A Trip to Paradise - Day 3

On day 3, in the Bahamas, Darren and I really started missing our children immensely. We had many conversations about how unsatisfied people are in life, including us. When we're home, in Roanoke, with our kids, we want to be on the farthest island away from them, just enjoying each other, but when we are on Paradise Island, literally, we want to be home with our children. What the heck? Anyway, we invested in the 24 hour unlimited internet package, on day 3, and we downloaded skype so we could see and speak to our children. At first, I almost wished we hadn't done this. Jax was devastated and rather confused when he could see us on the computer but couldn't touch us. It was pitiful and broke my heart. Lilah was her sweet, bubbly self, all giggles. And TYSON was his typical self. He put both fingers in his nose and put his face right up to the camera. Then he put the fingers that were in his nose, directly in his mouth, and pulled his cheeks as far left and as far right as he could. The chaos we experienced from that "conversation" was more than enough for us to shut the computer off and just enjoy the peace, the quiet, the sun rays and each other.

On this day, we wanted to do something different from just sitting at the pool. We already got to enjoy the resort, so we stepped out of our bubble/comfort zone, grabbed a taxi, and headed to the downtown Bahamas area. Our goal was to visit and shop at the straw market. We did that on our honeymoon, 10 years ago, and it was a fun memory. The streets are lined with vendors of Bahamians who make/sell their items. The taxi cab driver told us NOT to pay the first price we're haggled to pay. The first booth I came to was hand woven straw pocket books. I found an elmo bag for Lilah and the vendor was asking $10.00. I paid it. When we walked off Darren said, "Why didn't you bargain like the taxi cab driver said?" I said, "I'm sorry, but I saw how long it took the lady to personalize the bag with Lilah's name on it and that alone was worth $10 to me, so I just couldn't bring myself to bargain with her. Plus I am drinking $4.50 diet cokes (non-alcoholic) and I cannot justify asking this poor woman to come down on her homemade item that took her 3 hours to make. Not to mention she sits in the HOT sun trying to sell it." He agreed.

The straw market is probably the most hysterical experience I have ever witnessed. It's a MUST DO if you ever go there. The vendors harass you up and down. They follow you. They guilt you into feeling bad or worse they say, "Come on, you be my first customer today!" When you know the straw market has been open for well over 4 hours already. They even go as far as to try and compete with the Bahamian vendor right next to them as you are pulling out your money to buy something from their neighbor. It's a hoot. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED seeing how many Bahamian vendors had their bibles out and open, reading them. Darren quizzed one Bahamian vendor on what her favorite bible verse was and I asked one vendor what book in the bible she was reading. "Romans", she replied. It was beautiful to witness. We learned that their biggest denomination there used to be Catholicism, but now it's Baptist. Whoot, whoot! Anyway, there were a ton of Christian souvenirs to buy as well as an abundance of Christian music to listen to. Some of the items they sold that were NOT homemade were boot leg movies, fake coach purses, and fake rolexes etc.... We bought all, but the boot leg movies. Now those were the items we bargained back and forth for. The most comical part of the straw market visit was when I found a Bahamian lady cutting her toe nails with a pair of scissors. I couldn't resist taking her picture. Darren couldn't believe I was actually going to do it. We were both concerned of what her reaction would be if she saw me. After she heard my camera click, she looked up and said, "Whatch you want to buy from me?" I thought, "Definitely NOT those scissors."

After the HOT visit to the straw market, we headed back to relax at the Mandara Spa. This was definitely the biggest moment I was waiting for on our trip. We booked a 90 minute couples massage months in advance. Darren had never had a massage before so he wasn't looking forward to it. He had no idea what to expect and thought it was weird to have a strange woman massaging him. When we arrived, we were greeted by a lady who asked us to go to our own gender's locker rooms and get undressed. She handed us white robes that were to replace our clothing. When I was reunited with Darren, I almost fell to the floor. It was beyond hysterical to see him in a white robe. He looked like a NY mobster. Our masseuses left the room and asked us to drop our robes and get into our beds. They went to start our massages and Darren's masseuse was like, "Why do you have your underwear on?" (add a Bahamian accent to that) I was dying and laughing so hard. He said, "It's just plain weird to be naked in front of you." She eventually convinced him to drop his drawers. If you could have been a fly on the wall, you would have peed your pants.

The massages lasted about 90 minutes. Afterwards, we were allowed to use the hot tub and a12 head shower. We were told we had 30 minutes alone to enjoy. That was more than enough time (wink wink). We were also given a yummy tray filled with dried fruit, hot tea, apple juice, bottled water etc. It was by far the MOST romantic thing we've ever done together. The best part about the end result is that Darren gave it 2 thumbs UP and would totally do it again.

When our spa treatment was over, we ruined it by walking the resort and going on another water slide. What the heck! DUMB. Then we headed inside to get ready for dinner.

We ate at the nicest possible restaurant that our meal plan offered. The Bahamian Club House. I had to take pictures of some of the prices on the menu. I felt very sick eating stuff that cost so much, but again, our meal plan paid for it. Our total bill was the highest of any bill we've had at a restaurant in all of 20 years we've been together. $252.00.

The night ended at the casino again. It was definitely the place to be, each night, even IF you didn't gamble (minus the ill dressed and wrongly behaved women).

A Trip to Paradise - Day 2

On day 2 in Paradise, we spent the entire day enjoying the HOT Bahama sun by the pools. We took breaks in between to be giant kids and ride the many water slides the Atlantis offers. It was wonderful to just relax and it was a lot of fun to people watch. I hate to admit it but that is one of my favorite past times. I must say, there were many people making fools of themselves as they danced to the beat of the Bahamian Dj's tunes. I guess one too many Bahama Mammas will do that to a person. Better them, than me! There are quite a bit of video clips in the photo album below. I am grateful to picasa for allowing me to share them through the album. This way, I don't have to upload each video to youtube all the time. I invested in a water proof camera case (only $25) and I was able to capture our water adventures because of it. It really came in handy!

After enjoying the warm weather and Atlantis' amenities, we headed inside to get ready for dinner. The 2nd night, we ate at an upscale Chinese restaurant called "Chop Stix". I was so full after dinner I felt sick. Good thing I was able to walk off my fullness around the casino. Our nights were usually filled with much humor as we witnessed many crazies throw their money away and MOST women dress in attire that was anything but flattering OR fitting. I'd say one of my biggest complaints about the night life at the Atlantis was that the women seemed to feel an extreme need to dress like prostitutes. I'm not sure I've ever seen more fish net stockings, silicone implants, bra straps, spandex, tight skirts, teased hair, and drag queen make-up in my life. If there is ONE memory I would LOVE to be a distant memory for my husband, as well as for myself, it would be that one.

A Trip To Paradise - Day 1

I am FINALLY able to start posting our trip to Paradise Island, Bahamas. I decided to post our trip by each day. We took so many pictures that I thought it wouldn't be as overwhelming if I posted them this way. I also thought you might actually enjoy viewing our trip better this way.

The morning we left, we got up at 4:15 am. That's not actually early for Darren and I. We are used to our alarms going off that early. Kaitlyn arrived at about 5:30 am. I went over a few things with her and then Dennis Maggi came and picked us up. Once we got checked in to the airport, we treated Dennis to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast as a thank you for being our taxi cab driver and saving us a ton of money by NOT having to park in the long term parking lot.

Darren and I felt so free, but we also felt like a part of us was missing. 3 parts of us were missing actually. LOL! I won't deny that it felt so wonderful to be without strollers, diaper bags, whining kids and to be with each other. Just focusing on US and our marriage.

We were a tad fooled to think that if our plane left Roanoke at 7:15 am, we would be laying out on the Bahamas beach by noon. It's quite a process to enter into a country that requires a passport. We had a connecting flight in Charlotte, but we barely made it to our connection (just enough time to grab my FIRST dessert .... a frappucchino at Starbucks). We landed in Nassau, Bahamas about 12:30 pm. It took us well over 2 hours to get our luggage, go through customs, find our prepaid shuttle and arrive at our hotel. The drive from the airport to the resort is about 35 minutes.

We arrived at the resort around 2:45 pm. I mentioned to the front desk clerk checking us in that it was our 10 year wedding anniversary and he immediately upgraded us to a much nicer room/view. Our room was already $495 per night, but we were upgraded to a $650 room. These are times I love my big mouth :) While waiting for our room, we grabbed a bite to eat because we were starved. After viewing our room and dropping off our bags we decided to tour the entire resort to see what changes have taken place and to reminisce on the week we spent there 10 years ago. We were in NO RUSH. We had no agenda, no responsibility, no pressures. It was a great feeling.

By the time we finished touring the resort, we were ready to shower and head to dinner. We took advantage of purchasing a meal plan in advance, which I HIGHLY recommend if ANYONE plans to stay at the Atlantis Resort. Our meal plan was close to $800 in advance, but had we NOT paid for it, we would have spent WAY more than that at the end of our trip. ANYTHING PURCHASED, food or retail or whatever you buy, automatically includes a 15% gratuity. Even your happy meal at Burger King includes gratuity. For our first meal in Paradise we chose to eat at Casa D'Angelo. Tuscan Entrees, Southern Italian Accents and Caribbean flavors meet as Chef Angelo Elia brings his award-winning Italian eatery to the Paradise Island Resort —all presented in grand style but offered in an intimate setting. It was DELICIOUS. Thanks to our meal plan, each meal included drinks (non-alcholic), an appetizer, a salad, an entree, nd a dessert. Every night our dinner ranged anywhere from $185 to our most expensive meal of $252.00. It was absolutely INSANE.

We finished the night walking the "dig" and hanging out in the casino. The REST, I will leave to your imagination. AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Enjoy the photos below. I also enclosed two youtube videos. The first video is of the inside of our hotel lobby. It's NOT our video. I snagged it from YouTube. Yea youtube. We do have a video coming though and it's awesome, but it's of our entire trip. Be on the look out for Big D's special video culmination of our 5 day trip. The second video is of the "dig" marine life. Well some of it. I understand if viewing the pictures alone are enough, but if you have time, the videos give you a clearer picture of how beautiful the resort is and how much fun/romance it offers.

Visitors

Last week, we were having the windows cleaned and the guys working spotted some "visitors" in our neighbor's backyard. They are so pretty! And oh soooo daring. I guess our neighbor has some great bird seed feeders. Darren spotted 4 of them this morning directly across the street from our home, but I was too lazy to go grab my camera. I could have captured a much better photo than these had I done so. Oh well. Needless to say, they don't seem as timid as they have been in the past. It's really brave to walk around in broad daylight to eat out of someone's backyard.