bAhaMaS baBy!

So after months of promising to put up pictures of our various summer activities, I've decided that instead of letting them continue to build up, I'll show you our latest adventures and then go back and post pictures of our earlier summer escapades. We just got back from the Grand Bahamas, where we were vacationing with the Klavanos (family friends) from July 14 thru the 21st. We had so much fun and were able to get much needed tans and relaxation time.

Brad and Diana Klavano had rented a house on the east end of Grand Bahama Island. The house was amazing! It was right on the beach and had plenty of places to enjoy the beautiful surroundings in or out of the sun. Seth's good friend David Klavano and his wife, Emily, were able to come, as well as David's sister Kayla. Emily's brother, Austin, joined us and so did Valiere, Seth's sweet mom. We all had so much fun together.

The day we arrived it rained harder than I've ever seen it rain. It seriously looked like someone was pouring a ginormous bucket of water from the sky. Luckily, it cleared up just as we were all settled in, but not before we got to all go on a fun hike in the rain! The hike led us to cool bat-filled caves that we had fun exploring while getting eaten alive by mosquitos (ouch!).

Most days we just hung out on our backyard beach for the majority of the day. The house came with some really cute beach chairs, which were the inspiration for us to have a full blown photo shoot on our amazing beach. It was so much fun, and the gorgeous blue and teal water made for some awesome shots.

We also went to Paradise Cove, where we all enjoyed a beautiful beach and snorkel day and were able to see all sorts of beautiful fish. I even saw a squid! The boys all went fishing one day too! They came home four fish and cooked them up for us. Seth still wasn't satisfied with his catch, so he continued to spear fish throughout the week, cooking it up as he got each one. He's pretty good with that spear, too! My fears of being trapped on a deserted island with nothing to eat are now gone. As long as I've got my burly husband with me, I'm good to go!

We were all very disappointed to find that the food on the island was absolutely terrible! The worst was this one tiny restaurant called Bev's. Beverley herself was running a one-woman show there, serving us the fish her husband had caught. We were all holding back the giggles as she repeated told us that the items we'd try to order from her 10 item menu were unavailable. "Not today," she kept saying. We ended up with mystery meat hamburgers, fried chicken with feathers included free of charge, and fish with the skin and tails included. Sick! Even the sodas on the island tasted funny. We all thought we might starve to death (or at least have to resort to living of candy). That was until we went to the local festival, called the Junkanoo, where we found a ton of awesome food! Seth, Val, and I got the biggest and best hot dogs we've ever had! They were fabulous! The Junkanoo was really fun. We watched the local girls do a fashion show, a local band play, and a really awesome fire-dancer while we enjoyed our pina coladas! It was so much fun to experience the islanders' festival with them.

As if we hadn't already done some crazy fun things, Seth, Brad, Diana, and I decided to do a shark dive on Saturday. I was so scared, and it took a lot of convincing to get me to agree to do it. We went out a little ways off the coast to a wreck site where a small boat had sunk and was upside down on the ocean floor. We all got in the water and were horrified to find that sharks were already circling the wreck below us! I was so scared! The dive master had us follow him down to the wreck, where we then all knelt on the sandy bottom shoulder to shouler (creating a wall in front of the wrecked boat). Once we were all situated, the "feeder" man in a medieval looking chain-linked suit came down with a tube of food for the sharks. He was only about 10 feet in front of us and fed the sharks every minute or so. We were surrounded by about 20 black-tip reef sharks ranging from 5 to 8 feet long! Because the feeder was so close to us, the sharks often would head straight for us after going in for some food. They often would turn until they were only about a foot in front of our faces, hitting us with their tails as they turned! It was really so surreal to think that we were that close to potentially deadly sharks! Once the dive was over, the feeder led the sharks away with his food and we all escaped to the surface. Hope you enjoy our crazy pictures!

We had so much fun in the Bahamas and are so grateful to the Klavanos for inviting us to come along. It was so great to hang out with everyone and get a chance to relax! Seth has been studying so hard for the dental board exam, which he'll take in September, that I haven't really gotten to spend much time with him lately. It was so great to get him away from his studies (well, he still snuck some in each day) for a little bit and to get to catch up with everyone on the trip. Thank you so much, Brad and Diana!