Quality fun on repeat
Day 3 - Punta Cana
While we hoped our second night down here would be a silky smooth transition into all nighter sleeper hits I am sad to report that it was another banger. On the positive side we did get a crib, yay Sophie, but Wesley really struggled throughout the night.
His cough was so strong and constant at times it was no wonder he had a hard time sleeping. When Sophie checked up on him to her surprise he was completely soaked. If it was pee there was a lot of it and if it was sweat… well there was a lot of it. My guess is a combination of both.
I helped her get him cleaned up and back to bed but he wasn't having it. So daddy picked him up and let him find comfort on my chest. After a while he started breathing hard, almost snoring so I dropped him back in the crib and went back to bed.
A short while later Lola woke up and was so hot. We gave her some meds and I lay back down with her. She does this thing where she bear hugs my arm and this somehow allows her to quickly find peace and sleep. It's adorable and one of my now not so secret daddy perk.
When morning came Sophie agreed.to.meet my buddy at the gym at 6:30am so I was on daddy duty. She dropped Wesley on me while Lola continued to sleep. In fact she slept in till 7am. Wesley however drifted in and out of sleep on my chest for a good hour after which I just set him loose on the premises. He's so into moving right now it's kind all he wants to do.
Sophie got back a bit after 7 and the family got ready nice and quick so that we could catch an early enough breakfast with our friends. On day 2 we are feeling pretty decent about the food and hope this trend continues.
Our current approach to breakfast is to strap on our bathing suits under our clothes. This enables us to access the food areas while being ready to switch to pool mode quickly. Sometimes we even cream up ahead of time as well. At this point we are basically professional travelers. Look to the future for our book on traveling with kids. :p
After filling up our tummies we head out in search of yet another pool. We find one in the connected seperate resort which had a walled off kiddy splash pad area. Wesley deeply enjoys this area as he gets to flex his yeehaw moving muscles. Something I really enjoy about this resort is that most people aren't running out early in the morning to reserve chairs for the day. We always found seating at each pool we visited today.
Eventually we switch to the adult side which is where Sophie manages to commandeer a floating vessel for the girls that was left behind by a British couple. The girls continue to grow their bond which brings with it their first spats. Obviously these are disagreements between young children so nothing major but emotions do sometimes run high but they seem to always manage to reconcile pretty quick.
As lunchtime neared we headed towards the beach in order to hit a restaurant with a lower dress code, bare chest is legit a legal right, right? Alas they wouldn't let me in without a shirt so I complied and then we ate. This place had a soft ice cream dispenser that we thoroughly abused. I flexed my turd swirling technique that I learned under the tutelage of Shaolin monks.
After visiting chow town we headed to the beach where the kids frolicked in the waves with adults and built sand castles. I tried to convince Wesley to execute his nap on me but it was him that convinced me that he wasn't napping just yet.
So I joined in the fun and went wave hopping with Lola for a bit followed by some weak ass attempts at bodysurfing with my buddy. It was around this time that the two young girls informed us that it was time to migrate to a pool. We had heard about a magic show near the main pool so that's where we went.
Here everyone swam and enjoyed the sun. I spent a lot of quality time with Wesley which was super nice. When the magic show started the girls sat in second row and after the initial excitement died down my friend’s daughter and Lola got up and walked out on the show. She then told her father loudly within ear shot of the performer and the crowd that she didn't like the show, I couldn't help but laugh.
Back to the water we went. The girls have really grown quite fond of each other and I'm so happy for Lola. This is her third trip like this and each time she craves friendship in these places as time slows down for fun here and fun is meant to be enjoyed with others. It's so nice to see her fully engaged with another little one non stop. When we leave to go get ready in our room she can't stop talking about how she can't wait to see her friend and play with her again. We are two days in and she's already on cloud nine and I have to say this is the same for Sophie and I. Having friends with us down here has really shifted the quality of this experience for us in ways we hadn't fully anticipated. We are so thankful and happy that they were willing to do this with us.
We do enjoy our trips on our own but there is something magical about sharing these experiences with others you love, especially when our kids get along so well.
Tonight was out first night at a fancy Indian restaurant so we split up temporarily to get cleaned up and ready. Generally the a la carte restaurants tend to have better food than the buffet. In fact in our last Mexico trip the Indian food was hands down the best food I've ever eaten in an all inclusive trip. My favourite food tonight was the spicy peanut salad, incredibly delicious and super tasty.
By the time we finished our meal Wesley still wasn't sleeping despite me walking around with him for a bit. He was undeterred, he just wanted to party. So we opted to go to a kids dance party which turned out to be a silent dance party where anyone who wanted to participate got headphones to hear the dance party music. Looking at this scene without headphones was quite bizarre as people and kids danced like unhinged lunatics with not a single dime of music playing. Very strange. Lola and her friend quite enjoyed themselves, what can I tell you they are young.
At this point even the parents were tired so we got a golf cart trip back and said goodnight to our friends. Back at the room Wesley and Lola seemed pretty dead set against going to bed. I worked on Lola while Sophie worked on Wes. We both managed to get both into their pj's and bed but Wesley was howling profanities in kidalese. So I picked him up and let him find his peace on my chest as Lola bear hugged my right arm. Both kids were calm and fell asleep in my arms. It was the highlight of my day and bless their hearts for giving me this wonderful moment and memory.
Now it's my turn to join them in sleeps embrace. May tomorrow be as fruitful.
Life is rich!
January 26, 2025
