The Bahamas Birthday Trip That Almost Didn’t Happen

How an all-night drive, a dolphin birthday wish, swimming pigs, and two little girls reminded me that sometimes the best adventures begin when plans change.

Sometimes the trip almost doesn't happen. Sometimes flights change. Sometimes you're staring at your suitcase thinking it's time for bed when instead you find yourself getting into the car at midnight and driving through the darkness, because there is simply no other way to get there.

That was this trip.

May 10th. The girls were asleep. The flights had shifted. The only way to make it happen was to drive.

So in true Céline Dion style, I drove all night.

What could have felt like a disaster somehow became beautiful, thanks to one sweet soul who stayed on the phone with me for every single mile of that drive from Michigan's Upper Peninsula to Chicago. The sun rose. Miles passed. And somehow, despite every reason to believe otherwise, we made it.

Two simple flights later, we landed in Nassau and the first thing we saw was a man dressed head-to-toe in a full Junkanoo costume. Bright colors. Big smile. Instant vacation mode. The girls rallied like the seasoned little travelers they are, and just like that, we were in the Bahamas.

Where We Stayed: Harborside Resort at Atlantis

I'll say it plainly: this is my favorite family stay in the Bahamas. You get every perk of Atlantis while staying slightly removed from the chaos, close enough to walk everywhere, far enough to actually exhale.

Book Your Stay Here: https://prf.hn/l/EJ2GqkN/

Think spacious villas with full kitchens, private balconies overlooking the marina, full access to the Atlantis waterpark and all Atlantis beaches and walking distance to everything. As a mom, the full kitchen alone is worth its weight in gold because kids are hungry constantly and being able to make a quick meal without leaving the room or paying a small fortune is a total game-changer.

We arrived before our room was even ready. Yes, pinch me. After a night of feeling like there was no possible way I was going to make it, we checked our bags with the bellman, dug our swimsuits out of the suitcase and threw on our matching Boden sets, and headed straight for…

Not the beach. Not the pool. Not Atlantis.

The ice cream shop. Obviously.

Mama and Brave in front of Atlantis, walking from Harborside via the marina…only allowed for marina guests and Harborside guests…so you feel next level special with this special close up access to the yachts! Photo Credit to Big Sister, Bril!

Matching swimsuits: https://liketk.it/5SXTj
Matching zip-up cover-ups: https://liketk.it/5QhCT

Day One

Ice Cream, Yachts & The Waterpark

We wandered through the marina first, because to get to the ice cream shop, you pass the yachts. And if there is ever a place designed to make you stop and believe in big things, it's Atlantis Marina.

Massive yachts lined the docks. The kind of boats that make you wonder what stories they carry and who gets to live like that. One of my favorite things about traveling with my girls is letting them see what exists in the world. Not because they need those things, but because seeing possibility expands what feels possible. Dreaming matters. And the marina at Atlantis is a dreamer's paradise.

Forty-six dollars and one chocolate-dipped sprinkle cone later (not kidding), we made our annual stop at the giant golden Atlantis chair. We've taken photos there across multiple trips now, and it's become one of my favorite visual reminders of how quickly children grow. Every year they look a little bigger. Every year I get a little more sentimental.

Then we walked into Atlantis, and suddenly everything felt worth it. The all-night drive. The flight changes. The uncertainty. All of it.

My oldest, Bril (9), has officially crossed the 48-inch mark and is now tall enough for the big slides, including the vertical drop. Brave (2) was perfectly content splashing through every toddler water area she could find. With a 6.5-year age gap between them, Atlantis manages to do something most parks don't: give each of them exactly the adventure level they need.

Bril got independence and adrenaline. Brave got wonder and endless splashing. Mama got a salted margarita. Everyone won.

Brave, age 2, in front of a mega-yacht living her best life in front of the boat named, “Remember to Live” in Latin….which now seems all too fitting! Pinch me…

Mom tip: Staying at Harborside gives you full access to the Atlantis waterpark, otherwise it's a daily park rate. This alone makes the stay worth it. You're inside the magic whenever you want, removed from the chaos when you don't.

Bril, Mama and Brave: How do you say no to chocolate coated sprinkle cones? You don’t, you just work harder when you get back. PS: I am allergic to eggs and they had vegan chocolate chip cookie dough!

Book Your Stay: https://prf.hn/l/EJ2GqkN/

We ended the day the way only truly exhausted happy people can: Toniebox stories playing, girls asleep before the second chapter, mac and cheese made from the kitchen supplies I'd packed in my checked bag. A loaf of bread, almond butter and jelly, oatmeal packets, a couple boxes of mac and cheese because the full kitchen at Harborside means you never have to leave hungry and never have to pay $30 for chicken tenders at 8pm.

Toniebox: we take this everywhere now: https://liketk.it/6eHo7

“The Atlantis Chair,” Photo Credit to the woman who thought we were all sisters haha! Thank you nice lady, thank you!

Day Two: My 35th Birthday

When they require wetsuits and they even come in a size to fit a 2 year old peanut!

Dolphins, Sand Castle Cakes & Jumping Waves at Sunset

I woke before the girls. The first thing I did was hang the birthday banner I'd had delivered before the trip, inflate the balloons, and set up the decorations, not because I needed them, but because birthdays are magical, and I wanted the girls to feel like they were part of celebrating too. I had even packed the birthday candles in the stroller, because sometimes motherhood is simply being prepared for spontaneous cake moments. Or, as it turned out, sandcastle cake moments.

Marina Shopping

We spent the morning wandering the shops tucked between Harborside and Atlantis along the marina. I have found my favorite swimsuit store in there over the years, and Bril and I each scored a new suit for the day. Vacation shopping: accomplished.

Dolphin Cay Atlantis

Then it was time. The experience the little girl in me had always wanted.

If you're on the fence, get off it. This is a core memory kind of experience, the kind you'll pull up in your mind for years. We chose the shallow water encounter, and Brave participated too, at age two, completely free. The joy on her face when she touched a dolphin for the first time is something I will never stop seeing when I close my eyes.

Little girl dreams coming true for Mama and the girls all-at-once!

After the ride, I made a friend. And not in the surface-level way that sometimes happens when you're being politely friendly on vacation.

I connected with another solo mama, a woman raising three kids, recently engaged to a professional baseball coach, who radiated the kind of quiet wisdom that only comes from someone who has done the inner work. She said something I've been thinking about ever since:

She still talks about how you pet dolphins with flat hands.

The trainers were wonderful. The dolphins were magnificent. And we squeezed in just under the final window before the photo packages switched to a paid-per-print model, so the photos we got are truly priceless.

Book Dolphin Cay: https://www.atlantisbahamas.com/dolphincay

Birthday Wishes in the Sand

After the encounter we learned we could stay in the Dolphin Cay area until closing. So we did. For hours. I broke out the sand toys from the stroller (sand toys double perfectly as bathtub toys, by the way — Brave discovered this in the villa's jacuzzi tub, another Harborside win). The girls built me the sweetest sandcastle birthday cake I have ever seen. And because I had packed candles…

We lit birthday candles in a sandcastle cake, right beside Dolphin Cay, with dolphins swimming and splashing behind us.

We all made a wish.

And I remember thinking: if life ended tomorrow, I would have absolutely no regrets. That's a wild thing to feel. But I did. Completely content. Completely grateful. Completely here.

We closed the evening on the Atlantis Rapids River, labeled "intense raging rapids" for a reason. Each lap is a full 30 minutes of fast, wild, laugh-until-you-can't-breathe fun. We did it twice. Then we made our way to the beach on site, where we were the only ones left, and closed out my 35th year jumping waves hand-in-hand, just the three of us, as the sun disappeared over the water.

Proof that being a brave solo traveling, single-mom can have its wins.

We returned to the villa, made mac and cheese (Bril, age 9, at the stove, yes, really), ate it in bed watching Friends reruns while Brave fell asleep mid-bite, and I sipped the mini bottle of wine I had tucked in my checked bag, watching their permanent grins drift into sleep, and pinched myself one more time for good measure.

Best birthday cake ever, made by my favorite two!

Day Three: Swimming Pigs, Manta Rays & The Best Day Trip

Shoutout to Powerboat Adventures for making this mom’s pig swimming dream a reality without any of the fuss!

All the virgin Bahama Mama’s for this little juice-lovin’ Mama!

If you only do one excursion in Nassau, make it this one. And the best part? It is an eight-minute walk from Harborside Marina. Directly across the street. No transportation, no complicated logistics, no stress. You just show up.

Book here: https://www.powerboatadventures.com
Instagram: @powerboatadventures
Located inside Margaritaville Marina, directly across from Harborside

Check-in at 8:30am. On the water by 9:00am. Not returning until 5:00pm. And everything, everything, is included:

→ Snacks and lunch
→ Open bar (Bahama Mamas all day, fruit juice and punch for the kids)
→ Pigs, iguanas, island-hopping, manta rays and even sharks
→ Expert guides
→ Transportation between islands

As a mom who usually packs like a full-service catering company just to leave the hotel, not having to prep a single thing felt like its own vacation within the vacation. I got to feel like the taken-care-of-kid this time!

Stop One: Iguanas

The crew handed out grapes and wooden skewers so we could safely feed the wild iguanas. Brave giggled endlessly. Bril, once she'd had her fill, wandered to the water's edge and just floated, solo, content, not needing entertainment or company or a phone. Just a nine-year-old fully in the moment. One of my favorite things I've ever witnessed.

Stop Two: Manta Rays

The rays were graceful and completely unbothered by us. The crew provided squid for feeding, and holding a piece of squid out while a manta ray glides toward your hand is as extraordinary as it sounds. The girls still talk about this stop as a highlight of the entire trip.

Stop Three: The Famous Swimming Pigs

The bucket-list experience. The reason many people dream of the Bahamas. And honestly? It was every single bit as wonderful as I hoped. Feeding pigs carrots while standing knee-deep in crystal-clear water is delightfully ridiculous and completely unforgettable. We also watched sharks from a deck (the staff called them in with a piece of fish tied onto a rope, a full wildlife show), learned to make ceviche right in the water, snorkeled, laughed, and by the time we headed back to Nassau, everyone on that boat was smiling the kind of smiling that only comes after a genuinely great day.

The Last Evening: I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying

Powerboat Adventures dropped us right back at the marina, where Margaritaville's swim-up bar immediately pulled the kids in before you could blink. Why say no? The families from the boat lingered, ordered appetizers, let the kids swim while the adults recovered from the best day. Then: convenience store ice cream, eggs for the morning, popcorn for our last hotel night in bed. We flopped into the villa absolutely beaming.

The girls, “more grapes!”

The crystal clear waters!

The girls loved feeding the pigs carrots!

Departure Day: The Sky Even Cried in Perfect Timing

Thursday arrived too quickly, but with nothing left undone, nothing left on the table, nothing we wished we'd gotten to. As we wheeled our bags out, it began to lightly rain. The ten-minute kind, the kind that ends in a rainbow.

I told the girls the sky was crying because it would miss us. They laughed. We all decided angels cry happy tears too sometimes.

Then came the airport adventure. I'd tipped my last cash to the bag handler — because everything you give comes back tenfold, and this country had been generous with us. Five minutes into the cab ride, the driver's credit card system turned out to be broken. Bril began negotiating. I began rummaging through every bag I own.

Then, mid-rummage, I noticed the wet cough. The parents-cup-their-hands instinct fired immediately. Brave got carsick — into my hands, inside the cab. I reached for the empty tote bag I'd thrown in at the last minute (I always pack one — for swimsuit changes, sandy toys, airport food runs, and apparently, moments exactly like this one), redirected the situation, and we arrived at the airport with the tote bag sacrificed, a spare outfit changed into, and a zippered plastic-lined pouch saving her cute new dress.

Traveling with kids is rarely about preventing chaos. It's about being prepared when chaos shows up.

Everything from there was smooth sailing. Chicago. Finding the car (Bril knew exactly which floor). Splitting the drive. A warm place to stay, snacks waiting, breakfast in the morning, someone carrying sleeping children inside in the wee hours. And the deepest gratitude imaginable for the soul who hosted us — the same one who stayed on the phone with me all night while I drove.

WHAT I'D PACK AGAIN

✓ Toniebox (non-negotiable)
✓ Matching Boden swimsuits
✓ Zip-up cover-ups (LTK)
✓ Birthday banner + balloons
✓ Birthday candles (in the stroller)
✓ Sand toys (= bathtub toys)
✓ Crayons, paper & watercolors
✓ Oatmeal packets
✓ Mac and cheese boxes
✓ Bread, almond butter & jelly
✓ Mini wine (in checked bag)
✓ Empty tote bag (always)
✓ Spare outfit in carry-on
✓ Zippered waterproof pouch

THE ITINERARY AT A GLANCE

Day One
› Flights into Nassau, Bahamas
› Check into Harborside Resort at Atlantis
› Ice cream in the marina, waterpark, salted margarita, bliss

Day Two
› Morning: marina shopping and exploring
› Midday: Dolphin Cay at Atlantis
› Afternoon: sandcastle birthday cake + candles + dolphin watching
› Evening: Atlantis Rapids River + sunset waves on the beach
› Night: Dinner in

Day Three
› 8:30am: Check in at Powerboat Adventures (Margaritaville Marina)
› Full day: iguanas → manta rays → swimming pigs → sharks → ceviche → snorkeling
› 5pm: Back at marina → Margaritaville swim-up bar → ice cream → bed

Day Four
› Checkout, cab adventure, airport smooth sailing
› Fly, drive, thrive

BOOKING LINKS + RESOURCES

Harborside Resort at Atlantis: https://prf.hn/l/EJ2GqkN/
Dolphin Cay at Atlantis: https://www.atlantisbahamas.com/dolphincay
Powerboat Adventures: https://www.powerboatadventures.com
Matching Boden Swimsuits: https://liketk.it/5SXTj
Matching Cover-Ups: https://liketk.it/5QhCT
Toniebox: https://liketk.it/6eHo7
Follow Along on IG: @britta.kay.carlson.ot
EPIC Kids Development: https://www.epickidsdevelopment.org
Med Pros Share: https://www.medprosshare.com

This trip was never about perfection.
It was about saying yes.

It was about driving all night when the plan falls apart.
It was about birthday candles in a sandcastle.
It was about dolphins, swimming pigs, and memories that will last a lifetime.

And if you're wondering how I raise little girls who navigate airports, orient themselves in foreign countries, and float down raging rapids, visit epickidsdevelopment.org.

Because the greatest return on investment isn't financial.
It's the memory of two little girls holding your hands in the ocean while the sun sets over the Bahamas…then the art that they make with the words that make you melt…

What a way to end the trip, some airplane art full of gratitude from Bril to Mama.