Wesley's first birthday Punta Cana edition

Day 6 - Punta Cana

The day starts as usual with Sophie waking up extra early to fit in a workout with my buddy. The difference today is that Sophie passed out into a deep sleep very quickly the night before which means she didn't get to set up her morning coffee. Why is this important?

Well come the morning of Wesley's birthday at 5am everyone is sound asleep and enjoying dreams of vacation perfection. Sophie wakes up to get ready for her workout and realises there's no coffee waiting for her today. So in the dark with her phone light on you can hear her manipulating every water bottle, mostly empty ones, to find enough water to load the coffee machine.

Naturally this is enough to wake me up, we have 2 sound machines running white noise for these kinds of things so the kids so far are spared. It happens enough times for me to start to question what the hell is going on. I asked her straight up “You think you're making enough noise? What the hell you doing?” The truth behind the madness was subsequently revealed.

Once she got her coffee and was going out the door Wesley woke up. I was like damn guess today isn't the day the kids both sleep in till 10am. I react quickly as one child awake at the crack of dawns ass is better than two. Most times with Wes it's possible to get him back to sleep. There's a ritual to follow that always involves milk. So I feed him the bottle and when he's done he pushed it away. I then turn him to face me and rest his head on my shoulder. I rub and tap his back and slink down into a sleeping position. He chills for a bit but then starts to protest.

Sometimes this means it's over, were getting up. Other times it means he wants to hit a different sleeping position usually not on my arms so I drop him off at the crib and observe which state we wind up in. He flips to his stomach and pushes his two arms beneath his stomach, we have lift off, he's heading back to dream land. Daddy can get a bit more rest too woohoo. He ends up sleeping close to 7am while Lola went a bit later.

Sophie returns and everyone is happy to see her. We wish Wesley a happy birthday and blow up all the balloons that Sophie brought. Lola asks if we can give him his gift but we tell her it's for later. The kids play with the balloons, we even go out on our porch when we get a call from family. We answer and sing happy birthday to Wesley poorly. Wesley genuinely looks happy which is nice to see. After the call we go back inside and get ready then we meet up with our friends and head to the nearest breakfast buffet.

After breakfast we decide to do the beach first again, on the way there I come back to our room to finish blogging about the day before. I prefer to write about the current day but sometimes at night I'm so tired I pass out and am forced to play catch up. Sophie messages me the location they are at the beach referencing a private member's area. I saw this area the day before as I walked to join everyone at the restaurant so I make my way to the beach and start walking up the beach towards that location.

As I near that location and still haven't crossed them I start to question if perhaps there's more than one of these so I ping Sophie for further clarification. She responds they are now at the deep pool. This is back close to our hotel room. So I hoof it back to the pool in question but this was a decent trek from where I was and about this time it started to rain and it looked like it was about to get worse.

Thankfully this resort has an interconnected network of pedestrian highways all covered by a palm tree roof to provide cover from the sun or rain. So I make my way to the nearest one and start making my way back to them. Two days later I look like Tom Hanks in Castaway and my best friend is a ball Sophie has remarried and my kids have been adopted by some dude named Kevin. Kidding of course, once there I spot the kids and ladies at the bar while my buddy rests on a long chair.

The rain continues for a bit which provides a unique and fun opportunity for the girls as they revel in the pool accompanied by thousands of drops every second. Our wives can also be seen in the pool but sitting at the bar with drinks in hand beneath the canopy of the large thatched roof. I question internally who is having more fun at that very moment… my money was on the wives. The rain eventually subsides and the sun overcomes the clouds, which pleases many but not me as much. Wesley and I burn easy, we prefer shade and cloud cover.

Wesley being the birthday boy is sleeping up his own storm in the stroller. Eventually he wakes from his nap ever more cheerful and joins us in the fun and in the pool. He really seems to be a big fan of water. He is also quite the mover and climber. Even with the large floatation device strapped to him, which is really meant for toddlers, he is able to crawl and move around. In the pool he is a bit too fearless, sometimes getting himself in over his head. This just means we have to actively watch him like a hawk.

He bobs around really well and is so happy to be in the pool with everyone. You can see he wants to follow the girls around but thankfully every once in awhile they pay him a visit. Mostly he hangs out with one of us boring adults. Sophie suggests one of her favourite pool games which involves slowly drowning and waterboarding yourself in the pool as you swim. She likes to see who can swim the furthest on one breath. This pool by the way is incredibly long. She likes this game because she's a reincarnated fish.

She half convinces my buddy to partake but she commits one fatal mistake in her plan, she goes first. With one breath Sophie slowly and skillfully swims from one end of the pool to the other. As she emerges my buddy admits that this feat is impressive and forgoes trying to even beat her.

By this time everyone is getting a little peckish so we pack up and head out to the little buffet by the beach where dress requirements are more lax.

We dine to our hearts and stomachs content and then we feast some more. There's a self serve soft ice cream machine at this location and we take full advantage of it. Even Wesley gets some ice cream and he is an immediate fan. It is his birthday afterall so why not let him indulge a little more than usual.

After lunch Lola really wants to go back to the pirate ship kiddie pool area which is located next to our main lobby's pool. Our friends head back to their room for a bit as we continue to walk with both kids in the stroller to the pirate ship. When we get there both have fallen asleep. So we find some seating and set ourselves up to relax a bit and enjoy the peace. The pirate ship has a number of water features that shoot streams of water in a number of directions creating a natural white noise that further allows us to relax.

Once the kids awake they get creamed up and suited up and are let loose into the play area. I say loose but Sophie goes with Lola and I go with Wesley. With all the practice he's getting at moving his ability is improving quickly. There are tiny little slides that he enjoys here so I help him get to them and this is when I sense something horribly wrong. In his bathing suit diaper is what definitely feels like a solid turd. I inform Sophie and we begin a delicate operation of removing said shit without spreading it everywhere. We each have a role to play and we execute them well. Wesley is cleaned and back in a clean diaper quickly.

Shortly after we reconnect with our friends in the big pool where to Lola's surprise kid size boats with handles for paddles are available for all kids to try. Understandably Lola wants to try it. Sophie sets her up in a boat with Wesley but Lola isn't too please about the sharing aspect of this arrangement. So she tolerates his presence for a small minute before he winds up in her friend's boat who is super happy to have him aboard.

After the boats the kids swim some more, the adults drink some more, and the group enjoys life some more. As the afternoon begins to unwind into evening we decide it's time to go get cleaned up and get ready for Wesley's birthday supper. So off we go our septways to get ready and then we reconnect and walk to the Mexican restaurant. Side note when we were booking all these restaurants the lady who helped us told us that we could call guest services to get a small cake for Wesley's birthday. Sophie called them to arrange the delivery of this cake the day of. Apparently they can't deliver it to the restaurant, it must be delivered to our hotel room. Sadly when we come back the cake is nowhere in sight.

I call again and am told the cake will be here between 5-6pm. An ominous omen given our dinner reservations are at 6pm. I explain this to the gentleman who says he'll see of he can get them to rush it over. I hang up and inform Sophie that we will not be seeing this cake. We start getting ready by showering and sadly during our rush Wesley climbed up onto one of the bed and managed to fall and hit his forehead against the very hard tiles floor. He was upset for a very long time, poor little guy. Of all days for this to happen it had to be his birthday. We assess the situation and determine that the little guy seems good but to monitor the situation carefully.once ready we meet our friends outside our room.

At the Mexican restaurant we order and snack on the salad bar. As our food comes out after a long wait a mariachi band arrives and sings happy birthday to Wesley. He is thrilled and so happy. We let him open his one present and he appears to be genuinely happy.

To our surprise the small cake seems to have made it's way to the restaurant, a fact we were assured was not possible. The band comes back and sings happy birthday once more this time with a proper cake for Wesley. After the song he understands the assignment and destroys the cake and enjoys it at the same time.

The girls dance the night away behind us to every song the band plays. Everyone at our table is super happy and thankful to be together. Wesley has officially passed his bedtime and so we transition him from fun mode to sleep mode without much fuss.

Once we leave we head back towards our rooms and say our goodbyes. In our room we allow Lola to watch a bit of bluey which sees her radiate. She watches a few episodes and goes to bed without much fuss. We soon follow behind her.

Overall a wonderful day for our wonderful little Wesley whom we absolutely adore. He loves the world and it seems to love him right back and rightfully so.

Life is beautiful!

January 29, 2025