For Mother's Day and my birthday as they fall so close together, I received an AMAZING treat! The kids stood up with their signs turned backwards and as I opened a present, one of the kids would also turn over their sign. I got a new swimsuit, and swimsuit cover-up, flip-flops, and a massage. But when Avery turned over the last sign and I saw that I was going to the Bahamas, I started crying. My husband is so incredible!
Jenny and Bubba have traveled a lot, especially Jenny, so she helped Randy find this amazing deal. She has been to Atlantis before but it was such a great deal that they couldn't pass it up either! Plus it was nice to have someone come along that knew what they were doing!
They arrived a day after us. The night they came in, we went to take in some of the sites of Atlantis. This aquarium in one of their hotels was amazing!
The next day we decided to venture out into the Bahamas and go snorkeling. They have snorkeling at the resort and we saw people snorkeling in that aquarium that we were looking at the day before, but this was just as cheap and it was in the ocean.
We were taken out to three different sites to go snorkeling. The first one was very cool with lots of neon fish. This was my first time ever snorkeling and it took me a little while to feel comfortable and relax.
But once I got a hang of it, I loved it! The water was beautiful, and the coral was incredible. It was just so neat to see a whole other part of this beautiful world we live in.
Our second stop took us by this incredible private island where Scooby-Doo was filmed, Spooky Island! I can't remember if this was in the first or the second movie, but I remember it! My kids love the Scooby-Doo movies! When we stopped we got to look down also at the plane that was placed in the water for the Jaws film. That was awesome too!
Our last stop was one that Randy and I chose to few from the boat! Oh yes, this one was swimming with the sharks! They put a box of bait down at the bottom of the ocean and a TON of sharks came to feed out of it. We were allowed to go out holding onto a rope but couldn't make any sudden movements and had to stay really still. NO WAY!! I could see just fine from the boat! I think Randy and I were the only two that didn't go! Yes, Bubba and Jenny both went out with the rest of the boat!
We spent a lot of time on the beautiful Marina at Atlantis. The food was cheaper out there and the weather was so nice most of the time. The chance of rain each day was pretty high and it rained quite a few times but never stayed long. It was actually nice to have the clouds around all the time! Oh, and the yachts in the Marina were incredible to look at!
Another activity Randy and I did was swim with the dolphins. It was actually more interacting with the dolphins. To actually swim with them was more expensive. Our trip came with one free pass and since Bubba and Jenny had already done it, they gave theirs to Randy and I.
This has always been a huge dream of mine and I'm so excited to have checked it off of my bucket list. We stood on the edge of a step and watched the dolphins do their tricks. They would swim up as close as the could so we could touch them. They are such beautiful and incredible creatures!
After that we got to take pictures with the dolphins. Here are Randy and I taking our picture. They also did individual pictures where we kissed the dolphins nose and then he blew water all over us. It was a blast and I was so excited that I finally got to do this!
Bubba and Jenny were sweet enough to go with us and take pictures. It did take a while and I think they got a little bored and found some ways to entertain themselves! hahaha!!
Oh yes, I still have these pictures and now they are part of my blog!! You'll never live them down!!
Out of all the things we did, nothing was as peaceful or desired as just sitting on the beach! Anytime we had a minute, we would take that time to go sit on the beach.
The water was amazing, the sand was so soft and it seemed like most people ventured more to the swimming pools and water parks that were at the resort. But THIS was our favorite place.
Not to say we didn't spend a good amount of time at the pools or the water park! We went down lots of slides, rides and lazy rivers. One of the slides takes you through a tube where sharks are swimming all around you! That was pretty cool!
We found a new favorite drink at Atlantis as well. Half strawberry daiquiri half pina colada! Virgin of course! Oh man, it was incredible!
Randy and I went on lots of walks. Just outside our hotel and on our path to the beach there is a pool of sea turtles. Everyday we walked by these guys and thought of Avery as she has always loved sea turtles. One of the most relaxing parts of the trip but also kind of sad was that we didn't get any phone service. I was technology free for a whole week and it was the most amazing and freeing feeling! We would walk a couple of blocks every morning to the local Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast and they had Wi-Fi there so Randy would take his work phone and we would talk to the kids and he would check in on emails but I chose to leave my phone turned off since I had no idea how much it would cost me. I seriously felt like it was the first time for my brain to just relax!
We also got to go have a round of golf! One round of golf was included in our trip and it actually did cost for Jenny and I to ride along in the cart but it was well worth it! The golf course was amazing!
Randy and Bubba played awesome. Randy is used to me and my camera but Bubba was probably sick of me by the time we were done! hahaha!
Every hole had such an amazing view it was hard to stop!
I love this picture of Jenny!
Along the beach there are people selling things and also a ton of guys wanting to rent out their jet skis. Holy cow, once we acted interested they all came running and trying to give us their best deal! I liken it to sea gulls when someone throws a crumb of bread! They just attack!! Bubba was a great negotiator and we felt like we got a great deal! However, notice my sunglasses because it is the last time you will see them!
That's right, I'm now wearing Randy's sunglasses! My competitor husband couldn't just enjoy a ride on the jet skis and the incredible views of mansions and picturesque water and the view of the resort. No, he was always on a search for where Bubba was because the only thing he wanted to do was ride straight up to him and do a fast turn and spray him with water. Well, he finally got his opportunity... but with the fast turn came me flying off the jet ski, salt water up my nose and my favorite Calloway sunglasses on the bottom of the ocean floor! He did feel bad! And luckily we didn't damage the jet ski. See... we still have smiles on our face!
He felt so bad, that he treated me to a couples massage! This was probably the most expensive thing we did the whole trip! We had never done a couples massage before and boy did we pick a great place to do it! This place was amazing!
Jenny and I went in the girls side where they had lemon water and a huge hot tub to get in to while waiting for our turn. They came and got us and I met Randy in our room. Great massage... it just went by too fast! But it was a great way to spend one of our last days!
Here we are after our massage! Don't we look so relaxed! It would have been more relaxing if it didn't cost so much! hahaha! This might be our one and only couples massage... so I had to grab a picture!
It was such an amazing vacation! Most of our time was spent outside. There was a game on one night so we hit the lobby bar where we discovered another new favorite drink! A virgin mango daiquiri!! Oh man... that was amazing!!
We went out for a walk on our last night. It was hard to believe it was over.
I'm one of those who likes to explore new places and see new things....
But when you find such an amazing spot like Atlantis at the Bahamas, you just want to go back again and again! For the most part we enjoyed this as a couples vacation but there were a few times especially when we were at the water park that we wished the kids were with us! We will be bringing them back sometime we hope!
We had a little bit of time our last morning to throw on our swimsuits and see the beach one last time.
Randy really surprised me with this trip and I love him so much for planning this amazing vacation for us!
It is definitely in the record books as my favorite vacation! Bahamas '13... I will always love you!!
And just for laughs, we passed this sign a couple times and so our last trip back to the airport I was on a look out for it! Seriously!?! This sign cracked us up!!! Protect Ya Tings!! hahaha
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