The Bahamas

Jason and I love to travel! We get travel deals every week that come to our email and we are always trying to plan a trip somewhere. The trips don't always happen, but it is fun to think about and see if we could make it work. I've realized how short life is and you never really know when your time is up. I've really started to treasure the moments more than ever before. I want to fill my life with more memories and less things.

So, with the kids having a trip planned to visit their dad in Arizona the day after school was out, we started looking a little more seriously at taking a vacation. We found the perfect deal at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas! We had looked there before when I was pregnant, but just couldn't make it work. We were so excited! Two of our couple friends were able to go, but they had to come back 2 days before us.

My mom said she would watch Ashlyn for us. School was out on Friday. We got all packed up to leave on Saturday morning. My mom came over to get Ashlyn Saturday morning and both Jason and I cried as we said goodbye to her. We have never left her before. We had to drive to LA to meet Travis with the kids, so we decided to fly from there. We had some time before our flight left, so we cruised around LA and went to the beach in Santa Monica. It felt so weird to be kid free!

Luckily we got to the airport early because my passport was still issued to Tara Wilson! I hadn't even thought about it. They sent us to someone else who was able to help us. I had my old drivers license buried in my wallet! Yeah! Did you know they are now charging to check luggage?! I was able to get the guy to wave the fee for us. Jason teased me for flirting, but said I was forgiven because it saved us $50 bucks! I love being a woman! ;-)

We arrived in the Bahamas Sunday morning and checked into the Royal Towers at the Atlantis. It was beautiful! We met up with Matt and Margaret and Mike and Angie to go snorkeling. We took a boat out to a coral reef. We bought some fish food and the fish came by the dozens! I have never been surrounded my more fish! It was crazy! Every once in a while we would see jelly fish! They were hard to see, but when I wasn't being scared that I would get stung, they were quite peaceful to watch.

The next day, we took a taxi into town to do a little shopping before we went golfing. Our friends bought a few things for their kids and we found our picture frame. (We collect picture frames from each place we travel too.)

Jason bought me golf clubs and lessons a few years ago for Christmas. I went to two lessons, but then we just got busy and then it was summer time... you know how it goes. I hadn't touched a club since. I was really excited to have a reason to start practicing again. We went to a par 3 course here in town a couple of times before we went on our trip so I could feel like I kind of knew what I was doing when we got there!

The golf course on the island was amazing! Some of the holes were right next to the ocean! The views were incredible and the company was fantastic! I think the guys enjoyed playing with their wives. It was the first time I had done 18 holes. I always thought golf was a leisure game, but I was kind of tired after about 10 holes! The sun set as we finished our last hole. It was beautiful!

I have a new hobby! I really want to start golfing more. I think we are going to try to get the girls together out on the golf course a couple of times a month while the guys are at work. So fun!

Tuesday morning our friends had to go back home. We had so much fun hanging out with them!

Jason and I spent the rest of the day exploring the Resort. It was so big! I still don't think I saw all of it. It would be an awesome place to bring your kids on a family vacation, although it would cost you a small fortune to feed them! (Think Disneyland food prices times 3!) The resort takes up almost all of Paradise Island. There are several different hotels that are connect with walkways and indoor shopping and restaurants. Outside, there is a HUGE water park. They had water slides and tube rides and our favorite- the lazy river. I think Mike would have been happy if we never removed him from it! They had one ride that had a clear tunnel that went through a shark aquarium! It was really cool!

I don't think I could count the number of pools and water features. They had aquariums everywhere! Indoors and out. From our balcony window, we watched them feed the sharks and sting rays! The Resort had their own beaches and lagoons. Jason and I were walking along and came across this scene. It looked too much like a postcard not to take a picture!

The next day, I'm not sure if we were acting like newlyweds or sleep deprived parents, but we didn't leave our room until 1pm! It was the best! We scheduled time on the tennis court, but by the time we got over there, we decided we were too hot and the "lazy river" was calling us! We spent the better part of the day hanging out at the water park.

Every time we saw kids, we would think of Austin, Jessica and Lauren and how much they would love the water slides. There were a few babies playing in the pools with their parents and it made us miss Bun. (Ashlyn's nickname, Bunny, shortened.) As much as we missed the kids, it was so good to just spend time with just the two of us.

We will miss strolling along the marina shops, being silly late at night on the beach with Matt and Margaret, Mike always wanting to get back in the lazy river, all of Angie's stylish resort wear, and Margaret being true to the mother in her and taking care of all of us. Thanks for the memories! We love you guys! As usual, to see more pictures, click on the link below to the Rickards Family Photos. This place was so cool!