Travel Diaries: First Family Vacation Recap

I know this post was well overdue but boy has my summer been busy.

For the first time, the Rosario family was finally able to go on our very first vacation! I was such a kid with excited prior to the trip. I had not gone away in about 3 years with buying a house and having a baby, there was just no way.

I read so much content about children on vacation and preparation for the trip that I drove myself insane. I wanted to be prepared, especially for the plane ride. You can read all about that by clicking here.

We landed in Santiago, DR and headed off to Bonao to my grandparents house. My girls were going crazy with all the animals and the amount of freedom they had. My grandparents have a lot of land and its all gated so they were free to run wild as they pleased and believe me, they appreciated that. My grandfather owns chickens, roosters, cats, and dogs. I thought Aylah would be frightened by the animals but she was all over them. They joyous faces brought such warmth to my heart.

Ariel hadn't been to Bonao in ten years! We stopped to visit each aunt, uncle, friend, every family he had not seen. They met our girls, especially Aylah. It was her first trip to DR.

We spent two nights at the beach; Las Terrenas close to Samana. Such a beautiful beach, perfect for the girls. Calm, clear waters. The hotel was not crowded, the pool was warm. It was perfect for us. The girls did not seem to care much for the beach, they preferred the pool so you know we spent our entire day at the pool. Amelia said the beach water hurt her eyes.

Just after three days at the pool, Amelia was on her way to swimming without her floaties! She did so well with swimming. Because I am a nervous wreck I am still not ok with her taking the floaties off, but she's almost there! She said she wanted to learn how to swim and she did not give up until she saw herself moving on her own in the water! She did amazing guys!

After the couple days at the beach, we spent time with family. We took the girls out for ice cream, took them to the park and just enjoyed being a family. We enjoyed spending unlimited amount of time together without the stresses of our jobs and/or routines. We had pizza together, drank lemonade, rode motor scooters, and just spend some unlimited quality time together. It was so good to see our family from the island and for Amelia to meet her cousins and to even hear her speak more Spanish. It is amazing what just one week in Dominican Republic did to her.

I told Ariel we should really consider investing in a home, that way we have every excuse to come back and visit every summer. We can send the girls off to bond with their cousins and maybe even have them take classes in Spanish so they can be bilingual. I was amazed at how quickly they both started to pick up the language.

I think for me the most important part of this vacation was being able to be one with my family. I was able to forget work and our everyday hectic schedules and just sit and enjoy the company of my daughters and my husband. I long for that guys. I love my little family and spending time with them is always time well spent.