KTMusings

Today we played in the sand. Turns out Lauren likes it as long as it’s clean; any black things and she’s done! We showed her how to build sand castles. As Nana and I were looking for shells to decorate it, she put one in my hand and a few seconds later I felt tickling ... it was a crab! The shells were no longer than a fingernail and they had teeny tiny crabs inside! Then we looked in the water and saw a hundred even smaller ones in black shells... so wild!  After breakfast we did more sand play and then the pool again. While the girls and Jeff napped, Mom and I did the paddle boards. Both of us started on our knees and then moved to standing. It was pretty fun! Jeff fell a few times the day before when he tried, so was surprised when he woke up from his nap to hear neither of us fell at all.  We listened to “Lime in the Coconut” in the pool in the afternoon and Lauren did some funny dancing 😊 Jeff grilled lemon pepper shrimp and veggies for dinner. The onions do...

Woke up around sunrise again today. Lauren was in the pool by 8:30 again, after we all had breakfast. Some of us had wised up about how chilly the water was at that time, but I still got sweet talked in. “Mommy, home come you’re not coming in the pool?!” After our morning swim, we got dressed and drove to Rum Point for lunch. Would be totally walkable, but I wasn’t sure so we drove this time. Jeff and I tried and highly touted mud slides (drinks), Mom and Dad has bloody Mary’s, and Lauren had a chocolate shake! I had a really good fried fish wrap with sriracha mayo, Jeff had a jerk chicken wrap, Dad had a fruit plate, Lauren had grilled cheese, Mom had a black bean burger. We all ate fries - they were delish! Abby tried fruit and fries. Lauren liked watching the birds come eat everything Abby had dropped! Then we walked out on the pier; looked like excursions came and left from there. The girls got to see some waves (our cove is totally calm). We then stopped at a convenience store f...

Our first day here! Lauren woke up about 6:30 and we headed outside, looked at the ocean and the pool. Daddy and Lauren took a quick kayak. We walked on the beach; Lauren loved shelling. She doesn’t like any of the black in the sand (debris), and really dislikes the ants. Abby woke up and sat in the sand; she kept picking it up and couldn’t figure out how to hang on to it! Lauren jumped in the pool by 8:30 and talked Nana, Papa, and Daddy into joining her. By the time I came out after putting Abby down for a nap, Jeff said “you are never going to believe this, Lauren, show mommy how you swim” ... and Lauren, cries at swimming lessons Lauren, walked down the steps in her Puddle Jumper wings, glided into the water, and kicked all the way over to the ladder on the other side of the (albeit small) pool! I think my jaw was on the floor. I figured we’d get her there, but after a few days instead of 15 minutes! So, she’s a total fish and it’s so fun to watch her. The pool is cool in...

It was a long travel day, and the girls did so great! We woke them at 3:40am!! Lauren woke up so excited and in a great mood; we’d talked a lot about driving to the airport in the dark and going on a plane and she was excited to finally be going “to vacation!” (I’m pretty sure she thinks this place is called “vacation”). Jeff dropped me, the girls, two car seat bags, and 3 rolling duffles at the terminal and then went to park. The hardest part was then hauling all the bags, the girls (Abby in the umbrella stroller) and our backpacks to the Delta counter. Security was uneventful (Ollie got a check up going through the scanner) and we didn’t have to wait too long to board. Lauren sat between us and mostly played on her tablet, Abby was a momma’s girl but was very good and chatty the whole time. She finally fell asleep about 10 minutes before we landed. Jeff got Lauren and the backpacks off the plane so I could carry Abby off asleep. She slept for probably 15-20 minutes of us walking thro...

We are off to Grand Cayman, staying at this VRBO for two weeks:  https://www.vrbo.com/1068217  The first week my parents are joining us, the second week Jeff’s parents are coming. Should be lots of good pool, beach, and family time! And we sure hope Lauren warms up to the pool ... swimming lessons have been a bit of drama lately.

Finally got these captioned and ready to share. They are a bit out of order; we must have had different time set on our phones than the camera, so you'll see the same things a few times from each of our phones and the camera. https://photos.app.goo.gl/4u4UqXTjCAsC3s3m2

I woke up at 7 and got ready; Lauren woke up at 7:45 - by far the earliest she's been up in a while! We got all ready, packed, and Lauren and I ate - I had bought a yogurt/muesli thing at the grocery store as I knew I'd need something before all our travel! We checked out at 8:30 and made the 5 minute walk to the train station ... and then sat around for half an hour for our train (it was on time, we were just really early). The train was pretty full, but we were some of the first on, so got seats and luggage stowed and all that. An older woman sat across from me and talked to Lauren and me in German a bit - I just nodded and smiled :) The train was supposed to go all the way to the airport, but instead they announced we needed to switch trains in the main Zurich train station. They were on tracks right next to each other, so not a big deal. The airport station is right below the airport itself, so just a quick escalator ride up and we were by the check in desks. I got in lin...