A Surprise Vacation!

Last week, I went on a surprise vacation to the Dominican Republic with my Mom!  It was just the two of us and we had so. much. fun! 

This was our ride to the Detroit airport. (A two hour drive, mind you!)  Our family is having what can only be described as a mild "car shortage" and this work truck was our only way of getting there!  Needless to say, it was a rather bumpy ride but quite worth the discomfort to go on a tropical vacation!

Our room was absolutely spectacular!  This was a business trip for company my parents own, so not only was everything all inclusive, but it was also the must luxurious trip we've ever taken!

The first night we went to the large group dinner.  There happened to be another group that, for whatever reason, had a fake red carpet with fake paparazzi.  Not able to pass up on the potential funny pictures, Mom and I snuck over and took a couple of our own shots!

 We spent a lot of time resting on the beach, reading, resting, swimming in the waves, and more resting.  We didn't want to have a vacation that left us tired and untanned, so we were quite intentional about the 'resting' part of things :)

 

On Friday morning, I was sitting out on our balcony and I noticed some people riding bikes.  I thought to myself, "Hey, that looks really fun!".  Later in the day my Mom said, "I know this might be kind of cheesy... but I think the bikes look really fun."  to which I replied an emphatic, "ME TOO!" So, we rode bikes twice!  It was such a treat to vacation with my Mom because we are so similar that we both could kind of read each other's minds which resulted in a very fun vacation!

After our first bike ride, we got all dolled up for dinner together!  I finally got to wear this perfectly fitting red dress my Mom got me for my birthday.  It is so feminine and modest and I don't think I've ever felt so lovely in a dress!  and don't you just love my Mom's polka dot dress? 

Mom and I also created a "Vacation Bucket List".  It included things like the afore mentioned bike riding, using the jacuzzi in our room, getting little braids in our hair with a bead at the end (a vacation tradition), massages, and.... the giant plastic water balls that we saw in the pool when we first arrived.  We decided that we HAD to do them.  It was absolutely hilarious and worth all of the embarrassment of looking like complete fools in front of a bunch of people!

The employees who ran this particular activity told us, "It's not hard, you just have to follow our instructions." aaaaand then they didn't' give us any instructions beyond, "Just stand up!  Yes, just stand up and walk forward.  Yes yes, stand up!" Oh language barriers, how they certainly make vacations so much more interesting!

A brief moment of success on my end.  I'm pretty sure 10 seconds later I was looking more like Mom in the picture above!

On our last night, we once again got all dressed up and went out to the final dinner.  I was so excited to wear what I call my "Taylor Swift" dress.  I wish that I had more reasons to get dressed up back home because I would wear this dress all. the. time. 

On Sunday morning we walked for the last time across the resort and took a couple of final pictures. 

 It was an amazing vacation and I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to have my Mom all to myself for a few days!