• Travel & Vacation: Dinner and A Show

    Brina listening intently to the conversation…completely forgetting that it is not ladylike to put her knees up on the table!

    We spent the day heading over to Grand Cayman, exploring the island, taking a boat ride out to swim with the stingrays and snorkeling.  After we were back on the ship for the night we went to the Family Arcade Night, ate dinner, and went to the evening show before officially crashing for the day.  It was a fun day packed full of wonderful memories for the entire family!

    It was a super fun filled day.  Karlie crashed for a power nap in her seat at dinner.  Although she did perk up again when they brought the dessert menus around. 🙂

    Happy Birthday to my little brother Josh!  It was great getting a chance to celebrate with him this year.  Earlier that day we went swimming with the stingrays so that’s not something we get to do everyday!

    Nicko enjoying his dessert, a chocolate chip cookie.  Watch out for Cookie Monster!

    Karlie all smiles and now awake!

    Nicko decided to try and pick all the chocolate chips out of the chocolate chip cookies.  Too funny!

    Daddy and his girls heading to the show!

    They got front row balcony seats with the birthday boy – Uncle Josh

  • Travel & Vacation: Swimming with the Stingrays, Grand Cayman Island

    Our family holding a stingray, what a neat experience!  He was a slippery guy!

    After arriving at Grand Cayman Island and exploring a little bit we had a relaxing boat ride out to the reef.   My Mom found a really AWESOME tour where we went on a boat out to a reef and swam with STINGRAYS!!!  We could see the stingrays in the water even before the boat had anchored.

    Pretty much any time you were looking down you could see a stingray swimming by.  The stingrays were HUGE, most were several feet wide.  It was pretty common for them to swim right underneath you and take you feet out from under you or you would feel one brushing up against you as they swam by.  It was a really neat experience!  Brina was a little scared at first because they were so big but she did warm up to them and even touched them several times.  Karlie absolutely loved it and would giggle whenever one came next to her.   This is one of my favorite activities we did on the trip!

    This guy took the feet right out from under me while swimming.  Can you see his little eye?  I think his looking right at me, probably wondering why I didn’t hand him some food!  Our guide was hand feeding them while we were in the water swimming with them.

    This one’s coming right at Karlie (you can see her reaching her hand out to pet it as it glides by)!

    Two stingrays swimming side by side right in front of me.  The girls were absolutely fascinated at how clear the water was in Grand Cayman!  They loved being able to look down and see everything, including fish, stingrays, and even people!

    Brina up close and petting one of the stingrays.  Glad she got to touch it but most of the time she was more content staying a safer distance away from them.

    Stingray!  The stingrays were a dark gray on the top with white and speckled gray on the under sides. Beautiful creatures, so cool watching them glide gracefully through the water!

    Silly Karlie girl!  This picture was taken underneath the water and looking up at Karlie.  She is holding her nose and breathing through the snorkel. She has a grand time swimming around looking at the fish and stingrays.  We even saw a HUGE fish, several feet long but wasn’t able to snap a picture in time!

    Large stingray swimming by

    Little Sis had an absolute BLAST swimming with the stingrays!  Karlie LOVED it and probably could have stayed in even longer if she could!

    Another huge one swam right under me, they literally rub up against you and take your feet out from underneath you!  Such a cool experience!