ATLANTIS!!!!!

ATLANTIS! We found the lost island! Sean and I were lucky enough to go to the Bahamas. I qualified for the trip through work -  paradise really is better when it's free!

Check out the views from our room:

 

 Getting there was not easy! Hurricane Sandy canceled all our flights through JFK. I lost sleep worried we wouldn't get there. Thankfully my travel department got us there without missing a beat. We had to go from SLC to LAX to Miami THEN to Nassau, Bahamas!! But we made it! ***Reminder, last time we headed that direction for a vacation, hurricane Irene cancelled part of our flights. We have the worst luck.

No real signs of the hurricane there. Well, the water was cold, a few of the palm trees took it hard (below) and there was a lot of seaweed junk on the beach.

Cold water didn't keep us off the slides!

Check out this Pyramid slide. The bottom lands you into a tube going through a shark tank!

Their lazy river is awesome--- the whole thing is rapids and wave machines.

Some rides push you back UP the slide. I loved it.

The first night was a company welcome party. Incredible food. It was here I learned that Oprah was at Atlantis at the same time! So obviously I was on the prowl, but no sightings.

Shameless self portrait. 

Table of Mormon reps = table full of water

The next day: Sean's birthday!! The big 2 - 4 was rung in by swimming with dolphins! This was the highlight of the trip. They gave us high fives, we snorkeled with them (each of us had a self propelled motor, so we didn't have to swim to keep up!), we kissed em, and perhaps the coolest part: they pushed our feet and propelled us across the top of the water. INCREDIBLE!

They wouldn't let me bring me water camera in...so this is the only photo I have. :(

For his Bday dinner, I made reservations at a seafood restaurant. They grilled up tons of food next to our table (lobster, steak, sausage, veggies, pork, lamb, bacon...I couldn't finish it. I could hardly start it.)

The resort restaurants have a dress code for men-- collared shirts required. Because Sean only packed one collared shirt...it made another appearance.

Right after we finished dinner, they were seating people for a free Cody Simpson concert.  ....ookkkay...why not? (Cody is a 15yr old Australian pop star...he's still up and coming).

Sean pretended to really enjoy it.

The next day we just lounged/slept at the beach.

Sean is always begging me to go swimming. I'll get in the water but I just want to do the least amount of work possible once in water. Sean really means SWIM. He tries to swim as far out as he can. So we don't swim/float together.

I usually prefer hanging poolside. Something about the loaded nacho option the beach just can't provide.

 I wish I could capture the amazingness of the resort. Just incredible everywhere you look.

Atlantis has the worlds largest open air aquirium -- the sides of the tank line hallways in the lobby.

 

There are 2 10ft manta rays! I could watch them for hours.

 

I leg kicked a few times at Atlantis. Just marking my territory.

 

We headed home all too soon :( Our return flights routed through NYC were not cancelled. When booking I gave us a 6 hr layover so we could run into the city to hit up Canal Street. Mass transit was still a disaster, so we waited out the entire layover at the airport. I'm actually a big fan of the JFK JetBlue terminal. The 6 hours actually went by really fast.

We watched a few movies. Can you believe Sean has never heard of Troop Beverly Hills? He's a fan now!

Something about Sean carrying my Betsey Johnson bag just makes me laugh.

 

Real life has been tough to come back to. Man we miss Atlantis. Definitely going back someday.