Family Bahamas Trip Summer 2022

We usually go fishing in the Keys every summer. Well the traffic is so bad every year it always takes us forever to get down there + the place we love to stay in Duck Key is no longer available (he sold it!) So we decided to give the Bahamas a try with the whole fam. It's a 2 hour drive + 2.5 hour boat ride over. Only kicker is you have to bring all your own food. That can be a little tricky when you are staying for an entire week. But we gave it a shot. 

The ride over was super smooth. Jackson drove the boat for a bit. The kiddos slept/lounged on bean bags in the back. We made it over without any problems. We decided to stay at Old Bahama Bay at West End where we stayed last summer because the grounds are pretty dreamy. They have a beautiful beach area, large pool, options to fish, snorkel, kayak and paddleboard. We checked into our double queen suites to find they don't have kitchens!! Uhhhh... problem!! Only the king suites have kitchens. Okay. So they were able to switch us to the king suites (we had a lot of food to go in the refrigerators!) but then we were a little short on beds for our sleeping arrangements. Also. The pool was in bad, bad shape. Murky, green and 100% not swimmable. What to do? What to do? We let the kids run a muck around the grounds (they were having an absolute blast) while we weighed our options. We called down to the Blue Marlin to see their availability. They could accommodate us. Their pool was in good shape. So we stayed the night at OBB but next day packed back up and boated over to the other place. Rooms there were amazing... 2 bedroom suites with living room and full kitchen with table and bar. No beach though. No fishing in the marina. Only swimming. We were on the boat fishing and snorkeling most of the days each day. The kids did enjoy the pool. Hard to say which would have been better. If we could get the Blue Marlin rooms at OBB with the pool in good swimming condition you'd have the perfect place. Guess we are still on the lookout for that. Here are all our pictures of our adventures. 

Captain in training. 

The amazing view at OBB with the cutest kayakers. 

We could probably make 1 bed work!? 

Benny and Ivy's sleeping arrangements. 😂

Still going strong next morning.

Caught him!

Catch of the day.

We stopped a couple times back at OBB because they have a pathetic gift shop with a freezer of ice cream treats!!

It amuses me that they all prefer to sit on the same couch, even though there are 2 couches available. 

I'd say Jackson is a bed hog. 

We attempted a reenactment picture from 4 years earlier...

Lake Fishing 24/7

Fishing is next level now that we are on the lake. We've got Jackson's little jon boat tied up to our dock and he can go out pretty much any time he wants. The evenings are the best time to fish and he has caught some whoppers! From the boat and from the shore!

Rainbow River

Shelly's family came for a few days this summer and one really fun thing we did while they were here was float down the Rainbow River! The Rainbow River is a natual spring in Florida and I had never done this before! I loved it! And the kids loved it! It's a solid 2 hour drive which is a bit of a drag (but we swapped cars so everyone could ride with cousins and such). Once we got there it's a leisure 2 hour float down the river.  Jackson didn't use his tube the entire time.... he snorkeled and swam and explored. Benny used his tube for only the last 1/4 of the trip, he was swimming with this snorkel the whole time too. Ivy spent a little more time in and out of her tube, back and forth swimming and relaxing. It was so fun for everyone and I really enjoyed the cruise in the water. It was a scorcher of a day and the water felt so good. We will definitely go back!! (I didn't have my phone/camera with me so I had to scrounge pics from everyone else!)

House Pictures

You didn't think that just because we moved into our new house that I would stop posting house picture updates did you? Because there is still a whole lotta work going on at this house!

Daniel is the TV mounting extraordinaire! Not an easy task for the size TVs he wanted. I was moral support snapping pictures of him while he worked. 

I kind-of had fun decorating my built-ins. It was actually a little stressful and took the entire afternoon. I watched several Pinterest tutorials which helped. But I'm super happy with how they turned out! Best part is that everything, with the exception of the fake plants, I already had!! 

Don't think I'll ever tire of this view... 

At first glance you might not notice anything different about the front of the house in the picture but if you look closely you will see that we landscaped!! That was quite the project! But Daniel has a great eye for plants and we picked out some sturdy ones we liked and let the planting begin! It took us most of the day Saturday and the kids all helped. Running loads of dirt, marking areas for plants, transporting plants, spreading mulch, etc... Daniel dug the holes, I put the plants in. I could barely move by the end of the day I was so stiff and sore, but wow! I love the way it turned out. And now the house doesn't look like a construction site anymore!!

Beach Day

While the Ward's were still here we hit the beach! Jackson catches fish wherever he goes! We swapped up kids, hit Wawa on the way home and spent the evening swimming away.