A Deeper Life: Atlantis Day 1

We have safely returned from our glorious trip to The Atlantis in the Bahamas. Sweet Jesus, I thank you so much for creating such a glorious place.

"God called the dry ground 'land,' and the gathered waters he called 'seas.' And God saw that it was good." -Genesis 1:10

Good...it was much gooder than good! IT WAS AMAZING!!!

Let's begin, shall we?

As I mentioned before we left we had to leave at the crack of dawn for our flight. Well, both of our flights went perfectly. The second flight, we even got to sit in the "Business class". Glory to God in the highest for bigger seats yummy treats on a nice flight :)

We arrived in Nassau around 1:00 ish in the afternoon then quickly made our way to The Atlantis.

Check out this room, you guys:

That is a king size bed that you see. Comfy sheets. Fabulous comforter. Fluffy pillows. I love hotel beds.

The rest of our room:

Complete with a "living room" and a gorgeous ocean view!

We met up with Marty and enjoyed good conversation on the balcony while we soaked up the beautiful view of The Atlantis and the ocean. Praise. We found Camie and Darrin, Kirby and Kim and then we grabbed some snacks in the Club Lounge. I nommed on some chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies. Yum. And then the boys and I headed off to the beach to put our toes in the sand.

The brothers were happy to reunite. Especially at the beach:

The love each other :)

And are so much alike!

I can't express how gorgeous The Atlantis is:

It's absolutely beautiful:

This is just a small fraction of how happy I was to be there:

Toes in the sand and water...heaven:

Going deeper in the water:

We climbed on this rocky area because there were really pretty tiny shells over there:

The boys of course got adventurous and climbed on the rocks, while I took the stairs. No one ever accused me of being risky!

How gorgeous is that turquoise ocean?:

The waves were really crashing:

I loved being at the beach with my sweet hubby:

And these little greeny plants looked like they could be on The Lorax in Whoville:

They were really pretty and fluffy! IT'S SO FLUFFY!!!!!!

[Name that movie]

After we played in the water for while, we headed back to the room to get ready for the evening. We had dinner reservations for Virgils, a BBQ joint on the property. It was really good! Jamie and I were pretty excited when we saw BBQ Nachos on the menu. Yum.

When we finished eating, we found my favorite sea animal:

TURTLES!!

I wish I had a turtle pond outside my door. They're so precious.

We eventually made our way to the shopping area for a little Ben and Jerry's when we ran into this guy:

He was a hoot! He was on stilts or something and the kids in the area LOVED him! I would have been terrified when I was little, but he was popular with the little ones.

For those who care, I had the Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream. It had chunks of brownie in it. Pure delight in my tummy.

As we let our ice cream digest, we made our way to the casino where I played my first game:

I have no idea what I played but I was pressured by my husband and I lost around $3.50. Lame.

Jamie looks scared that I'm in a casino, gambling out money away:

I was pretty underwhelmed with the casino scene. It was smokey and wasteful to me. Yuck. I don't get the glamour of it all. But I'm glad the boys get a kick out of it ;)

Camie and Darrin hung out, the boys casino'd and Kim and I took a long walk around the grounds, exploring the beautiful property.

I sat in the big Atlantis chair:

I ooo'd and ahh'd over the aquarium:

Including the giant fish swimming above my head.

We were creeped out by the eels:

Ewww...snakey:

We were mystified at the light-up jelly fish:

And enjoyed the pretty weather and the beautiful pools. It was a nice evening and I can't express how thankful I am that I get along with my mother-in-law so well :) Kim, I love you more than you know and am grateful you're not only my "MIL" but such a dear dear friend to me as well.

After a while, the "kids" met back up again and walked around the grounds together.

We took our one and only group shot with the 5 of us on the big chair;

Why we didn't take more? I don't know. But I really love that picture!

And I love my hubby:

We walked around the grounds again, looking at all of the outstanding pools and slides and sea life. It was so fun and kind of enchanting as well.

I loved these sharks:

There is a slide that actually goes under water and you can see these sharks swimming around as you're sliding down right next to them! Crazy, huh?! The line for that slide was always too long, so I didn't do it but I fully intend on going back to The Atlantis and will partake in the "Shark Slide".

To end my part of the evening, we played Shuffle Board and Camie's fiancé, Darrin, was my partner. we might have lost...but I still think it was a fluke:

We were going to go to Club Aura after that, but I forgot my photo ID and decided to call it a night. Off to bed for me and the boys stayed out to play at the casino a little longer. I was more than happy to crawl into that gigantorm bed and catch some snoozes.