it was worth the wait.

We arrived in the Bahamas around noon and stepped off the plane in to suffocating heat. And the humidity? Wow! Because we only had carry-on luggage, we breezed through customs and were then greeted by a Bahamian drummer dressed in traditional Bahamas gear. Just before we exited the airport we were welcomed by someone from the tourism board and he promised us the vacation of a lifetime - amazingly, he has turned out to be right.

Our taxi driver was a fantastic start to our trip. He took us on a bit of a tour, hit it off with Brendan and talked history with us for awhile. He stopped at the grocery store his wife shops at (as opposed to the tourist grocery store closer to our destination) and didn't charge us a dime extra. He pointed out all the little shacks that had the best seafood for sale and I swear he knew every person in every car we passed! Anyways... moving along...

We checked in to our hotel and just decompressed from the day. Went for a swim, ordered Chinese food to our room and watched a Criminal Minds marathon on tv. It was at some point in the evening that I realized that without having access to Brendan's computer we were going to have a camera issue. Our camera has an SD card and only Brendan's computer can read the card. Not only that, I didn't bother buying a bigger card because the plan was to just download the pictures each night - so I kept the card that only holds about 50 pictures. That means that we don't have a way to get the pictures off the camera until we are home (unless I buy a cable when we get to Florida) or we only take 50 pictures in 5 weeks. I have my Blackberry and I've taken some shots on it, but I have my data plan turned off to avoid roaming charges, so I can't get those on to facebook either. All of that to say that's why you haven't seen any pictures yet. Oh Brendan...

Now let me tell you about Atlantis. Unbelievable. Worth every penny. We would come back here in a heartbeat. Such attention to detail. And the best part? Once you get in your tube and in to the water, you NEVER HAVE TO GET OUT! Seriously. There is a rapids river that goes around the water park and there are conveyor belts that take you up to the different slides. Some of the slides are more like water roller coasters with a combination of water, rollers and belts that shoot you up hills after you've dropped down the hills. If you just ride the rapids river, the whole circuit takes about 25 mins.

Besides the water park, there are numerous pools, aquariums, casinos, beaches, marine habitats, etc. So much to see and do. Every person we have encountered has been so welcoming and helpful - just such a friendly place. On the other hand, it is ridiculously expensive here. Dylan's comment sums it up perfectly... I made a comment about how it seemed that every woman in sight was carrying a Prada, Gucci or Coach bag. Dylan's comment? Those bags aren't for us. We're a ziploc bag kind of family. Hahahahaha - so true! I have ziplocs in all our bags/pockets so we can take leftovers, extra bagels from breakfast to have for lunch and to pack snacks to the park. For the most part, if you can afford to be here, you can afford to eat here. On average I would say a family of 4 would have to be spending an easy $60 for lunch and $100 for dinner. On our second day here, I stalked the local workers from around the hotel and found out where they bought lunch. For about a 5 min walk we can eat fresh, yummy, Bahamas food for about $6 each. I WILL stick to our $20 a day food budget!

The weather has been great. Hot and humid with some great thunder showers here and there and then some brilliant sunshine thrown in. We are all sunburnt, nursing blisters on our feet, sleeping well at night, drinking lots of water, eating well and having a great time. Two more days here and then it's on to Cocoa Beach, Florida...