A Great Bahamian Vacation!

What a different experience we had in the Bahamas compared to when we went to Turks and Caicos a year ago! We all had a fabulous time, and it truly was a very relaxing vacation. Mudgie did really well on the plane ride down, but he drank about 3 bottles of water and went through almost all the diapers I had packed! He did start to get antsy while we waited in the ridiculously long (and slow) line to get through immigration, but at that point he was well overdue for a nap. He actually fell asleep in the cab ride on the way to the resort, and stayed asleep while we checked in and got settled in our room, which was perfect!

For our first night out, we went over to the Marina area and had dinner. We walked around the stores and restaurants and live music after we ate, and Mudgie just took it all in. He was in a pretty good mood, so we explored the resort a bit. The resort is HUGE, and over the course of the week we were there we never even saw it all! For the most part, it was pretty accessible with the stroller, but every day we inevitably ran into something that required us to carry Mudgie and the stroller up a few (or a few flights) of stairs.

The weather was great, and we split up most of our days into 2 portions. We'd wake up and have breakfast in the condo. Mudgie really loved to eat out on the balcony. Then we'd pack up and head out to either the pools or the beach. There were so many of both to choose from, and again, we didn't get a chance to visit them all. There was a nice pool just outside our condo with a zero entry and some kids features, and then also a separate little kids pool that was a foot and a half deep everywhere. Mudgie really enjoyed both, but he was particularly cute in the kiddie pool, as he tried to use his cups (which he calls "apes") to take all the water out of the pool and put it into the drain next to the pool. Unfortunately, he was not a fan of the kids area of the water park. It had a giant bucket that would tip over every so often and make a huge splash, and I think Mudgie was always on edge about when it would tip. The area was also packed with kids much bigger than him, so I can imagine it was pretty overwhelming.

We'd stay out until lunchtime, when we'd go back to our room to have lunch and let Mudgie take a nap. Then after nap, we headed out to whichever option we missed in the morning. The beaches were really nice, but there was a lot of wind and really big waves at most of the beaches, so we stuck to one that was in a cove where the waves were a lot smaller. Mudgie loved the beach, and got so excited to play in the sand, but he was pretty intimidated by the actual ocean. He did like putting his toes in the water, and loved building sand castles (or knocking down sand castles) with his daddy. In fact, he liked the sand a little too much, because when he got hungry he would eat the sand. It would start off by him just putting his sandy hand into his mouth, but on several occasions it progressed to him putting handfuls of sand into his mouth! Oops.

We had a few days where we changed it up a bit. Our big excursion was to Dolphin Encounters, where we got to swim with the dolphins. Dave and I had a great time, but Mudgie did not. In fact, the whole experience freaked him out so much that we can't even mention the word dolphin in his presence now. There were points when he liked the dolphin and thought it was funny, but he was not a fan when it tried to kiss him or hug him! There was lot of crying involved, and we had to take him out a couple times, but it was definitely an interesting experience.

We also went into the town of Nassau and went shopping at the Straw Market. Mudgie got a cool set of coconut maracas and wooden plane that instantly became his new favorite toy. He was SO cute playing with it, making all kinds of noises simulating a plane! He also liked how we took a boat to get to and from the town.

On the same day we went into town, we also took Mudgie to his first movie. Atlantis offered free movies in its theater, and since it was raining out, we didn't have anything to lose. We saw the Princess and the Frog, and amazingly, Mudgie lasted almost an hour. He liked the big "T-T" (his word for tv), and made it a lot longer than I expected him to.

Atlantis also had a giant aquarium that was spattered throughout the property, so we stopped at the giant tanks whenever we passed by and saw something cool. Mudgie even gave kisses to fish through the glass!

More than anything else, however, Mudgie's favorite part of the trip was the buses (I kid you not). The property was so big that we often took a shuttle bus to get to and from different parts of the resort. He got more excited about the bus than anything else. At the end of almost every bus ride, he would get very (sometimes inconsolably) upset about having to get off the bus. We started having to prepare him to get off halfway through the bus ride, just to help ease the transition! He also enjoyed the taxi ride, and the limo ride we took. In fact, after we went in the limo, Mudgie requested we take a limo, or "imo," everywhere!

While the airport was a nightmare on the way home, Mudgie did ok, and he actually fell asleep and took a much needed nap on the plane ride home. We did have a big problem getting him into his carseat once we got back to our car. After a week of riding on our laps, he didn't want to be confined in that thing again. We had a rough evening once we got home, but I think everything is pretty much back to normal, and tomorrow its back to work and daycare for all. It was a great trip, and we can't wait for Midgie to get old enough to go on our next family vacation!