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!"

Punta Cana Moments - The Trip Home

For the past week my family and I have been in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic to attend my sister's wedding.  It was a relaxing trip which included palm trees, swimming and buffets.  Of course the thing most fresh in my mind is the trip home, so that is what I will tell you about today.

To make our one-am flight we had to be all ready and in the lobby by nine, already past the kids bedtime.  Some rather pushy merchants happened to be set up selling various souvenir trinkets. I got suckered into buying two little drum noisemakers for the kids, and they promptly began fighting over who got to use the one with the crocodile on it (the other had a dolphin).  Shortly after that, Jadzia fell asleep, on my lap, in the lobby, despite the noise of the boisterous bar-goers. 

The bus took a route with many windy roads, and an exorbitant amount of speed bumps, stopping at several other resorts along the way. I tossed my still-comatose daughter at Adam because I was afraid I was going to vomit on her. I drank water, which helped a little at first, but then just wanted to come up.  But I made it to the airport without puking.  Huzzah!  William fell asleep on the bus.

Adam was already in charge of all the luggage, and I couldn't carry both kids so my mom carried Jadzia and I carried William.  That child has gotten a lot heavier since he lived in my belly five years ago. In the line up at Dominican customs, he woke enough to become delirious and started kicking me.  I put him down and guided the little zombie along, while Jadzia screamed as she attempted to find a comfortable position in Omi's arms.

We waited in the airport for a while, which is not air-conditioned.  In fact, the whole place is walls-optional.  I get that the Dominican doesn't get a lot of snow storms, but does it never rain sideways? Parts of it look more like a picnic shelter than an international airport.

Anyway, William nodded off again and I carried his limp body across the tarmac.  In the summer, I went portaging and had to carry half our gear in a giant pack.  That was nothing.  You know those tunnels that lead you right from the gate into your airplane?  Punta Cana doesn't have those.  Those tunnels are a good idea. I huffed and puffed along, up the stairs to the airplane, and finally chucked my first born onto the window seat. We set Jadzia down beside him and they stayed asleep until we landed in Toronto.

Then they had a great time with the moving sidewalks.