Bahamas : Atlantis & Riu, Paradise Island

A little more about Bahamas – Paradise Island!
FYI – Do not travel to Bahamas in September or stay clear away from the beach completely. This beach swallows over 100 people mostly kids every month.

We stayed at the Riu Hotel & Resort in Paradise Island and were completely thrilled with everything about this hotel and the location!

We started our day with breakfast on the terrace overlooking the ocean *dreamy*! (honestly, not many people sat outside enjoying that experience – most people stayed in the dining hall listening to the clinking of forks and knives instead of the waves of the ocean – I don’t get it personally! We like to take an experience further and when the choice is in front of us – we go where the beauty is! ;)

It was also great to be next door to Atlantis – the crazy over-the top luxurious hotel and resort! It gave the whole family something to do! We were not bored one bit, our days were filled with amazing sights and experiences. The Atlantis has an amazing water park too, which we didn’t go to unfortunately because we figured our daughter was too small for most of the rides… so this will be one more place to go to for our next vacation (one day ;)).

But we did go to see the aquariums which were spectacular! We were all like little children shouting “look at this” “look at this”! It was a lot of fun for  everyone. Atlantis is insanely gorgeous and a great way to balance our vacation so it’s not just the beach. We like variety when we travel and don’t like to get stir-crazy from being in one place for too long ;)

There are also lots of extra excursions to go on – but since we were there only 4 days total we really had enough to do. Mixing play and sightseeing with relaxing and enjoying each other… I think it was the perfect balance.

In the late evenings when it was our daughter’s bed time, I stayed in our hotel room playing mom while daddy went to the casino! Well…. we figured what’s the point of having both of us stay in a room where at least one can have fun! (I’m cool like that! ;)) lol. So even though I couldn’t partake in that kind of fun (not my style anyway!) he had some fun… and managed to loose some money ($200) just a little (still lower than his planned budget) so we’re all ok! ;)

This is our first resort vacation as a family and I’m so happy we went and now have these amazing memories. My daughter is also big enough to remember lots herself and have cool stories to tell…. like the fact that she found a shark tooth on the beach!  We, as a family now have even more excitement in our lives since this vacation! I just happen to be an expert in memory making (I also announced my new pregnancy (with Mia) on the beach). Yay!

I’m just thankful for everything… I didn’t even need this trip to remind me of all the wonderful gifts I already have – but it’s another thing to have your family be together without the everyday life distractions around us. Beautiful. Thank you. xo ella