Vacation to Paradise Island, Bahamas

We just got back from a family vacation to Paradise Island, Bahamas. It is an island just North of Nassau. We had a wonderful time together and both boys really enjoyed themselves. We were not ready to come last night! I think we could have stayed for a very long time! It was just what we needed after the last few months that we have had. We left last Sunday very early in the morning. We woke up at 2:45am in order to leave the house a little after 4. Payton woke up when we did and never went back to sleep, so he had a tough time later that day because he was so exhausted. That night after we got settled in the hotel we walked around a bit and went to a little store to buy some water to make Eastons bottles with. We also went to dinner and then we went swimming. The next day we explored the entire area of the Atlantis. It is so amazing. The attention to detail is just astonishing. There are a ton of marine habitats everywhere. We also explored the area called The Dig, which is a huge aquarium type thing made to resemble the lost city of Atlantis. I can not even come close to describing it, so you will just have to look at the pictures. There is also an area called Marina Village that we spent a lot of evenings at. It is surrounded by multi-million dollar yachts! We heard that celebrities are there all of the time and we think one must have been on one of the boats we saw, because people were taking pictures of one of them a lot. The next day we spent the entire day at the Aquadventure water park area. Payton was in heaven and Easton really enjoyed splashing the water. We all rode the lazy river and Payton and I went on an very active river rapids ride called the Current! Wednesday we did something really special. We decided that while we were here, why not do something that we wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to do. We took a ferry ride to another island called Blue Lagoon. This was an amazing area. There were hammocks in the trees, and chairs and umbrellas on the beach. So we spent a few hours there and then did a dolphin encounter! We got to get in the water and hug and touch a dolphin. We even got to get a kiss from him. It was a really neat experience. The last full day there we spent it at the Atlantis beach and just tried to soak up every last bit of sunshine before having to head back to the rainy Midwest. Both boys had a blast playing in the sand and water. I am still finding sand everywhere!! Then the last day we took an eventful bus ride back to the airport and had to head home. I was a little worried as to having to wait in line with all of our stuff and the boys for all of the customs and immigration stuff, but they both did great. Easton was much easier to travel with then I could have ever expected. He slept and napped good in the hotel and the flights. The trip was great and we are trying to figure out when to go back. I know a lot of people probably thought we were crazy taking the kids on a trip like this, but we couldn’t imagine not taking them. We really like to experience things together as a family and think that vacations together are really important.

The entire area was wonderful and beautiful and everyone was so nice. Although, it is VERY expensive on Paradise Island. We stopped counting how much we were spending after the first day. When we went to the little grocery store, we saw a normal size bag of oreo cookies for $9.95! One meal we got two slices of pizza, a bowl of fruit, and three drinks and it was $50.00.

On Monday we head back to our hustle and bustle of school and work, etc. We are NOT looking forward to it, except Payton is missing his friends and teachers. Justin and I know that we are both heading back to lots of stress at work, but oh well, life must go on……