5 Stars

We stayed at the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort. It is by far our very favorite beach resort to stay at with a family. Not too big, not to small. It was just PERFECT!

At check-in they brought all of us punch, which is basically just the beginning of being waited on constantly. Just look at these room keys. Aren't they gorgeous? They are pictures of the hotel.

We stayed in an Ocean Front Junior Suite. This is the living room area.

Ginger was a live wire on the plane and then crashed right before we landed. She slept through customs, all the baggage shuffle, ride to the hotel, check-in, and everything!

My only complaint about our room was that it didn't have a seperate bedroom. There was totally space for it because we had a living room and then a bedroom area, both areas were quite spacious. But we knew that going in, so we were prepared for a week long slumber party! It was our family anniversary afterall.

Actually being in one room made it so that Ken and I had the bed to ourselves almost every night. Weird when that rarely happens at home!

I just had to include this picture because it really symbolizes our life for the most part. I think alot of busy parents can relate:-)

The view from our room!

The beach and ocean was one of the very best parts of this hotel. If you look closely at the ocean...the darker rows in the water are the aritificial reefs they built. The water leading up to the first row was only about 3.5-4 feet deep. There is about 75 feet of ocean that gently sloped to that depth. The sand was very soft and white. The waves were extrememly gentle almost like a lake because the reefs broke up alot of the waves. The little girls were able to swim independently with their vests. Rose especially LOVED that freedom.

The other benefit of the reefs is all of the fish we were able to swim with. These little minnows would swim right up to the sand, and the kids had so much fun trying to catch them. Which they never managed to do:-)

The boys were able to snorkel on their own right in front of us. We would take them back behind sometimes where it was deeper, but they spent alot of time exploring on their own. It was amazing to be walking and swimming around with all the fish. The girls were totally entertained.

The last day some families at the resort were feeding fish and gave the boys food to feed them. We really ended up even more swarmed with fish. They fed the fish bread, frozen peas, and frozen corn. I just have to note that Nathan is the master at being outgoing and charming. He was able to talk to these families and even older couples with such ease and they just adored him and he snagged tons of food for the rest of us to feed the fish.

Another huge bonus of this hotel was the open-air courtyard garden. It was beautiful. Their were plenty of palms and flowers. Walkways meandered around a lagoon, with seating spread all throughout. It was very pretty and made for an interesting walk each day. We found 4 turtles in the lagoon during our stay

A huge source of enjoyment for all the kids was all the animals we saw. We saw lots and lots of lizards.

We also saw an iguana. Ginger spotted this guy. This was just a really great resort to amuse all age levels.

The hotel also keeps 3 parrots and bring them out each afternoon for the guest to hold and visit with.

Ken was the brave one because there was no way that I was going to hold it.

Both of the girls were so delighted to see the parrots up close. Look at Ginger's cute expression!

We were also surprised to see a crab. Like a real crab just walking on the steps by the beach! Darin discovered it but Nathan and I were the ones who had a field day following it around and seeing where it went.

This little guy was quite fast when he walked. It was pretty incredible.

The rest is just pictures of the kids hanging out in the hotel room.