Punta Cana - dia uno

We just arrived back home after a long but quick trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for my older brother's wedding.
We had a blast! It was seriously one of the best vacations I have ever had...I think what made it this way is for a few reasons.

1) We had never been there before and I prefer going to new places.
2) Our family and friends were there..I am a 'the more the merrier' kind of girl, so for me this is a big bonus! Plus, Daniel and I still had plenty of time to do our own thing!
3) I like beach/warm weather vacations over the cold/snow, so for me..YEA!! I also prefer vacations where I can relax if I want to and not have to 'see it all' or 'do it all'.
Anyway, I love my 3 babies, but we didn't want to take them with us..so thankfully Daniel's mom and stepdad watched them for us. They had something planned for every second of every day and I knew they were having fun so I really didn't worry about them. It was hard not talking to them but it was so great seeing them Monday morning!!
OK, now onto the good stuff.. {out of the plane we saw some beautiful places}

Our flight left really early Wednesday morning so we ended up staying near the airport with my parents who were on our same flight. We met up in Miami at 9am with Dr. Jay and Tara and JP and Stacie. Mojitos, beer & blood Marys started our morning off during the layover and we ended our final meal in the USA at Nathan's. After arriving in the DR, we quickly got through customs to the beat of drums and singing and got on our bus to the resort. The Hard Rock resort was gigantic! There were trolleys to take you wherever you wanted to go and a 'river' that ran through the middle of it. I think there were 12 pools, a casino and countless restaurants. It was all-inclusive with room service whenever we wanted!

So we arrived in our room (it was awesome with a huge jacuzzi), immediately changed clothes and headed to the soon to be wedded couple's suite to make a plan! We got our koozies (one of our favorite parts of a wedding), made a drink and started dancing immediately! Eventually, we ended up at Los Gallos for dinner, local serenading and more drinks!

Then continued on to the casino for some roulette and craps. I am SO bad at remembering the rules at casinos (no phones, pictures, drinks at the table). I always forget and get in trouble..(you can have drinks at the table, but not on the table). I think we did ok that night, maybe broke even, maybe not. One of my complaints was that the casino was not all inclusive..so as soon as you walk in, if you aren't playing, you pay for drinks. It blew my mind.
From the casino we ended up at the Moon Bar. It was this swanky club/bar/discoteca with big lounge couches and a wall of speakers on the dance floor. So yeah, there was dancing and we did that for a long while.

It was lots of fun! This night there was about 20 people there, previously mentioned people and Jimmy & Patricia, Chuck & Pepper, Miles, Nut, Zach, Barry, J-Hall, Rick & Kelly, Ashley & Garrick, Natalie and Susan.
The Mamajuana made an appearance (the DR's specialty shot concoction - kindof nasty stuff but it's so bad it's good, does that make any sense?) I found this definition from google - Mama Juana is a drink from the Dominican Republic that is concocted by allowing rum, red wine, and honey to soak in a bottle with tree bark and herbs. Reading that out loud to Daniel made us both gag a little bit.

We ended our night in the top building at some restaurant eating a bacon burger. Then D and I headed to our room. Well, apparently on the way there I sprained my ankle (it still hurts today, lovely!) but don't you worry, that didn't stop us from checking out the beach!

I think it was raining but I don't really know, it just looks like it from our pictures.

OK, that concludes Dia Uno in DR! The rest of the dias will have less words and more pics..promise!