Atlantis

Today did not go as planned. At all...

Today we stopped in Nassau, The Bahamas. We decided that we would go to Atlantis for the day. It was pretty expensive, but how could we skip the biggest water park in the world? (I think it’s the biggest. I read it on a sign down here...)

Since our swim diaper explosion in Naples, I was a little concerned about having Gabe in a swim diaper all day. He and I had long chat about filling his diaper before we got to the park. Apparently he listened as he filled it while we were sitting in the theater waiting to head to Atlantis. Sweet, one less thing to worry about today!

However, we didn’t have time to change his diaper before leaving. No big deal, we’ll just change it when we get there. Unfortunately, it did not smell pretty. We got off the ship and I carried him all the way down the dock to the van. As we were waiting in line for the van, I realized that his diaper was failing him. Lovely. We got on the van and I felt the need to apologize to the guy next to me for the odor. He told me he couldn’t smell so it was fine. I think he was just being nice... Soon I realized that Gabe sitting on my lap was a problem as his leaking diaper was now leaking all over my pants. I made Gabe stand up to minimize the damage, but holding him up on a moving bus was exhausting. So he ended up back on my lap, which caused even more diaper issues.

Once we got to Atlantis, we got off the van and the we followed our tour lady through the hotel. And the casino. And through the maze that was the water park until we got to the middle and she could point out all of the things that we needed know. That would have been fine, except that I was carrying a smelly baby with a leaking diaper and I was covered in poop. Also, it was crazy hot out (like it has been every day) and I really needed water. And Gabe is getting heavier. And I couldn’t hand him to Pat because I didn’t want to share the poop. Once the lady let us go our separate ways, we still had to wander a bit until we found a bathroom. By the time we actually found a bathroom and I was able to deal with the situation, I was hot, tired, covered in poop and ready to cry. I got Gabe cleaned up and took him outside to Pat, where he and Bella were waiting, already in their swimsuits. I went back to the bathroom to change and then wash out the poop from all of our clothes, only to discover that I’d forgotten my swim bottoms.

To Pat’s credit, when I walked out of the bathroom, his response was “okay. Lets go buy you a swimsuit.” So we marched back through the waterpark, the aquarium, the casino and the hotel to the little shopping village. We found a little store where I got a new swimsuit. Then we stopped at Starbucks and everyone got water and coffee and life was much better again, although I put Gabe down at one point and discovered my entire side was wet. He had pooped and peed on me in one day...

(It was so bright that I had no idea what I was even taking a picture of, so I’m glad that it was halfway descent.)

We walked back to Atlantis, through the hotel, the casino, and the aquarium to get to the waterpark. Then we wandered until we found the lockers, which had a crazy long line. We’d left the ship at 8:30 and were finally ready to enjoy the park at close to 11.

Since Gabe was too little for waterslides and many of the pools, we knew we’d have to tagteam a bit. So Pat and Gabe played in the splash park while Bella and I rode the rapids. I figured this was my one ride before I let Pat and Bella go find all of the crazy waterslides.

The park was super confusing to find anything. It took us forever to even find the entrance to the ride, but once we did, it was great. We did get flipped once, but neither of us lost our sunglasses, so I’ll call that a win.

We finished the ride and went back to find Pat and Gabe. The splash park was closed for a 15 minute cleaning at noon, so they were across at a pool that was only a foot deep, which Gabe thought was wonderful. I told Pat and Bella to ride a few slides and then come get us for lunch.

Gabe and I played in the little pond for awhile and then went over to the splashpark for a bit. We’d been there for maybe 15 minutes when they kicked us out because there was a lightning storm less than 50 miles away. Just then Pat and Bella ran by on their way to their second ride and I told them about the storm. We decided that this was a good time to break for lunch while we waited for the storm to blow through.

While we ate lunch, it started raining. We figured this would be a typical tropical 15 minute storm. Spoiler alert: it was not.

It was now 1:45, the park was closed until the storm passed and Pat and I had each been on one ride. We decided to wander the other aquarium, which was pretty good with a tunnel of sharks you could walk through. We found a pool of rays to look at. The kids splashed in puddled. At 3 we decided that even if the storm passed, we wouldn’t have enough time to do anything, since we needed to leave at 4 to get back on the boat, so we headed back to catch the bus. Gabe made it halfway back to the boat before passing out on my chest.

Once we got back to the port, Bella got her hair braided.

Then we got back on the boat and put Gabe down for an actual nap while the other three of us hung out on the deck and discussed names for Bella’s hypothetical future pet turtle.

So, um, that was not at all what we’d planned. The park was kindof a bust, actually. But sometimes that’s just the way life goes.