Our Honeymoon!

Year two of grad school starts tomorrow!  Another year of classes, practicum, and an assistantship before I get a year-long internship and can start working for real!  It is a little crazy to think that I only have a year left of classes, but it makes me a happy gal!  Yesterday I updated my clipboard in preparation for an awesome semester at practicum!

Mrs. C. is ready!

So about our honeymoon!  It was FABULOUS! 

We headed to BloNo on Sunday to drop off the puppies at Dan's dad's house.  Our flight left Bloomington on Monday afternoon, and after spending the night in the Miami airport (uh...NEVER again, thankyouverymuch!) we made it to Punta Cana on Tuesday afternoon!  We had an eventful ride to our resort, the Majestic Elegance, on a charter bus.  Apparently in Punta Cana, no one cares about speed limits, stop signs, no passing zones, etc.  We did make it to the resort, got checked in, grabbed a drink, and had our butler show us to our room.

After getting settled in, we went to a welcome party, dinner, and a walk on a beach.  It was the perfect start to our week in paradise!

The next morning, we woke up bright and early for some beach-sitting!  I found myself a chair under a tiki umbrella and made myself comfy!  We saw the resort photographers with parrots and we just HAD to have our picture taken!  I had never held a bird, so it was pretty cool!

that blue and yellow guy tried to steal my glasses!

I then forced Dan into spending $15 on the picture.  Totally worth it!  We then spent the afternoon at the pool, with a wonderful swim-up bar!  There was a trainee bartender that barely spoke English, and she was great!  She took care of us the entire time we were there -- like this lady was grabbing our glasses before they were empty to refill them.  We loved her.  (Some of my favorite drinks included the Majestic, the Blue Hawaii, the Dirty Monkey, and the Banana Mama -- all frozen and delicious!)  For dinner we went to the Hibachi Grill.  It was OK.  Not my favorite, but it was a fun experience!  I have never been to Hibachi, but I enjoyed it!

After dinner, we went to the show (the only one we made it to...oops).  It was the circus!  It was pretty awesome!

at the circus with my hubby!

The next day was pretty much the same.  Beach-sitting, pool-sitting, relaxing!  For dinner, we had a romantic honeymooners dinner on the beach, which was our two month-iversary, so it was perfect!  The atmosphere was so great!  Hearing the waves, watching the sun go down (well, kind of...seeing the sky change colors)

yucky seafood...that I tried, and did NOT love.

kisses for the hubby!

Our waiter, Nelson, was great.  He took quite a few pictures, and was so friendly.  I saw him the next day, and he remembered my name!  It was sweet!  

The next day, WE SWAM WITH DOLPHINS!  We also snorkeled with sting rays and sharks, as well as watched sea lions practice their tricks.  But most importantly, we SWAM WITH DOLPHINS!  Did some kissing, waving, singing, petting, and splashing.  It was a very VERY cool experience.

kisses for Juancho!

The following day (Saturday), involved more beach and pool hanging out.  LOVE.  We did go kayaking!  I was super nervous because I had never kayaked, so there were some not nice words at first, but then we got the hang of it, and I enjoyed our little adventure in the ocean!  After dinner, we went to a little concert, which was a lot of fun.

Sunday was another day of relaxation!  We got our honeymooners sign, finally, thanks to my decent Spanish note-leaving ability!  I also got a slight sunburn due to using SPF 50 instead of SPF 90. ;)

On Monday, we went horseback riding.  Dan had never been, so it was great for him to get to go, especially on a beautiful beach!  His horse was a little crazy!  Mine was super lazy.  Chocolate and I would start near the front of the pack, but we always ended up in the back.  He acted like he was carrying the heaviest person, but he was sweet!  We had a great time!

We spent the rest of the day sleeping in our room.  We were both feeling a little sick due to the food,  probably, so we needed the rest :)

Tuesday and Wednesday, we soaked up as much of the beach and pool as possible!  We went on some walks, ate some good steaks, took some fun pictures, met some other honeymooners, and just generally enjoyed ourselves.

We were up on Thursday morning at 3:15 am to get to the airport by 4:20.  The American Airlines people didn't start working until 5, so that was awesome...  But we made all of our flights and were back in Bloomington by 5pm.

I can barely believe that we really had the chance to take such a great trip.  We are so lucky, and we definitely don't take that for granted.  It was a great opportunity to really enjoy quality time as husband and wife, and hopefully there will be many similar trips in the future :)