Punta Cana - 40 and Fabulous

Back in February, my good friend, Ashley, reached out to me and Danny asking if we'd like to join her and her husband in Punta Cana to celebrate my (and her husband, Charles') 40th birthday.  Charles turned 40 on the same exact day as me!  At first, I thought it was a long-shot that we would go, but Danny said we couldn't turn it down.  Ashley and I have kept in touch (Danny calls us pen-pals) religiously for the past 13 years!  We found out we were both pregnant in 2009 and have been writing each other since!  We lost touch after I moved away and we both went to college.  I could count on one hand the number of times I had seen Ashley in person since I had moved to Ohio back in 2000.  We're alike in so many ways - I'm so glad we got to spend some time together - even if it was during a hurricane!

I snoozed during most of our first flight there - I woke up to find Danny already drinking!

We kept a close eye on the storm - at first we just wanted to be able to make it safely to Punta Cana - we figured we'd have fun in paradise no matter the weather...

Gray skies when we first arrived

Hurricane warning flag on the beach

Ashley and her cousin, Shannon (husband is Jeremy "aka Fargo") had arrived just before we did - we met up at the sports bar for some drinks and a bite to eat.  Shannon and Jeremy were a lot of fun as well and I'm happy they were able to join us!

Before our first dinner together - a hat was so necessary with the humidity!

View from our room at night

Weather during our first full day was not ideal for swimming, but we made the best of it - Danny didn't waste any time!

The main pools and beach were closed so the gang came to our pool to hang.  

Here's "Champagne Shannon"

The next day (Sunday), it rained all day. We hung out and played some games (and drank, of course)

That night, we had to rush to eat dinner at Agave before the restaurants closed early (in order to keep everyone safe).  Before it got too late, a staff member brought a, technically speaking, sack lunch to our room.  It contained some sandwiches, basic desserts, and yogurts to tide us over until it was safe enough to open the restaurants again.  We went to bed not knowing how bad things would get overnight.  Surprisingly, even with all of the wind, our room was pretty quiet.  We couldn't really hear the storm literally feet from our room.  I woke up around 2:00 in the morning and decided to try to peek outside through the window.  I couldn't see much, but I stepped in some water near the front of our room.  I panicked thinking it would get worse.  I could not fall back to sleep - I envisioned our room flooding and us having to grab our belongings and moving rooms during a hurricane!  Danny fell back to sleep like a baby.  Luckily he was right, and fortunately, we were able to clean up the water with some extra towels we had in our room. 

While I watched the Queen's funeral on TV, read my book, and napped, Danny cleaned off our patio that was covered in sand.

We took a walk around the resort to check out the damage and also visited the family resort nearby, also owned by the Excellence brand.

They didn't seem to be impacted nearly as bad as our resort.  They even had some bars open so we could grab a drink!

You can see the trucks and tractors on the beach on the left trying to clean up the leaves/branches

We also walked to a souvenir shop on the beach after our complimentary hydrospa treatment

We stopped by the bar for some drinks...

...and some enjoyed some "happy shots" before heading back to our room for the 40th b'day celebration

Ashley swiped some pretty desserts and pizzas from the buffet to bring to our room!

That night we had fun at dinner and then stopped by the Dominican Republican themed dinner to see what it was all about.

Chez Isabelle

Ashley spoiled me with this fun tumbler!

It was so hot in this restaurant - it didn't stop Danny from trying even more food!  I was not as interested.

"Prom" picture on the stairs!

All-in-all, we had a good trip.  The weather was horrible, but the company was great!  It was a shame that we didn't get to enjoy all that the resort had to offer.  You better believe we're never vacationing in that area of the world  during that time of year ever again!

Eagle Nation Home Run Derby

This year, Danny wanted the home-run derby to be bigger and better than last year.  He got the high school coach involved and utilized the old high school/new middle school field and surrounding area.  The rec and travel baseball and softball kids participated and the fun lasted all day.  Some dads/coaches even had their try at hitting some dingers as well.  There were inflatables, face painting, food trucks, raffle, and putt-putt.  Corey (the witty announcer with the perfect voice from our Upward basketball days) spent the entire day with us and announced each team/batter as they took their turn.  Danny and other coaches/parents spent many months planning the event in the hopes of raising even more money for the league.  I'm super proud of Danny and everything he put into the event.  He should be really proud of himself and happy with how the even turned out!

Cadence hung out with me most of the day and even volunteered when some parents had to take breaks.  Colin had fun with his buddies after everyone had their chance hitting home runs.

Both kids did a great job batting - I was at Cadence's XC invitational when Colin was batting, but mom got a video of Colin for me.

Cadence's turn

Danny hit some impressive home-runs as well!

BWMS XC

Cadence is trying something new this fall!  Cross Country!  I'm not sure she knew what she was getting into when I signed her up, but she's being a good sport about it.  Aside from occasional soreness, she doesn't complain!  She gets nervous before a meet, but she tries her hardest and that's all I can ask for.  She has practice after school 3 days a week, meets on Tuesday evenings, and invitationals on Saturday mornings.  Sometimes she has to meet the bus on Saturdays as early as 6:45am!  She doesn't complain about that either.  She's determined to beat her previous times and is always trying to pass others on the course.  She's doing a really great job and we are super proud of her.

I snuck a picture of her with the rest of the girls right before her first meet.

Go, girl, go!

Filling out her race report after running.

It's so emotional watching her and all of the other runners during the race.  You know they're giving it their all - they're trying to beat that runner in front of them, whether they're on the same team or not.  They're trying to be their last race time.  Running isn't easy!  It's been a fun, new sport for us!

For her first race, she finished in 18.43!  So impressive!

Here she is giving it her all before her first home meet vs Gahanna West.  She finished in 17.58!

Her next invitational was the Watkins McGowan Invitational in Pataskala.  It was the same day as the Home Run Derby, so I was sure to take a lot of pictures and videos to show to Danny and Colin.  Cadence finished in 18:06!

One of her challenges during her first season of XC was side stiches or cramps.  I think she did better with this as the season progressed, but it was definitely rough for her!

Dad came with me to Cadence's invitational on my birthday.  It was held on a golf course at the London Country Club - it was cooler that day, but surprisingly, a lot of kids had a hard time with that course.  I think because it was so hilly!  Dad got some great shots of Cadence during her run!

She finished her race in 17:22!

During her last invitational, Danny, Colin, and I were able to go to Thomas Worthington High School.  It was a beautiful day for a race.

Cadence had the best time all season with 16:54!  Cadence has said she wants to run next year as well - we're so glad she's going to stick with it!

At the end of the season, the team was invited to Red's house.  He has a bunch of old XC memorabilia at his house - it was like a museum.

Someone shared some pictures of the kids that they took with their fancy camera at one of the home races.