We went to Atlantis for an afternoon when we were in the Bahamas to swim with the dolphins. Francie is obsessed with whales and dolphins so she was asking me 20 times that morning "HOW many hours until we meet the dolphins?!" She loved this experience (Maisie was just as happy to have special adventures flying home with Dad but she'll get to ride the dolphins "next time" :)

These were our buddies for the afternoon- Icis and Michele. The first dolphins at Atlantis were rescued from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina so they built this awesome facility and have 32 dolphins now

Francie is ready with her snorkel gear

First dolphin kisses with Icis - she could hardly contain herself when it first swam up right near us

The guides told Francie to pinch the dolphin's nose to make "tooting" noises

A hug after we swam out in the water

Belly up for belly rubs

We had snorkels and held on to this water fan thing to go under water and hear the dolphin clicks and noises- turns out it's kind of hard with a three year old on your back so we gave up the fan thing to tread water

Francie was so brave!! I was really proud of her. They kind of expected she would just want to pet/kiss the dolphins and after we did that she goes "Ok- now can I SWIM with them!?"

All smiles. She held the dorsal fin and went for a ride

Holding tight to hang out after our swim

and our favorite part! I held on tight to a boogie board and Francie climbed on my back- then the dolphin came up behind us and put his nose on my foot to push us fast-as-lightening across the whole dolphin pool. It was awesome!