Saturday, February 09, 2008

Our trip to Paradise

In a nutshell, our trip to the Bahamas was perfect, except for our encounter with children hating scoundrels whom I shall call Mr. and Mrs. Grumpypants from now on. Post to follow in the next few days.

Can I just say that we took the best approach to this vacation? Not to pat ourselves on the back or anything. Well okay, yes, we will pat ourselves on the back.

When we were thinking about going, we were considering staying at the Atlantis resort. But after a bit of thought we decided that wouldn’t be all that relaxing what with hauling our beach/pool crap and two tired kids all over the massive complex. Plus the exorbent cost would make us feel obligated to see and do everything at the demise of the whole idea of relaxing.

My cousin had a house rented on one of the smaller islands and that sounded perfect to me, especially if it was beach front. So a quick google revealed this sweet little house. A quick phone call and it was ours for the exact dates required.


It is located on a tiny Cay named Spanish Wells (or St. George's Cay) just off the island of Eleuthera. It is all of 1 mile by 3 miles and not touristly at all. Besides us, there were only a handful of other tourists there. The island itself has no hotels or resorts at all, only private residences for rent. The locals were nice and we tried really hard not to be the ignorant tourists. Afterall, this is their home and we are the ones invading it.

With views like this, relaxing was easy.




The kids needed very little entertaining. There was miles and miles of white sand beach to build the castle of the day on.




And the water was about knee deep for miles. I am not exaggerating. Jay and Jack tried to walk out to where we could see the waves breaking on the horizon to see how deep it got. They had to turn around before they got there, it was that far. I was starting to panic a bit on shore as they had become a dot and I had no idea if they were still okay (yes, I am a little neurotic like that).




We also spent a lot of time chasing each other in the water. Want a workout? Try running in knee deep water, it gets your heart rate up. And the smiles on your kids faces are SO worth it.

Oh and remember this?


Given that there was harldy anybody else on the beach, I wore this little black number Jay bought me at Christmas. It takes so little to please him! Thanks to Anna’s suggestion to use Arbone cream on my stretch marks, I was not revolted by the sight of me in it. Not that I think Sports Illustrated will be calling but the fact that I am comfortable posting this here is huge progress folks!

We also figured out that we have it all wrong. We are always trying to buy our kids the next big thing in toys. You know what keeps them happy for hours? Time with you and a grand total of two shovels, two pails and two trucks.

There was absolutely no whining about having nothing to do. None.


The only whining was regarding the fact that we had run out of rum for Pina Coladas AGAIN. Damn my mom makes a mean Pina Colada.


And at the end of the day there was a beautiful sunset. It was perfect and the MOST relaxing vacation I have ever enjoyed. I highly recommend it. The only mistake we made was not staying longer.

Thanks to Mom and Dad for joining us, it wouldn't have been the same without you and not just because of the Pina Coladas!

19 comments:

Angella said...

WOW WOW WOW!

Look at those photos!

And you are ROCKING that bikini!!

Sweet watermark, too :)

Kristin said...

Sounds and looks PERFECT!
Ian is totally planning our next trip now that he has seen and heard about renting a house in the Bahamas!
It will have to wait a while though...

I like your watermark too and it looks great on your totally awesome pictures! :)
Ian is also looking into hooking me up with at watermark, I leave that sort of stuff for him to figure out he is way better at it then me.

Anonymous said...

Wow! I am so jealous - look at that beach - look at that water! Look at all that sand to build things with! Oh, I would have been right there with the kids (and a pina colada, thank you very much, Kami's mom). :) Looking at these photos was like taking a mini vacation for myself. Very relaxing and cheery! Thank you!

tracey.becker1@gmail.com said...

I AM JEALOUS.

But very happy for you. Sounds brilliantly perfect.

Family Of Five said...

For what it's worth, you look fantastic! Great pictures!

KATE said...

Love love love the pictures! What a fabulous trip to paradise! So incredibly envious!

**BTW The other Kami on my blog is my Sister In Law. She lives in Minnesota & just barely set her blog to private.

Jennifer @ Fruit of My Hands said...

Wow, it looks like you had such a great time! Great pictures too!

Ashley said...

Great photos, you look great in that bikini! Good job hubby on the purchase. So glad you had a good time, next time I think you should invite alllll your blog friends, don't you? :)

Lizzy in the Burbs said...

Oh, Kami!!

That looks absolutely GORGEOUS!!!
You are so right, sometimes simple is best! I'm so glad that you and your family were able to relax and enjoy your time together. *I'm still jealous, though! Now I'm jealous of your vacation AND how good you look in your bikini, too! :)

Lizzy

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a perfect vacation (apart from the bad bit, I'm very curious to read about that!!) and OMG you look HAWT in that bikini!! You go girl!!!!

Unknown said...

Good for you and your family. A vacation like that is a MUST if you can take the time and afford it. We went to Florida in 2006 with some friends, during the off season (neither of our boys were in school yet) and it was so wonderful and relaxing... You take beautiful photographs too. Sorry you had to come home! ; )

Homegrown Tribe said...

Oh that sounds divine! I would LOVE a vacation like that.... maybe in 10 years. Ha! And look at you hot mamma!

Brittany

Kellan said...

Oh, Kami - it sounds simply perfect. And those pictures - WOW!! You are quite the photographer. What a great place and what a great trip! I'm so glad you all had such a good time - really!! Thanks for sharing a bit of this paradise with us - what a treat! Take care - Kellan

Unknown said...

omg, I want to go...it looks so absolutely perfect!!! WOW.

Oh, btw, you look GREAT in your bikini YOU ROCK IT GIRL!

Unknown said...

Hey Miss Baywatch, got something for ya at my blog. :D

NerdyRedneck Rob said...

It is like 10 degrees here today so those pictures were inspiring! Doubly so for the bikini! Rowr! That might just hold me over until spring, thanks!

KATE said...

Still LOVING the pictures, wish I was there right now!!

info@thebabymarketplace.com said...

I'm so jealous!

Both of how great you look in the bikini and I want a holiday too!
MK

Karen MEG said...

BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Wow, what a gorgeous spot ... I bet you had a way better time than if you'd been at Atlantis. I've heard that it can be bit of a zoo there, and sooo expensive.
I like the cottage type route too, we may have to check it out!

Such awesome pictures, and you're looking pretty fine in that black bikini ;)