Last week, Darren and I went to Paradise Island, Bahamas with a trip we earned working with my MomCeo team and paid for by Melaleuca.  We had a gorgeous room with a lush view and $480 in room credit to buy whatever we wanted.  Food at the Atlantis resort can be very expensive ($50-$100 a plate.)  We knew this because Dave Ramsey brought us here 10 years ago with the Total Money Makeover Contest (has it been that long already?!!!) We arrived with a plan.

To help stretch our room credit and minimize our personal expenses, we packed protein powder and granola bars for breakfast.  For lunch we ate poolside with our room credit (which was only $15 a plate) and then walked over the bridge to Nassau Island

to buy inexpensive authentic Bahamian dinners at the Fish Fry Shacks.

Famous Conch Fritters

Our Fish Fry Chef and his amazing hair net

By the end of the week we had saved so much money we had enough room credit to pay for an extra night in the hotel plus buy a couple of EXPENSIVE workout shirts with the Atlantis logo.

On Thursday we took a bus to Nassau to go snorkeling.  One of our guides spotted a starfish from the top deck, dove in to grab it and handed it to us for a photo op.  Snorkeling in the clear Bahama water is my favorite.  One of our dive stops had a shipwreck that we could swim to and check out.  The last one, they baited nurse sharks to come and swim beneath us so we could observe them closely. So cool. (Nurse sharks don’t eat people, but they might nibble on your feet if you don’t have on flippers.  Feet kind of look like fish to a nurse shark..but are not tasty.)

A lit hand blown glass sculpture in the hotel.

A hand blown glass light fixture.  It was gold glitter glass…pictures do not do it justice.

The famous Royal towers.  We stayed in the west wing on the first floor. The fist floor rooms are handicap accessible and much larger than normal rooms.  They have walk out sitting areas in green space and wet zone bathroom areas with zero entry showers.  (Sorry I didn’t take a lot of pictures, just enjoyed life outside the view finder.)

One of the fountains near the entrance to the recreation area.

One of the many conservation areas for marine life.

Most of our friends left on Sunday.  We saved $200 by staying an extra day and not flying on the weekend.  We used our room credit for the extra night and walked into town to experience the Bahamian culture and worship with the folks in the Ebenezer Methodist Church.

When we got home Grant was glued to my side. He snuggled beside me as I caught up on work and took part in a team conference call, then fell asleep in bliss that we were all home and together again.

Meeting team member, Sue, for the first time on bootcamp on the beach.  Bootcamp A.  Run a 1/4th mile B. 30 pushups C. 30 sit-ups D. 30 squats REPEAT 4 times with a final finisher of 30 burpees.  I’m sweaty in this photo but better off than Sue, because I modified EVERYTHING and only did 3 rounds and no burpees. Sue did EVERYTHING and is such a rock star.  I have 2 years left to make a full recovery from Subclinical Adrenal Failure–so I’m being careful. I never want to end up in that bad way again.

I haven’t felt so healthy and energetic in a long time.  We got plenty of rest, tons of exercise, never missed my vitamins, and all the food I ate was full of the freshest yummies veggies, fruits, and fish.  This was the first time in 5 years that Darren and I had a few days together without the kids.  There were times I missed them fiercely, like when we saw the sawfish with his chainsaw looking snoz, and when we were racing down one of the 8 super fun water slides on the resort–that I knew the kids would have LOVED.  Thank goodness for Facetime and free wifi.

Anyhoo, so that’s why the blog has been quiet, and won’t be any longer.  I have a few things I can’t wait to share in September and in October I’m taking part in the 31 day challenge.  The theme here will be 31 days of Kids and Money.  You’ll want to
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Coming in October!