Yorktown Mall with the Family

On Oct. 4th we met Steve's mom, sister, brother-in-law, and brother, sister-in-law and nephew and nieces at the Yorktown Mall. We rarely get to see them throughout the year, so it was a real treat, especially for the kids, to see them.

Even though Steve's nieces are 12, 10, and 7, Jared and Alexa love them to pieces (they love Steve's nephew, too, who is 5, but I think they like the fact that the nieces pick them up and carry them around).

While we ate, they ran around the tables and had fun looking out the window at the cars in the parking lot below. It's so nice to be around family who has kids who can be just as loud as ours and not  feel like we're constantly getting funny looks.

While we were waiting to ride on the train, the kids ran around the pedastals.

For the kids, the best part of the evening was riding the train. The first time they rode this train they were 20 months, so it's fun to see how each year they grow the train seems smaller and smaller.

Grand Cayman - The Sad, Prolonged Farewell

Well, it had to end eventually. Still, it was very hard for me to leave our little home on the morning of Sept. 27th. Since I'm playing catch up with this blog, and it's really December 8th as I'm writing this, I'm a little fuzzy on exact details, but I think we had to get up at 4:30 that morning to make our 8:00 flight.

I was going to write a long post detailing our very difficult journey to get back home, but like I just said, the details are getting more sketchy, which by the way is very good.

We rushed to get to the airport on time, which included leaving a car with the keys still inside right outside the car rental agency because they were closed (what is that about!) and rushing to our gate, only to be delayed for six hours. When we finally started taxing down the runway and were almost in the air, the plane came to a halt and we had another small delay.

Then after arriving late at the Miami airport, we were told to go back through customs again by a horrible policeman who couldn't read a number correctly or count (believe me, you don't want me to go on about this part of the story) and so he made us miss our flight by five minutes. We RAN through that airport, and at one point I thought I was going to black out. So, we had to wait another few hours for another plane (thank God there was another one going out that night). I think we wound up getting back home close to 11. Needless to say, it was a very long day, and the kids did remarkably well. I think they only wound up sleeping two hours throughout the day, after getting up at 5 a.m. and getting to bed after 11 p.m.  I would do it all over again, though. We had an amazing, memorable time.

Grand Cayman - Portofino's

Travelling with very young kids usually means giving up going to many fancy restaurants. We didn't want to go out for many meals, mainly for the sake of our budget, but also because we can't really relax well with the kids yet. They are very finiky eaters, and will not sit still at the table very long.

That's why when we pulled up to Portofinio's, an upper scale restaurant, we at first were prepared just to order and take out the food. But we soon realized that no one else was there. So, we decided to take a chance and eat there. They had a section in the back on a porch overlooking the ocean. Steve and I ordered seafood, of course, and the kids had grilled cheese sandwiches.They actually sat there for quite a while, which was a really great treat.

I would highly recommend this restaurant, especially for anyone staying on the East End. We did spend close to $100 on our meal, but it was well worth it.

Alexa had a great time taking pictures. I've downloaded several pictures she took from this restaurant and put them in the post titled Alexa's Vacation pictures, if you want to look there. Here are a few more below. I absolutely adore the sillouette of Jared.

Jared found a tree to climb below the porch area, and Steve and Alexa had some good daddy/daughter moments looking at the ocean.

Grand Cayman - Smith's Cove

Smith's Cove is the perfect spot for snorkling. Many, many places in Grand Cayman have thick reeds to wade through, but Smith's Cove had beautiful sand and shallow waters right off the shore. It's a secluded spot, and not easy to find. There are no big signs off the road, which is a good thing in my opinion. Even with that said, while were were there, a tourist van pulled up and about a dozen people jumped off and started taking pictures. There were mostly older white folks. Then, about ten minutes later, a type of ice cream truck, pulled up and every one crowded around the van for thier treats. Since we had just watched Nim's Island the night before, it was funny to see these tourists act just like the one's in the movie.

Steve snorkled a bit more here, but it soon started to rain. We had thought it would be just a light drizzle, so we had a picnic lunch under a tree, but the rain soon grew heavier, so the kids and I went to rest in the car, while Steve snorkled by himself. At least the rain scared off those pesky tourists!

Grand Cayman - Pooky the Parrot

We'll always remember Pooky the Parrot. She lived upstairs from where we were staying in a cage on the porch. Since the owners of the home were not home most of the time during our stay, we didn't feel strange about letting the kids go up to visit Pooky, many times on their own.

We couldn't decide whether Pooky felt priviledged or annoyed by the kid's daily visits. He would squawk loudly when they sang to him and hop around a lot when they would dance for him. We spent a great deal of time  in the beginning showing the kids how to keep their fingers out of the cage, and about how Pooky would probably try to bite their fingers if they left them inside the cage too long. We became quite relaxed when they seemed to be taking our advice.

But, wouldn't you know it, Jared did get the tip of his finger bitten before our vacation was over. They had been putting bits of sugar cane into the cage so Pooky would have a little treat, and I think Pooky mistook Jared's finger for the cane. It wasn't a bad bite at all, still it bled which made it seem worse to Jared.

I think it was a really good lesson about how when mom and dad issue warnings, they probably should be taken more seriously. Also, so many parents wouldn't have allowed their kids to play so close to the cage unless they were standing right next to the child the whole time. As long as kids don't have lasting permanent damage, I think a certain amount of physical accidents are good for kids to experience. Those experiences are much better teachers than mom or dad.

Grand Cayman - Boatswain's Beach

We finally made it to Boatswain's Beach the day after visiting Dophin's Cove. We had a really wonderful time here, too. In fact, I'm pretty sure the kids liked this trip better than even swimming with the dophins.

After buying our tickets, we bought the kids each a bag of turtle food and headed out to the large tanks to view the turtles. These very large sea turtles, probably about four feet long, swam one on top of the other, to be the first to catch the turtle pellets the kids threw at them. Alexa absolutely loved this. She really would have spent hours and hours just throwing turtle food into the tanks if we had not stopped her.

Jared, on the other hand, was much more facinated with the ignanas. He was fearless with creatures here on the island, and we were always running after him to make sure he wasn't bitten by a crab or iguana.

After feeding the turtles for awhile, we put on our swim suits and walked over to Boatswain's Lagoon.  The lagoon is stocked with thousands of fish and other marine life. It was perfect for place for me to snorkle because I am not a strong swimmer, so I didn't have to fight waves, and Steve and other lifeguards were close by. Another cool feature of this lagoon is the underwater viewing panel that looks directly into the Predator's Tank, so you can feel as if you are swimming next to sharks.

We went to the outside of the Predator's Tank with the kids so they could see the sharks being feed before heading to a restaurant that looked out over the lagoon for some lunch.

After a pretty tasty lunch of conch fritters and mahi mahi (I had wanted to try turtle soup, but they wern't serving any that day), we walked down to the touch tanks. Alexa was able to feed the turtles more, which made her incredibly happy, and Jared was able to lean over and touch the turtles, something he enjoyed much more than feeding the turtles.

After a while, we were able to track down an employee, and he was able to help the kids hold the turtles, a highlight of the day.

Before leaving the beach and farm, we took one last swim in Breaker's Lagoon and swam underneath the re-created waterfalls.

Grand Cayman - Dolphin Cove

On the day we went to Dophin Cove, we had originally intented to go to Boatswain's Beach, which is right across the street. Since we were staying on the East End, and these two locations were on the northeast side of the island, it took us almost an hour to get there. We had really talked up going to Boatswain's Beach, which includes a large turtle farm and big lagoon stocked with fish and even sharks, so when we went up to the door and a security guard told us managment had decided to close for the day, the kids were very upset. Alexa even started crying.

I was very disappointed and wanted to cry myself. We now had an hour drive back to the house with two very upset children. Our car was parked in the parking lot of Dophin Cove, and Steve said he wanted to go inside and check things out. I told him it would be much to expensive to swim with the dophins, although I would have loved to have done that. When I had looked costs up online, it would have been $150 for each person, and I had thought the kids were to young to go in the water. Well, I'm so thankful Steve checked things out, since it turned out all four of us could get in the water with the dophins for $120, plus we were given wristbands for Boatswain's Beach that intitled us to half off ticket prices. Once again, another reason why it really pays to travel with family to the Carribbean in September.

After getting our suits on, we met one of the employees out at the pool, and we went over instructions on hand signals for the dophins and what experiences Steve and I would have with the dophins. 

After all of us had a chance to kiss the dophins (except Alexa who was a bit afraid to get near them) and pet them, and even hold onto their fins, Steve and I had two extra experiences. We did a Boogie Board experience where you hold onto a boogie board with your legs stretched out very straight behind you. Then the dophin pushes you by the bottoms of your feet to the other side of the pool. Then we had another experience where the dophin would swim up behind you belly up, and then you would grab both of his fins and lay across his belly as he swam across the pool. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post on the blog because we wern't allowed to have our cameras near the pool, but we paid to buy the DVD of our time here.

Before we left, we were able to watch a short dophin show. So, what started out as a disappointing day turned out to be one of our most memorable of the vacation. I guess it's true that God works in mysterious ways!