Excursion: 'Dolphin Encounter and Turtle Farm' on Grand Cayman
Participants: Ben, Abby, Lainey, Walker
On our way back to our room from breakfast, we heard the song "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from the movie Mary Poppins. Lainey's dance competition routine is performed to a version of this song, so of course, she had to stop and immediately start dancing in front of the elevators. :)
our view of Grand Cayman
I took this picture before we left for our excursion. Walker was reading one of his favorite Thomas the Train books called The Special Delivery. It was cracking me up as he was reading to himself. And he used most of the same words. The boy loves his Thomas. And did I mention that he is very specific about which Thomas he likes to play with? He has three wooden Thomas the Trains, but only one that he truly loves. It's the one with the washed-out eyebrows and big eyes and the open-mouthed smile. Given the choice, he'd choose his older and smiley no-more-eyebrows Thomas over his newer Thomas with his black triangle eyebrows, smaller eyes, and a closed-mouth smile. Walker is quite tuned into faces on real people, characters on TV or in books, trains, cars, etc. It doesn't surprise me that he's particular about Thomas' eyebrows, eyes, and smile. (And why on earth the change in Thomas' smile? Learning Curve - who used to manufacture Thomas the Train - has been sold to Tomy, who is apparently making a few changes with the trains. Not good for a little boy who has a teensy bit of OCD in regards to his trains!)
I'm pretty sure they were dancing here. :) Probably to Call Me Maybe.
Never missing an opportunity to do some tricks, Lainey notices a girl doing some gymnastics so of course she has to do some gymnastics as well.
It became a competition in Lainey's eyes. If an older girl can do something, Lainey is certainly going to try it.
What a boat!
It was shortly after this picture was taken that we received green paper-ish/plastic-y wristbands to wear for our Dolphin Encounter. Walker did NOT like his and really couldn't get over it. He fussed and cried for about 45 minutes until we actually arrived at the pools where the dolphins were held. He doesn't like wristbands, apparently. :-/
*****
We don't have any pictures of our Dolphin Encounter (no cameras allowed). Let's just say that it was cold, both kids were slightly underwhelmed and a little terrified but liked touching the dolphin but didn't want to get any nearer to it than that. They weren't interested in giving the dolphin a kiss or dancing with it! Surprisingly, Walker did better than Lainey did with the whole thing. He was a little less scared and more willing to hang out with me in the water. Lainey preferred to sit on the side of the pool behind Ben and me and watch us interact with the dolphin. His name was Galileo. :)
At the Turtle Farm, the kids warmed up a bit. They got to get in the water and hold the small turtles!
She started to freak out a bit when the turtle started trying to swim away from her.
Yay for Daddies who get in yucky turtle water! :)
typical placement of his arms/hands when he's excited
Walker told us that he "had a very fun day today" after his excursion onto Grand Cayman. However, he also said that he had a "very fun day today" during the car ride back to Plano. :)
These turtles were giant.
These lizards were all over Grand Cayman and Cozumel! Just wandering around the beaches.
After this picture was taken, we went back to the bus which took us to the tender boat which we then took back to the big ship. However, here's where we went on separate paths. Walker and I headed back to the ship to rest (as in, I was going to force Walker to nap) and Ben and Lainey stayed and played around on the island. They went to the beach, played in the sand, and even met some college kids. Ben declared that Lainey was never, ever going on a Spring Break "friends-only" trip. Ever. :) They had fun, though, exploring Grand Cayman and enjoyed the experience together.
Back on the ship...cleaned and bathed and ready for Pirate Night.
Walker did not nap as expected. Instead, he fell asleep watching cartoons from 5:30-6:00 p.m. and, when I awakened him for dinner, he just melted down completely. And the rest of the evening was a bit of a disaster. He wouldn't open his eyes during dinner and just fussed and fussed. I should have just left him sleeping! Arg. Lesson learned!
Some professional "Pirate Night" pictures...
Some professional "Pirate Night" pictures...
No, Walker didn't dress up. And I'm not so sure this is his "pirate" face. This might have just been his regular grumpy face at dinner!
our pirate "IN the Caribbean"
