Dominican Republic-23rd Anniversary Trip

Oh yes, we did it!!! We stayed at this LUXURIOUS all-inclusive resort for our anniversary and paid ZERO dollars. Only points. Happy 23rd anniversary! That was my gift to Robert-haha, not spending any money on a vacation. 

So this was the first time that we left Mark for four nights...but technically we did not leave him at home! We decided to send him to Denver, Colorado where Katya met up with him, drove him around and was his chaperone for a tournament while staying at a hotel. Pretty epic! He had a good time! 

We flew to Punta Cana on Southwest, which meant that Robert could be my companion and fly for free. I know I write about these things a lot, but this whole points game is my hobby and I continue to impress myself with how we able to travel so much for free. 

Hyatt Zilara is an adults-only resort, only a 15-20 min ride from the airport. We were picked up at the airport by a private transfer and delivered safely to the resort.

We got to wait in a super fancy lobby, with our luggage taken to our room while were checking in. They gave us some fancy drinks too that we were a bit hesitant to drink-haha. 

We arrived right after lunchtime but we quickly got changed, had some food at the buffet and headed to the beach. It's amazing but it was not crowded AT ALL! I loved it! 

Each evening of our stay there we got to choose what fancy sit down restaurant to go to. All food was included, so it was a no brainer we wanted to try them all. We could go to both--family and adults only side of the resort (the other one is called Hyatt Ziva). 

We enjoyed our dinner each night and then walked around the resort, sometimes stopping to watch a performance. 

During the day we opted out to not go on any excursions and literally just spent time on the beach and he pool, We did a lot of talking, swimming, reading books, eating, taking lots of pictures, taking a water aerobics class, kayaking and getting sunburnt like never before (that was insane and unexpected as we are always SO careful). 

This was all on the first day when we were not sunburnt. 

They had some seaweed but nothing terrible. Kayaking was actually super fun! 

Robert also did some paddle boarding on his own. And then, we think, we got sunburnt while sitting by the pool for maybe 20 min after not reapplying sunscreen...

Another evening--another delicious meal. This was at an Asian place. 

And back to the beach! Look at all those empty beach chairs behind us. It was glorious! 

Mealtime again! 

Photoshoot with the palm tree! Periodically you could see couples come to this spot and take pictures, it was almost funny--a very popular spot. 

Okay, just twenty more pictures like this. 

When I try to pose like Katya and realize... it just doesn't look the same when you are in your 40s;). 

Lots of selfies, as you can imagine. 

This is Lyana, a creature you could find now in the ocean, because after she got very sunburnt, she wore her sun shirt all the time. 

Okay, seriously, the theme of this trip was NOT sunburn, but we even laughed with Robert how we had to edit some of our pictures and make them black and white as we were so pink! 

On our anniversary night, we went to a French Tahitian cuisine restaurant. It was delicious (although the portions were pretty small) and still included in our free stay. 

Our dessert that night AT the restaurant is this picture below. It doesn't mean we didn't get more dessert at other different cafes on property as they knew people would be wandering around late into the night looking for some treats. 

Here is our 23rd anniversary pictures! Yay to us! 

This is a picture to illustrate our beautiful and unique food that night. 

And another day at the beach! 

Grateful to be able to jump even if it's not very high! 

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The ocean was beautiful! And SO WARM! I loved it! 

Handsome Robert right before the sunset.

And beautiful moonlight on the beach after dinner. 

We really loved walking around this beautiful property which felt so spacious. I don't know what it was but somehow the middle of September was just the perfect time to go. 

We will be back to Dominican Republic--although we can't even say we explored this country! Staying at the resort and meeting only the locals that work at the resort is not our usual way of vacationing. 

After a fantastic breakfast, another dip in the ocean and another meal, we headed to the airport, where we visited the Punta Cana lounge and uneventfully caught our flight to Orlando (visited Priority Pass lounge there too) and then Raleigh. Easy! 

Let's hope we'll be better at applying sunscreen during our next anniversary trip!

 

Birthday, Birthday, Anniversary

This year, everything was in a turbo mode at the end of August. Katya was getting set apart as a missionary, kids were getting ready to start school and we were just inundated with all the changes. 

But! One thing remained the same--Robert still celebrated his birthday! hahaha Turning 43 this year! It was a blessing that Katya was still around--doing her Home MTC portion of the mission. And so she got to celebrate with us, and Robert's amazing lemon pound cake:)). 

Weekday birthdays are tricky, but we tried to make it special. I am all smiley and happy here because I will forever remain 3 years and 3 weeks younger than Robert, hehehe. 

And then my birthday came and went and it was so uneventful that I have no pictures of it! I turned FORTY! And I so didn't want to make a big deal out of it, that I just wanted to hang out on my own and think things. So I did. And I believe 80 percent of people who sent me a happy birthday message said "welcome to the 40s club". And I was just baffled how so many people are in this club that I had never heard about! And how is it that everyone was welcoming and thinking I want to be in it??:)) So basically, I decided to just accept that I am forty BUT I still don't feel like it at all, which is great. For my big 40s birthday celebration I didn't want to do a party, but, instead, I wanted to go on a short cruise with everyone to take a break from cooking and decision making (who am I kidding?! cruise food is a non-stop decision making ordeal:)). I will write about the cruise later. 

One more special date in September--our anniversary. This year we stayed nearby but went to a very fancy place called Angus Barn. It's a very popular, traditional North Carolinian place that is perfect for special occasions (we also had a gift certificate:)). And look at this amazing dessert they gifted us for our anniversary. 

Twenty one years together! Incredible. More than half of my life. 

I love you, Robert Watson!!! 

Lyana. 

Kiawah Island 21st Anniversary Trip

This is what TWENTY ONE years together looks like. Wow! We are amazing! 

 

This year we decided to go to Kiawah Island in South Carolina to celebrate our anniversary. It's a very beautiful area by the beach near Charleston. I had a hard time finding last minute trips in the Caribbean (and with all the Covid restrictions) on the beach so we decided to just drive and leave the kids at home on their own. 

We got to the Sanctuary right on time for dinner. It's a super fancy place with marvelous atmosphere. 

So many memories between the two of us! 

Gotta get some pictures on this beautiful Southern evening. 

Although we didn't stay AT the Sanctuary, we decided to hang out a little bit inside in the common area of the hotel. 

Big thank you to my photographer! 

We chatted a bit, called our kids and enjoyed each other's company.

The next morning we went for a bike ride on one of the many beautiful island trails! I was just amazed that I was able to bike with no problems! 

This is what Kiawah Island looks like.

And the place where we were staying. 

We were situated very close to the beach, so we were able to just walk our bikes and take a ride on the beach as well. 

The famous cafe--the Salty Dog Cafe. First time we visited this cafe was on Hilton Head in 2017. It's pretty iconic around this area.

A bit of cuteness on the beach. We deserve it celebrating twenty one years together! 

Another dinner out on a beautiful night! 

Before we left Kiawah Island we went for one last walk on a beach. 

And on the way out of the island we visited this famous 1000 year old oak tree--the Angel Oak on Johns Island. 

We believe in making time for these short trips on our own even if it's sometimes a lot of work to get everything (and everyone) organized. Every even year, I choose our trip, and on odd years Robert does. Usually I am the one who ends up planning the whole thing anyway but I do enjoy it.

 Where should we go next time??