K-Mon

The long-awaited vacation pics! We just spent a wonderful, relaxing, and fun-filled week on Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman. It was the PERFECT spot for a family vacation with young kids. We stayed in a great 3 bedroom, 3 bath condo at The Meridian. We were right on the beach, with only a pool separating us from the beach and the ocean. Here's a picture of The Meridian:

The views were spectacular. Here is the view down Seven Mile Beach.

And here is a view of the sunset from our condo.

We spent a great deal of our time on the beach. The boys had a great time playing in the "big sandbox." Charlie also loved fetching pails of water from the ocean. He eventually had fun playing in the ocean itself. Joseph was a little more wary of the ocean, but by the end of the week he was enjoying it some too. Here are a bunch of beach and ocean pics.








We also spent a good bit of time at the pool. The boys had great life jackets, and they could swim around the pool with those on. See, here's Charlie swimming.


At the pool. Charlie with Dad and Joseph with Mom. This was a familiar theme.



Charlie loved jumping in!



All the fun in the sun meant a lot of suncreen for our pale boys.




We had lots of friends (and family) with us on our trip -- 23 people in all. That made everything even more fun. We had 7 toddlers (3 and under)!

Here's some of the gang at the beach.

And some of the gang at the pool.

Aunt Jody and cousins Jake and Caitlin stayed with us. Caitlin was a great help with the boys. Joseph especially took to her, while Charlie thought Jake was very cool.


Here's Joseph and Caitlin playing in the pool.


Jake shared a room with the boys. Turns out they get up a little earlier than he does.


Here is Cate Bennett and her Gram (Jan Ward) playing on the beach.


Don and Tammy Kidd with their kids (and the boys' new friends) Jenna and Carson.



The Hollingsworth clan -- Carter, Beck, Lara, and Derek -- enjoying the pool.


Derek and Beck. Who needs a poolside bar when Dad will feed you oatmeal right in the pool?


All the boys: Beck Hollingsworth, Charlie, Carson Kidd, and Joseph. Having so many kids there around the same age was really fun.




We did a lot of other fun things besides the beach and the ocean. Cort and I (and some of the other adults) went scuba diving. The boys couldn't go, of course, but they did enjoy our fins.



All 23 of us visited the turtle farm, where you could see and even pick up sea turtles. Here are Charlie, Joseph, Cort, Jody, Caitlin, and Jake checking them out.


Big kids like turtles too.



We took the boys on a semisubmersible boat and got to see some fish up close. Here they are:



We had an adults-only dinner at the Grand Old House. It was great - highly recommend both the food and the ambience. We ate near the water with the ocean crashing up against the rocks. They did have to kill a bunch of bugs on the lights with Raid, but we were in island mode - we didn't care. Here's a picture of Cort and me at dinner.



Cort and I also tried parasailing for the first time -- it was great!



We chartered a boat to the stingray city sandbar. The stingrays will come right up to you and you can feed them. Unfortunately Joseph got seasick on the boat. Everyone else had a good time though.

Just in case you didn't know what a stingray is:





Here is Don Kidd saying hello to a stingray.


Patty Hudgins gets a kiss from one.


Cate Bennett was the bravest kid with the stingrays. She loved touching them.




Charlie was curious at first, but didn't love them.


Our guide found a starfish on the way back, which Charlie and Cate found neat.




The trip was sooo much fun. In fact, before we left, we all booked again for next year. But this time, we are staying 10 days instead of 7!!