EVERYONE should go on a Club Med vacation! It was fantastic! Here are a few highlights:



For the first time since his father died Aidan allowed himself to be truly happy. That in itself was worth the trip.



I mistakenly thought that since we were going to the Dominican Republic I would be able to use my limited Spanish to get by. It turns out that Club Med Punta Cana is a big French Resort. I don't speak a word of French. No problems there, though. They also speak English.



The Chief of the Village (the Resort Manager) is the best looking man I have ever seen. Seriously.



The Mini Club for the kids was fanatastic. They were wonderful to the kids and kept them busy all the time. I also liked that there were a lot of men working at the Mini Club.



While normal people get a manicure and pedicure before they leave for vacation, I did not have that opporunity. The kids were sick the week before we left and things were crazy here. As it turned out they had a fantastic spa there and I got my manicure and pedicure the day after we landed. I also got a massage in a grass hut on the beach. It was wonderful.



While the kids played at the Mini Club, my mother and I spent most of the day lounging on the beach.



The children, my mother, and I went for "Cocktail Hour" every night before dinner. The adults had cocktails and Aidan and Ava got to work the soda machine and eat goldfish. Aidan asked when we were having cocktail hour last night when we were home. Do you think they were spoiled?



The food was fantastic. I had my doubts about buffet food every day, but it was excellent. I also think I put on almost all the weight I lost (which is a good thing).



I came to the realization that we were probably the poorest people vacationing there. Most of the people we met go to one of the Club Meds every year. They didn't "save up" for it like I did (after Ava was born, John and I decided to do an all inclusive Club Med vacation when Ava was 2, so I started putting a vacation fund away. Sadly we took that vacation without him, but I think he would have wanted us to go). And, while it was not necessarily a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, we will not be going back every year. I need time to save up for another one.



I got to do one of my two favorite activities - snorkeling. John and I fell in love with snorkeling on our honeymoon in Bermuda. (And get your mind out of the gutter. My other favorite activity is biking--a passion John did not share with me, but being the good sport he was, he bought a bike and tagged along).



The only bad part was when we got back to JFK Airport on Saturday. We went to the hotel where I had left the car (ok, I drive a minivan). The kids were awful and not listening. They had a long day of traveling and being couped up in an airplane. They ran away from my mother and went into the revolving door to leave the lobby of the hotel. In a panic to get them, my poor mother thought she was running through an open door only to find it was a glass window. She almost knocked herself unconscious and has a HUGE egg on her head. She is ok otherwise and doesn't have a concussion, but if I didn't kill my kids then, I never will. In fairness to them, they still feel badly about it today.

Labels: Life