I started by joining a bootcamp program to get myself fit and healthy. It was brutal and fun.
I had good motivation to put up with how rough it was; Casey and I planned a trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for early May. I continued kicking butt at Semco and would clock out and get my butt kicked at Afterburn Fitness.
We landed and the airport was so tropical and foreign looking and so beautiful! This is a picture of the airport. This picture is from when we were leaving to come home but you get the gist.
It was so crazy to drive through the local areas. Everything was so different, the houses, the roadways and driving rules. Before this trip I didn't realize how small my little world was! Driving though was an adventure in itself. We finally arrived at our resort and it was like a commercial. UNREAL! (Thanks Whitney and Dennis for the recommendation!) We stayed at the Majestic Elegance in Punta Cana. We will be going back for sure! Besides the gorgeous grounds, the beach and water were like a postcard! You may not believe me but the following pictures were not photoshopped in any way! PS: Thanks Whitney & Madison for the hat.
The Bus Tour was the one I was least excited about but ended up being my very favorite. It gave us a chance to see the local villages. We went to a Cocoa Plantation, a small farm and a school. We got stuck in a crazy rain storm on that one and it made it that much more enjoyable. It felt so tropical and surreal. I pet and fed some giant Iguanas, ate a raw Cocoa bean, and danced in the rain! The school was adorable! The children were so precious and eager to meet us. One even gave me a drawing of a flower. Again, just driving through the beautiful country was an adventure. This is us after we got stuck in the rain storm on the open air bus back to the resort.
Speaking of being back at the resort, it was all-inclusive and they made AMAZING non-alch. drinks! We sipped on "Majestics" and other delicious drinks while we enjoyed the amenities. They had a giant open theater that put on some super fun shows, my favorite being the Michael Jackson tribute.
Swimming with Dolphins was also unreal; something to cross off my bucket list. I was way more excited about this than Casey was. In fact, this was the excursion I was most excited about but ended up being the least favorite out of all of them, which is not saying much since they all were amazing. With this excursion, we did a lot more than just swim with dolphins. We also met (and kissed) a sea lion, watched a cutsie exotic bird show and then got to meet and "encounter" the birds in that show. It was really fun but the actual swimming with dolphins part went by very quickly. I was very glad, when we got home, that we bought the professional picture package they sold there.
After a very long and fun day of swimming with dolphins, we were glad to have scheduled a day to stay at the resort and relax. Again, no photoshop here!
When the day came to finally zip line, it was bittersweet. I did not want my Dominican Dream to end! We set off in another open air bus, past many of the places we saw on our first excursion, to the Zip Line course. After the obligatory safety and instruction spiel, we were harnessed and set off. Let me just reiterate, this land is gorgeous!! Unfortunately, I was not allowed to carry my phone or camera with me to get pictures from my view but it was breathtaking! Again, glad we purchased the picture packages they sold there.
On the bus ride home from zip lining, the driver/tour guide person picked a cocoa plant off a tree and cut it open for us all to eat. So yummy! On the bumpy drive I pondered all the fun memories we made on our crazy excursions. We hit some pretty rough turbulence but it was all part of the experience... that is...until my camera fell victim to the ride; somewhere between the Cocoa plant and the main road, my camera fell off my lap and through the floor of the open air bus. ALL MY PICTURES, GONE! I took pictures with the students, with the birds, all over the resort... all gone. This made me even more thankful that we splurged on the souvenir picture packages sold at the excursions. The next day was our last day there and we just spent it running around the resort trying to capture pictures on Casey's phone to make up for losing the dozens of photos i lost. I told casey that this meant we had to come back and do it all over again.
The trip home was an adventure all it's own. On the way to the airport, Casey misplaced his passport (minor heart attack) luckily we found it by the time we got to the airport. Our plane was delayed a few hours. Finally we boarded the plane. We were set to make our connecting flight in Chicago and be home the Saturday before Mother's Day. Then, we sat on the plane on the tar mac for about an hour before they asked the older lady next to me to get off the plane because apparently she fell on the walk to the plane because due to being drunk and dehydrated. Once she was off we spent another hour waiting for them to take her luggage off the plane. By the time we got to Chicago we had just missed the last flight to LA until the next day meaning we no longer had a ride to pick us up from the Airport on Mother's Day. The airline put us up in a hotel, Casey and I ate at Harry Caray's for a (very) late dinner and got about 3 hours of sleep before going back to the airport for our final leg of the journey home.
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| In the Chicago Airport (finally) headed home |
When we landed at LAX all our family was busy celebrating mother's day so we had a car service pick us up and take us home. It felt so fancy! We got dropped off, changed as quickly as we could and rushed to my mom's church for Mother's Day sacrament. It was a nice surprise for her and it was nice to do something normal.
Believe it or not, this is only the first half of the excitement that 2013 had in store. the second half of the year will be covered in Part Two. Until then...
To Be Continued....
