Bahamas- Straw Market, Nobu Restaurant

Yesterday we kicked it at the pool and then took a taxi to the straw market in the afternoon.

While planning for this trip, I expected to have to drag D’s car seat with us whenever we wanted to take a cab. We ended up holding D on our laps for the 8 minute ride onto Nassau. The speed limit was 25 miles per hour, the roads only go one way, so the likelihood of a head on accident is much less and it was rush hour, so we ended up driving 5 mph. For those of you planning to come here with a toddler, holding your kid on your lap is an option.

I thought that the straw market was going to be a few women under a tarp selling handmade crafts. We arrived to find three hundred (or so) women under a large, open air building with a puzzeling diversity of fake designer handbags. I saw Gucci, Kate Spade, Juicy, Louis Vuitton, Furla, D&G… all of it.

2001 Alyssa would have had a coronary and bought one of each bag. 2008 Alyssa focused on the task at hand, looking and possibly buying "something straw”.

I looked the whole place over, B, as he does in markets like that, bolted without remorse. Dahlia actually became frightened because the rows of people and bags were long and high. The ladies were talking to her right up in her face, inside her comfort zone. I carried her until I found B, handed her off and dove back into the mayhem of “Hey Pretty Lady, whatchu lookin’ for today?” I bought an oversized straw bag that I’ll probably use to decorate our guest room which currently has aqua painted walls.

Last night, we put Dahlia down to bed and the same sitter came back for the night. B and I deliberated over which awesome lounge or bar we wanted to stop in to start off our evening. We decided to visit one that always seems busy (I found out why) and has good people-watching. The pre dinner hours at Atlantis are fun because people are still coming in from the beaches and pools, but some folks are already jazzed up for dinner. There are a lot of gorgeous, East Coast types who know how to dress and how to act. I have to remind myself that tacky is my birthright! Somebody has to be tacky and I do it so well… also, I can see what I should be wearing but half a reality check reminds me that I can’t afford any of it. Maybe later.

At the bar, I drank few sips of… omg, what was that drink? Uhh, pineapple, rum… coconut? Whatever. We were enjoying ourselves when we noticed that our reservations for Nobu were right then, so I drained the rest of my cocktail. A few minutes later, I was super relaxed and just let B order dinner for us. Nobu is Japanese and everything we had was extraordinary. There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the salmon, crab, tuna… wow WOW wow. Sashimi, sushi rolls, sauces; even their soy sauce was extra good, extra salty (?) We shared a small bottle on warm Sake too.

Atlantis is selling condos and timeshares and every time I have a bite of anything here, I think about moving to Nassau. We will have to come back when D gets bigger so she can enjoy the lazy river and kid stuff. We will be able to relax a little more then too, when she knows how to swim. And I can eat here again.

Today we played in the pools and I enjoyed an 80 minute massage while B took Dahlia up to nap. My massage was great, but the masseuse was pregnant, so I felt bad, like I should be massaging her. I decided that if she were in her 3rd trimester, I wouldn’t have gone along with it. I would not support cruelty to pregnant women.

We need to get D ready to go watch the dolphin show that the hotel offers for free.

Tomorrow, we are on our way back to the US, so we’re packing the fun in while we can.

Bahamas- Atlantis, Paradise Island

Today was Saturday. We have already lost track of actual time and are now tracking how many days we have left until we must return to real life.

For the last few months I have been reading the blog of a former coworker’s wife. I met him at Microsoft. He is originally from Bermuda and like, the Bahamas, Bermuda was settled by the Brits. Heidi explains on her blog, that rather than saying “hello” and “goodbye”, the natives say “good afternoon” and “good evening”. They are very polite and they have the accent. It’s cool that they say Good Ahftah-noon.

We took D to the super duper awesome kid’s pool today and we all had a blast. I was dying to go down the small water slide, but thought it would be too much for D. I can’t even explain this kids pool, but naturally, I’ll try. They have a large pool that doesn’t get any deeper than thigh high. In the center, there is the equivalent of a big toy, but of course the slides off are water slides.

There is a huge bucket on the very top of the toy that is slowly filled by a fountain with water. Every 8 minutes or so, the bucket overflows and tips over, dousing the whole toy and everyone on it with water. They had water fountains coming up through the floors, through fire hose type nozzles, from out of nowhere. It was a blast, but got to be overwhelming for D.

Watch out! The bucket is dumping!

She napped in the afternoon. B read and I took a nap in the sun on our balcony. Can you finish this story yourself? Yep, that’s right, I turned red. It’s not too bad though.

Then we took a walk on the white, sandy beach and explored a hurricane-battered former hotel. It’s next door to our property on the beach. We approached it with caution because it’s in disrepair. The windows and doors are blown open. It actually looks like an 80-room motel, but the landscaping was overgrown, the paint was peeling and it needed some love and affection. I want to make it mine! It just needs a little TLC! Maybe next lifetime.

Our white, sandy beach

We still had a few more hours of happy toddler time, so we went over to see the “shish” in the giant aquarium. The architects of Atlantis made an underwater model of what Atlantis might have looked like if it was discovered. We walked the route and saw all the fish, the old skool diving gear and naturally, the gift store in the middle of it all. We saw some amazing fish, jellyfish, sharks, lobsters (which I wanted to butter up) and other sea life. It was fun.

We walked back to our side of the property and found ourselves on the other side of the hotel, with the big bridge overhead.

A friendly employee of Atlantis took a family photo of us, so that was very cool.

Here is Dahlia fake muggin' for the camera.

The people here are amazing. I know you might hear that about host cultures all over the world, but dang, the Bahamian’s know their stuff.

Tonight we had the babysitter some back and we went out to a lounge to have a drink, then waltzed into Bobby Flay’s “Mesa” for another beverage and finally, a 9:15pm dinner. YUM. I had the ahi and B had Lamb. We talked about buying a place here, the food was that good.

I feel compelled to mention that my wardrobe has been challenging. I tossed three dresses into my luggage and found last night, that they’re big. Something happened. Thanks to my new trainer, Shawn, I lost a size and a half and now, the dresses that I wore last year this time, are too big! Yeah me! Boo wardrobe! As if I don’t have enough trouble paying for clothing, finding clothes that fit and actually knowing when to wear what. (I know, complain… complain…) I wore a tacky outfit (Tacky is my birthright- thanks dad!) last night. Tonight, I noticed that my pink dress had adjustable straps, so I worked it and rocked the dress.

Date night!

B and I had great drinks and an awesome time. I am fully stuffed like a thanksgiving turkey and now that I have emptied my brain to my friend the blog, I’m now going to pass out and dream about floating down the “lazy river” on an inner tube tomorrow.

Gym tomorrow too. Maybe the “Body Cyclin’ ”.

Bahamas- Dinner at the Ocean Club's "Dunes"

So, yesterday was Friday and please allow me to remind you dear reader that I do not expect you to care about my daily comings and goings; I simply write to remind myself of the many ways I spend my precious time on vacation.

We took baby D to the “zero edge” pool. Zero edge means that there are no steps down into the pool, it’s just like a big, aqua puddle. You walk in and there you are, waste high in warm, Caribbean water.

Dahlia loved it. We chilled for a while and then, fearing skin cancer, we left after only an hour or so. Holding a bouncy, independent toddler in the pool is quite a workout.

Looks like rain

We put D down and I finally tied on my tennis shoes, grabbed my iPod, complete with new play list and made my way to the hotel gym. I think that each hotel here has a gym, but I went to the fitness center. I paid through the nose for the privilege of sweating on their treadmill and then took an "Entry to Pilates” class for 30 minutes, then paid $20 for the second half hour at which point the trainer put me on a Pilate’s machine. I worked my abs, I stretched, I was board.
Back to the gym with Rihanna’s “Disturbia” and Chris Brown’s “Forever” keeping me focused on not focusing and there I rocked the bouncy workout ball with my abs and push-ups and finished off with another two miles. I felt good, like I was catching up after eating too much for the last few days.

One of the reasons I came to Atlantis, was because they have babysitters. Despite all the scary and horrible stories of children disappearing from their hotel rooms while abroad, I had to take the chance. We have to go out. We put D down to be for the evening with the beloved Mister Cat, her binky and her bottle and made sure she was out like a light. We didn’t hear a peep. Our scheduled babysitter, a complete stranger arrived at our door. I gave her the rundown which was cut and dry: “call us if she makes a noise. Do not enter the inner sanctum, for the child will freak out.” D slept and I suppressed all my worst fears. The sitter was great, a local Bahamian woman who worked as a librarian during the day.

That night we went to "Dune" at the One and Only Ocean Club. Here is another site with a photo of Ocean Club. It was gorgeous and quiet, but it was so darn exclusive that it bordered on boring. There was good people watching, but we couldn't see the view and water etc. because the sun had set.

The food knocked our socks off and we barely fit into the car on the way back to our hotel.

I hope the photos turn out.

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I'm at home now, posting the photos up. Here is a pic of B after we had dinner at Dune.