amazing

We were lucky enough to spend our fifteenth anniversary in the Bahamas.  It was an amazing vacation that we had been planning for 2 years. 

We had a long travel day on our actual anniversary but were able to have dinner (a late one at that) in the Bahamas like we had hoped.  We spent the night in a small hotel and planned on squeezing all 6 of us into a regular room since it was just for 12 hours.  But, when they found out that it was our anniversary, they upgraded us to a suite for free!!!  We were so grateful.  

The next morning we walked outside and noticed that a cruise ship was sailing into port.  Not a big deal except for the fact that this was the SAME ship that we honeymooned on 15 years ago :  Monarch of the Seas!!! 

Crazy!!

Then we made our way to our vacation destination:  Atlantis.  Or should I say...

ATLANTIS!!!

We didn't stay in this exact hotel. I actually spent about 40-50 hours on the Internet trying to make it happen but it was just too expensive.  Even if I could have....I wouldn't have spent that much money on a vacation.  So, after realizing that the room wasn't all that important, I went to plan B.  I bought someones timeshare week off of Ebay.  It was a very nice suite on the Atlantis property and it even had a washer/dryer and a full kitchen.  It was a great deal and worked out perfect for our large family.

We had a great 4th of July and enjoyed the fireworks over the Caribbean! 

The beaches were incredible!!!

White sand and crystal blue water.  Oh my goodness, it's nothing like the beaches here in Southern California.  Just thinking about it makes me want to go back.

Atlantis has more water slides than I can count.  We (except the twins) went on all of them.  This one is called the leap of faith and it really is a "leap of faith".  You drop STRAIGHT down and it's insane...but so fun!!!  This is Shayna!  I don't have a photo of me doing it.

There were so many pools and slides that it was completely overwhelming the first few days.  I think that we switched pools every hour or so just so that we could do everything. 

We had busy and yet relaxing days.  It was great to be completely OUT OF TOUCH - no international cell service or Internet!!!

We were warned ahead of time that the food was REALLY expensive so I brought a suitcase filled with 4 loaves of bread, 4 bags of cereal, 2 jars of peanut butter, jelly, boxes and boxes of protein bars, granola bars and cereal bars, chips, cookies, crystal light mix and treats.  We ate cereal in the room, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch by the pool (did I mention that I am sick of pb&j?) and went out for dinner at night.  We tried to eat as inexpensively as possible but a gallon of milk was $11 and one large pizza was a whopping $35.  Can you believe that!!! It was the first vacation where I actually lost 2 pounds because I didn't want to buy that expensive food! 

All in all, we had an amazing time but there is always a set of footprints missing.

Nate is ALWAYS on our mind...

Wish he could have joined us.