60/40 Howe Family Cayman Trip

We went to Cayman in June for family vacation and it was the
 BEST TRIP EVER. 

For real.
 I am just going to post every picture.
 There are a lot.
 But, it was just so amazing!!

This trip was to celebrate BOTH my mom's 60th birthday AND my parent's 40th anniversary.
 Hence the 60/40 name.

 For a few years now, mom has been telling us that all she wanted was a big, week-long trip to the beach with the entire family.
 So, dad delivered.
 It was incredible.
 He rented a beautiful house called "Ocean Kai" on Rum Point of Grand Cayman island. This house was perfect for our family.
There were 5 bedrooms, all with their own bathroom a huge living area, loft TV room, tons of outdoor living and dining space, private pool and private beach.

We love to rent a house as a family because we all want to be in one place together, not in individual hotel rooms.
Kids can nap easier and we like to put the kids to bed and stay up late playing games and having some adult time.
And how can you argue waking up to this view! 

We spent the first two days straight just at the house and going to the Rum Point beach.
We rented kayaks, build sandcastles, laid out on our beach, swam in our pool and went back and forth to Rum Point.


One night we scheduled a photographer to come take some family pictures.
 It was super windy and she was an hour late.
 It wasn't her fault, but we were over it by then but we got some cute pics of our own before hand.


 Who doesn't want a floating rainbow unicorn koozie!?!


And what's a family photo shoot without a dance party by the pool?


I have decided I want to be just like Evelyn.
So sweet and quiet and go with the flow and that closed-mouth side smile gets me every time.
She might seriously be the easiest baby ever.


A few of the professional ones...
  After the photo shoot we were all dressed up and hungry so we decided to go out to dinner. I don't really have any pictures of dinner besides this one. Love Anson's face :)

The third day of the trip we scheduled a private boat to pick us up and take us out to explore. 

 

Our Captain, George, was amazing and so much fun. 

He first took us to Stingray City and let us experience the sting rays without a bunch of tourists. We took as much time as we wanted. 

We snorkeled with them, fed them, pet them and took pics with them.

   

 Not everyone was a fan 

 

But big or small, it was such a fun family experience.

   

After the stingrays, we went snorkeling on the reef, which I got NO pictures of but was probably the coolest thing we did. 

We fed fish from the boat and swam right to the drop off and saw all kinds of incredible fish and corals and how steep the drop off is after the reef. 

After snorkeling, we went to starfish point. It was pretty cool to see so many starfish in their natural habitat and very kid-friendly.

  

Last, we boated over to Camana Bay. 

The kids got to play in the splash pad and have gelato the adults enjoyed some summer beverages before boarding the boat to go home. 

 

George even let my boys play "Captain" with him.

  

The next day we ventured to the other side of the island near 7 mile beach. 

Ben was an awesome chauffeur of the "big kid " van driving on opposite of the road. 

 

We visited the Cayman Turtle Farm, which was a definite kid-favorite. 

 They were crazy about catching and holding those baby sea turtles. 

We fed them, watched eggs hatch, saw crocodiles, ate lunch and of course, held baby sea turtles. 

My kids could have stayed in those little pools chasing turtles around forever. 

They were fearless and had so much fun. 

All being in one house is the BEST. 

 I love all going to bed and waking up together. It makes for the most fun nights and mornings.

   

These awesome 60/40 shirts by Celebrate Always, of course.

We also ate pretty much every dinner at home. 

We took turns as couples cooking dinner for everyone and it was so fun! 

 

 But, we did go out to eat at Kaibo yacht club one night and it ended up being super fun. Very casual, on the beach dining. The kids ran around like crazy and made friends with other kids running around. Some nice stranger gave them glow sticks to play with and they were in heaven.

   

More around the house fun. 

We explored the reef in front of our house, flew kites and hunted for shells, and lots of swimming.

   

The best way to swim is to match your cousins, of course. 

 Thanks for the personalization Aunt Minnie.

   

 The last day in Cayman was pretty rainy and we spent the day at the house and most of it inside.

 It was perfect. 

We played Uno H2O poolside and jumped in and out of the pool between the storms. 

 

We went out in the ocean during a break in the rain only to get caught in a little rainstorm and have to run back in. 

 It was definitely exciting!

   

The kids painted on some canvases that Honey brought 

 

And we played games all day. 

 Favorite games of the trip: Sabateur, Codenames, Exploding Kittens and UnoH2O 

 

Our last night we had dinner at Rum Point and tried not to cry that we were going home the next day. Seriously, most vacations, I am so ready to come home. But, this one, I could have stayed a whole other week!

 So, so thankful for a refreshing family vacation together. 

 

These two boys were attached at the hip, day and night. 

 It was SO cute. 

 

 

 Traveling through the airport and on the plane with this crew is definitely not boring. 

 

 At the airport going home... it's just SO hard to say goodbye.

   

We seriously had the time of our lives and could not be more grateful for an amazing trip with our family!
Thank you Honey and Boss for an incredible trip and for being the BEST example of 40 years of marriage for us!
We love you SO much!