Our Final Day!

Friday morning we hit downtown to do a little sightseeing and shopping!

I don't remember what this building was but it was important.

I obviously need to take some notes because I'm sure this guy was important too but I don't remember why.

We met up with some friendly policeman though Pete did have a little run-in with a cop later. We can't take Pete anywhere!

The pirate thing...

and enjoying some ice cream.

We saw quite a few colorful get ups!

And the gift shops were quite entertaining as well.

As we walked through the local booths I was blown away by the amazing woodcarvings. I purchased a small turtle for my collection but would have loved to have taken home one of these snakes. Too bad they were way out of my price range!

On our way back to the hotel we sat next to some older couples who were heading to a fish fry and they told us we really should give it a try. All week we had heard about these famous fish fries from David's coworkers so we thought, "Hey, we're in the Bahamas, it's one of the things they're famous for...let's do it!" So off we got and we found ourselves a little restaurant. Of course the big thing at these fish fries is their conch and the workers at the restaurant were more than happy to show us the whole process of preparing it.
All I can say is the sight of all these shells next to the restaurant's deck and the smells that came along with it might have been what ruined the eating of conch for me.

Here's the conch shell...

and there's the conch, about to be torn from its home and cut into small pieces.

Of course the conch  has some clear spaghetti like piece in it that is supposedly an aphrodisiac that this guy was only too eager to swallow whole. (Insert throwing up emoji)

Breaded and fried, ready to be eaten. David had no problem, me and Les refused;

Have to hand it to Pete, he gave it a shot. But his face says it all!

The fish fry wasn't spectacular but we did enjoy just trying something new and being with friends in the Bahamas. Really can't complain.

We spent the afternoon on the beach, of course! Had to soak up as much beach time as we could since we would be heading home the next day.

The beautiful sunset view from our room.

That night was the Awards Banquet.

After munching on appetizers, guzzling down Shirley Temples, mingling, and dinner,  it was time for awards!

His cool cup filled with Swedish Fish. Yes! So proud of my hardworking guy!

I'm so grateful that we got to go on this wonderful trip together!

Beach Day

During the middle of the night I woke up because my lips were hurting. As I touched them I could tell that the bottom lip was pretty swollen but as there's really nothing one can do in the middle of the night with swollen lips I went back to sleep. By morning I could tell they were even worse. When I pointed them out to David he didn't seem to notice the difference until he put his glasses on...then his eyes bugged out at my unsightly appearance! He quickly got dressed and headed out to buy me a $17 box of Benadryl (ugh!) while I stayed in the room and tried to bring down the swelling by icing them. At first we thought I might have had an allergic reaction to something I ate, hence the Benadryl purchase, but I had a feeling it might have had something to do with the sirachi sauce on the tempura broccoli I had had at dinner. At the time of eating it I remember my lips feeling like they were on fire and I commented throughout the remainder of the evening about the burning sensation I was feeling on my lips. Thank goodness between the ice and the drugs my lips were close enough to looking normal that I felt like I could go to breakfast but my lips continued to be a source of pain throughout the rest of the day.
Thursday was such a relaxing day as we just hung out at the beach. (Notice my slightly larger and redder bottom lip.)

The water was way too cold for me so I didn't get in much father than my knees.

David and Pete were able to withstand the cold a little better than I could and actually did some swimming.

I told them to run out of the water like they were sexy lifeguards from Baywatch. Way to run, you two!

While we weren't freezing it out in the water we spent time napping or reading. Ahhh, it was so delightful!

Troy had arranged for us to have dinner at the ultra chic restaurant, Nobu, at the same time that he would be there with his management team so that evening we headed back to the Atlantis hotel where the restaurant is located. We walked around the beautiful grounds for a bit before our dinner reservation.

Yet another cool item I found at the Atlantis.

Needless to say our experience at Nobu was less than stellar. My lips had developed small blisters and were killing me so I didn't eat a ton and what I did have wasn't that great. The service was horrible - as soon as our waiter found out we weren't drinking alcohol, he passed us off to another server. No one checked on us once our dinner was served so we never got drink refills or a chance to order anything else. Thank goodness we kept in good spirits and spent the majority of our meal laughing. We even thought about ordering the famous steak that cost $39 an ounce with a 2 ounce minimum order and then dividing it four ways just to tick off our server. This location of Nobu was definitely not worth all the hype but the company was fantastic!

Excursion Day!

Wednesday was Excursion Day at the amazing Atlantis Hotel Water Park! Everything about this hotel is breathtaking - the size,

the shops, all the little details around the property and on each building,

the sea life,

and the water park! It was awesome! Most of our day was spent hurtling down water slides, like the one shown below where I actually came off the building a split second before once again hitting the slide and ending up in the pool below, all in a matter of 3 seconds...

or riding rafts through darkened tubes and ending up in a tank surrounded by sharks. They, of course, were thankfully OUTSIDE the tank.

My favorite part of the day was riding the lazy river on a double raft snuggled up with David. He had his struggles getting on the tube - all I remember is looking behind me to see both of David's legs straight up in the air as he fell over backwards off the raft - but he eventually was able to get on and stay on. Riding the full river took about 30-40 minutes and we enjoyed it so much that we rode it three times throughout the day. The river was calm in parts and then we would hit rapids and it was quite the ride. At one point the rapids were so strong that David and I were smashed up against the wall and ended up flipping over! After several hours of the water park we were all ready for some down time on the lounge chairs.

As we were getting ready to leave David and I promised ourselves that we would bring the kids here one day. What a fun place!

I loved all the amazing sculptures throughout the hotel.

And of course we had to take our turn sitting in King Neptune's chair.

Unfortunately our dinner reservations at our hotel's Japanese restaurant that night weren't until 8:45. Good thing hanging with the Yens is always so much fun and filled with laughs because I was having a hard time keeping myself from gnawing on the furniture by the time we were eventually seated.

Pete is always good for a few laughs!

After dinner we hung out in the lobby to watch one of the NBA basketball playoff games.

Another fun-filled day in the Bahamas!

Bahamas!!

Joy and excitement are all over our faces as we wait in the airport to catch our flight to the Bahamas for President's Club.  Yay for great rewards earned at David's job!

Ahhhhh! Palm trees, sunshine, and warm weather!

We couldn't pass up those Bahama Mamas in the hotel lobby - a delicious, addictive blend of orange, pineapple, and cranberry juices mixed with grenadine. This was the first of many that we drank throughout the week!

Our early afternoon arrival meant that we had time to drop our bags in our room, change into our bathing suits, and hit the beach!

Our gorgeous view!

I love spending time with this guy!

All inclusive resorts are the way to go - we can't get enough of the Bahama Mamas and daiquiris.

After a few hours at the beach we were ready to head inside for some dinner. There were several different restaurants at the hotel but Japanese food was calling our name. We ended up in their Hibachi room with several other couples from all over the world - Canada, Austria, and Texas. During the evening we all got to know each other and throughout the rest of the week when we would see each other around the resort we would wave to each other and shout out the state or country that the other was from. Nothing like Japanese style cooking to bring people together!
The food was quite tasty, especially the spring rolls.

Although initially surprised that we wanted virgin drinks, our waiters did a good job finding tasty alternatives. My favorite - a strawberry/banana daiquiri.

Our head waiter was hilarious, leading us in different chants and motions to get us excited about eating.

Heart-shaped fried rice...

and sushi. It doesn't get any better!

After dinner I had to walk off all the food I consumed so we took a lovely walk along the beach. A long day of traveling and relaxing at the beach had us heading back to our room early to watch a movie and just veg. As we were getting ready for bed David looked over the guest list to see who was attending Presidents Club and we were delighted to discover that Pete and Leslie Yen, our dear friends from Utah, were on the guest list. Unfortunately their flight didn't get in until late Monday night so we didn't see them until Tuesday morning. Once we met up we were pretty much inseparable. Hangin' with them made the week extra fun!

Definitely something you don't see everyday!