The Beautiful Bahamas. Celebrating 5 Years of Wonderful.

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Jeb and I returned from an amazing, romantic, fairytale vacation last week. Our 5 year wedding anniversary was this month, so we went to the Bahamas to celebrate! We had been talking about what we were going to do for our 5 year for quite some time, but it wasn't until just 6 weeks ago that we booked this trip. We had always said that we wanted to go to Oregon for this anniversary, but when it came time to plan the trip, Jeb was in the mood for the beach. Jeb is always in the mood for the beach. He loves to swim, snorkel, and scuba dive! I do not like flying and we didn't want to leave the kids for very long, so the Bahamas seemed like the perfect place! It is only a 2.5 hour direct flight from Dallas to Nassau, and the Bahamas is somewhere that I have always wanted to visit. When I was trying to decide on where to stay, Jeb told me, "Pick out the most beautiful place on the internet and I'll take you there!" After looking through the pictures of the Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort & Spa, I knew that this was the place! We stayed at Sandals in St. Lucia for our honeymoon and absolutely LOVED it! I knew that we couldn't go wrong with an all-inclusive luxury couples resort and the beach!

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This is a picture of one part of our resort that I took when we were eating dinner the first night on the pier. This is the Balmoral tower and is the newest building at this Sandals. It was finished less than a year ago. The beaches in front of the resort aren't huge, but they're big enough. Also, the best and biggest beaches are located on the resort's private off-shore island that is just a five minute boat ride from the pier. The boat takes people back and forth from the island every hour. 

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Jeb went all out on this trip! This is the view from our patio. We had a beachfront walk-out room with a butler. Our patio had two lounge chairs and a table for outdoor dining, we were within feet of the beach, had 24-hour room service, plus there was a semi-private hot tub right outside our door! When we first arrived in the Bahamas I was super stressed! Jeb had left his passport on the airplane and they wouldn't let us go back and get it AND they wouldn't let us go through customs. While the airport personnel were trying to contact American Airlines, Jeb and I were wandering around helpless. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, this wonderful Bahamian man, in his neon yellow airport vest, walked up to Jeb and said, "Mr. Rollins, I believe you're looking for your passport?" And that is the experience we had with the Bahamas our ENTIRE trip! Everyone was soooooo nice and friendly! All of the locals went out of their way to help us and make our stay more pleasurable! Everyone was full of helpful and interesting information, from the people at the airport to our Atlantis bus driver! No one tried to get us to buy anything - bracelets, baskets, OR drugs - and we felt completely safe on the island. On our way to the resort our driver showed us around Nassau...we saw the church where Anna Nicole's funeral was held and he pointed out a little island that Eddie Murphy owns. Everyone told us that one night we needed to go into town one night to the Fish Fry, a place where the locals hang out and where they cook true Bahamian "soul food." We really wanted to check this place out, but unfortunately we ran out of time. We definitely will be visiting here again, so we plan on checking it out next time. The latest "talk" in the Bahamas is of a new resort that is currently being built called the Baha Mar. It should be finished in 2014 and is said to rival Atlantis. It will be bigger than Atlantis and will have the largest aquariums in the Caribbean! 

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Our room came with transportation to and from the airport in a Rolls Royce. It was nice having our own private car and driver escorting us to the resort. When we arrived, we were greeted by our main butler, Vincent, and a glass of champagne! Vincent had already made dinner reservations for us at each of the best restaurants on the resort, planned our private dinner on the beach, and booked our couples massage and exfoliation treatment! He gave us a tour of the resort and then handed us a cell phone. We were told to call him if we needed ANYTHING! He would get us drinks, save us seats by the beach or the pool, book excursions for us, draw us a hot bath, or anything else that we needed during our stay. I think the butler room was definitely worth the extra money!

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The resort had two large pools. This was the quieter, more relaxing pool. Inside this building is the piano bar and the billiards room. To the left is the Red Lane luxury spa. The resort had 12 restaurants! We ate in 10 of the 12, and they were all fabulous!

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This is one of the small, semi-private pool areas near the honeymoon villas. We almost stayed in the honeymoon villas because some of them have their own private pool and hot tub, but they are towards the back of the resort in the gardens and Jeb wanted to be closer to the beach. 

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This was out on our patio. The second morning, we ordered room service and had our breakfast on the patio. We drank our coffee together and enjoyed the sound of the waves. 

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I loved that our room was this close to the beach. We didn't have to use an elevator or stairs, and we didn't have to haul a ton of stuff to the beach because our room was so close.

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 - the beach chairs that Vincent reserved for us -

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I loved the "towel art" that was always on our bed. It reminded me of being on the cruise ship!

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Our butler would always leave yummy treats in our room - one night it was cheesecake and strawberry shortcake, one night it was shrimp cocktail, then a fresh fruit plate.

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The third night my tummy was hurting and I wasn't feeling well. Our butler left us a cheese and cracker plate with a bottle of wine to make me feel better. The grapes were the best I had EVER eaten!

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Arriving in our room on the first day! We were sooooo excited!

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Jeb was just happy to have the bed all to himself! We really didn't do many activities at the resort. We wanted to rest and relax! At home we have two kids that sleep in the middle of us, so Jeb loved to just come to the room every night after dinner and watch t.v. I would take a peaceful bubble bath and read my book - something that I NEVER get to do at home! One night we decided to take a nap after dinner and planned to get up and go check out the resort night life. Well, we never woke up! We slept for 13 straight hours and it was WONDERFUL!!!

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Ready to hit the beach!

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The resort was just gorgeous and so romantic! I loved all of the couple seating and hammocks everywhere!

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The first night our reservations were for dinner out on the Pier at Gordon's. This dining is reserved for only butler room guests. The food was delicious! We had shrimp cocktail, crab cakes, steak. lobster, seafood bisque, with chocolate mousse and strawberry shortcake for dessert! 

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There was a tropical storm in the distance while we were dining on the pier and we got to see a water spout...A.K.A. tornado on the water! It's kind of hard to see in this picture. I had never seen a water spout before so it was really cool!

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Friday night was Junkanoo Pool Party at the resort where they bring in local Bahamian food and vendors and celebrate Junkanoo (a Bahamian word for festival or celebration that they do during holidays). After dinner we headed over to the pool to check it out. This lady was making conch salad. Conch is a staple food item in the Bahamas and it is said to be a very powerful aphrodisiac! Jeb was too scared to try it!!

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They had these little booths set up around the pool with all different sorts of food. One guy was making coconut milk drinks and serving them out of coconuts!

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The next morning we couldn't wait to hit the beach! We were ready for some major sunbathing!

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Ahhhhhh...

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I love the color of the water!

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After spending some time on the beach, it was time for our spa treatments. We had an exfoliation treatment, then we got into a shower together that had about 20 shower heads. It was like a massage in itself! After washing off the exfoliation scrub, we went back into the room for our couples massage. We both fell asleep and Jeb said it was the best massage he has ever had.

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That night we had reservations at the Crystal Room. The food, once again, was delicious! Jeb had herb-crusted grouper and I had veal medallions with fruit cheesecake for dessert. 

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Gorgeous sunset

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After dinner at the Crystal Room, we sat out near the fire pits in front of the beach. There was a keyboard player who was playing and singing love songs. It was so romantic! Jeb and I relaxed by the fire and drank an entire bottle of white wine together. Jeb NEVER drinks wine and that was the very first bottle of wine we have ever drank together. I saved the cork :)

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The keyboard player kept telling me that I was beautiful. He sang the song, "You're Beautiful" and said that Jeb requested it and was dedicating it to me.

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The next day we got us bright and early and took a bus to Atlantis. It was only a 15 minutes bus ride and we decided that if we were this close to Atlantis that we couldn't not go check it out. This is a picture of all of the cruise ships ported at Nassau near Paradise Island.

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Crossing the bridge onto Paradise Island where Atlantis is located

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Atlantis was huge and absolutely breathtaking! It is a resort, casino, spa, beach, and water park. Atlantis reminded me so much of Vegas because of the immaculate architecture, fancy restaurants and bars, shopping mall, and casino.

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There is a lagoon right in the middle of the resort where you can lay on the beach, do water toys and paddle boats, and you can even snorkel in the lagoon! I cannot wait to bring the kids to Atlantis!

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This is a picture of the lagoon in the middle of the resort.

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There are so many aquatic animals/marine life at the resort. This is a picture in front of an area that has sea turtles and sting rays.

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This rope bride goes over the predator tank!

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You can walk out into the water and pet and feed the sting rays. Reid would love this!

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The aquariums are unbelievable! They let people scuba dive in the aquariums too! One set of aquariums is called "The Dig" and has models of ancient ruins that you can explore while you're diving.

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The tunnel tank

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Jeb was amazed at all of the different kinds of fish that we saw.

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We could have watched the fish for hours!

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These eels were so freaky! I kept taking pictures of them because I was so excited to show Reid!

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We also did the water park at Atlantis and went on several of the water slides. The best one was the slide that went into the shark tank! You were in a tube and went through a clear tunnel in the shark tank! It was amazing!! We also did a lazy river that went around the entire resort. It had rapids and waves, and was quite the lazy river! Jeb's iPhone is water proof so we took most of those pictures on Jeb's phone. He even took a video of our lazy river ride and when we went through the shark tank.

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This was the dolphin cove at Atlantis. There were about 20 dolphins in this area with beaches surrounding where you could lay out and watch the dolphins. Several groups were in the water interacting and swimming with the dolphins. It was so neat!

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I got a few shots of the dolphin action!

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Before we left Atlantis we went and hung out on the beach for a while.

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The water was gorgeous, but the sand was soooo hot! 

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When we got back to Sandals that evening, our butler had me a hot bubble bath ready and waiting!

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He put tropical flowers all around our bathroom.

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We didn't have much time to get ready that evening, but we threw on our clothes and headed down to the beach for our private anniversary dinner at sunset.

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The food was incredible! I had beef wellington and Jeb had grilled grouper. 

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It was gorgeous!

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Silly!

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I could not have asked for a more perfect 5 year anniversary present!

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This guy has made me the happiest girl in the world!

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Chocolate covered strawberries for dessert

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The last day we decided to spend all day at the off-shore island. We should have went to the island sooner because it was fantastic! It was secluded and had an exotic feel...lots of places to be alone and relax as a couple. The spa even has a section of the island where they do massages on the beach.

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There is even a pool with a swim-up bar and a little restaurant on the island.

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We loved the little tiki huts!

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So much fun!

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- just lounging -

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- chllin' in the gardens on our last day -

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- pool time -

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- one of my very favorite pics -

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The last day on the resort, we had some pizza for lunch and then went into the theatre room to watch ESPN and get the scoop on the Thunder. We had watched the game the previous night in the resort's pub, Cricketers. Most people were Miami Heat fans, but we wore our Thunder gear with pride! Unfortunately, the Thunder lost, but we still had a great time watching the game!

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- dinner at the French restaurant, Baccarat - 

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- leaving for the airport -

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Our butler, Vincent! He was awesome!!

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It was quite the vacation! We had such a wonderful, relaxing time together. Although we didn't snorkel or scuba dive, we still had a great time and really soaked up our time on the beach. It was nice to spend some quality one-on-one  time with Jeb and really get to enjoy each other's company. I loved getting to sit down and eat a nice dinner without rushing or having to chase the kids around the restaurant. We caught up on our sleep and I even got to read two entire books! I think a little romance was just what we needed. This was our first vacation with just Jeb and I since our honeymoon and it was long overdue! We had a fabulous time, but it sure was nice to see our babies. Nothing in this world compares to the embrace of my two children! I can't wait to take them to the Bahamas and let them experience Atlantis with us! I didn't pump the entire time we were gone, and when we arrived home LilliAnn said to me, "Mommy, you're milk's all gone gone! It went away in the 'hamas." And she hasn't nursed since. It was a good five days for the entire Rollins' family. I am very thankful for all of my blessings. 

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WiFi was $15 a day at the resort, so I decided that I would have a more enjoyable time if I didn't have the internet available to me. However, I did, at times, wish I had the internet to update my status on Facebook and make notes on my blog. So....I decided to makes notes on my phone so that I could post them when I returned. Here are my "notes" from our vacation. Enjoy!

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We HAVE to do this every year! 

Romantic dinner on the pier, watching a tropical storm and water spout on the 
water in the distance = amazing night!

Oh my!! 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night! I feel like a new woman!

Yum! The food here is fantastic and you can eat all day long...

I love waking up to an already cooked breakfast. And fresh pineapple...

I love the way Jeb says the word "pier." It sounds like "Pierre."

Mimosas on the beach...in the Bahamas...perfect morning!

My biggest problem today: which bathing suit to wear to Atlantis.

All you can eat pizza 24/7...this is NOT going to be good for Reggie's plan :)

"I'd go to the courthouse the next day. No, I guess I'd go to an attorney's 
office. See. That's why I could never divorce you. I don't know how to go about 
doing it."
Lol!!

Night two and I'm reeeeeally missing my babies.

Jeb and I just drank an entire bottle wine together...for the first. time. ever. 

#beachpianoplayergoodtunesfireromance

"You're beautiful."

Room service breakfast on the patio - Oceanside = perfection.

On our way to Atlantis! This should be exciting!! Checking it out to see when we 
should bring the kids :)

Atlantis is incredible...but soooooo big! 

Private dinner on the beach for our 5 year anniversary: "I'm so lucky. I have 
such a beautiful wife...and I mean that. You're my angel." -Jeb

The ocean here is a lot calmer than in Florida. I think the kids could enjoy the 
beach better, although the sand isn't as white.

We've Thundered Up all over the world!

Delicious beef Wellington for dinner tonight...Jeb had herb crusted grouper.

All Thundered Up watching the game in Cricketer's Pub...hoping to change all 
these Heat fans into Thunder fans!!

I've been eating do light and lean the past month. Since here, I've eaten heavy 
and fat...bread, beef, sugar...ugh. Paying for it. Big Time! My stomach is NOT 
happy.

Stomach virus + beach vacation = no fun!

Gatorade and Aleve have me feeling a little better. Thank goodness!!

Off-shore island was fantastic! It has such an exotic feel and is so secluded 
and relaxing.

Jeb and I slept over 13 hours last night...WOW!!!

5 days is a long time to be away from my little munchkins. Can't wait to see 
them tonight!