Punta Cana Moments: Pool vs Ocean

The majority of our time in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic was spent in or around the water.  Specifically, the ocean and the pool.  Which leads to the question which is better, ocean or pool?

Stubbornly, I want to pick ocean, a beautiful natural wonder, the birthplace of our earliest ancestors.  The sight of it is a vacation brochure come to life; turquoise water lined with palm trees and white beaches. I loved swimming among the waves, even if the salt stung my eyes occasionally.

For the kids, the pool is the clear choice. Say what? We have pools in Burlington. We didn't travel almost three thousand miles just to swim in a pool!  Granted, the pools in Burlington aren't surrounded by palm trees.  Nor do they have bars that you can swim up to and order free drinks all day.  When William wasn't ordering me to film his amazing splashes, he was drinking virgin daiquiries until his lips matched his life jacket.  I must admit, the clear refreshing water was much more pleasant on the eyes and mouth than its salty counterpart.  Perhaps this is because the pool was designed specifically for the pleasure of humans, while the ocean is the embodiment of a fierce mother nature who pressures all creatures to adapt to her whim.

What the beach did have going for it was the sand.  Even on the hottest days, it never got hot enough to burn your feet (Yes, really. I know, I can't get over it either). Also, no matter where we were on the beach, the sand was always the perfect consistency for making castles.  While on the beach, the kids were happy to stay on shore while Adam and I took turns getting our swim on.  Of course, William did enjoy jumping in the waves on occasion, and Jadzia ran in and out just getting her toes wet.

Back in the great white north, today we played in the snow and went skating.  My mom asked William what he liked better, swimming in the pool and ocean, or the ice and snow.  His answer was immediate and enthusiastic: "Snow! Snow! Snow!"