Steph's friend, EJ, invited us to go to her church on Sunday morning. She is a member of the Ebenezer Methodist chuch which was founded in the early 1800's. As we got out of our taxi, there were many nice people that came up to greet us. It just so happened that the day we went to church, was the day that they were welcoming many converts into their congregation (it happens only once a year). It was interesting how they conducted their meeting. The reverend couldn't even pronounce the names of some of the new converts. I thought that was strange.
One thing I loved about their congregation, was that everyone sang loud and with conviction. They also stood to sing every song. Here was the opening song: "Everybody Ought to Know, Everybody Ought to Know, Everybody Ought to Know, Who Jesus Is" (definately a song that gets stuck in your head).
After church, we went over to EJ's house to meet many of her relatives and friends. She also cooked us a real Bahamian meal. There was conch salad, full snappers, groupers, macaroni and cheese and rice. Dessert was a mango bread with some sort of sauce on top. I finished my plate, but had a hard time getting it down. It wasn't bad, just different then we are used to.
I thought it was very kind of EJ to make this meal for us and to invite us into her home. They are great people and I enjoyed visiting with everyone. We learned that the minimum income per week is $200. They don't pay taxes in the Bahamas. The Atlantis imports 100% of the items they use (no wonder, it was so expensive....get us out on an island and jack the prices up). 70% of the Bahamas national income is tourism. The crime rate is really high in Nassau. All the small islands are called family islands because that is where alot of people raise their children.
They dont have air conditioner in their homes, so we were sweating like mad. Kylee's feet and face started to swell up, so we decided after about 3 hours, that we would head back to our hotel. When we got back, we hit some of the local little shops and then ate dinner at Johnny Rockets!
The Atlantis is so big that you take shuttles from towers to towers. There are the Cove, Corral, Royal and Beach Towers. We stayed at the Harborside Village. They were nice little condos that were nestled away from all the craziness. At the Beach and Corral Towers, they have a big aqaurium that is huge and it runs in and out of the hotels. You can walk down in caves to see the fish or just stand in the main lobby and see some fish.
There are over 2000 species of fish in the aqaurium. They call it the Ruins. We spent part of the day snorkeling in that aqaurium. We saw many fish and 3 zebra sharks. We also swam with a ginormous manta ray which was kind of frightening when it would swim right under us. At one point, Brittney tried to swim after it. They told us that the manta rays can swim like 60 mph when they are startled and jump way out of the water. The one we swam with was 10 feet wide and considered a baby. They will reach up to 25 feet wide when they get released into the ocean.
After we snorkeled, we went on some of the slides. On one of the highest slides, I took some really pretty pictures. It is such a gorgeous place. The slides were pretty fun, but they were over in like 10 seconds. One of the rides took us though a huge tank full of what looked like bull sharks.
Later, we took a ferry over to Nassau to shop at the straw market. This is a place where there are probably 100 little sections where the women are trying to sell purses, blankets, shirts, dresses, and little handmade trinkets. There was a little girl that sold me a wooden turtle for Cooper. She was so cute and so I just had to buy one from her.
The women would say, "Hey Bebe! What does the pretty lady want? It sells for $15...I will give to you for $10. I will work with you. Tell me what you want to pay." After we spent all our money, we grabbed a taxi and headed back to the Atlantis.
Dolphins are such amazing animals and they are so smart. The Atlantis resort had lost all 16 of their dolphins when Hurricane Katrina hit, but somehow, the dolphins found their way back and now they have 38 there at the park.
The dolphins would push on our feet and propel us qucikly through the water. At one point, Katie was going really slow, so the instructor was telling her to hit the "turbo button". She starting slapping the water around her as if there were some turbo button in the water! What a dork....they made fun of her the rest of the day!
We were able to use these little self propellers that would take us through the water next to a dolphin. We had snorkel gear on, so that was nice to be able to swim close to them. I love to watch all of their tricks. They are so graceful as they fly through the air.
We left on June 3rd. Our first flight was into Atlanta and then on the Bahamas after that. I took half a dramamine and then decided to read the book, "Heaven is For Real". I finished the 160 page book on the 3 hour flight, but I paid for it the last 10 minutes of the flight. As we were landing (there was lots of turbulence), I started getting sick and was sweating really bad. All of a sudden, I threw up in my sweatshirt, bc I couldn't find a bag. Eventually Steph found me a bag and I threw up one more time and was fine after that. That's the first time I have ever thrownup on an airplane!
We landed in Nassau at about 5 pm and then met Steph's friend, EJ, at the airport. She rode in the bus with us to the Atlantis. She is from the Bahamas and a very kind lady. She helped us get checked in to our rooms and then she went home. The first night, we went to eat dinner and we got to take a ride in a big SUV limosine. It was so sweet inside. After dinner, Steph took me on a tour all over the Atlantis resort. We then retired for the night and got a 'good nights' sleep.
Brittney was so nice to Cooper and he had a great time spending time with her. One night, she took him to Wendy's and got him a frosty. Another night, we went to the Roy Pool with Brittney and the kids enjoyed swimming with her. Cooper was so sad when Brittney had to go home. 
Brittney was good to help Bryce and I one night with the kids while we went to a movie. Before we left, she did my eye make-up with her new make-up. It was great to spend a few days with her. Thanks Brittney, for being so loving and kind to my boys. That really meant alot to to me!
We organized the junk into three different piles....wood, scrap metal, and trash. We took 2 loads of green waste to the dump. We took 2 loads of trash to the dump and the ended up getting a fire pit and burning all the remaining wood and green waste. At one point, Steph found a bucket full of old water and some manure in it. She was walking around with it asking everyone if they wanted some fresh manure. When she put it down on the ground, she kind of dropped it and the water and poop sloshed up and all over her! It was awesome and kind of shocked her a little!
As we walked from place to place, we would dig up old fences, old pitchforks, lots of wood, and bail twine. It didn't really feel like work, because we were having such a good time with each other laughing and telling stories. I just thought it was neat because we spent so much time at the barn when we were younger, and now 20 years later, a bunch of cousins are back together, cleaning up our old stomping grounds.
Bryce got the job of leveling out some old manure and hay piles. He got to drive a nice red tractor. Clayton spent lots of time with him in the tractor. He was in heaven. They also dumped some manure up in grandma's garden, so that she could get ready to plant her veggies.
Later that evening, we continued to burn the wood. Cooper, Jamie and I roasted hot dogs over the fire and they turned out so yummy. Clayton even ate two all by himself. After dinner, we headed back home. It turned out to be a very fun day. I was exhausted when we got home, but it was nice to be able to help them get things cleaned up. Another day we might attempt to tackle the big shed that's down at the barn!
