Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

John and I finally went on vacation!!  Without kids.  Without going to see family.  A real vacation.  We flew down to the Dominican Republic for a few days and it was beautiful!!  The beach was amazing.  The sand was so soft it felt like carpet as you walked into the water.  The ocean was beautiful and the water was warm and clear.  A little too clear as I could easily see the fish waiting to eat me if I got in the water!  The resort was beautiful and quiet...no spring breakers.  It was very family friendly and made me wish a little bit that Jenna and Andrew were with us...Jenna would have LOVED the pools.   All of the Domonican people were so happy and friendly.  I tried to limit the number of pictures here but I think I still ended up with more than anyone cares to see!

The hotel lobby.  There were little ponds all around and in the lobby area that had birds, ducks, turtles, fish, and flamingos. 

After we checked in we went for a walk along the beach.  (Instead of observing how white we are, look at the beautiful ocean and rainbow behind us!) 

Down the beach from our resort were all of these shops right on the beach. I'm not sure how they don't get washed away; they are so close to the water.

Maybe one of my favorite shots...

One morning we went zip lining.  The tour bus picked us up at 7:30 and it was about a 1.5 hour drive to get to the site so we were able to see some of the country and the villages.  Just a side note, don't ever rent a car there...they are some crazy scary drivers!! 

There are 3 mountain ranges in the Dominican Republic...that's one of them in the distance.

Think I missed a couple of spots with my sunscreen?!  (Although at least I put sunscreen on.  That's more than I can say for the guy sitting next to me!!)

For safety reasons, they don't allow cameras while you are zip lining so this is our proof that we did it!  They had 8 different lines and there were some small hikes to get from one line to the next.  It was a lot of fun and beautiful to see the landscape from overhead!   

More of the beach...I just can't not share these pictures! 

Our room and the view from our room.

The Dominican Republic is a popular vacation spot for Europeans so we knew there would be lots of speedos, a few topless women, and some thongs...but THIS I did not expect to see!  (I dare you to scroll down!!!!)

HAHAHA!!!

We had a great time and would love to go back one day with family.  We remembered how much fun real vacations are, and we're already planning a family vacation for next spring.  Thanks to Grammy for playing with Jenna and Andrew while we were gone!! 

Random Pictures

Here are a few random pictures we've taken in the last few months:

I love his big smiles!!

This has been Jenna's perch for the last few months.  You will find her sitting here several hours of the day. 

There are no hiding places in our house!  Even if you are
under a car seat cover, you will be found!

Proof that Andrew was trying to hide.  And that Jenna
 insisted on playing with him! 

I snuck in her room while she was napping.  She was so tired!  She
 had taken off her pants and was using Andrew's blanket
as a pillow. Doesn't she look sweet?

At bed time, I lay Andrew on our bed and try and capture my
Jumping Jenna so I can change her and brush her teeth.  This night
she insisted on laying next to Andrew and tucking both of them in. She made sure the blanket was pulled up over both of them. 

My cute little dude! 

Jenna loves stickers!  Poor Andrew!

These little kids sure are fun!  They make us laugh daily.  Andrew is all smiles, screams, and laughs even with his bottom teeth coming in.  He rolls and moves all over the place playing with his toys and watching us.  He's loving all of his new foods.  Jenna jumps all the time (in her crib, on our bed, on the couch, across the house, etc.), loves her babies, and says the funniest things.  She insists on going to the grocery store daily. ("I need grocery store!")  And at the end of the day she can sing "I am a Child of God" all by herself!

Midway Christmas Festival

Midway is a really small, cute town near Lexington.  They had a little Christmas festival this morning that we took Jenna and Andrew to.  It was REALLY cold!!  Santa arrived on the train and we were able to visit with Santa, get on the train, go for a pony ride, pet the animals at the petting zoo, eat lots of cookies, and meet every dog that we found.  They also had horse-drawn carriage rides but it was too cold to wait in the long line!

   

Thanksgiving

We had so much fun with Grammy and Poppy here for Thanksgiving.  We love that they come visit us EVERY year for Thanksgiving!  We are very lucky!  Grammy was able to spend a few minutes practicing with her camera and she sure took some cute pictures of some cute kids!  Here are a few of them:

Thanks for the pictures Grammy!  We love you!  We're already looking forward to next Thanksgiving!  :)

Halloween

I had such high hopes for trick or treating this year!  I was so excited.  Jenna was going to be so excited!  She was going to look so cute!  She was going to have so much fun!  She was going to love getting all that candy!  And then she was going to love giving me those huge amounts of chocolate!
 
Well, it didn't go as planned.  The whole day was kind of a wreck!  Andrew went to the doctor in the morning and has an ear infection.  Jenna decided to practice her flying skills in the afternoon when she should have been napping.  When John heard the BOOM, BOOM he went in there to see how bad Jenna's crash landing from her crib was.  Needless to say, there was no nap.

When I got home from work, I could tell Jenna was tired.  One of her friends came over to trick or treat with us.  Thankgoodness they came!  Jenna was so tired she didn't seem very excited and she wanted to be carried most of the way.  I had Andrew strapped to the front of me so I couldn't carry Jenna so my friend, who is 5 months pregnant, had to carry Jenna.  Halfway through, Jenna decided she had had enough and didn't need any more candy.  We hadn't even gotten very much chocolate yet...it was all the cheap icky bubble gum and dum dum suckers!  But Jenna insisted she was done and needed to eat a sucker right then!  It was a long way back to the house...

And to our neighbor with the ceramic pumpkin on your porch...I'm sorry but it's your own fault!  If you hadn't had your porch light on, we never would have been on your porch looking for candy and admiring your cute pumpkin!  Oops!!



Don't they look so excited?!



Doesn't Andrew look HUGE in this picture?!

I'm so excited for NEXT Halloween and trick or treating!!  I'm sure it'll be better!  And it'll be so much fun!  And we'll get tons of candy! 

Little Goblins Galore

We spent most of today practicing our trick-or-treating!  We went to Little Goblins Galore this morning and had a lot of fun.  There was a petting zoo, games, food, entertainment, and trick or treating.  Of course, Jenna's favorite part was the petting zoo.  She was so sad that she had to leave the animals and go trick-or-treating! 

     

Jenna loved the chicken. 

And she loved the bunnies.  She kept showing me their water.

She thought this goat was a dog.

And she loved the magician's dog...I don't think she knew it wasn't a real dog!

 Then this evening was the Trunk or Treat at the church. Jenna was the cutest little cowgirl there!  And Andrew was the cutest little monster!  At each car Jenna said "trick or treat" and "thank you."  A couple of times people couldn't hear her or she said "trick or treat" before we got to the car so I said, "say it one more time," to which I got a response of "one more time."  I think her cuteness scored us a little bit of extra candy  because we came home with a good amount of chocolate! 

My cute little monster!

 

Park

We went to the park for a little bit this afternoon when I got home from work.  It was a little chilly but we all bundled up and had a great time together.  Jenna loves this playground, and Andrew is learning to love it!