Cayman 2013

    Sunday we woke up at 3 AM to head to the airport for our trip. It was way early and we had a little panic attack because we couldn’t find our Dive Cards. We tore our house apart and then decided to call Sandy and she had them for us. We were so nervous! We got to the airport with plenty of time and flew to Houston where we had a nice long layover. We grabbed some brunch in the airport and hung around until our flight to the Caymans was leaving. We finally landed around 4 and it felt amazing to walk off of the plane and feel the hot, humid air hit your face. My hair immediately went curly. We grabbed a taxi and headed to our hotel. We went to check in and had a little bit of a misunderstanding. The room we thought we booked, wasn’t actually what we got. There are 6 of us and we are all in one room. Quarters are a bit tight…...as in we all sleep in one big room……with one tiny bathroom (the kind that doesn’t have a tub……meaning we all change right in front of each other facing opposite walls haha good thing we are a close fam! 

We went to dinner at a place called Karma and she truly is a "you know what"... Blake ordered the Easter dinner and I ordered Mahi only to find out that the proportions are tiny and cost us $64. We both left hungry and were upset. Welcome to the Caymans! Whoopsies… we learned that lesson fast.

    Monday morning we all slept in and it felt so good! We ran downstairs and grabbed breakfast, which was included, Blake was happy about that. We went up and put our swimming suits on, sunscreen, and headed out the door. Blake and I went on a long walk on the world famous, 7-mile beach. You can’t believe the water and sand here, the sand is like Powder Sugar and the water is crystal blue, and warm, which I love. We could feel the sun baking our shoulders after about 45 minutes so we decided to head back and re-apply sunscreen. We played in the water, booked our scuba trips, had a really good lunch (this time Jamyn got 3 tomatoes and mozzarella for $12) and then headed back to the beach. Unfortunately Blake and I sat on the wrong side and got a little fried!  We all played football and hung out in the water for the afternoon. 

 How handsome are these boys?!?

 Our favorite water toy!

For dinner that night we went to the cutest restaurant, XQ’s.  They had a wood fire pizza oven and the food was stellar….and didn’t cost fifty dollars woot woot!  We all went back after and fell asleep on .05 seconds! 

Tuesday morning we slept in again and then Blake and I headed to breakfast.  We always beat everyone downstairs because we wake up sooo hungry everyday!  We went for another walk along the beach and I loved it!  It’s so perfect holding hands with waves washing over our toes, discussing life.  We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and tossing the football with everyone.  

 Me teaching Jamyn the proper way to do a handstand......yes I was a cheerleader for 3 years.....and no I can't do a kartwheel or hand stand haha

 The sun is pretty wicked there and we all got fried……seriously none of us ever burn usually but we all hurt and look like lobsters!  We finally got to do our first dives later that afternoon.  We went with a company right by our hotel and they were amazing!  We were the only people on the boat and our guides were awesome!

 Sandy gave Jamyn and I scuba certification for Christmas after we all got married.  We've never gone together and it was EPIC, best gift ever!!!

A good luck kiss before descending

 Family photo minus Blake

 CHEESE

 I had the best dive buddy!

 This is what happens when you leave two girls underwater too long.....

 Our first dive was at Trinity cave.  I forgot how fun diving is and I was loving every second of it.  We even saw a turtle and it was so cute!  We went up for a bit and then went down for a second dive.  We swam around a shipwreck and some reefs.  We saw a lot wildlife and the water was super clear!  When we finally surfaced we were all exhausted, it’s amazing how much diving wears you out!!  We soaked in the hot tub for a bit.  All our burns were feeling super tender!  We relaxed for a bit and then headed upstairs to get ready.  We went to dinner across the street  at a cute little bar and grill.  We stayed and chatted forever before hitting the hay.  After a long dive we slept super hard all night.

Wednesday morning Blake and I woke up at went straight to breakfast as usual.  We ventured over to The Marriot after to get some 30 SPF sunscreen to try to prevent anymore burns!  We went for our morning walk and it was gorgeous.  We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and tossing the football around with everyone.  

 Jamyn and I showing off our awesome burns.....

 Yep we're pretty awesome haha

 The fam

 That afternoon we had another diving adventure.  We hit 2 sites, the Killer Piller and Wildlife.  Both were amazing and the sealife was out of this world.   We loved to ride on the front of the boat on our way out to the sites and have the water splash our toes!

On the 2^nd dive we saw 2 turtles up close.  One came right up to the dive master and rested his fins on his legs and played with him, it was the cutest thing EVER!  What an amazing experience to see so much beauty!  After the dives we stopped by the famous Sunshine Grill.  Everyone raves about it and it is the #1 restaurant on the island.  It was totally worth all the hype and all our meals were out of this world.  

 We ate poolside in our suits, it was perfect!  We went straight to the hot tub at our hotel after and soaked for a few hours.  After showering and getting ready for bed we had a nice lazy night.  It’s amazing how exhausting diving really is!

Thursday morning we had our usual routine, breakfast and stroll along the beach.  We relaxed and soaked up some sun for a couple hours.  What a cute pair are these two?!?

 Just busy loving our lives!

 Photo bomb care of Pepst hah, it turned out pretty good!

  We grabbed a quick lunch and then headed off to sting ray city.

 We also got to do 2 snorkels along the way, but the highlight was definitely sting ray city.  It was pretty weird at first and all of us girls let out a few squeals.

 It was a little creepy when they swam past you and you didn't know

I finally got brave and in the end we all fell in love with them.

 Even Nana!

 They were seriously MASSIVE!

We had a short little hot tub break when we got back and then it was off for our night scuba dive.   We got to watch the sunset as we rode out.

 We were all a little nervous at first but it ended up being me and Blake’s favorite dive!  Dropping down at first in the pitch black was a little eerie!  The only light we had was the little light from our flashlights.  We dove on a shipwreck site called the Kittiwake.  It was HUGE and so cool to swim around.  There was a lot of wildlife hiding all around.  The colors looked so cool with the lights on them.  At one point we all turned our lights off and when you moved your hand around little fleck in the water would light up and glow, SO cool!  Blake was so sad when it was time to go up and he didn’t want to get out!

 We went for a late diner that night at XQ’s again.  The food was great again but the waitress was super grumpy and sucked!  When we got back we were all asleep before our heads hit the pillow!

Friday morning Blake and I woke up, ate breakfast and then went for our walk.  We spent the rest of the day laying out in the sun, reading books and tossing the football in the water.  

 Later that afternoon it was finally time for me and Jamyn’s highlight of the trip……SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS!!!! We got there a little early so we killed time at the turtle farm.  They were so cute and we loved them!

 Swimming with dolphins was a major bucklist item for me and it was better than I’d even hoped for!  All 6 of us went and were in heaven!  We got to ride on their noses, ride with their fins, give kisses and meet the new baby.

Blake showing off his skills while riding on the dolphins noses

 I love this ride the most!

The dolphins forgot there was someone on their nose when Jamyn rode and they shot her out of the water like a rocket!

 Pop loving his life!

 Blake got a 2-fer!  My husband was in heaven and couldn't stop smiling.  This is the smile I wish I could capture in ever picture!

 Nana doing tricks

• 

 Pepst's turn

 Kissing my new best friend!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE dolphins:)

 Jamyn getting her birthday kiss.  The whole reason we got to plan this dolphin adventure was for Jamyn's b-day present from her hubby.  Thanks for letting us share in the fun Daymin:)!!

We were so sad when it was over!  Such a perfect memory though!  After we had a fancy dinner at the #1 rated restaurant on the island, Calypso Grill.  It was very pricey but the fish was super yummy!  We got back pretty early and were all super exhausted!  We slept good…..until the power went out at 4 am.  Everyone woke up except for me because they were dying of heat.  At 5 am the power had been out so long and for some reason it set off the fire alarm.  I shot out of bed and didn’t even put on shoes before getting out the door…..apparently I’m selfish in emergency situations, every man for himself whoopsies!  Luckily it was a false alarm and so we opened the windows to get a breeze and tried to go back to sleep.

In the morning we all went to breakfast together but Blake and I couldn’t go for our walk because to water was insane.  Our calm serene ocean had huge waves crashing where our chairs usually sat.  The wind was blowing pretty good and there was no where left to walk.  We decided it was a good day to go to town, Georgetown.  We took a bus and spent the afternoon walking around the shops.  The waves were crashing up on the shore like crazy!  

Blake finally got his longsleeve shirt he’d been dying to find.  We had a delicious fish lunch at Guy Harvey’s.  We wanted to eat outside and even though it was a bit windy we really enjoyed our food.  We headed back to our hotel after and spent the rest of the day sitting in hammocks and reading by the pool.  After showering up and getting ready we walked to a cute restaurant called The Warf.  It right along the water and so dang cute.  There was live music from one of our favs, The Barefoot Man.  Much to the boys protest we danced the night away (and in the end even they had fun dancing the night away).  Pop showed the boys what to do!

 Blake is so much like his dad and I hope that someday we still be as cute and in love as these 2!

 Blake says he hates dancing but once you get him going there is no stopping him!

 Our gorgeous table right along the water

 Pop is the Barefoot Man's biggest fan!

 The food, music and views were amazing and it was a perfect way to end a perfect trip.

 Sunday was our last day and we were so sad the trip was coming to an end.  Thank goodness we booked a later flight so we were able to spend the morning and afternoon soaking up our last rays at the beach. 

 I love traveling the world with this handsome boy by my side!

 We left the hotel around 2 to head to the airport.  We had a layover in Houston and didn’t get home until midnight.  Sweet Scott was there to pick us up, way too nice!  By the time we got home, showered and semi-unpacked it was almost 1:30…….so as you can imagine waking up for work the next morning was pretty rough!

Another amazing trip for the books.  Every detail was absolutely perfect!  We are the luckiest to have such fun family that we love hanging out with!