Trip Down Memory Lane.....Bahamas 2023

Hey friends! I had plans to share this post yesterday, but life happened, and this post didn't! I'm seeing lots of posts of people gearing up to travel for Spring Break and wanted to share our experience in the Bahamas last year. I wasn't blogging then and it was a truly amazing trip, so I don't mind going down memory lane for today's post. I had so many beautiful photos from this trip, I'll try not to go crazy here!

We have done quite a bit of travel with the kids, however, most has been up and down the East Coast, as we typically visit my in-laws in Florida a couple times a year. We have added on fun other adventures during those trips, but this was really the first what I would call "big vacation" for our family. 

The team at Mix & Match Travel had been amazing in planning some previous trips for us, so I did not hesitate to reach out for help with this one. I had some good conversation with the team at Mix & Match Travel around Atlantis or Baha Mar and we ultimately decided on Baha Mar. Now I have not been to Atlantis, but we all fell in love with Baha Mar!

We arrived in Nassau and were picked up by a limo service and taken to the hotel. 

The view of that water from the plane is truly unmatched!

There are 3 different hotels on the property to choose from and we stayed at the Grand Hyatt. This was the most family friendly. I would say the SLS was for a younger crowd (not kids) and had more of a club vibe with a DJ at the pool during certain times. The Rosewood was beautiful, and I would recommend that for a couples vacation or a trip with friends. All three have several restaurant options that are available regardless of which hotel you are in.

We had a spacious room with two queen beds and a balcony that offered daily views of the sunrise. 

The resort has several pool options, including one with a cliff jump, a water park, beach area and so much more for fun in the sun. We all loved the water park and the lazy river was amazing! You can grab beach chairs and spend the day at the beach. There is beach chair service for beverages and often some of the locals selling their items along the beach.  

They also have kayaks, paddle boards and water mats available. 

Ice cream stand in the water park was a win!

As for the resort, all of the food we had was amazing, but I will also say it was on the pricier side. It is not an all-inclusive, so you are paying for everything. In my opinion, the quality of food, drinks and selection was worth it. We enjoyed everywhere we ate. I think there are over 40 restaurant options to choose from on property.  Every morning, Paul and I would be up earlier than the kids and go grab coffee. There are two Starbucks on property, both very busy in the mornings. I really wish this was my coffee view every morning!

On our third day we found Cafe Madeline. Also busy, but it moved quickly. The cutest little Parisian inspired cafe with a pastry case to die for and great coffee! 

    

Paul loved the guava pastry...it was his daily breakfast. We would find a spot by the water to enjoy our coffee and start the day. 

The kids loved that the Starbucks was right outside the elevator, so they would sleep in, grab Starbucks and meet us down by the beach. 

There were lots of lunch options and cute little food trucks on the beach. My daily lunch was the Poke Bowl. I still dream about it!

There was a big variety of places to eat, from Marcus Samuelsson's restaurant, seafood, Mexican, Mediterranean, Asian, Pizza, so many options! Here's a few pics of our dining experiences. 

While the resort was amazing, the highlight of our trip was our excursion to the Exumas. This was set up for us through Mix & Match Travel and was it officially a core memory for us!

We took about an hour boat ride out to Exuma and had an epic day! 

Our first stop was to a little island to feed some iguanas. With a grape on a stick, they were all happy to see us!

The water was just unreal!!!

Stop number 2 was some snorkeling around Pablo Escobar's sunken plane. 

Our next stop we got to spend some time with a few friendly sharks. 

But the highlight of the trip was to see the swimming pigs!! 

As our boat approached, these massive pigs started swimming towards us. It was the most fun and bizarre an amazing thing!

Once on the island with the pigs, there was a whole pen of baby pigs and I'm pretty sure Ella wanted to take one home!

After the pigs, we stopped for lunch at a super remote island. There was a restaurant serving up an authentic Bahamian lunch in very rural setting. 

The dock spot for lunch also offered the chance for an epic jump into the crystal blue waters. 

Absolute core memory for us!

Back at the resort, with a few more highlights. They have a lot of green space for kids to hang out, play or toss a football. 

Twice a day the flamingos come out for a walk. You can also sign up to take a flamingo yoga class!

Lots of fun photo ops throughout the property.....

And the cutest little bathrooms I have ever seen!

So thanks for coming along with me as I reminisce about this trip. I highly recommend Baha Mar... it brought the most amazing memories. 

See you back here tomorrow for Friday Favorites. There is always room for one more at our family table. 

xoxo

Genevieve

Something New for Your Family Table A New Banana Bread Recipe

 Happy Monday friends! We are coming off a pretty low key weekend.... a much needed low key one I may add! You will be happy to know that I finally unpacked my suitcase, 7 days after returning home. Now I head to Orlando this weekend for work, so I'll be packing it up again!

This weekend I made banana bread. I love banana bread and make it pretty often. But something about March and heading into Spring makes me feel like banana bread. Anyway, I had a recipe I loved and still do, but it called for buttermilk and that was just something I didn't always have on hand. So a few months ago I stumbled on a recipe that didn't call for it and tried it. And dare I say I like it even better? I wish I could tag the source who posted it, but I took a quick screenshot of the recipe and the source isn't there.

Here is what you will need

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large or 4 medium)

1/4 cup unsalted butter melted & slightly cooled

1/4 cup coconut oil melted & slightly cooled

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar (can use coconut sugar)

1 large egg (room temperature)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Walnuts, additional brown sugar, cinnamon for topping (optional)

Heat oven to 350. Grease a loaf pan or line with parchment paper (9x4 or 8x4 will work) and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Add the melted butter and oil and stir until combined. Stir in the brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Stir until smooth. 

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, don't overmix. If you overmix, the bread will flatten and end up heavy. 

Pour batter into prepared pan. I sprinkle with some chopped walnuts, brown sugar and cinnamon for a delicious topping. But you can skip that step if you want. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Check the bread at 50 minutes to be safe, as oven times vary. 

Remove the pan from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before slicing. If you baked in parchment paper you can just lift out to a cutting board to slice. If not, run a knife around the edges of the bread and carefully remove from pan. 

This is delicious warm, but also good at room temp!

Hope you enjoy!

See you back here on Wednesday, where there is always room for one more at our family table. 

xoxo

Genevieve

Friday Favorites March 1st

  Happy March 1st!  I am so excited for this month. I have a couple fun trips planned, lots of college basketball to be watched, the days are getting longer & lighter and we will wrap up the month with Easter! Linking up  with Andrea & Erika for a peek at some of my random favorites from the week!

one

So about 2 years ago we discovered Buc-ee's in Florida. Now I had seen people share videos about this place on Instagram and most of them seemed to be in Texas. When I saw they were now in Florida I had to check it out. That saying "Everything is bigger in Texas" sure rings true here. It is really hard to put into words what this place is. It has over 100 gas pumps, the cleanest restrooms anywhere, brisket sandwiches, a fudge shop and about one million other random items. Like you can get a shopping cart when you walk in. I'm telling you it lives up to the hype!

Here I am with the mascot!  This blow up is available to purchase there in case you were looking for a blow up beaver for your front lawn! LOL

We actually ate lunch there on our way home. We had brisket tacos and sandwiches and they were delicious. We always get the nuts! They are cinnamon glazed and they are warm.....such a good little car snack!

two

I had one of my most favorite hair days in Florida. I don't know that I could recreate it, but I loved it. I put some mousse in it and let it airdry most of the afternoon. Then I just added a few curls with my curling iron and it had so much volume. I had two random women compliment it while we were at dinner. I am really hoping I can create this look again! 

And speaking of hair, another favorite from this week was getting my hair done! While I don't love to sit and get my nails done, my hair is another story. Maybe it's the great conversation with my hairstylist or that I can read a book (or write a blog post) while I get it done or maybe it's the head massage. Whatever it is, I love it- it's so relaxing to me!

three

I shared these bracelets in my What's up Wednesday post this week and I think they are worth another mention. 

They are just the right pop of color and look great alone or mixed with other bracelets. I have worn mine to the beach and in the pool and they have held up really well. This is the full stack that I have,  but there a ton of color options. 

I also have the neutral stack.   Ella has swiped a few of mine....they would be a great little Easter basket item for your teen or tween!

four

 Now I know this may sound like a crazy favorite, but I was so happy to grocery shop this week. After being on vacation, I love getting back into a meal routine and grocery shopping is one of my favorite things to do! I shared a few ideas of what we were eating this week and a couple recipes earlier this week too. You can grab those here. 

five

This has been my favorite snack this week!  A little popcorn, made with coconut oil for some sweetness and a few dark chocolate chips. It's like the right amount sweet and salty.

This is the popcorn I get at Wegmans and I just got these chocolate gems in my latest Thrive box. I love HU chocolate products. Real ingredients and tastes delicious! If you have not tried Thrive yet, you can get 40% off your first order with my link!

six

Our girl got a haircut while we were away. She will be 9 this month and it getting much more grey around her face. It's so noticeable when her hair is long. A short cut has her looking like a puppy again and I love it!

And that's a wrap on my favorites for the week! I am looking forward to volunteering a great fundraiser with my girlfriends tonight and then a low key weekend with some warm temps outside. 

Have a great weekend friends!

 See you on Monday, there is always room for one more at our family table.

xoxo
Genevieve