the durst family blog: Christmas Island

Tod and I decided we would take the boys to Grand Cayman before Christmas this year. For the past few years, we've tried to take them somewhere warm either before or after Christmas. We were so excited as we headed to the airport on the morning of December 19 to board our 9:30 flight. We were slightly disappointed when our flight was delayed for a 20 minute maintenance problem, but still felt good about our upcoming flights. That 20 minute delay, unfortunately, turn into a few hours and caused us to miss our connection to Grand Cayman in Charlotte. Hmmm.. What to do. After over an hour of searching flights, the gate agent booked us on a 9:00 pm flight to Philly where we would overnight and fly to Cayman the following morning. Back home we went to kill a little time. Then back to the airport around 8 to board our 9 pm flight. Only it was delayed. And delayed some more and then delayed again. We decided to head back home to let the boys sleep a bit while we watched the flight status online. By the time we got home, it had been cancelled altogether. US Airways had no idea how they would get us to Cayman as all of their flights were booked (make that OVERBOOKED) for the next few days. Luckily, Tod found a United flight online and we booked it ourselves. So we slept from midnight until 3 am and then drove to Charlotte for our flight. What a relief to be in the islands finally. A day late but totally worth the trouble. It was beautiful. We decided to stay an extra day to make up for our missed day.

We all had a blast. We swam with stingrays and we took a sunset cruise on a 65' catamaran on Christmas Eve. We swam and snorkeled and kayaked and ate and drank and overall had a very Merry time. We met some supernice people from Cary there also! The kids were both crying when it came time to leave. They loved their trip and didn't want to go home, even to a house full of presents. So, of course, we are begging Tod for another trip next year!!

Tod and Jackson kayaking