at the end of april, ian and i went on a trip with all my siblings to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of these two lovebirds:

my mom and dad invited us to come to paradise to celebrate the half century that they’ve spent sharing life and working together. we all gathered (most of us with our spouses, we were sad that two of my sisters-in-law couldn’t come) at this dreamy house on the samana peninsula in the dominican republic:

and we all had a blast being together and celebrating the big 5-0.

looking back on this trip, i can’t believe it actually happened! it was sooo wonderful to be with all these beloved people in such a gorgeous spot on earth. and uniquely wonderful to be without our boys (and nieces and nephews!) – we missed them like crazy but thoroughly enjoyed some kid-free time. we had a good mix of just relaxing by the pool and at the beach and adventuring around the island. we had great conversations and lots of laughs and got sunburned and had a lot of fun. every day i woke up feeling overwhelming gratitude for ian’s mom, who was at home in london with moses and gabriel. they had such a great time with grandma.

even though ian and i were preeeeetty jet lagged when we arrived at the house, we were just as excited as everyone else scoping out the place. there was a stellar sunset the first night, just to welcome us to our little slice of paradise 🙂 
 
 
each morning a little group of us did yoga overlooking the sea (can you spot us on the right side of the picture below?).

it was so great to spend time just chatting with great views and by the pool.

one morning we went on a nearby little hike to a spectacular waterfall.

jared and noah got my mom and her bum knee down the steep stairs just fine!
 
 
we swam in that perfectly teal pool, back under and behind the waterfall, and did some cliff jumping too! we were so glad we got there early because about thirty minutes after we arrived the place was packed!
 
we stopped for some yummy lunch at a roadside restaurant…

and then headed to zipline through the jungle!

we did twelve different ziplines that criss-crossed over this lush valley:

watching my mom having a total blast on the ziplines was the best. she’s acting scared in this picture but in reality she was like, “game on!”


 
then we drove back to the house, passing little villages along the way.

we had two cooks at the house that prepared every meal for us. the food was so good. my mouth is watering just thinking about it right now.

enjoying food and conversation together at every meal was awesome. as was not having to shop for, prepare or clean up food! oh, and not help little children to eat 😉

one night:

and one morning:

different smaller groups of people took walks along the beach at different times.
 
and i tried to climb a palm tree:
 

more pictures in the next post … this has gotten too long!