We Went to the Bahamas!!!

Wondering where we've been? Now you know! We up and took a trip to Nassau to celebrate our five year anniversary as a family. We left on Sunday the 17th and returned on the 21st, the day before our anniversary (which, by the way, was made extra special by Avery's Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunties, who came to babysit for us that night while we had a WONDERFUL dinner out).

Here's our girl on the plane before take-off. She was particularly displeased when she realized that we were not letting her sit in her own seat during the actual flight.

Avery slept at least half of the flight, so we can't complain about that. This is Ed in our taxi on the way to the Sheraton Nassau Cable Beach Hotel.

What a Nice Room We Had

This is our view from the balcony:

This is also our view from the balcony:

Avery's first trip onto the beach - she would not let go of this cup, which soaked her shirt before she was even four steps into the sand. But she's happy!

Daddy and Avery really loved playing in the surf that day.

This is Ed and Avery the next day, our first full day in the Bahamas (which was spent solely on the beach and at the hotel).

Ed had a great idea to write in the sand, and we got a bunch of neat pictures.

This one said 'loves Nassau' before the water swept it away. Our first family shot:

A fantastic photo Ed took from our balcony at night:

On Tuesday, we experienced the Dolphin Encounter on Blue Lagoon Island. It's a private island that we took a bus into town then a ferry to the island in order to get to it. 

We don't actually have any decent pictures from the encounter b/c neither of us are any good at working a disposable and keeping hold of a squirming toddler in the water; but let's just say that Avery was not a fan. The dolphin squeals did her in. She was not cool with that loud noise it made after every trick, nor being in the water with such a large unusual-looking animal. It was simultaneously sad and funny. (We did purchase a pic of all three of us with the Andy the dolphin, and you can see it all over Avery's face that she's not happy about the situation.)

After the encounter, everyone was free to enjoy the beaches of the small island. And they were beautiful. This day marked my favorite day of the entire trip. I was so happy to be on Blue Lagoon Island.

Daddy was snapping pictures and getting Avery to smile, and this is the last smile she gave us from that series of shots (hilarious!):

My favorite picture from the vacation:

Kisses for Daddy

To be continued...
(Click on "Older Post")

The Bahamas Continued

So here we are in what felt like a little piece of Heaven on Earth. When we approached this side of the island, there was literally one family of four playing in the surf. They had two girls, ages seven and nine, who Avery thought were so much fun. We had the entire beach to ourselves. It was blissful.

This is the group of us hanging out:

This could've been the most fun Avery had playing in the ocean the entire trip, thanks to her new friends.

There were two new dolphin babies at the Encounter - a five-day-old and a two-week-old. It was so sweet watching them swim side-by-side of their mommies. (I tried really hard to get a pic of all four of them next to each other, but it was too hard to guestimate when they'd surface to snap the shot.)

Avery and Daddy are waving and saying, 'bye-bye' to the Blue Lagoon Island.

Us back at the hotel, on our way to the pool with a gradual walk-in.

Avery and Daddy Marching

The ocean was steps behind the hotel.

Someone found a baby conch in the water and gave it to us for Ave's. Here it is with her footprints:

Swimming makes a baby tired.

During our one trip into downtown, Avery really enjoyed peeking out the window of the bus while we waited for it to fill up so we could head back to the hotel.

We ended up having three hours to kill at the airport after going through Customs, so Avery entertained herself  by roaming around (a LOT) and going back and forth to this sign:

The flight home was great. After running around the airport so much and having a flight that was much later than her naptime, she fell asleep before we even left the tarmac and continued sleeping until we started to land.

It was such a wonderful trip. Our only complaint is that it was too short. There were so many things that we intended to do and just ran out of time. Having to spend two hours every day in the hotel room while Ave's napped and then returning to the room by 7:00 really cut into our out-and-about time. Regardless, it went really smoothly, and we had so much fun with her there. I'm very pleased that we got this opportunity to do it as a family. We'd definitely go back to the Bahamas!

Averyisms

We have ourselves a little mimic.  Avery has begun repeating random words and developed her own words for what she hears everyday.

Tonight's Spaghetti was "Guppie"
Doggie = "Goggie"
Finny = "Minnay"
Blankie = "Maney"

She used to say "Opie, Opie" a lot, but that has become "Happy, Happy" this week.  It really is the little things that warms my heart...
I am adding a column to the right with Avery-isms, anything that we can translate that we know is associated with a real thing, we'll put there.  (i.e. I won't bore you with Baba, Pasch, Mail, Wawa, more, etc.)

Doh! I forgot the zoo pictures!

Us Watching the Panda Eat Bamboo Leaves

This Red Panda Is What Avery Was Pointing At:

This is how close Avery was to the Mama Gorilla and her babies:

Mama and Her Baby Hugging

She loved standing on this ledge to watch the flamingos:

Passed Out Baby

PS - If you feel like you missed something, it's because I posted another update a half-hour before this one. So keep reading!