Bahama Breeze

As I type this, looking out at the 12 inches of snow that recently blanketed our 70 degree temps, my brain takes me back to last week.  Rather than white I see aqua.  Rather than preparing for the bus to pull up I'm preparing to drink another margarita and start another book, cover to cover.  Rather than picking up dog poop and kid poop I'm tipping the lovely Bohemians for putting chocolate on my pillow.  I've had to go there in my mind a number of times (ok, like 37)  since we got home from a gift of 5 days in the Bahamas, without our little treasures.  Tim had a meeting for work he was requested to attend.  It was a rough choice, but we decided to take one for the team.  We went to Nassau so Tim could attend the meeting and I went with for moral support. That equaled, sitting, sleeping, reading, eating, drinking and stripping my brain of anything that involved things other than what I just mentioned. Proud to say, I was successful.  It was much needed and even much more appreciated.

The Bahama islands are always warm, making it a popular attraction for east coasters.  It's a bit of a haul from Colorado...our 3:30am flight out a rather unpleasant experience.  We won't do that again, even without the monkeys.  I won't talk anymore about my state of crabbiness during that portion of our trip.  Once we arrived in the Bahama breeze, we were greeted with Bohemian charm and grace and escorted to the private resort where the meetings were being held.  We like to coin this resort as the destination for the .5%.  It's luxury we're not accustomed to or I would dare to say even comfortable with.  I tended to talk to the hotel staff about their families and interests so as to give them cues that I don't expect people to wait on me the exquisite ways they're trained to.  You can't even enter the tennis courts without full white attire.  We're incredibly grateful for the opportunity to live in this lap of luxury for those days.  It felt divine on so many levels.  

Our room was blissful and the ocean just steps from our first floor patio.  The island had an unusually strong breeze and high waves the length of our stay, but that didn't bother this Mama.  The beach beckoned me all the same.

I read....

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 and here...

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and here.

 Our first hotel room.  The hotel/club is old English style.  

 My solo day began with this.  The blueberries were the size of quarters and produced audible moans as I ate them.  As did the fresher than freshly squeezed OJ.

 A man dressed in white set our table on morning #2.  We felt like we should invite him to join us.  

They had all our vacation bases covered.

The flowers.  Oh the flowers....

 This little hummingbird friend kept me planted for a good twenty minutes, camera in permanent shoot mode.  

 A curly tree trunk captured me as well.  I wanted to Nanoo Nanoo (Mork and Mindy reference there folks) my kids there to play in her curls.  And then send them back home again.

 We took hotel bikes out to tour the 400+ private residences that are nestled into the gated community where the hotel lives.

 This, my friends, is where we ate.  My favorite spot of all.  The conch fritters were the highlight.  Or maybe it was the aqua blue gracing you with its presence during every bite.    

Once this version of heaven came to a close, we cabbed it to the resort where we would stay on our own dime for two days.  Half the price, but still crazy charming and relaxing.  Just a different speed. Our kind of speed.  Although, the deadly street outside the front gate could have produced our death if we weren't super vigilant.  Cautious driving is not a trait of Bohemians.  

 Our charming little hut.  There was no glass on the windows - just ocean breeze.  The shower floor was wood.  A stereo with surround sound invited us to max and relax while we focused on doing nothing.  

 Our view to the right.

 Our quaint and colorful hut is on the far right, next the stairs to the beach.

 It had an outdoor kitchenette on the bottom level with a picnic table.  Would have been fun to go with another couple.  Next time.

 The resort wasn't so much kid friendly.  Great news for us.  

 We sat here a number of times.  It's where we met Marcus and Nalla, our dinner companions on our final night.  Lovely humans from Boston. 

Here's a funny story for you.  See all the pretty jungle like trees surrounding the resort in this photo I found on their website?  Yeah, they don't exist.  There's a road directly behind the back huts with parking lots and junky houses.  No jungle. Tricky little suckers. 

One outing we decided on was a snorkeling adventure.  The weather wasn't exactly balmy, but we rented wet suites, which was super sexy.  They took us to three different stops, the third being an opportunity to swim with sharks.  Nice sharks, like puppies really.  However, we had very strict instructions to be as still as corpses in the water, hold onto the rope with two hands and don't make any sudden movements.  We listened.    

There was a sweet old couple who arrived on the boat wearing khakis and button up polos.  They were clearly not snorkeling.  I asked if they came along for the ride and they explained that they thought this was a glass bottom boat where they could view the sea creatures.  Instead they got an old fishing boat filled with wet people and no view what-so-ever.  They were real troopers and ended up on our flight back to Denver.  

 Down the street from our hotel was the world's best conch salad.  It took 30 minutes to make it, but that Bohemian time spent chopping was worth every bite.  The fishermen brought in those conch shells directly across the street and literally walked them over to be chopped up and served.    

 We also ventured out to the local "Fish Fry," per the recommendation of every local we came upon.  Verdict?  So gross.  Everything was fried, it was crazy expensive and it was in the middle of a big parking lot.  You win some you lose some.

Meanwhile back at the homestead....

 Nana was decorating for Valentines Day...

Mama sent love from the sun.

 Nana was spoiling tummies with pancakes...

Nana was smart about how to contain the brood and Enzo was freaking out I'm sure...

Squirt & Molly were living it up as sisters for a couple days (and Dara was wearing her most patient hat I'm sure)....

...and Rob and Linda were sending us hilarious and comforting play by play's on the activities of the days they spent at our pad with Dude and Enzo.  Only once did Dude walk in on Linda in the shower.  Just once.  

They're all saints for making it possible for us to jet off for this trip.  It was 5 days of much needed relaxation and refueling.  THANK YOU THANK YOU!