We are back home in Utah and jumping back into real life again.
We are so thankful we were able to go on this trip. I thought I would share all of the things that we did in case any of you are planning on going to Grand Cayman in the future. We stayed at our friend’s house there that was UNREAL (they do not rent it out) along with 3 other families. The kids had a blast having so many little friends to play with the whole time. I’m pretty sure the kids would have been happy if we stayed at the house with the pool and beach right there the entire time without leaving. They had everything you could need there including boats, paddle boards, canoes etc.
I felt very safe in the area that we were staying. I ran only when it was light outside and on streets that had other people on them (I found another runner on my run the 1st day that lived there and asked her where I should run:). If I could have found a treadmill I would have been on that the whole time with a huge fan next to my face because I’m not a heat/humidity runner but I’m happy I could get in my miles there during marathon training. I did more solo running this last week than I have done in months so I caught up on all of my podcasts too. There were chickens and crabs along the streets for all of my runs and all of my runs were flat as can be. It was gorgeous and it definitely built up some mental strength to not quit every run because of the heat! St. George will feel easy after these hot/humid runs! Oh and it also felt SO weird to run on the other side of the road there. It took me a few days to get used to running on the right side of the road since they drive on the opposite side of the road compared to where we are from.
I should have brought some protein powder to add to my slushy that I had after every single run.
Okay, let’s talk about what we did.
*Stingray City was absolutely incredible. We went on a day when there weren’t any cruise ships on the island so it wasn’t crowded at all. Brooke and Knox were a little timid around them at first (those things are huge) but loved them by the end. Definitely a must-do item if you go to Cayman! A lot of the stingers have been removed and they’ve been fed here for a very long time by fishermen and tourists so they don’t sting you.
After the stingrays we went snorkeling at the reef right next to Stingray City which had the best fish and more stingrays to see.
*The Turtle Farm was awesome. We just paid for the basic part of going there because it was raining and the other sections were closed down because of the chance of lightening but it was great. Our kids could have played with the turtles for hours and Skye learned how to say turtle while we were there so it was pretty cool.
*If you go to Cayman you have to go to Bioluminescence Bay. It’s one of the few places in the world you can go and see this MAGIC. Knox said it felt like he was in a virtual reality game and Brooke said it looked like glitter was following her hand everywhere it went. If you are brave enough to get in, do that too because it looked even cooler underwater. It has to be extremely dark out but the plankton in this bay emit the coolest light (that seriously looks like magic) when the water is moved around.
*Andrew LOVED taking us out on the catamaran. It was so relaxing to just be out on that exploring the area.
*The snorkeling was by far my favorite part. It was also Brooke’s favorite. We had so much fun seeing everything out there. Brooke is a fish and could live in the water. Most of our snorkeling was off of Rum Point.
Andrew went scuba diving a few times while we were there and absolutely loved it. They had a captain for their boat that took them all out and they even went one night for a NIGHT DIVE. You couldn’t pay me to get in that water to scuba dive when it is dark out but they did it.
When we snorkeled, Skye insisted on being in the water too (with Andrew). She didn’t want to miss out on kicking around in the warm water!
Knox convinced me to jump off the top of the boat a few times too. These kids are helping me to be more brave:)
Outside of those things we spent a lot of time at the house which was perfect. We could put Skye down for her nap and hang out right there while she slept with the monitor.
One day she took a 4.5 hour nap so Andrew and I were able to really relax in the pool with Brooke and Knox for a big chunk of the day.
*We didn’t eat out a ton. We went to a few restaurants but the food there is SO expensive and while the setting of the restaurants were gorgeous, we didn’t find anything that we really loved.
EXCEPT FOR brunch at the Marriot Hotel. It was expensive but so incredibly good.
What we did for food was pick up a bunch of food right after we got there and bring it back to the house. Each family bought food to make a few lunches/dinners and we switched off making things.
WE ATE LIKE KINGS at the house because our friends all make the best food (and one of our friends is a chef and owns a bunch of restaurants so that was quite the treat).
Andrew and I prepared tacos for one of our meals of course:)
The alarm that I bought for Skye’s ankle was worth every single penny. It really helped my anxiety. She never snuck into the pool but just knowing we were doing everything we could to prevent a pool accident really helped me to sleep at night. She would either wear it on her wrist or her ankle whenever we weren’t in the pool with her and if any water got it, the alarm goes off. We tested it a few times and the alarm is LOUD. We put the alarm base next to the house and you could definitely hear it from inside too.
PS there is a key to get the band on and off so she couldn’t have taken it off!
And because traveling with kids has a bunch of hiccups too, I want to share the real life side too because sometimes that gets lost on social media:
1. Brooke was bitten by a mosquito on the first night a few times right by her eyes. We didn’t realize until we were inside again but they swelled up pretty quickly. She was seen by a doctor and we were told that it would just take a few days to go down (with a few medications), I was very worried. It started going back down quickly and she was not feeling sick in the slightest and still wanting to be in the pool all day but it really scared me. Her red lips were from a popsicle.
2. Knox and Brooke rocked the airplane trip but Skye pulled an all-nighter on our red-eye and it was nuts. She did a bit better on our way home (not a red-eye) but Andrew and I were beyond exhausted which led to arguing that we ended up laughing about 30 minutes later. Lack of sleep = an even crazier Janae.
3. Skye jumped off the couch which resulted in blood and tears (more from Brooke and Knox because they were so worried about her… yet Skye stopped crying quickly because she wanted to get back to playing). She had a fat lip for a while and kept trying to do the same jump the next morning.
The memories, bonding and experience was absolutely incredible and it’s got Andrew and me thinking about what’s the next place for our little family to explore. Not sure how the Bucket List Family makes it all look so easy to travel with kids ha but the week together was one that we will never forget.
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Ever had a crazy allergic reaction to anything?
Ever been scuba diving? Would you dare to do a night dive?
If you could travel anywhere in the world tomorrow—> Where would you go?
Tell me about your run today!
