the best kind - the ones that don't mind whisking your kids to build sandcastles and happy to fetch 64 buckets of ocean water.  We are lucky to travel with family.

Which means, many times - we are hands free, relaxed, and watching our babies smile and laugh.  And that kind of vacation brings renewed breath into our tired, run down souls.  So we are able to take our two children under the age of three to a foreign country and come home rejuvenated.

we are able and free to be a happy family - even on vacation! - because of the people that love and support us. (thank you!!)

photo credit:  Amy from WBA