On Saturday, November 20th, Lauren (16 months) and Bailey (18 months) set out on a 5 day adventure with their parents to Eleuthera, Bahamas! The mommies and daddies "won" the trip at a silent auction earlier in the year and were so excited to get away for some R&R with their favorite girls.
"High Five, sista! We're going to the Obamas!" says Bailey.
We left early that morning from Panama City and were prepared for our crazy flight plan. Continental Air cancelled our flight 4 weeks before the trip which meant that we were scrambling for left over, last minute flights. Here is our itinerary:
Panama City to Orlando with Southwest
(then 4 hour layover)
Orlando to Nassau with JetBlue
(then 1 hour layover)
Nassau to Eleuthera with Southern Air Charters
Kinda funny, huh? Yeah, not really but we ended up needing a 4 hour layover in order to get poor Daniel over to the islands.
Having breakfast on the SW flight and wondering "How in the world is Mr. Daniel going to get over to the Obamas with his expired passport?"
Yep, Dr. Melzer realized that his passport was expired at 8pm the night before we left. After pleading with Jet Blue and a couple of US Government agencies, we quickly found out that he was NOT getting to The Bahamas on a commercial flight. So, LEB's mommy made a phone call to a man that she had met who flies planes and Daniel took a taxi from MCO to the Downtown Executive Airport for wait for Ron to come pick him up. Meanwhile, Eric loaded up with is two wives and two baby girls to continue on with our remaining 2 flights for the day.
I really wanted to say, "Oohh, Toodles?!!" but the tension was too much for such a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse joke.
We arrived in Nassau without a hitch and collected our luggage...again.
Getting ready to board our final flight of the day...for whatever reason, I completely forgot to change Lauren's diaper since leaving Panama City. This was not good once it exploded in our van 2 hours after this picture. I comment on this now because thinking back to the moment of this picture, I should have changed her right then. Anyway...
By this point, we were so used to laughing at ourselves for all of the craziness of our day and wondering where the camera crew was that should be filming us that when we boarded this tiny plane, we just busted out laughing. We had to climb all the way to the end of the plane with our babies...
Then our "big buggy" wouldn't fit in the luggage compartment, so they removed Bailey's stroller and started down the very small aisle with it. 
Then...Eric had to make is way down the aisle with his tall self and sit in the very last seat. Thank goodness Daniel wasn't there...we had to use his seat for all of our stuff plus use Eric's lap for the 25 minute flight.
9 hours, 3 luggage collections, and 3 airport security screenings later...we arrived with our 2 one year olds to the most beautiful island we had ever seen.
Bailey, we're in the Bahamas!
Well, we had no cell service and it was getting dark and had no idea where Daniel was. The island of Eleuthera was VERY remote and we found out later that night that the small airport doesn't allow for night time landings because there are no runway lights. Kirk, our concierge/travel agent/jack-of-trade guys at our small resort said that the airport did say that someone had radioed in to land after dark. So, we went to sleep that night a little worried but felt assured that we would see his face in the morning.
We woke up to this view...aahhh...
Morning walk to go order breakfast at the main house.
These two sweet girls actually fought over Lauren's sunglasses (so, Lauren wanted to wear them ALL the time) and Bailey's Bitty Baby (so, Bailey wanted to play with it ALL the time). It was so funny!
At around 8:30am, guess who walked up to our room!! Daniel! Over 24 hours later, he arrived safe and sound with an experience I'm sure he will never forget. He and the pilot had to stay at a hotel in Nassau and then continue on the next morning once it was daylight.
We stayed at Point House at The Cove Resort and never expected views like this from our porch. It was absolutely amazing.
180 degrees of the Caribbean.
After Daniel got settled, we started exploring in our extremely cool, old, rickety mini van. :-) At one part of the road, you drove over "The Glass Window Bridge" made out of rock. To the West, was the calm crystal blue Caribbean water...
and to the East was the navy blue rough waters of the Atlantic.
We took a boat from Eleuthera to Harbour Island to sight see and beach hop.
We rented a golf cart (everyone's travel of choice at HI) for the day and started seeing beautiful beaches, water, and parts of this cute little island town.
Silly mommy, I thought LEB would just put her toes in the water. It didn't take long before her clothes were soaked! So, she just went with a diaper for the rest of the time at this beach.
Bailey trying out her beach shoes.
Around lunch time, we stumbled upon The Pink Sands Resort and WOW! it was awesome!
We had a delicious lunch and a waitress who was a mother herself that brought our girls left over French Toast from breakfast and fresh fruit to our girls to hold them over until their lunch came.
After lunch, Lauren and I went for some fun on the beach...
while Bailey took a nap. This lounge area was part of the outdoor restaurant and it was so comfy.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Holly wasn't sad about naptime...
Admiring the view from the deck...
and then the beach chair.
"Mommy, this is the life," says Lauren. "Yeah, Lauren, this is crazy," says Mommy.
We came back to find Bailey awake and realized that Dada knew someone that was vacationing there! There were 4 couples vacationing from FL and one of them brought their children to Eric while he worked in Orlando. So, we visited with them for a while.
"Oops, sorry nice Blue Bar. We have let our 1 year olds put their shoes on your nice, white, probably never been touched by a child plush couches!"
"Mommy, I'm pretty sure that I'm tired, but I think I can keep going."
Time for more playing!!
We got back in time for sunset.
Lauren also learned on this trip where the moon is and will point at it when you ask her "Where is the moon?"
Ready to go to dinner
OMWord...there is so much to say about our dinner (remember all the laughing we did at ourselves the day before? Yeah, it carried over into the next day.) Once again, Eleuthera is a very tiny island with few gas stations, organized restaurants. We were told that every Sunday night the Ocean Bottom Beach Resort has a live band with Bahamian buffet. So, we get the driving directions started going down 5 miles worth of dirt road to end up at this place that looked like someone's small private home, walk in through the back door (through the kitchen) and on to the back porch. Seriously? Yep. Not much more I'm going to say about the 2 roaming dogs, old toothless man dancing, back yard BBQ but I will say that everyone was uber nice and so sweet to us and our girls.
The left corner behind Bailey...that's the band. :-)
And I'm going to say even less about our trip back to The Cove. Lauren was a good driver. :-) And there's video...
Back at The Cove playing airplane.
Needless to say, we ate at The Cove's restaurant the remaining nights we were there.
Day 3!
The boys kayaking.
Beautiful view from our table at lunch.
I love finding a beach when this is your first glimpse of the water and sand.
"Let me go! I'm running to the water! This is awesome! So much freedom!"
And...the outfit came off again...
Doesn't she look like she has an agenda?!
Running away from the waves. She had a fun time chases and running from the waves.
Back at The Cove on the hammock while the mommies have massages in the room.
The private beach at The Cove. Point House (it was completely our's) was our house.
Bailey with teb while Holly enjoys her much needed massage.
B and LEB while I had my massage. What to do? Play with stickers!
The view behind B is not a poster, it was the actual sunset and outside of the main house.
The last two night, we decided to babysit the girls and take turns eating alone.
Day 4
Enjoying the beach
...and kayaking.
Mommy and Lauren kayaking while Dada read a book on the porch above us.
More reading...
The view leaving our door was so pretty. Lauren liked it because she had a direct shoot to run away from me...I liked it for the view of my baby walking happily with beautiful scenery around her...
huh, a sailboat!
Everybody hold hands!
"Dada, this is beautiful..."
Lauren has started wanting to look at the picture after to take one of her.
Another excursion! Back in the van, we drove to a beach that had a cave nearby.
It was cool except there were mosquitos everywhere!
So we walked over to the beach...
and discovered that Bailey didn't realize that it was a beach! (Poor thing normally doesn't like beaches--at all!- because she thinks they're "a mess, a mess") This beach had sand that was packed hard, was very smooth and no debris of seaweed or grass.
This sweet child just started walking around and enjoyed it!
And her mommy enjoyed 1000 times more than she did! It was a special 30 minute moment for them to play, run and have fun on the beach as a family.
Lauren...with her sunglasses!
"This is a fun place, Mommy! I think I like it!"
Everybody's running!
The group
"Let's hold hands."
"Yeah, Bailey, this is the life. I just love beaches in the Bahamas."
"Lauren, I know what you mean. Let's make a plan to trick our parents into bringing us back."
Pretty much in charge of her little self.
"Lauren, I have just noticed that you don't have on your shoes! Girl, get over here right now and put them on!"
"Girls, give each other a hug..." says Tricia.
"Oh, #@#&! The day at the Beach is over!" says Holly.
Oh my goodness...good memories!
Watching "Cinderella" while Holly and Daniel were having dinner.
Sunrise on Day 5.
Our van--everybody heard us coming! When we arrived on Day 1, we were told to just ask for Hilton. So, I did. The lady at THE desk said, go outside across the street and the white van is your's. The key is in it. ha! And dropping it back off, we parked it in the same place and left the key in it! It was definitely the "tourist van".
Daniel had taken a plane back to Nassau the day before we left to retrieve a temporary passport from the US Consulate and then came back a short time later. So, traveling back home was all 4 parents and 2 sweet little girls.
We're in Orlando...we need a Disney stuffed animal! Lauren loved her's...
For whatever reason (motion sickness?), Lauren threw up EVERYWHERE when I took her to the bathroom to change her diaper. Her clothes were so soiled that I had to throw them away (I didn't have a plastic bag with me). Then I realized that I didn't pack an extra change of clothes! Seriously, I can't use the amateur mommy thing anymore...
So, I had to wrap her in her play blanket and stroll her out into the terminal to borrow one from Bailey. I was shocked at how many stares I received from other people! You would have thought that she had been painted purple!
Getting veerry sleepy...
Nap time with bunny and mommy.
"word..."
Back at home in her playroom...one flip flop on, tutu and waiting to Little Einstein's. She didn't even miss a beat.
We had a fantastic time in Eleuthera and am so glad we got the chance to go!
Lots of good times and good memories with good friends. Too bad our girls won't remember it!
