Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (Jan. 2020)

Jon's mom, Lori, had a big birthday this winter and to celebrate they took the whole family to the Nickelodeon resort in Punta Cana. Woohoo! This was our first time going on a hot weather vacation in a long time! And our Florida trips to see the grandparents don't count. I'm talking about sitting on a pool chair or laying on the beach all day while someone brings me a ton of pretty alcoholic beverages. It was a much needed vacation for all of us and it was nice to spend the quality time with the family.

We slept at an airport Marriott the night before since we had an early flight. I'm going to emphasize the had part. After we boarded on time and everything was out of the bags for the kids to settle into their seats, the pilot announced that there was a mechanical issue and that everyone had to deplane! Um, excuse me? And we had to take everything with us since they weren't sure if we were going to use that plane. So off the plane we went to then wait in the gate area for over an hour. That was fun. We finally boarded the plane again and we arrived safely in Punta Cana!

We were able to give the kids some pool time before dinner while we watched some very inebriated British group try to take an action photo at the pool. It was pretty entertaining!

The next day we went to a fabulous buffet breakfast, changed into our suits and plopped ourselves in front of the pool for the entire morning. The kids had a blast at the pool while we drank a ton pina coladas. Seriously, I think I had about 8. And then we started asking for a side of rum. We all had such a great time!

That afternoon we went to the water park on the other side of the resort. This is where the "kid" side is. I think if M was a little older then Jon and I would have had a great time there, but because we had to watch her every step of the way and help her a lot we really couldn't enjoy or relax the way we wanted to. Such is life with young kids, right? There was a lazy river that we did get to go around in and of course we had the pina coladas keep on coming! J got to meet spongebob and two of the ninja turtles, which she was excited about!

The rest of our days there were about the same, except we didn't go back to the waterpark side. The kids were very content playing in the pool the whole time. We made our way to the beach one morning, but just to dip our toes in and play in the sand. One night there was a little festival outside in the square where there was music, vendors, and street food. 

A tip for anyone that wants to visit this resort... go longer than 4 nights/5 days! The time flew by and we left feeling like we needed just one more day. But isn't that always the way when you're having a good time?