Dominican Republic! - Getting there and Grandma and Grandpa's apartment

We just ended a 10 day vacation to the Dominican Republic!  We had sooo much fun!  Adam's parents are serving a mission there and we were lucky enough to go visit them.  We found a great deal on ticket prices that we couldn't resist taking advantage of, especially knowing once we got there we wouldn't have to worry about hotels or anything like that.

I decided to break up my posts about our trip based on event or theme, rather than by day because I think it will be easier and make more sense (I only have close to 1000 pictures).

I think what most people want to know is how was the flight!  Well, getting there was not bad at all (getting home, a whole other story).  We left at 1:00 am on Wednesday the 15 and lucky for us Charlie and Adella decided to sleep once the plane was in the air.   We first had a stop in Dallas/Ft Worth and we weren't changing planes so we didn't even get off and neither of them woke up!  They slept all the way to Ft Lauderdale where we had a 3 hour delay.  It was actually perfect as they got a chance to run around a bit and we got to eat too.  

Adella of course had fun climbing up on the chairs, and we spent most of the time just chasing Charlie around and convincing him to stay in one general area.

It wore them out enough that Charlie actually slept our final leg to the DR and Adella was content to just play with her toys.

Grandma had stocked up on some fun toys for Charlie and Adella including a little table and chairs set (she knew how much Adella liked chairs!)  It turned out to be a GREAT investment because they ate EVERY meal at the little table!

Charlie has grown really fond of balls so he had lots of fun with this one!

One night we had a little movie night and they enjoyed watching the 'big screen' in their little chairs.

Surprisingly Charlie and Adella slept really well there.  I think we mostly just wore them out enough that they didn't care that they weren't in their beds at home.

Adam and I even came back from going to the temple on morning to find that Grandma had gotten both of them to take a nap!  So shocking!

Another surprising thing was it took Charlie nearly a week to discover Grandma's cupboards were not locked.   He had fun dragging her bread pans through the house.  

Grandma and Grandpa live on the fourth floor so we got to ride the elevator A LOT!  Charlie and Adella loved it.  Charlie especially like it though and loved to walk in it by himself.  He would stand at the doors waiting for them to open and as soon as they did he would rush right in!

When we found we were going to be staying a few extra days and would be hanging out around the apartment more, we had to get creative with the toys.   I stuck Adella in the 'toy box' and Charlie wanted in too, they played in their for a long time.  What is it with boxes?  It's such a funny thing!

Grandma and Grandpa also have a little covered porch and they liked being 'outside'.  

Don't worry, that's not a container of bleach - well it was but Grandma put some beans in it and made it a giant shaker!

This is the view from their little porch, you can see the temple and if you looked from the very corner you could see the ocean!

They thought it was funny to look at you from the outside!  Charlie even gave us a nice piggy nose!

We loved Grandma and Grandpa's apartment.  It was so big and roomy with plenty of room for Charlie and Adella to run around.  One of my other favorite things was watching Charlie chase Grandma to her room.  They kinda had their own little game of hide and seek.   We kinda wish we could transport their apartment back here and live in it ourselves!