Bahamas family vacation for 4!

I’m not a fan of long articles, I usually just want the goods, so I’ll try to spare you the boring details 😉 We took our trip the end of Feb into March 2019. We went after my daughters school vacay, she’s in Kindergarten, I think she’ll be good. We went for 1 week, the perfect amount of time to do a lot, but then still ready to go home by the end. It was just the 4 of us. The girls are 6yrs and 10months old. Great ages but next time we are taking grandparents with us! It would have been so nice to go out with my man for a night or two. But It was a FAMILY vacay right?

” Are we going on the kids vacation or are they coming on our vacation” -Katrina Lawton That thought changed my perspective!

I’m not going to through each day of our trip, that’s annoying and hey I’d like some things to stay within our family HA! BUT… I do have to tell you more about the first day, TRAVEL DAY!

TRAVEL DAY aka “The Terrible 2s” (BOS-NAS)

I call that day the “terrible 2s” and not because of my children!

2 hour delay (1 of them on the tarmac). This is super annoying because I had Liv’s nap planned, she fell asleep in the airport before we got on the plane. We didn’t prepare enough healthy snacks or lunch for them or us. Our flight was supposed to leave at 9:40am perfect timing for her nap! We ate so many snacks and sat on a plane for over 4 hours and the kids were over it!
2 women in our hotel room when we checked in and then opened the door! Picture sweet relief, you finally get to the hotel after a delay and a 45min cab ride. You’re hungry and tired, its getting late and you’re excited to change and explore & eat! WELLLLL…. I open the door to a room thats OCUPADO! 2 ladies just checked into our room. I just laughed out of pure exhaustion and said “this is awkward, do you babysit?” AND back to the front desk we go. By this time is was about 5pm.
2 Restaurants YUP by the time we changed and walked around everyone was HANGRY and it was close to 6pm. Hubs and I were so excited. We would get everyone fed, walk around in the beautiful weather and go back to our hotel for bed. WELLLL…… WRONG! The girls were super tired and cranky and we had no clue where to go that would be easy with the kids. The 1st restaurant we sat down at had NO food for the kids. So up and out to #2. This restaurant had food for the monsters but at this point as we like to say “Bangkok’s got them”. Liv LOST her shit and Grace, timed perfectly with Liv’s meltdown, was “cold” and whiny. AWESOME. We just looked at each other and said NOPE! We went back to the room, ordered room service, gave baths and went to bed!

I have some tips on dealing with delays in my Kid Travel article coming soon!

Our trip in a nutshell!

People ask me all the time how was your trip, how was it with the kids, any tips?

How was our trip? It was beautiful & fun, and we created so many memories…good and not so good. We stayed at The Coral Hotel in Atlantis Bahamas. It’s called Paradise Island for a reason! There is so much to do; waterparks, restaurants, pools, beaches, shopping, casino and aquariums! Its a great spot for couples and families! We were pretty easy going the whole trip, woke up and said what does everyone want to do today, and we did that! The only day we had planned was our Dolphin Experience. So on a daily basis we would wake up and go get coffee at STARBUCKS…YASSSS!!! There is one behind our hotel in the Marina area which is so cute. The kids would eat breakfast there, then we would head back, put on our suits and off we went around the resort. There is always something to do, the pools and beaches alone are GORG! Our favorite experience was the Dolphin experience in Dolphin Cove. Which Liv slept through the whole thing! The resort is beautiful & Fun, just walking from hotel to hotel and to waterparks you’re bound to see sharks, sting rays, turtles, aquariums, sea life feedings great experiences! This is ALLL included in your stay, except the dolphin experience.

How was it with the kids? AMAZING I mean thats why we booked the trip. Grace’s face and excitment when she was with the dolphins, Liv’s face, covered in sand, and full of curiosity is what it’s all about. Sandy toed, sun screen smelling, tan, little girls making memories is what made the trip!

My only complaint was the FOOD! I was shocked at the quality in the more “kid friendly” spots. We ate a lot of french fries, nuggets and such. We did have some great bbq at our pool a couple days which I was thrilled to have “real food”. This all could be our fault too because Liv isn’t exactly great at restaurants so we didn’t make it so some of the more popular spots, which I’m sure were delicious! We stuck to quick, easy and convenient. Next time we will do Nobu, Carmines & Olives. But hey we were on the kids vacay and we didn’t go there for the food!

SEE TIPS BELOW!

TIPS & DEETS

The good shit, the reason you’re here!

FLIGHT ; JetBlue BOS-NAS – It is what it is, quick flight (3hrs), if on time. Prepare for a delay with kids. You don’t hit customs until you enter a country & the Bahamas customs was quick and easy.
HOTEL ; The Coral its newly renovated, clean and good location! We had a balcony room with 2 doubles. They had cribs. Tip for the crib bring a black sheet & some thumb tacks to create a wall around crib. I forgot to pack it. We used a table cloth from room service and a couple hair clips just to block the tv light and her view of us in the AM. The crib did NOT fit in the bathroom, I wish. The walls are pretty thin on the sharing side. So download a white noise app! Also Don’t forget your crib sheet. The room had a mini fridge, Balcony overlooking ocean, shower & Tub and a coffee maker and Safe! Daily resort fees are included in your room along with 2 bottled waters daily. So you’ll get wrist bands for the pools and waterpark.
POOLS & BEACHES; they are gorgeous and fill up quick. If you know you want to stay at a pool or beach for the day go put your towel on a few chairs early to save your spot. A few days we didn’t do this and it wasn’t that bad we just grabbed a chair and it worked out fine. Towels are available everywhere. There are waitresses and food spots at every pool for a quick bite. Hubs and I grabbed a Bahama mama & pina colada REGULARLY!!! Our pool had a DJ and MC for Spring break, they played 90s R&B, Hip Hop & POP! It was pretty freaking great.
AQUATIC EXPERIENCE; walking from hotel to hotel, outside you’ll see small ponds with sharks, starfish, sting rays, fish & turtles. They do daily feedings (we only saw one). The aquarium is awesome and the kids LOVED it! We missed the glass tunnel walk through, not sure how and I’m pissed! There are experiences you can pay for. Like the Dolphin one we did. I highly recommend splurging for that and be prepared to spend a min of $100 for photos afterward. Your not allowed to take your own photos. Also for that there is a small beach area that people who aren’t participating can watch you! So much to see & do!
FOOD; not our favorite you can read why below. Heads up theres Tax & Gratuity AUTOMATICALLY added to any food and beverage purchase. So that coffee and banana will have a 27% increase! Im not kidding when I tell you, I bought a single banana (not organic) for $3.86, I just laughed, I paid gratuity for them handing me a banana. The girl said “its because you’re on paradise island, its not that much over the bridge”! So just know ahead, of time your spending quite a bit for food and beverage there. We opted out of the Meal plan because of the unknown with the kids. Grace would be fine but Liv is too busy for restaurants right now. We knew food was going to be pricey before we went. I read a few articles that said, stop at a market on the way into the resort. The cab drivers will do this for you. We were too tired and found a small convenient store right behind the marina. We got bread, peanut butter & Jelly, snacks, waters, and some cereal. We made PB&Js a few days for lunch and grabbed a some fruit. Saved us some money and honestly I was fine with eating a sandwich quick!
SAFETY ; We felt really safe on the resort! A tip I have is to look up the Government travel warnings (if any) for where you’re going. We found out a few days in that there was a level 2 travel warning for the Bahamas. It specifically listed a place we were told was a MUST to go to “The fish fry”, so we opted out. We’d probably be fine but you never know. Another tip, Pack a First Aid Kit. I had one packed and Im thankful. I got stung by a bee, for the first time ever. I swatted it away to save my babies life, I’m a hero…HAHA kidding. Anyway, I will say, that shit HURTS. So make sure you pack first aid kit. I had some hydrocortisone, Claritin & Benadryl so I was all set! Also we left our real jewelry at home. Wore silicone wedding bands!
WIFI & CALLING; the hotel had free wifi so we go to text when we were in the room & FaceTime. Otherwise we didn’t use our phones. It was kind of nice!

FAVE TRAVEL THINGS

Baby/ Kid Gear

Extra food pouches…they don’t sell them there!
Floats for pool (we had to buy them there $$$)
Beach bag, our daughters little one came in handy and I wish I had two!
Tent for beach, fit in our suitcase and folded right up, this one was great from amazon!
water shoes
ergo baby carrier!!!!! I borrowed a friends, I had a different one that killed my back, the ergo is so comfy! Wear your baby in the airport.

Family Gear

Fold up back pack! This little thing was awesome. Folded up into a pouch that fit in the palm of your hand… Also from amazon
cross body carry case for phone and money! It was a little bigger than a cell phone and clear. I got one at TJ Max for cheap. It held my phone and money, room keys and hubs wallet. It fit in the back pack or in a pocket on the stroller.
GoPro Hero 5 & My “big” camera

Few personal Faves!

🖤 My hat Urban Outfitters

🖤My bathing suits from Cupshe, this one was my fave

🖤 Girls Matching bathing Suits by Hatley on Amazon

🖤 Hubs TB12 shirt HAHA

I’d rather have memories like this than STUFF! Hope this helped!

My apologies for any typos and grammatical errors…I’m writing this with two kids squawking at me. And frankly I don’t care 😉 Well I do care but I don’t have time to show it!

🖤

Bahama Mama’s Tips for Atlantis!