Our Winter Escape to the Bahamas! Part 2

Unfortunately, I woke up feeling terrible. We were a few hours away from our port in Nassau and I was suffering from motion sickness. Ugh! Doug made trips to the dining room to eat and bring food back for the kids, while I curled up in bed. I took some ibuprofen for my headache and Dramamine for my nausea, but I really didn't feel too great until after the shipped stopped. Luckily it cleared up enough for me to gather up a bag and head out to the island with Doug and the kids.

We didn't book a shore excursion and didn't have any concrete plans. We just wanted to head to a beach and let the kids have fun in the sand & surf. We were fortunate to get in a cab with a woman who works on a cruise ship that was docked there and she was heading to her favorite beach, so we just followed along. Cabbage Beach is a public beach, yet wasn't too crowed and was very close to other features on the island.




We rented a beach chair when Ella made it clear that she was NOT going to put her feet in THAT weird stuff. Doug and I took turns playing in the sand with the boys, walking in the waves, and shooting photos until Ella decided she need a little Nene and Nappy.

Sean is such a sensory seeker- he is so texture driven to sand! It was so fun to watch him just immerse himself in it. Both boys were caked from head to toe in sand!


Aidan busied himself searching for sea shells, there weren't many to be found. Wonder why? He also befriended a 4 year old German girl who spoke wonderful English and had fun digging around with him.

Eventually my tummy demanded food, so we attempted to leave some sand on the beach and wondered off in search of lunch. A taxi stopped us and offered a ride up towards the Atlantis Resort where he said we'd find a good place to feed the kids in our rather messy state. Quizno's! LOL Oh well, worked for us. After a meal on the patio, we caught a cab back to the docks and briefly looked at the market wares before re-boarding the ship.

It took a lot of scrubbing in the shower to get the rest of the sand off and then the boys went up to hit the water slides, pool and hot tub with Doug. Around 5 pm, I started getting ready for the formal dinner night. Dressing up, doing hair and make up, while Ella entertained herself in the room. One second she was playing with our room key and the stainless steel ice bucket and the next second she was screaming because she'd put it on her head like a hat and got it wedged on there! Of course, that was right when my niece stopped by the room and I panicked! I asked her to go get Grandma to help me, I couldn't get the bucket off Ella's head.

Grandma came in and I am still trying to figure out how to ease it off without breaking her nose. Ella is screaming, I'm crying, some how we managed to wiggle her head out. I seriously thought they were going to have to call for a fire department! Ella and I hugged each other in tears. Her nose was red and bled for a few seconds, but otherwise she was okay. Phew!

I put the bucket out of her reach and went back to getting ready. By the time Doug and the boys returned from the pool, I was ready to go and Grandma was ready to take the kids for the evening while Doug and I went to dinner. We had a fun time at dinner and enjoyed copious amounts of lobster tail. Grandma brought the kids to see us at the end of our meal because Aidan had jumped off the bunk bed and landed on a remote, so his ankle hurt. Ahh, little daredevils!


That night I put a motion sickness prevention patch on and hoped for better sea legs the next day when we set sail for the day at sea before returning to Miami. Once again, the kids slept well in their bunk beds.

On our day at sea, we spent time by the pool and slides. Sean was so determined to go on the water slides! Every day, he'd walk himself up the stairs to the top of the slide and ask to get on with his brother. Every day, the attendant would measure him and tell him he wasn't tall enough. Poor little guy was 2" too short for the small slide and would have to climb back down the stairs. It was heartbreaking for him to get to see his brother having all that fun without him. I had hoped that the two littles could peacefully play in the sprinkler/splash area while I lounged in a chair, but that just wasn't possible. They both felt the need to go in opposite directions, so it was just more chasing around kiddos. In between meals and naps, Doug and I took turns doing things with the kids.

At one point, Aidan decided he was hungry, so he and got in line for a snack. Doug had Ella elsewhere and I had Sean and Aidan with me. I was holding both plates, loading them up, when I turned to see Sean standing COMPLETELY NAKED in front of at least 100 people around the pool. He wasn't hungry, he wanted to hot tub! O. M. G!

I dropped my plates on the counter and rushed over to him and dressed him faster than I ever have in my life, turning red while tables full of people laughed. Impossible! That boy has zero impulse control.

Sigh.

Aidan did go to one activity at the children's activity room- a Build a Bear workshop. He had a lot of fun making a special friend to bring home. He choose a snowman, with a Spiderman costume. He said his secret weapon was throwing snowballs.

For our last dinner on board, we decided to bring all three kids to eat in the formal dinning room with us. The service had been very quick and we thought the kids would do okay there. Dinner had it's ups and downs, but one highlight was when a server came to our table and told me he used to work as a nurses aid before joining the ship. He asked if he could take Sean for a walk around the restaurant while I ate. He wanted to show Sean the kitchen and say hi to the other waiters. Sean took to him immediately and gladly took his hand to go exploring. It was easy to see how smitten this man was with Sean. Ella also got restless during dinner, so she and I took several little walkabouts between courses. She was very charming to the lady hostesses. My kids can be so adorable and friendly, but meek and patient are not traits they carry!