Our Ten Year Anniversary

waiting for our flight in Cincinnati
p.s. cincy has the best USO ever

We did it! Well, that's what Easton would say anyway...but yes, we did.  Jace and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on June 21st and treated ourselves to an amazing five-night vacation at Sandals Emerald Bay in the Bahamas.  A huge thank you to our travel agent and friend Ketti Menne for the perfect recommendation! It was perfect. My parents were super troopers and watched Easton while we frolicked in paradise.  Our morning began at 0315 to catch our 0715 flight from Cincinnati.  We flew through Miami and landed in Exuma, Bahamas at 1130.  We were sipping our welcome champagne in the resort lobby by 1215. It was a beautiful thing.

one fire truck. one blue tractor. one golf cart.
welcome to exuma international airport!

We checked in but our room wasn't quite ready. No worries because one, I had just pounded a champagne on an empty stomach and two, our butler appeared and took us over to have lunch on the beach while we waited. definition of win/win. 

Lunch was decent, the Heineken was great, and after about thirty minutes our butler reappeared to take us to our room. I had big expectations and the room was perfect. It had just the right amount of space, a beautiful view and quick access to the ocean.

Our Colossal Beachfront Walkout Constellation Suite
king size bed. dual vanities. huge sliding doors. sitting area w/huge flatscreen TV & stocked mini bar!

Our butler gave us a quick overview of all the resort's available activities and explained that he'd made dinner reservations for us throughout the week.  He then left us a cell phone that could be used to contact him whenever we needed anything...and told us to go have fun and he'd be back to unpack our suitcase while we were off enjoying the sun.  whaaat? ok. awesome. i accept.

Cheers!  Jace's first of many Sands Lights.

The butlers rode around on these bikes to bring
us what we requested. That's our cooler waiting
to be transported to the pool!

We immediately swapped travel clothing for swim suits and headed for the beach...then the pool where we met a group of military couples vacationing from Virginia and played pool volleyball for a few hours. F-U-N!!!

The view of our room as we walked to the beach.
our room is behind that hammock and the beach is just to our right...

And looking to the right from the same area as the photo above

THE BEACH!

token "feet" pic. you're welcome. there will be more.

It ended up being an early night for me (hello, swim up bar) and thankfully I made a speedy recovery the following day. Yowza!

We spent the next few days eating, drinking and sleeping. It was pure bliss.

Our butler set up a cabana for us on the beach one day

We had a traditional anniversary grilled cheese on our patio

On Monday we played golf at the Greg Norman-designed Emerald Reef Golf Course.  Apparently Greg was feeling spiteful as he designed this course. It was difficult but that's probably because we both suck -- and because I golf once every year! We brought 16 balls...and could only get through 16 holes...with two supplements we were given by the friendly grounds crew. I didn't mind though because I was happy to take a million photos while Jace continued to challenge himself on the course.

Just to document that I did, indeed, swing the club
a few times

The final two balls...and the final shot on #16

A beautiful day!

Later that evening we were kind of over the whole get dressed up and go to a dinner thing after two consecutive nights of that so we just grabbed some beers and food at the Drunken Duck Pub.  Before we headed in to the restaurant we were lounging around on one of the couches in the garden when Uncle Wayne's long-lost twin appeared.  It was totally nuts.  His name was Bob from Indiana...and I promise he was wearing a fedora earlier in the evening.

Hey "Uncle Wayne"!

Inside of the Drunken Duck Pub -- we never made it there when it was dark
outside so hard telling whether people actually went there in the evening 

You'll never guess what's in that glass  :)

We started our last full day of vacation with a nice "Have a Nice Day" floral display on our door mat...and then headed to the main pool for the day.

The butlers always had something waiting for us in the
evening when we returned from dinner

There were two pools on the resort, one was a quiet pool and then the main pool with music and activities.  We hunkered down around 0830 and didn't leave until mid-afternoon. It was amazing. Our butler brought us snacks, drinks and lunch right there and we just rotated from sun to shade throughout the day.

Lunch is here!

Not a bad view :)

Eventually I ran out of sunscreen (started with a brand new bottle of SPF 50 when we arrived) so it was time for Powder to call it a day...Jace begrudgingly called it quits, too.  It was necessary though as we needed to be at the golf course club house by 5:30 for the butler convoy.

This was a cocktail hour for all the guests in butler suites and it was amazing.  We all met at the club house, were given a golf cart and then "convoyed" out to the 14th hole for drinks and appetizers.  It was a beautiful evening and was one of the most memorable moments of the trip.

This one's for you Pete & Crystal!!!

We headed back, ate dinner and were in bed by 9. We couldn't cheat ourselves out of our last night of uninterrupted sleep!   Sadly, Wednesday morning eventually came and it was time to check out...but not without paying a quick hundo for some of the "professional" shots that were taken throughout our vacation.  I thought they were pretty good so figured what the hell...we rarely get good photos together without our iPhones being 6 inches from our face.

Our flight left Exuma at 12:30 and landed in Miami around 1:15.  

bye, bye, vacation

We made it through customs/immigration about ninety minutes later but the people watching in line was some of the best so that made the time pass nicely. I'll never understand why people (yes plural) choose to be belligerent BEFORE getting in/back in to the US! D-U-M.

We had a seven-hour layover in Miami and, unfortunately, landed too late to catch the Marlins/Twins game so we had lunch and explored South Beach. I even convinced Jace to go see the Kardashians' Dash store.  Note to all Miami travelers:  definitely believe the yelpers' reviews. muy horrible.

Jace happily swapped his Sands Light for a Silver Bullet :)

We landed in Cincinnati at 12:15 AM to an American Airlines crew that either wasn't expecting us or just absolutely failed at their jobs.  The pilot comes over the intercom (for the first time during our 2.5 hr flight) to tell us that he's driven the plane to the "only gates he knows of" in Cincinnati but they're all full and no one is answering the radio. Brilliant. It all worked out -- as it normally does -- and at 2:15 AM we safely arrived home.  We were pooped but so happy that our vacation was so amazing. 

Until next time, Sandals!

P.S. I'd like to thank my uncanny ability to be distracted by a million things for contributing to the delinquency of this post. You can reference said ability by checking out our newly designed blog header and sidebar...any you may also notice a small watermark on our family photo at the top of the blog...because, yes, I know SO many people are wanting to earn their fortune off a picture of the three of us. #grabadoseofrealitywoman #adultADHDmuch :)