Punta Cana Lake Family Christmas

Well, it was another extremely successful trip with the entire Lake family, and we all congregated on the happy, quiet expanse of the Punta Cana Resort and Club, which we'd happily recommend to other travellers looking for a great spot for the whole family.  The occassion was Grandma Robin's 65th birthday, and we took advantage of the 4 day Thanksgiving weekend in the US to help stretch those vacation days.  It was a week full of sunshine, good food, fruitie drinks and activities, although some were able to squeeze in the occasional nap or Cuban cigar. 

The resort was perfect for our group, with nice quiet villas for us to relax in and lots of great food to choose from.  We had 2 and 3 bedroom villas right beside each other on the beach.  Such a great set up!  Each had a living area for multi-purpose use - including toy storage, "cap-on" beer drinkage, and adhoc yoga sessions.

The beach time was well spent by one and all, with lots of book time and playing in the sand.  Little Felicity is clearly the next Mia Hamm, marching up and down the beach in pursuit of the soccer ball.  Sailing on the catamaran was a treat that almost everyone tried at least once.    The classic voyage was of course when the three siblings hopped aboard, with  Captain Harry and first mate Fiona running the ship while Katharine enjoyed the view from the foredeck.  The windsurfer got some good use, although Steve's water starts need a bit of work!   Richard was the king of the windsurfer being the only one to do a whole tour of the bay without getting a drop of water on his top half!

The "Vol-castle" building was epic, complete with secret cave entrance to the underground chamber of toys, top notch wall construction using the two shovel mould technique and we can't forget Sophia's pancake garden, where even the chairs are made of pancakes, so you can eat them if you're really, really hungry.  Tales of the universal laws of nature and pictures of the earth from Bill Bryson's A Short History of the Whole Kit-and-Kaboodle completed the relaxing environment.

The kids (including Fiona) had an amazing time at the petting zoo, where they saw iguanas, big birds, rode on a donkey and got to hold a baby goat.  A guide at the zoo took us on a private tour around each pen full of animals birds - very exciting for the kids

 The ecological preserve which is a big loop through the forest was really fun (although it viciously tripped Katharine on an early morning run).  Steve, Richard and Fiona did a full loop tour and checked out the fresh water swimming holes along the way.  On the second last day, Fiona and I finally got back there for a swim, but the coolest part was getting our feet exfoliated by the little fishies in the pools!  A little daunting to swim in, but definitely very refreshing.

Tennis was a highlight for everyone, even the kids who played with a gentler, softer kind of nerf ball and were really getting the hang of it.  Beautiful clay courts that were always available, although with the heat the only good time to play was early or late.  On the doubles court, the action was intense, and people switched in and out while Steve just sweated and sweated.    Harry was a menace at the net, Claire an excellent student, Fiona and I were in good shape after taking advantage of California weather,  Katherine and Kilian had clearly brought their 'A' groundstrokes, Richard was a flurry of offense and Robin, as usual, out-strategized us all. 

Golf was also really enjoyable.  The course is magnificent, even if the weather is a bit much for 18 holes.  We happily played 9 with carts, although Kilian braved the heat and walked.  The ocean-side holes are beautiful, although they could do with one less 2ft bunker. 

Fiona, Harry and I went out for a dive in some rough conditions, 2-3 meter swell both above water and at 20m, with visibility below 10m.  It was rough work, and the 5m stop hit us hard as we lost all reference points and bobbed around aimlessly.  Only Fiona and I went back out, and had much more relaxed dives the next two times, with significantly better visibility.   The aquarium was full of fish and had a coral garden which was one of the dive master's pet biology project to maintain the healthiness of the reef.  The ship wreck was worth seeing, as the botched skuttling process left a mess of metal jutting this way and that, gradually being reclaimed by the ocean.  This is not the world's premier site, but it was still nice to get out and explore a new place.

The whole trip was centered around Robin's 65 th birthday, but we can't forget Felicity's 1st birthday which we also got to celebrate.

We had Felicity's birthday in the "fancy" restaurant where we had the place to ourselves.  For Robin's, we were at the buffet, and they set up a table with flowers and candles for us.   For both, they brought out a lovely cake and sang like crazy. 

Robin's birthday night celebrations marked the only night the kids made it up to watch the "kiddie disco".  Sophia & Felicity tore up the dance floor!

Food at the resort was definitely plentiful.  We had breakfast and dinner included so even though we stuffed ourselves at each of those meals, we still loved our lunches at the variety of outside cafes. 

I don't think any of us will forget the Dorado (or the pork), and we can add them to the list with the octopus salad from Oasis Akumel. 

I'm still not sure what that white turkey was on Thanksgiving, but the Amercian flag cake was super cool! Ha ha.

The strawberry dacquari won the prize for the best drink - even the kids were addicts of the virgin variety.

Definitely a fun filled family week!!  We hope we don't have to wait another 5 years for the next one :)