Long Island – The Twins First Vacation

When we first found out we were pregnant, one of my first thoughts was…now I have to cancel my travel plans. We love to go to places that are tropical…but unfortunetly, the Zika virus likes tropical places too.  So in result we had to cancel three trips in 2017.  Once the twins were born, all I could think about was going somewhere…anywhere.  But as time went by, the days got harder, I cried a lot more tears.  Having twins…and a four year old to take care of is not easy to say the least.  But in the back of my mind I still was longing to go somewhere.  People told me that we should plan a trip with out the kids….and that we are crazy for wanting to take our kids on vacation. Which in result actually made me want to go more. : )  We invited a family along and started planning a trip to go somewhere in the bahamas.  We were planning the trip and I think it was just a bad week, we needed to make a decision on where to go, and the twins were … well being babies and it was just a rough time, plus we were swamped with work, I decided to cancel the trip.  We told our friends we can’t do the trip and they were ok with it.   Well hours went by and I completely regretted that decision, then days went by and I REALLY regretted the decision.  So then the trip was back on.  : ) With the idea of our nanny’s boyfriend, we decided to take our nanny with us.    One of my main concerns was being stuck at the rental house with all three kids (I can’t carry both of the twins by myself for more than 5-10 minutes) while greg was fishing, so we decided that having her there would be super helpful.  It was the best decision ever!

We finally decided on Long island. Our goal is to hit all the out island of the Bahamas.  We found a house on VRBO.   The leeward side of the island is MUCH calmer than the Atlantic side so we chose to stay there. It was a great decision.  Long island is a secluded little island, there isn’t much to do, but it is beautiful!

A little side note, before you get in bed, check yo sheets!! I did but I guess I didn’t do it good enough because in the middle of the night I found a scorpion crawling on my chest.  It was sooooo freaky!  I grabbed it and threw it across the room, the while the twins and Layla were sleeping next to us we disassembled the entire bed, moved the mattress and checked for more bugs.  We didn’t find any but it was a little scary going to bed each night.

There are no addresses on the island so in order to get to our house you have to get crazy directions.  The directions are interesting to say the least.  The island is so small, when you get off the plane there is a little conch bar down the street, that is where you pick up the keys to the rental house.  A side note, when you drop your rental car off at the airport…which by the way the airport is half the size of my small house… you just leave the keys in the car.  You could never do that in the States.

Backyard Views….

Our little sand bar.

The first day we were there, we went to Dean Blue Hole. The Second deepest blue hole in the world.  Blue holes freak me out so I just snorkeled around it but is was so beautiful!  Like I said there isn’t much on the island. Our rental house didn’t have a dryer so we lived the simple life.  The house didn’t have a bathtub either so we made laundry basket bathtubs for the babies.  Coast was not amused.

 

One of my favorites places we went to was Tiny’s hurricane hole. If you are ever on Long Island it is a must.  Our long island traveling family : Jacob, Ali and Amelia, Emily is holding Coast and her boyfriend Gabe.  

All around the island I began noticing these little rock that had little sayings on them.  We ended up finding one in our backyard behind a palm tree.

The backyard sandbar again.. I just love this little sandbar

One of the “attractions” on the island is to see the mail truck deliver mail. Well for some reason we just happen to drive by when it was dropping off its weekly delivery.  It was just as exciting as this picture looks.  We drove past and found a bar with fruity cocktails.

Layla was soooooo over talking photos

We had a little naked baby photoshoot, I have a lot more but I am not sure how appropriate  it is to post on the internet : )

On the last full day we were there, we went on a little excursion to “da farm” with Bonafide Charters.  It was my first time on a pontoon boat. We took the boat out to a reef, did some snorkeling, then do a sand bar, and finally to “da farm” where there were pigs, goats and chickens.  I definitley recommend seeing the island from the water at least one day. The beaches are very pretty but seeing it from the water is so much better!

The above pic is us with Emily….thank you Emily for coming with us.   Traveling with twins is no joke and I am pretty sure we couldn’t of done it without her : )

We stopped at Stella Maris. There was a bar on the Atlantic Side and a short walk down a pathway we found this natural swimming pool. You can actually rent houses that over look this swimming pool. 

Just an FYI, the whole trip was not all sunshine and smiles. We definitely has our fair share of tears : )

Before we went on the trip we got a Gathre mat.  It is a great alternative to a bunch of beach towels.  Definitely recommend having it for beach trips!

Meet Sparkles, The Bahamian unicorn…that I blew up with out an air pump.  We unfortunately lost sparkles as well as her crab and owl friend to a wind storm or some Bahamian fishermen.  Who knows.

There isn’t much shopping on the island. The grocery stores are scarce and what is inside those grocery stores is very limited. We brought a whole suitcase of food with us…which I highly recommend. We have been to Eleuthera and Exuma, and we did the same when we went there as well.  This little house had the only “shopping” we found. We picked up a couple postcards and some handmade straw items to take home.  

I am so happy we decided to go on this trip. We went for a total of 9 days, which I was a little hesitant about but being there a little longer than our normal 6-7 day trip was definitely worth it. It is a lot of work to get everyone there so I feel like staying longer was the smart call.  To give you a little more information about the island, it is very secluded. Make sure you bring essentials, things are very hard to find and when you do find them, they are very expensive.  The electricity goes out all the time. I was told they are called brown outs, they do it to conserve energy.   I like to describe our trips to the Bahamas as luxurious camping. We have a house, hot showers, AC, and electricity most of the time, but it is no Ritz Carlton : )  You have to be up for an adventure if you want to travel to the out islands.

I few random things that made our trip a little easier.  Instead of pack and plays for the twins, we got Phil and Ted Travellers. They pack up so small and perfect size for the twins, I think we will get at least another year out of them before they can break out of them : )

Carseats are hard to rent on the island, we were able to find a booster seat for Layla but unable to find infant size seats for the twins.  We bought the Cosco Car Seats, they are very affordable…and VERY lightweight.  No one wants to lug a 30lbs carseat around…and we had to deal with two.

We got these bags. CAR SEAT BAGS We put the car seat, the traveller and all the diapers and wipes inside.  Checking the carseats are free for most airlines and the Travellers were so small when packed up they fit in the seat of the car seat.