The perfect first day
Day 2 - Punta Cana
My morning started out a little bit rock and heavy metal. The night staff when we got here weren't very helpful or accommodating and basically assured us we wouldn't get a crib for Wesley that night. So Wesley slept with mom in one bed while I slept with Lola in the other. Only snag is that Wesley has magically developed a croup sounding cough which sounds similar to a dog barking.
Also since he was in a bed beside Sophie surrounded by pillows to “lock him in” he's become quite agile and mobile meaning nothing was keeping him in there which fed my risk averse nature and my kinds overactive imagination of the worse outcome so I padded the floor with all the cushions we had. So much so that if he had fallen it would have been for less than an inch.
Eventually I did drift into nothingness only to be awoken at 4am ish to him crying and Sophie asking me to take over. We swapped bed and naturally all the commotion woke Lola up who wanted to follow me into the other bed as well. So there I was with Wesley on my chest and Lola glued to my right side thinking this was pretty sweet. That lasted seconds cause Wesley started pulling on Lola's hair which was received about as well as you would think it would be.
Clearly this was going nowhere so I opted to go walking with the stroller and Wes around the resort. He didn't sleep but he was calm the whole time and his coughing subsided to a significant degree. We were great company and our reward for this was a marvelous sunrise over the water.
Sophie managed to coax Lola back to bed and they slept till 7am. Once reunited we suited up and headed to breakfast. My initial impressions of Punta Cana were marred significantly by our late arrival and the poor service we recieved by the night staff but as the day progressed my attitude and opinion came back to centre and then to the positive side. The food selection was lower than Mexico but the quality was a bit higher. Ultimately it was the company and amenities that helped me change my perspective to a positive one.
After breaky we connected with my friends. It didn't take long for our daughters to become big fans of each other and before we knew it they were playing anything and everything together and even holding hands when moving from one location to another.
In the morning we hit one of the main pools where we caught up. Afterwards, we grabbed some grub for lunch followed by a trip to the beach. The beach here is fantastic. Long enough to find room, smooth enough to be able to run into the water and hit nothing but sand on your feet, and water that was warmer than the pools.
We equipped the kids with their floatation devices and took them out to jump the waves. Having almost died once from ocean waves I'm extremely cautious for myself and those around me when faced with them. The girls enjoyed themselves until a wave splashed them in the face but Wesley seemed quite enthralled with them despite also getting a healthy dose of water in the face.
The kids played with their sand castle kit for quite a while and Wesley had his very first sand tasting. He quickly went back to playing with it rather than eating it. Afterwards we headed back to another pool where we set up in the shade as Sophie and I had become the sun's first victims on this trip. There we played with the kids more actively throwing them up, catching them in our arms, playing shark and all manner of childish games.
As 5pm neared we formulated our dinner plans and split for a quick cleanup. Back at our villa Wesley was just so exhausted he was almost inconsolable. While Sophie took her shower with Lola, Wesley and I got down to our birthday suit, I sat down on a comfy chair and fed him milk until he passed out on me completely. The moment reminded me of Lola's first trip down south where Sophie was breastfeeding her. It was like history repeating itself. Then we reconnected with our down south homies and headed to supper. Over supper we reminisced about our day with a focus on our favourite moments. It was in all honesty a perfect first day. A result we hope to repeat 11 more times
Life is beautiful!
January 25, 2025
