Why is the rum always gone?!

We have been back in the states for a week now, and let me tell ya; I miss the Caribbean sun like crazy! Wisconsin is the worst state to come back to after a tropical vacation. I will now attempt to recap the last days of our amazing trip.

Wednesday started out with a walk down to Dunkin' Donuts (they're everywhere!) for some morning coffee and donuts. The rest of the day consisted of sitting out in the sun getting tan...or in my case, turning into a lobster. We also did a lot of swimming in the pool there. I probably got another strawberry smoothie. So good!


On Thursday, we got to go to the sea turtle farm. One of the coolest things of the trip. We all got to hold a little baby sea turtle that was 2 1/2 weeks old. I almost died from the cuteness! Then we got to go over to some tanks where they were keeping some of the older turtles. We got to catch some and hold them for a little bit. Sea turtles just so happen to be my favorite animal, so I was lovin' this whole thing. After the turtle farm, we went back into George Town for some final snorkeling and shopping. This was the best snorkeling of the trip...until we swam into the jellyfish field! Ow. Lots of little stings from those little buggers that you couldn't see until they were smack dab in your face. Fortunately no one reacted to the stings.


We spent our last day hangin' out at the hotel packing, swimming, and taking long walks on the beach. No more tanning, for by now Rianne and I were burnt pretty bad. I would rather not get skin cancer, thank you very much. This was a bittersweet day, so we made sure not to waste it. It was a perfect ending to our trip.


As soon as I get all of the pictures, I will put a bunch up. Love you all!


~Katie~


P.S. chocolate rum fudge is delish!


 

Shopping. Sun. Stingrays.

It is now coming to the end of day 4 in paradise. We are all having a blast! Yesterday we spent the afternoon shopping in George Town. I actually bought a dress. And it is NOT pink! It's coral. Anyways, it's really pretty and I like it. :) When we got back from shopping, the resort had like a welcoming party thing for all of the guests. There was a raffle, dancing, and a fire show. No one in our group won anything in the raffle, but we sure danced a lot! The rest of the night we just hung out on the beach dancing.

Today we went to Rum Point! We had to go there to get out to Sting Ray City, so we just made a day of it. We snorkeled for a little bit, bather ourselves in the glorious Caribbean sun, and swam in the ocean. Then it was finally time to go to Sting Ray City! This was probably one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. We took a catamaran out to a sand bar where there are tons of stingrays just swimming around that you can practically pick up. If you handle them the right way, they are completely harmless. One of the guys from the boat came into the water with everyone and helped them hold the rays. After I held the first one, he had it swim across my back! Weirdest feeling ever, but so cool!

Once we were done with the rays, we got back onto the boat and went over to a different spot to snorkel for a little bit. Rianne and I saw a barracuda! We did that for about 30 minutes, headed back to Rum Point, then back to the resort. As if we didn't get enough swimming in already, the four of us girls headed over to the pool for a while. Oh, and I officially look like a lobster now.

Most of the pictures are on the Nelson's camera, so I try to get them up later. Maybe I'll get a few up tomorrow. I hope you're enjoying the cold!

~Katie~

We made it!

We made it to the Cayman's and it is beautiful!!! We landed yesterday afternoon and made it to the resort at about 5 last night. Just in time to get in some swimming. Unfortunately it is insanely windy here, so it makes the swimming a little bit chillier. But it felt so good after being up all night and being on airplanes all day! Last night we ate at the restaurant out on the dock. I, of course, got fish and chips. It was mahi mahi! YUM. Everyone was really exhausted last night, so we ended up going to bed at like 9:30.

In the van on the way to Tortuga

Today was super chill. We got up and went into the big pool. This pool has a bar that you can swim up to and sit at while you're drinking. So cool! I got a strawberry smoothie, which was delicious. After that, we went out snorkeling. It was a little rough because of the wind, but we saw some cool stuff, included a small stingray and a flounder! Flounders have really funny lips, just in case you were wondering. After we finished snorkeling, we went back onto the beach and just lay in the sun for a little bit. I have a horrible man-tan from work that I desperately want to get rid of.

The rest of the day we just spent bummin around the pools. Now we're off to have some pizza out in the ocean! Tah tah!

The view from our room!

 

It's time for da Caymans mon!

 In 12 hours we will be on our way to Chicago to get on a plane to go to the CAYMAN ISLANDS! I am all packed up and ready to go...I hope. At 4:00am, my parents will drive the Nelsons, Meghan, Rianne and me to O'Hare. There we board a plane to Miami to get a flight to the Caymans. I am so excited...my hips have clenched! I'll try to keep this updated with some pics while we're there. Catch you cats on the flipflop lata!

snorkel anyone?

Vuvuzela!

Last night was one the funnest nights EVA! My family, Rami, Jason, Aaron, and Carrie all went to an Admirals game last night. And they gave out vuvuzelas!! Our group had to be the most obnoxious group there. It was the bomb. The other awesome part of the night was that we were one of them fancy V.I.P. boxes. I guess you could say that my dad has some sweet connections. Oh, and the fact that we were in a box was made known to everyone within earshot to hear Jason yell, "I'm in a box!"

Before the game started, Rami, Carrie, Rianne and I walked around the entire arena blowing the vuvuzelas. Obnoxious? Yes. Incredibly fun and worth the tingling of the lips for the rest of the night? YES! The great thing about these pretty cheap vuvuzelas is that they leave this very attractive red ring around the top of the upper lip. Said ring was still there this morning, along with a little swolleness...still worth it though! The noise never gets old. Of course the Admirals lost, but it was made up by the amazing time spent with my family and second family. 

I had the wonderful pleasure of driving the car with Aaron, Carrie, and Rianne in it. Those three + vuvuzelas = an incredible distraction to the driver! Fortunately, we made it home to live to see another great adventure. Like perhaps...the CAYMAN ISLANDS in 3 days!


~Katie~

Milwaukee Tourism

First off, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I know my family sure did!

Matt the amazing tour guide

One cool thing about having a guest from out of town, in this case out of the country, is that we get to do touristy stuff in Milwaukee. Yesterday we took a trip out to the Sprecher brewery. I learned two new things about our native beer/soda company. The first, is that they are in fact native to Milwaukee. Yes, that probably is something that I should have known already. Don't judge. The second, is that they actually brew beer! I had no idea. They actually started out as a beer brewery, then added soda a couple years later. I guess you learn somethin new every day! After a quick tour by an amazing tour guide, Matt a.k.a Dwight Schrute, we got to sample their stuff. No, I did not have any beer. Don't have a cow. But their root beer was delish!

Sample time!

Bill, dad, Duchene and 3 goofs in the back

 Today we went to The Domes. For those non-locals, they are three domes filled with flowers. Sounds fascinating, doesn't it? Well it is! One dome is tropical, one is desert, and the other is the "Show Dome". The contents of said dome are seasonal. Right now it's all Christmasy. It was a nice relaxing time of walking and lots of pictures. Tomorrow night is the much anticipated Admirals game!

Me and my momma

They obviously did not want me to sit with them. Anna and Emma so rudely pushed me off!

~Katie~

Good times in the hood...or house

Yesterday we celebrated Anna and Emma's 9th birthday! I still cannot believe that they are this old already. It seems just like yesterday that we brought them home to be with us. God has been so good!

 We spent the afternoon making Christmas cookies. Well, there goes my diet...but it sure is worth it. I am really grateful that we got to share this tradition with Duchene. He seemed to be having a good time. This was also the first year that my dad got to be home while we were making the cookies. It made it that much more special.

Later that night, it was time to go out for their birthday dinner. We have a tradition where the birthday girl (or girls) get to choose the place for dinner, keeping it a secret from the rest of the kids. Then everyone has to close their eyes on the way to dinner. The car ride is full of guesses and sometimes complaining that it's pointless to close eyes because we all know where we are know...but that rarely happens. ;) We got to Stonefire Pizza only to find that it was closed for the night. Fortunately, Anna and Emma had a backup. On to Dave & Busters we went.

When we got home, we did the ol' cake and ice cream, then presents. I know that they're growing up because my parents got them Nintendo DS's. Scary! Usually the birthday kid gets to choose a movie to watch, but seeing as how it was already midnight when we were done, we decided to wait on that. I'm pretty sure they want to watch the first Narnia. They're hooked after seeing Dawn Treader.

Happy birthday Anna and Emma!

 
Showing hope -
 ~Katie~