I'm Thankful for...

I'm thankful for family, cruise ships, warm destinations in winter, my little brother, and endless bacon at a buffet. This is my gratitude list this Thanksgiving. My mom's parents celebrated their 50th anniversary this year and instead of a huge party with lots of people, they asked for a huge trip with a few people. I love them a lot, so I agreed to travel to tropical islands and celebrate their marriage milestone. We visited Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico and the Cayman Islands.
There was no shortage of shenanigans, with my grandma and grandpa usually serving as the instigators. On our first night in the formal dining room, my grandma handed out frisbees and boomerangs - nice. A few nights later we got jumping frogs that we competed to flick into a glass in the center of the table - again, thanks to grandma. On Thanksgiving we wore a fashion-forward turkey hat and the day after thanksgiving we celebrated with Christmas tree glasses - classy. Needless to say, we didn't win the popularity award with our neighboring tables, but we sure had fun.
Our adventures on and off the boat kept us busy. We went snorkeling with turtles, played hours and hours of ping pong, ice skated, rode tons of water slides, became fiercely competitive at shuffle board, shot hoops, enjoyed mini golf, climbed the rock wall, and did a massive blow-up obstacle course in the ocean.

   (Sidebar: my mom made a comment as she and my dad were helping me and Gates swim several yards out into the ocean to get to the obstacle course - by the way, who does that with a two and five year old? - that they may not be the smartest parents, but they sure are fun. My grandpa quickly jumped in with a smile and agreed, "Yes, you are NOT the smartest parents...") Why let the dangers of an ocean stop some memories!The obstacle course was RIDICULOUSLY fun - so glad we risk our lives to experience it - thanks mom and dad!

Speaking of fun, my grandparents reserved the Flowrider, a man-made surf machine on the cruise ship, for just our family and we had a blast. Watching everyone ride/surf was fun, but seeing the wipeouts was definitely the funniest part - my dad had some impressive ones.
The whole trip was absolutely "picture perfect," thanks grandma and grandpa!