It has taken me a while to get back into the swing of things after taking a trip of a lifetime with my family, to the beautiful islands of Abaco, Bahamas! So many of you have asked how we found this destination and why we decided to travel to someplace remote and adventurous? You should know that we are all about adventure and making new memories! My husband’s client told him all about this dream destination and how to make it a reality, so we took our time and researched all the details to make this vacation happen for our family! The very first thing we did was go onto Airbnb.com and we booked the cutest house in the north end of Hope Town, Bahama’s. The Island is not even a mile long with only about 25 houses total on the very end. We loved this newly renovated home because the owner was so gracious to leave us everything we could ever need, from spices, oils to cook with, bikes, beach towels, paddle boards, canoes and my kids favorite part was the golf carts! The whole town drives around in golf carts and mini cars. You can walk out to the sea on one side of your house and on the other side is the Ocean! This was the most incredible part, because one morning you could watch the tide go out and pick up sea shells or sea glass and on the other side, you could walk out 50 yards or more and see your feet the entire time, while finding Starfish and Conch Shells!

We flew into Marsh Harbor and got a taxi that took us to a grocery store called Maxwell’s where you load up on all your groceries and get ready to spend about triple the normal amount you spend on staple items like milk, cheese, breads and meats! They put your groceries in boxes, you then take back to the taxi where you travel to the ferry. We jumped on a ferry that took us to our dock at the North End of Hope Town,  where you unload your luggage, and groceries! What a cool experience to go on a boat to your house. This was the start to our adventure and we actually met our friends that we spent tons of time with on that ferry ride over! Friendships were started and we are now going to be friends for life, because of our trip to the Bahama’s! When we got off the ferry our place was literally two houses up on the right and we were so relieved to be officially on the island! Let the vacation begin!

Fun story about our very first night when we got to the island, all we wanted to do was get in the water so we dropped off our bags at the house and went right away to jump in the water! We were out about 50 yards in standing, see through water and some people on the beach were yelling for us to come in right away! Only to find out we were swimming with reef sharks! That freaked us out a little bit and the kids were a little scared of the water after that, however by the end of our trip we realized the sharks weren’t going to attack us and our goal was to get so close we could almost touch them!

I am not kidding when I say the golf carts were my kids favorite part of our trip besides our fun boat rides! They would get up and want to drive the carts all over the island for hours! I mean there were even fights about who would be driving from one location to the next. I did love how my son would drive us into Hope Town that was about 1 mile away from our house to go eat dinner, get more groceries, grab the best cup of coffee ever or just to fish off a dock along the way! Some houses didn’t even come with a golf cart but ours had three!!! Talk about fun, and can you believe my eight year old could drive and didn’t run over anyone or into anything? We can officially say there were no accidents!

So there was this local grocery store called Vernon’s, where a man named Vernon is famous for making homemade breads & chocolate silk pies! Next year I will be taking a live video to show you how precious this man is and how unique his little store was. He reminded me of my Gramps and even his little kitchen and stainless steel bowls did as well! If you didn’t get there early in the morning all the milk and eggs would be gone!

We rented a boat for a week and that was the start to many snorkeling adventures, hoping around to cool restaurants, anchoring our boat at remote beaches, like Tahiti Beach. I would say get at least a 20 foot boat because the water can be rough sometimes where the ocean meets the sea! I have a crazy story that would take too long to share on here but maybe I will write a separate blog about it! Let’s just say I was freaking out on one of our boat rides, but we did make it to a cool final destination called Pete’s Pub, so it was all worth it! We hung out with great friends, made homemade conch ceviche, and hung out at the Pub! We even met Pete who owns the Island and Pub and when we were flying back home he sat next to my husband on the flight home! They talked the whole time about fishing and what a neat opportunity that was!

We ate at amazing restaurants right along the water, Abaco Inn, Firefly, Pete’s Pub & Nippers Beach Bar & Grill. It was also fun to cook at our house, because we caught fresh fish and would make a meal and eat on our porch looking at the Sea side of the Island! Our nights consisted of walking the beach, playing uno, hanging with new friends, or going to listen to live music at the fun local spots like Firefly! Make sure to check out my new friend Rachael Aberle, who is one of the only yoga instructors in the world who teaches Block Therapy and she has great yoga classes in Hope Town, on the beach! They also own their own company called Om Grown Greens,  where you can get local greens and make the best salads ever!

We will forever have the best memories of our nine days in paradise with our kids!  We decided next year it will be best to stay at least two weeks up to a month! Now that’s a vacation…were coming for you next year!