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?

Paris, France Part II

We started the day with some breakfast at what we thought would be your typical croissant place, but little did we know we walked right into an Irish "diner" (though much nicer) where you could get a typical Irish/English breakfast. Which I guess was fine, but we can get a big breakfast any time.. we wanted chocolate pastries and crepes! Nevertheless, the eggs, sausage, sweet potato cakes, yogurt and granola, and hot chocolate were absolutely delicious and we left with full bellies ready to take on the day. Our hotel (which was more like a beautiful apartment) was walkable to Luxembourg Gardens and since Jon and I hadn't been to it before we went to take a stroll through it.

We continued to walk through the park on this beautiful day and came across a fantastic playground. We did have to pay to get in (3 euros per kid and 1 euro per adult), but it was worth it. There was a mini zipline, climbing structure with a slide, huge sandbox with digging tools, a small ropes area, swings, and many more super cool things to do. I so wish we had these types of playgrounds in the U.S! Our friends met us there and we stayed for about an hour. Afterwards, we started to make our way towards the Eiffel Tower where we had tickets to go up to the summit at 2:30.

Chatting on the metro

We've been to the top of the Eiffel Tower before and I can say with all certainty that I do not need to do it a third time. It was pretty crowded when we went and while it didn't take long to get to the halfway mark, we did have to stand in a pretty long line to get to the next elevator up to the top. There were way too many people to enjoy the view and with two little kids I felt like I had to keep my eyes on them a lot. And then it took forever to get back down since we took the elevator (we had the stroller with us). The experience was fine, and I think if we hadn't done it before we would have enjoyed it more. But the important thing was that we were all together!

We stopped at a macaron store to get some presents for people before going into a ridiculously touristy restaurant for dinner. Jon and I would never have picked this place to eat at simply because of its proximity to the tower, but our friends really wanted to eat there because the kids were all hungry and tired and the menu looked good. Plus, they said, the waiter had special drinks for us. Alllriggghhhtttt....

After getting harassed by the manager for going to the bathroom and not really being a customer (after which he was very apologetic and tried to explain his viewpoint), I sat down with our group outside under a heat lamp, excited to have my special drink (which ended up being 30 euros per person!!!) The kids were so cute under their blankets and they kept pretty occupied! The place ended up being meh in terms of food, but we had such a great time with our friends that in the end it didn't matter. In the end, that's what was most important!

We went to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle one more time since our friends hadn't seen it before at night. The kids danced and played and we marveled at the lights.

Unfortunately, our time had come to an end and we had to say goodbye. Our friends got on the metro and we popped in an uber. Our flight the next day was around 1:30 so we were able to sleep in, pack, and grab some croissants to go. The flight home was uneventful and the kids did great. We had such a wonderful trip!

The woman next to Jon had her leg (with no shoes on) resting on the seat in front of her