10 years of memories celebrated in the DR

July 2001 seems so long ago, yet at the same time seems only just a few short months ago. Time is a funny thing and is greatly subjective depending on so many factors. To a child a decade is an eternity, but as life progresses it somehow looses its longevity and we learn to cherish every moment. We make conscious efforts to commit moments in time to memory between life's hectic schedules and responsibilities and so we purposefully plan vacations for special occasions. Jenn is much better at this than I am and she is always stretching me to stay active and involved. I guess that makes us a good match in some ways as we balance each other out on occasion. However, this time, to celebrate 10 years of marriage, it was a mutual decision to plan a getaway. As a result, after careful consideration, much research and purposeful planning, we agreed on a few destinations. From there, it was decided that I would handle the rest. The last time I did this was ten years ago,....our honeymoon at a Sandals Resort in the Bahamas and a Caribbean Cruise. That was fun!

I was certainly out of practice planning trips and a bit overwhelmed to begin, but I found plenty of motivation when the finances were placed in my hands to make decisions. = ) Long story short, with help from a family friend and travel agent Linda B., our final destination was the Dominican Republic. Specifically, we were headed to Punta Cana to an all-inclusive resort known as Excellence. http://www.excellence-resorts.com/caribbean-and-mexico-destinations/excellence-punta-cana

Our trip began with a ride up to Long Island to drop off our luggage, I mean children, with Grandpa and Grandma Terry. We were able to get a terrific beach day in even before our trip at Wading River Beach and that was great.
Our departure was on the 31st of July from JFK at 8am. Our arrival in Punta Cana was around 12pm and it gave us most of the afternoon to enjoy at the resort. While I sat in the airport, on the plane and in the shuttle to the report thinking of all the fun to be had soon, Jenn did not know where we were going and the secret lasted right up to the last moment. She only knew for sure when we pulled up to the entrance of Excellence Resort and received a glass of champagne and a wet, cool towel. From her reaction, I think I hit another home run with my planning.
The resort held up to its name and was "Super Excellent", as they say on property there whenever asked, "Como Estas"? While there are plenty of stories to be told and details to share, our happiest memories were of sitting on the beach or poolside doing nothing but lounging in the sun and reading. Everywhere you went you could hear the ocean waves and anywhere you sat a waiter would find you to serve you your favorite drink. It was a dream! When we were not swimming or reading, we were eating delicious meals or enjoying good music and evening entertainment. This night we ate at a place called The Lobster House and both ate surf and turf poolside and oceanside. What a view!Another restaurant that had some of the best food was the French Restaurant called Chez Isabelle. One night we ate out and wore our annual anniversary outfits, which has been a tradition of ours each year. We each buy each other an outfit and wear it out to dinner. Here's this year's picks:One morning, we saw a few men clearing the grounds and gathering coconuts from the trees, which they used to make drinks in at the bars. Jenn went to see them working and one man kindly began carving the top of a coconut, handed a bite-size piece to Jenn to eat and gave her the final product of his design to consume. It was fresh coconut juice. MMMMM.
We went to the SPA and enjoyed a couples massage and facial that included hydrotherapy and other things I can't explain, but that was my first experience with any SPA treatment. Very interesting indeed.

The grounds were magnificent and worth sharing as well. Here's some pics of what we saw in our walks around the property.
We met two really nice couples that we seemed to connect with and we spent some time with them at the pool and in the evenings. One couple was from Connecticut and the other was was Toronto, Canada.
Our departure was on a day of overcast skies and rainy weather, which was Tropical Storm Emily. It was becoming a pretty dangerous storm with heavy rains, but we were able to make it out of the country with little delay and we were fortunate. The weather did make it easier to leave, but we knew we would miss the wonderful memories we made at Excellence in Punta Cana. ...................... If only time did not have to fly by and we could have made time slow down as it once did when we were young.

Happy Anniverary Honey. I am excited for the next ten years together and more trips like this to come. Until then,......