Paradise

After many weeks of hard work, Steven found out he had won a contest with work for a trip to the Dominican Republic. We were headed to Punta Cana to stay for 6 days and 5 nights at the Melia Caribe Tropical Resort. I never expected to love it as much as I did. We had only been there for a couple of days and we realized that we definitely wanted to make a return visit some day. The place was huge, but that didn't bother us. There were families with small children there and they had a whole area dedicated to little kids. It would be great to bring Emmaline back one day, but this time it was nice to get away with just my hubby (and about 40 other people that he works with). :-)

The day we flew out, we had to be at the airport before the sun was even up. We got up at 3:00 a.m. so by the time we got on our connecting flight in Atlanta we were still happy and excited, but VERY tired!

The Punta Cana Airport....this was the group in front of us waiting to get into the airport to go through customs.

Once through customs and retrieving our luggage we made our way out and got on the bus to head to the resort. We took it as a good sign that there was a rainbow.

Finally.......the beach! We just spent the first afternoon and evening exploring. I was so tired I ended up going to bed incredibly early and slept like 11 hours. It was incredible!

After breakfast the first full day there we had to go and sit through an informative session with the tour operator. This is what I heard....Blah blah blah blah blah....pool....blah blah blah blah....beach.....blah blah blah blah blah.....sand...blah blah....water....

Ready to hit the pool....

Our view of the beach from our pool side chairs....aaaahhhhhhhh......

Waiting in the lobby for our dinner reservation.

Tonight for dinner we went to the French Restaurant. I love French food and we had people tell us later that it was excellent, but this night was apparently an off night for their food. Steven enjoyed it, but mine wasn't all that great.

Getting ready to head out to do some shopping. We wanted to get it over with so we could enjoy the rest of the week relaxing.

Coming back to the resort after going across the street to the mall to find some souvenirs.

One of the many beautiful plants growing around the resort. I have mentioned it before, but I LoVe orchids!!

After dinner we spent some time in one of the open areas at the resort talking with the group and enjoying the warm tropical air and live music.

Since we got up so early to get our cabana, Steven was taking a little nap to catch up on his zzzzz's....... we are on vacation ya know :-)

I loved....loved......loved that pool!!

For dinner that night we went to the Dominican Restaurant. It was excellent!!! And if you have never tried goat....you should! I was really happy the next day at lunch to see that they had some of the Dominican stew on the buffet.

They had this little house in the middle of the restaurant, it was pretty neat....


Inside the little house....

We got up really really really early most mornings we were there so we could watch the sunrise and so we could get one of those sweet cabanas each day.

The sunrise was different each morning. God's artwork is truly amazing!

As soon as breakfast was done, they started weaving the palm branches and decorating for a festival that was to begin that night. It was fun to watch the ladies weave the palms to make this arch.....their hands worked so fast you almost could see what they were doing.

Live entertainment at lunch since the Festival was starting that day

Our last evening meal we went to the Thai Fusion restaurant. It was good, but we never figured out what it was "fused" with!

Our last morning we got up and went and watched the sunrise one last time. It was incredible!

After breakfast, I went and sat on the beach for a while longer so I could soak in the view before I had to return to reality...

Bags all packed, dressed in our "winter" clothes and ready to go. We were sad to leave but very ready to get home to our sweet girl. At the airport waiting for our turn to get on the plane. They entertained us while we waited. Can't say I have ever been entertained at an airport in the States before :-)

Good bye Dominican.....we will miss you......
But we certainly look forward to visiting you again!

I could have put another 30 or more pictures on here....I took pictures of everything. But I figured it was long enough and if you made if this far you deserved to be done so you could go enjoy your own life :-)

Thanks for reading!!!

Happy Halloween

Halloween was on the 30th for us this year. Worked out GREAT!!! Emmaline had her little party at school with the exchange of treats and of course some cupcake, pretzel, apple and cheese stick eating. This is Emmaline and her best little buddy Jennifer. They are inseparable each day.

Emmaline helped Ms. Michelle carve the pumpkin. Well, at least that is what she told me....Michelle may have a different story ;-)

Then, after the party we went home to get her all spiffed up in her costume for Trunk or Treat. She was a "Princess Witch" this year. I let her wear makeup and while she thought she was all that I don't think her Daddy has still recovered from the shock of seeing his baby wearing eyeliner and eyeshadow.

Emmaline and sweet Natalie Kate. Emma was all excited that Natalie was Tinkerbell.
Emmaline and her Pirate cousin, Ethan. They were both excited about spending the next week together and eating candy!

I usually would have a TON more pictures, but when I got to the school for her party and went to take the first picture, I realized that the flash on my camera had decided not to work. So I was very limited on what pictures I was able to get. I was NOT a happy camper!!!!

Pumpkin Pickin'

I was blessed to be able to join Emmaline and her classmates on their fieldtrip to Jackson's Orchard this year. It was so much fun to watch Emma interact with her little friends.

Emmaline and her BFF Jennie were just too excited for words.

Emmaline LOVES to ride the "big bus" ......even though it has no heat!!! Mommy on the other had was seriously wishing she had taken her own car and met them there. Bbbrrrrr!!!!

Headed out to the pumpkin patch. It was a beautiful day after so many days of rain. Emma kept asking for sunglasses because it was so bright.

Me with my sweet girl.

Emmaline and Jennie exploring and looking for the perfect pumpkin.

FOUND IT!!!

This is a new addition at Jackson's. I wish they had had this when we first started taking her up there. It will be neat to see how much she has grown next year when we go.

The Cider Slider. She was a little leary at first, but LOVED it once she went down the first time. Unfortunately, there was another big school group from another county that showed up and they were not as nice and polite as our kids were. We had to leave :-(

The perfect apple to take home.

These were some very happy girls on the way back to school.

Beautiful Day

We had an impromptu photo session on Saturday. You would never believe where we were!

We have a new agreement when it comes to picture taking now. If she takes "pretty pictures" then I will take "silly pictures". Since she let me take the ones I wanted, I took what she wanted. I certainly has made me laugh when I look at it!

Have you figured out where we were yet????

Disney On Ice

On the spur of the moment I bought tickets to Disney on Ice down in Nashville. All we told Emmaline was that we were going to Nashville and we had a surprise.  She had been sick with bronchitis and on medicine for a couple of days, but she loves surprises so it perked her up a bit.

  Ready to go inside.  At this point she knew that she was going to see the Princesses along with Mickey and Minnie.

She wasn’t sure what to think at first….but she very quickly got excited.  She kept her eyes glued to the floor the entire time. 

The Halloween segment was probably my least favorite of the show, but it was so much fun to watch Emmaline when first Cruella came on the ice followed by the witches from her movies.  Malificent came out and she was all excited over that and then she realized that the witch of Snow White was there too……along with her basket of apples.  Emma…"She has poison apples in her basket. That is not very nice.”  Then when she tried to give an apple to Mickey, Emma was all mad and started yelling for Mickey not to eat the apple.  (and this was before they had the crowd worked up to yell out ‘NO’). It was pretty amusing.

Just a few of the princesses….Jasmine, Cinderella (along with the Fairy Godmother) and Mulan.  Emma loves it ALL!!!

They even had the new princess from the “Princess and the Frog” movie that is going to be coming out soon.  She cannot wait to see it.

Some of my favorites from the evening….

Fantasia….. I thought these glow in the dark mop costumes were pretty neat.

Fire on ice…… pretty cool!

The evening ended with Christmas, some “fireworks” and big smiles!!!

You just gotta love Disney!!!