Bet by the title you thought this was going to be a post about Max, didn't you? WRONG! It's about Chris and me and our vacation to the Bahamas... we were SPOILED!!!
Most of you know Chris won a contest at work (some sales contest for the two drugs he currently pushes, I'll spare you the details of the competitio
n) after 9 years in the biz. FINALLY! ha ha! Back in May he was announced the winner of his region which meant he and a guest (shew, he picked me!) were being flown to Atlantis in the Bahamas for a 4 day vacation. I'll never forget when he came home from work and told me he had won; his eyes were misty because Max had been eyeing commercials for the Atlantis on tv and had just asked Chris a few days prior if he would take him there one day... and now WE were going and he wasn't.
We got our passports, arranged a weekend with my parents for Max (thanks Mom and Dad), and jetted off...
Thursday we arrived and got a bag of goodies (beach towels, under water camera, sunscreen, golf shirts, etc) and that evening was a welcome reception. We had more food than we could ask for, yummy Caribbean drinks, and about 50 other people to socialize with from Chris's company (and their guests).
View from our balcony
Me, Chris, Kevin and Sheri
On Friday we were able to choose an activity to participate in... we originally decided on snorkeling but when we realized it was an all day adventure we changed our minds. We only had a few days to explore and enjoy Atlantis and wanted to take advantage of that. So instead we spent all day out at the pools, beaches and water park and then enjoyed a deep tissue massage at 4pm in the spa. Chris went down one of the steepest slides at the park, "The Challenger". I was pretty impressed cause he is usually not brave like that. I wouldn't dare go near it! He loved it though. I have pictures of it, but they are on the underwater camera. We also enjoyed time on the "not-so-lazy" river that had a lot of cool rapids and water falls, another slide that took us under the "city" through an aquarium, walks on the sandy beaches- and the sand was unlike any I'd seen before; it was very "chunky" and soft- and eating lunch out under an umbrella.
Friday night Chris's company let us choose a place to make a reservation. We had a $200 budget to TRY to stay under. We thought to ourselves "NO PROBLEM!" Seriously, how could we spend $200 on a dinner? Whoops!!! Our bill total was $200.39, no joke! We ate at the very fancy Bahamian Club, enjoyed 2 appetizers, a meal each, a side to share and a dessert to share... and it was that much! WHAT??? It was soooooo good though!
Chris and Me at The Bahamian Club for dinner
That night in the casino we waited and waited and waited for room to open up at a table. In the meantime I took a $20 from Chris's wallet and played a slot. It took me all of 15 minutes to get down to $2 then back to $20 then down to $10 then back to $20 then down to $13... and finally I hit it big and won $160!!!! WOOO HOOOO ME!!!! Chris can never say slots are lame again!
The winning slot machine!
On Saturday we had to get up EARLY! (so early that I got to see the sun rise) Our activity for that day that we chose was deep sea fishing. We got on a boat with another couple that we knew at 7:45am and headed out to the ocean. It was gorgeous! It was also very hot! I was the first one to catch anything; I got to sit up in the chair and reel it in. Oh. My. Gosh. It was difficult! My arms were so tired and you literally had to prop your feet up on these pedals to use your body weight to pull the fish in. My first catch: a mean sharp-toothed barracuda. Yikes. Chris's first catch was a wimpy mackerel. We all got a good laugh! All in all we caught 7 fish total. We were out there for 4 hours. During the last hour it started to pour rain. I was a little freaked out... (who me?) but the people we were with love to fish and seeing them so laid back helped me relax. I thought we'd get capsized or something! We all sang the Gilligan's Island song. Yea, that did NOT make me feel better.
Sunrise from our balcony
On the fishing boat, Atlantis in our background
Caught a fish!
Working hard (seriously) to reel it in
Chris's turn!
Storm clouds
My barracuda... scary!
Saturday afternoon we went to lunch, did some shopping, walked on the beach again and then got ready for the awards dinner. I finally got to wear the hot pink dress I bought for this very occasion! :) The dinner was amazing... 4 courses. The company was great too. We really had a great time!
Out on the pier
Awards dinner
Sunday morning we got to explore "The Dig" at the Atlantis before heading out of town. It's a huge aquarium that encircles much of the property. We learned that sharks are the only "fish" that do not get diseased and that their skin is made of tiny tiny teeth particles so it's rough. Weird? We got to see some HUGE stingrays and other creepy looking fish... it was cool.
View from under the aquarium, looking up at the resort
Before going on the trip I was pretty anxious. Max never does well when we leave (which is SUPER rare in itself) and I was just sad thinking about him being sad. Once we were there though, I was so glad we had the opportunity. We had an awesome time!!! I have waited a while to make this post because I was going to get the underwater camera pics developed. But I'm lazy and haven't made it to the store to do that so I'll post anyway with the "above water" pictures I do have... :)
