#TURKSANDGOODYS2018 – THE GOODYS IN TURKS & CAICOS: DAY 2!

OK so Day 2 at Beaches Turks & Caicos was exciting for many different reasons.

For one, it was our first full day at the resort.

Also, we were looking forward to Nonnie and Papa coming today.

And, well…it my [age redacted] birthday!!

Yeah, I got to wake up in Turks & Caicos for our first full day on my birthday. Super-dee-duper exciting. And I got to wake up to this…

 

Yeah, Nickie decorated the whole room for me. She’s the best. Before the trip, she asked me which I like better – The Little Mermaid or dinosaurs. I labored over this one for a long time. And honestly, I don’t think I ever gave a clear answer as I like both dinosaurs and The Little Mermaid equally. I adult pretty good.

So after taking in all the awesome birthday-ness, Nickie and I put on some workout clothes and hit the gym. I didn’t get any pics of the gym in the French Village but the treadmills were rather nice. And there was an outside location with punching bags and what not where I did my push-ups for the day. The gym wasn’t huge or anything, but it was clean and got the job done. I got a nice 3-miler in and then we grabbed some coffee to enjoy on our balcony.

We got the kids up, put on our bathing suits and went to start our day with a quick walk down to the beach to take in the morning before breakfast.

 

Then we headed over to Sky for our first breakfast of the trip. And oh man, did this place not disappoint. For those that don’t know, Sky is a rooftop restaurant that, during dinner, becomes adult-only but for breakfast, remains all ages.

We started with a plate of fresh fruit and Nickie and I ordered a mimosa and Bloody Mary, respectively.

We then ordered a couple plates of beignets, one plate with a tangerine glaze (for us) and one without (for the kids.) They were nice and doughy but without the glaze, they were a tad boring. So I mean I recommend the glaze. Look, if you ever get the choice between glaze and no glaze, always go glaze. ALWAYS.

For breakfast, I was having a hard time deciding between the Key West Omelet with Baby Shrimp and the Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict. The waitress told me her favorite dish was the Omelet so I went with that full knowing I would be back later in the week to try the Benny. And seriously, this thing was GOOOOD. This thing had roasted Cuban ham. It had smoked gouda. And it had A LOT of shrimp.

Nickie got the chocolate fondue pancakes (which, spoiler alert, I ALSO will be getting later in the week.)

Owen got plain pancakes and Myles got the stuffed French Toast.

This was a great great great breakfast. Everything was delicious.  I know on account of trying everything. And our server (I really wish I could remember her name) was super awesome. And the view was seriously breathtaking. On our way out, we snapped a few pics…

After breakfast, we stopped at the dive shop near the dock to have them inflate all our floats. Again, we had a unicorn, a flamingo, and two pizzas. Our float game was strong.

We then made our way back to the Cascades pool in the Caribbean Village. For the record, we spent A LOT of time at this pool this week. So “we made our way back to the Cascades pool in the Caribbean Village” will be a trending term. Jussayin.

And being that the resort was less than full this week, we were pretty much able to snag a cabana every day we were there. Which was helpful. On account of ALL THE FLOATS.

We swam right over to the pool bar and got our first experience with Bishop the bartender in. This dude is a legend at the resort. Super energetic with his “Why not”s and his “Have no fear, Bishop is here”s, Bishop was a staple at the bar we looked forward to seeing every day. The other bartender, Whitfield, was a little more reserved but I thought he was great as well.

Anyways, we were just in time for shot o’clock. Which is exactly what it sounds like.

After swimming around for a couple hours, it was lunchtime. The kids really wanted to go check out the XBOX lounge and have their own lunch so they went over to Pirate’s Island. And I would just like to say we felt completely safe letting the boys wander the resort. We gave them a time to come back and meet us and just never once felt worried about them exploring the resort on their own.

And after the left, peep who just came walking by.

While they were off doing their thing, Nickie and I brought a couple beers and our flamingo float down to the beach. Oh the water? Perfection.

 

Then it was time for lunch. Nickie and I took a short walk over to the Jerk Shack for lunch.

We took a look at the menu and ordered well, everything. Literally everything. Well, except soda.

We got chicken. We got pork. We got fish. We got sweet potato fries. We got corn on the cob. We got Festival (fried cornbread). We got roast yam. They were out of the Bammy but I figured we would be ok.

I also want to mention our server here, Nicole. She was so sweet and fun to talk to. Nickie especially liked that they shared the same name. This probably seemed like a bigger deal because of the Rum Punches.

Then it was back to the pool for some more time with Bishop.

And after lunch, it was time for NONNIE AND PAPA. Nickie and I walked over to the Caribbean Village lobby and saw some shuttles pulling up. We met up with Nonnie and Papa and grabbed a rum punch along with them.

We waited with them at check-in and then walked over with them to their room, which was just a few down from us on the first floor. Oh and we also got presents for my birthday and our anniversary. Which is great, on account of we love presents. The grandparents wanted to see the beach so we took them down for a quick look.

Then they went back to their room to get settled.

We grabbed the kids at the XBOX lounge and went back to the room to get changed for the night. Not only did we have dinner planned at Schooner’s but we had a photo shoot on the beach at 6:30. And we had it scheduled with Fabian, who was rumored to be one of the best photographers at the resort. And he really did an amazing job. We had great light and I snapped a few pics myself…

 

But Fabian of course did a much better job…

And those are just a taste. ANNNNND we also had another photo shoot later in the week. We obviously love ourselves.

After the shoot, it was time for dinner at Schooner’s. And Nickie had the table all kinds of decorated for my birthday.

And there was live music. This guy was great and took requests…

Bah, I didn’t get a ton of pictures of the food. I got a couple below but have no fear, we went back to Schooner’s later in the trip and I got many more food pics. But for now, I will just let you know what we got. To start, we got some crab cakes, tuna ceviche, conch chowder, and tomato mozzarella salad (of which I did get a pic).

For entrees, I got the tuna steak seared, Nickie got the basil crusted chicken. Nonnie got the grouper and erm…I can’t remember what Papa got. I think the kids got chicken nuggets and fish and chips. Gah, memory. This is why I try to live blog when I can. Anyways, here is the basil crusted chicken and a blurry picture of the tuna steak. You’re welcome.

 

Nickie also ordered me a birthday cake. The staff came out and sang an embarrassing song to me and I got zero pictures of any of this. I know. I suck. But the cake was quite good. The song made Owen happy as it made fun of how old I was. So a win-win.

We then walked over to the vodka bar on the pier in hopes of catching a glimpse of the barracuda that swims around there at night. I guess we were a little late as he usually comes around closer to 6PM. Thankfully, there was still vodka.

The grandparents were tired, this being their travel day and all. So we said goodnight to them and the four of us walked to the French Village for the chocolate buffet.

All of the stuff here was pretty good. I mean, it WAS chocolate. But we were super full. I mean, we still ate a lot of it. But it was more out of a sense of obligation than hunger.

The kids wanted to head back to the XBOX lounge and we wanted to do some karaoke so we walked the kids over, dropped them off…

 

And we walked over to The Cricketer’s Pub in the Italian Village. For the record, I sang Baby Got Back to kick the entire night off. Yep, first on the list. With some Sir Mix-A-Lot. It’s just how I roll. Then we met a couple there and I decided to do a duet of Sweet Home Alabama with the guy. Sorry couple, I wish I remembered your names. Because you were fun.

Also, EVERYONE HERE WAS HAMMERED. Like really drunk. But it was fun and we had a really good time. Not to spoil anything, but we will be coming back here. And I will be bringing the house down. In my mind, at least.

After we finished with karaoke, Nickie and I picked the boys up at the XBOX lounge and headed back to the room to get some sleep.

It was a pretty great birthday. I had planned to parasail with Owen but the wind kept us grounded. We remained hopeful, though, that maybe we could get it done later in the week. Thanks everyone for an awesome day celebrating age [redacted] in paradise. It was definitely a birthday to remember.