República Dominicana

It was a year ago that this holiday

to the Dominican came to life.

Tom and I were sitting at a Denny's in the Mojave Desert

eating lunch when Toms family skyped us with the big holiday news.

They asked if we wanted in and we were hesitant

because we weren't sure where we'd be in a years time.

We didn't initially book the holiday with his family.

They went ahead and booked it as a big package and then

a few months later we finally decided to book it ourselves.

I was the first person to get to the resort.

About 45 minutes into my wait I saw a bus pull up.

Then I saw my people get off.

I ran over and met the whole group that consisted of around 13 people.

We all hugged and chatted while they got checked in.

It was so good to see them after not seeing them all summer.

Once Tom arrived we were all able to get settled

and get started with this holiday.

Holiday = British version of Vacation if anyone was confused.

...

This was the first time I had ever been to an all inclusive beach resort.

These aren't the kind of trips my family would take.

Not because we didn't like the idea but probably more so because

we just didn't know enough about this kind of vacation.

So this was my first experience of a chill holiday

where lying by the pool is the main activity for the day.

And I have to say it's absolutely brilliant (as the brits would say).

I mean it's SO GOOD!!!!!!!

It's basically sleep | eat | swim | sleep | read | eat | sunbathe | eat | sleep | swim | eat | sleep.

It's a magical land where you don't have to do anything but relax.

It's just crazy and incredible and I have to say I'm in love with it.

Our resort had Three different Hotels on it.

They were all the same RIU hotel chain but they were

separate hotels, one of them being quite ritzy while

the other two were less ritzy but still incredible.

The Resort had three pools.

The Ritzy one had a ginormous pool

while our hotel had a nice sized pool.

The other pool was located at the last hotel,

this hotel was actually closed during this time of the season.

So day one we found our people by the closed hotels pool.

They had showed up and asked if the pool was open

and the staff reported that it was open, however there was no one there.

They used this pool to train people who wanted to scuba dive

but for the most part no one really ever trekked down to it.

That is until we came along.

For most of the trip there were only ever about 20-30 people around this pool.

There were even less people in the pool.

Half of the time we had the giant pool to ourselves, the water part at least.

Then you'd go down and see the other pools and giggle

about how many people were trying to swim around in it.

We had our own area, our own pool and it was perfect!

Along with having our own pool area we also had

a basketball court and a sand volleyball court.

We got a ball and got pretty active on both courts.

I'm pretty positive that before this trip Toms family

was unaware of how athletic I am.

Well...now they know ;)

Along with the pool and the sports we also had

an amazing beach area with tons of beds and beautiful

palm trees stretched out over the sand.

Tom and I made a point to get out there almost every day

to lay out and read our books.

I'm reading Outlander right now and I'll be doing

a post devoted the this book soon.

It's SO SO GOOD!!!

That's probably my favorite part of the holiday.

Laying by the beach, listening to the waves, reading, sunbathing and just relaxing.

The majority of our time there consisted

of relaxing by the pool or beach and eating and sleeping.

Can't really complain about that ;)

The best part, of course, was that I got to spend lots of time with my guy.

Come back tomorrow for more about our trip :)

...

While vacation posts are fun I couldn't finish this one without

saying some words about today's anniversary.

September 11th was 13 years ago.

It was an absolutely devastating day in Americas history.

I'm praying for and thinking of all of the families that were affected that day.

While we go about our day's not thinking too much about that day

it is engrained in those families minds every single day.

I wish that we could all be celebrating peace today instead of fearing

the same thing that rocked America all those years ago.

I pray for peace over war and love instead of hate.

I pray for this country and the countries of our enemies and for the world.

I wish we could all be friends and just be happy but I know

that things run deeper than that and it's not that simple.

I plan to hold that day in my heart for the rest of my life.

I was only 12 when it happened but I remember it like it was yesterday.

Never Forget that day, never forget the people!!