First 3 days in paradise

Today is day 3 of our trip to the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. In short, this is the best family vacation we've ever taken! We had a rocky start. Our first 24 hours here were a little disappointing but things have improved drastically since.

DAY 1

We arrived at the airport here at a little after 1pm on Saturday and it took us almost 3 hours to get back to our hotel....an hour to get through customs and another hour to find our luggage and a transfer to the hotel. So by the time we got settled in our room we were all very travel weary and a little (to say the least) tired. So all we had the energy for was to grab a bite down on the boat docks village at Johny Rockets. Our bill was nearly $90 for burgers and salads....OMG! We roamed the resort a bit to see what all we had to look forward to and then called it a day by 7pm. But let me back track. We got to the hotel and received our adjoining rooms on the first floor right off the main lobby...which translates to "noisy". The second we walked through the doors of our rooms we were hit with the overwhelming stench of mold/mildew. It was bad! Real bad! But I thought...well, we're in the Bahamas...it's humid here...moisture must be a problem. I remember being in Venice with my Grandparents back when I was 16 and was overwhelmed with the same odor...I didn't want to be that same complaining 16 year old...so we tried to suck it up. We didn't have remote controls in EITHER room. Called the service desk and it took 4 hours to get remotes to our room....it was 10:30 when they came pounding on the door to deliver....we were all asleep by then (or in bed anyway). Papa Smurf stumbled in the dark to get some clothes on to answer the door. But then trying to sleep was a nightmare because we were off the main lobby and listened all night long to the loud drunks roaming the hotel lobby in the weee hours of night...needless to say sleeping was difficult. Then, I woke up in the morning and my eyes were so bloodshot I was convinced I had pink eye and started to panic wondering what I would do for medical treatment. Turns out, it was just my allergies because of the mold problem in the room. Then, we try to make coffee and NEITHER room has a coffee machine. We had the coffee and creamers....but no coffee maker.....I started having flashbacks to our trip to Philly. Anyway...We were a tad disappointed in our stay thus far...I figured after the amount of money we spent on this vacation it was not unreasonable to expect a blissful experience....show me the bliss!! So we complained and asked for a new room.

Day 2

Went to the breakfast buffet in our hotel....$100 later....I was force-feeding my daughter her froot loops...that's all she'd eat....we paid $20 for her plate to the buffet and all she'd eat was a bowl of frootloops...she took 5 bites and claimed to be full! Most expensive damn bowl of cereal she'll ever eat. I spent the whole 1st 2 days comparison shopping...."Jesus, I could of bought 7 boxes of cereal for that $20"......or, in reguards to the $15 kiddie burger that Smurfette took 2 bites of at Johnny Rockets...."I could've bought 7 McDonald's kids meals for that". Since those 1st 2 meals that we purchased here on the Island we have learned to "let it go"...it is what it is....it's killing me....but it is what it is. We've learned not to look at the prices. Day 2 was a blast...this resort is incredible! I've never experienced anything like it. We'll spend a week here and probably still not see everything. It's huge! Theres at least 2 dozen pools and a dozen water slides. The kids spent most of the day on the beach. They just kept repeating..."this is incredible"....Papa and Hefty Smurfs went on a few of the water slides...We spent some time in a few of the pools...we all got WAY too much sun. We were all pretty water logged by the end of the day. Somewhere in there Papa Smurf returned to the hotel while we were at the beach to move our stuff to our new room. Went to Dinner at a Mexican/seafood place down on the boat docks. Food was OK...nothing to write home about....and like I said, I've learned not to ask what it costs. Did some more exploring of the resort and then called it a night by 7:30. We were all whipped from the day at the beach. Our new room.... by the way......MUCH better! We were in a much better place by the end of day 2 than we were after day 1. The rooms are still just "OK" but the resort itself more than makes up for the mediocrity of the accommodations! Also looked into the "Evening Escape" for the kids....it should be called the "parent's escape".....so that Papa Smurf and I can have some alone time one night....or two....

DAY 3

Woke up after a VERY restful night's sleep =) and went outside of the resort for breakfast...much more reasonable in price...Smurfette's 5 bites of FrootLoops only costed $5 instead of $20...OK, so maybe I haven't "let it go" entirely....me and Papa Smurf are completely fried from the sun but we spent another entire day in the pools and lazy rivers. Even talked Smurfette into taking a ride on the "rapid river"....probably not the best idea...she didn't enjoy it much. In fact she spent the entire mile and a half of "rapids" clutched to my legs in the intertube. Poor thing has been miserable since we got here with the same nasty cold I had. In fact, the day before we left she started complaining of a sore throat and I paniced thinking she probably had the same strep throat that I had and so 5 minutes before the doctors' office closed on Friday night I was calling and begging them to call in a prescription antibiotic to the pharmacy. I explained my predicament that we were leaving 1st thing in the morning for a week long vacation and my daughter was complaining of a sore throat...blah blah blah....and they did...thank god. But anyway, she has been pretty sick with this cold...but has been quite a trouper concidering! Papa Smurf & I were going to ship the kids off to this kids' camp thing tonight but when we got back to the room we discovered that she has a fever. She's pretty pathetic...so we put our plans on hold and decided to give her another day to get better. She was laying in bed earlier this evening and Papa Smurf went up to her and said:

Papa: OK honey you just lay there and rest....can I get you anything
Smurfette: yes...(with that pathetic sick look in her eyes)
Papa: OK...what can I get you?
Smurfette: ummmm.......i don't know.....

I thought that was pretty funny. We also made reservations for Friday to swim with the Dolphins....we're all very excited about that....and we also spent some time checkin out the aquariums.

So this is the end of day 3...having a great time so far. Plan on spending some time in a different part of the resort tomorrow where you can rent cayaks and paddle boats and snorkel stuff....maybe rent a jet ski for awhile...need to try to stay out of the sun somehow...or just keep the sunscreen on because Papa Smurf & I are a little crisp. The weather has been perfect. 80 and sunny everyday. We also hope to drop the kids off for a while so we can enjoy some time in the casino....maybe if we're lucky we can try doing that 2 nights in a row and sneak in a "nice" dinner and comedy show...we'll see if Smurfette cooperates.

Oh...also spent some time checking out the Detroit forcast.....LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Signing off for now...ps....my spell check isn't working so forgive the misspellings!