. May 2013 .
Hi there,
Welcome to our account of the month of May 2013.
It's been a month of ups and downs for us as well as being a very busy month.
So, grab your coffee, or tea, wine or beer and enjoy the read.
If you want to see our older blogs (from 2007 - Oct 2012) just click on the link below.
Sad News
You may be aware that Dave's Dad (Doug) has been battling with Cancer for a while now. On May the 4th (yes, International Star Wars Day - "May the Fourth be with you..." ) we got the call from Gordy (Dave's brother) with the news that Doug (Pop) had passed away. It was the phone call that we had been waiting for, but it was still a shock to finally get it. Thankfully Dave had managed to get back to NZ in March to spend some time with Doug and Lil (Mum/Grandma). It's a shame that the kids and Michelle didn't get to make that trip but they did speak on skype a few times.
Doug and Lil visited us in the BVI a couple of years ago and we all had a good time with them, as well as sharing Christmas there as well. Here's a few pics of Pop that bring back some special memories.
 |
| Grandma and Pop visit the (in)famous Bomba's in the BVI |
 |
| Christmas Dinner in the BVI with Pop and 'Big Sister' Liz |
 |
| Doug and Dave at Bush Town (Waimate) March 2013 |
 |
| Pop tries out the snorkeling in the BVI. A pretty good effort for someone who doesn't swim much. |
 |
| Playing with Pop in the snow at Waimate |
Bye, Pop.
We will miss you but we will always have many fond memories of the great times we had.
Dave, Michelle, Sam and Jake
xxxx
Dave, Michelle, Sam and Jake
xxxx
Busch Gardens
 |
| Sam and Sami |
They stayed on site and spent quite a bit of time visiting the various animals and learning about them.
 |
| The Giraffes were popular |
 |
| 550 lbs of Tortoise |
 |
| Sheikra the rollercoaster with a 200 foot drop to start... Sam's favourite. They were away for about four days and came back tired and happy. Washington is the planned trip for these guys next year. What a life! |
Bahamas - Episode III
It was Jake and Dave's turn next to pack their bags and head to the airport. They were off on the annual rugby pilgrimage to Freeport (Bahamas). This is their third trip to Freeport in as many years. It's always a fun trip for both the kids and also the parents that come along.
 |
| Arrival at Freeport |
This year there was huge interest from the age group teams within the Cayman Rugby Club. In the past we have only taken one or two teams down. This year the Under Tens, Twelves and 14's all went with enough kids for two teams in each grade. In total there was just over 120 tourists from Cayman. Given the number we decided to charter one of the Cayman Airways planes. It was pretty cool having your very own jet to take you somewhere.
 |
| The Under 12's |
There were three clubs represented at the tournament. Freeport (Bahamas) were the hosts. Key Biscayne, a bunch or Argentinians who live in Florida and the Cayman group.
 |
| Welcome speeches |
We flew over the Freeport on the Friday afternoon and were delivered to our hotel. The hotel is set up with a swimming pool in the centre with all of the rooms surrounding and facing the pool in a large square. It makes it easy to look after the kids there as they can only play in or around the pool or in the rooms. They can't escape. As luck would have it, they also have an outside bar beside the pool. That made the supervision of the kids even better!
Friday night was a welcome function at the Rugby club. Being our third visit there, it was almost like coming home. And it was great to catch up with our wonderful Freeport friends again.
 |
| Adam (one of the Freeport nutters) does his Stevie Wonder impression |
 |
| Jake in action against the other Cayman team. |
Saturday was rugby day. An early start for all with lots of rugby being played. The weather was great, if a little warm but there was plenty of fluids being consumed.
The boys had a great day with some good hard-fought games.
The day ended with an oldies match, a combined Freeport/Cayman side took on the Argies. The Argies even had an ex-international playing for them. Dave decided to have a run out as well and played in the 2nd and final thirds of the match. The Argies proved to be just a little bit quicker (and younger) than the combined side, but it was a fun game to play in .
 |
| BVI folk might remember Mariano, who moved from BVI to Cayman but is now living in Florida. He came over with the Key Biscayne guys. |
Saturday night was another function at the club followed by a few quiets around the pool back at the hotel.
It's probably safe to say that none of the kids made it to bed before 9 pm - although a couple of the parents may have!
Sunday morning and everyone was back for the final games. Another scorcher and again, some really good games of rugby. Our plane was departing at 2 pm so we had to leave a little earlier. In previous years we'd always gone to a beach for the afternoon and then flew home on the Monday. |
| Russ, while visiting Cayman from Vancouver decided to join us in Freeport |
But we did have a couple of post-tournament beers before departing for Cayman where Mother's Day was in full-swing - the girls had gone to brunch to celebrate by themselves, but the boys did manage to meet up with them for a drink on the beach!
 |
| Jake stands at First Five (or Fly Half as they say around here). Might have to work on the position of his hands though... |
 |
| Sarah rescued Jake and Dave on their first visit to Freeport. She spotted them walking along a road in search of the Rugby club. Unfortunately they were nowhere near and headed in the wrong direction as well. |
 |
| Alex always manages to tolerate us |
Another great weekend in Freeport, and we look forward to returning again next year.
Honduras
Later that week we were packing our bags yet again. This time we were off to Honduras for the long weekend. Friday afternoon found us back at the airport, and just over an hour later, we were in La Ceiba.
Gordy, Lisa, Podge and Siobhan travelled to Honduras while they were here at Christmas, so we thought we'd better get in on the act as well.
We stayed in a nice quiet riverside resort. We could swim in the river or in the pool and generally relax. It was like being in the middle of nowhere.
 |
| Not sure what this is about |
 |
| Zip-lining is always a lot of fun! |
On the Saturday morning we headed off to do some zip lining. This particular place had 18 rides. There weren't any other people there so we didn't have to wait for each ride.
Click this link to see a video of Michelle on a Zip line.
If it doesn't work, go to Dave's facebook page and view it there.
There are hot pools at the site and we could see steam coming up out of the trees as we whizzed over the top. When we booked in the lady said something to Michelle about a massage after the zip lining. Michelle thought she meant sandwich (as her english wasn't the best).
Then after we had finished the zip lining, one of the guys said something about a nice relaxing massage. Dave thought "Nice relaxing sandwich? No, maybe they do mean massage."
Anyway, they were led into the bush and found themselves at some natural hot pools, and also there was a massage table that didn't in anyway resemble a sandwich.
Michelle and the kids went exploring while Dave jumped on the massage table as instructed by the Senorita.
That was quite nice and was followed by some mud treatment. Dave wasn't convinced that this mud was all that flash, but went along with it anyway. The kids had a laugh when they came back and saw him looking all orangey/yellow.
 |
| Baking the mud |
 |
| Removing the mud in the hot pool... |
 |
| Michelle's turn. She gets double treatment |
 |
| Jake goes bush |
 |
| Jake finds his own natural spa bath |
After the zip lining, it was back to the resort for a quick lunch and then we were off white water rafting. Unfortunately the river levels were quite low so we ended up doing a river walk and rock jumping for about an hour, which was actually quite fun.
 |
| Jake leaps into certain oblivion hundreds of feet below. (OK, maybe 20 -30 feet) |
 |
| Sam is next, followed by Michelle and Dave. We all survived! |
We eventually got into the rafts and set off down the river. Jake and Dave in one raft with another guy and the guide, with Michelle and Sam in the other raft.
Jake and Dave's raft kept getting grounded on some on the bigger boulders.
Sam decided to see what would happen if she shoved her paddle into some rapids. She learnt the hard way and got a smack in the face from the paddle handle as it caught the force of the water. She chipped a tooth, but not too badly. But she battled on and enjoyed the rest of the trip.
Sunday was Horse trekking. We were taken to a place up the road that was run by a German woman. Her and her two locals took us on a tour up the road and through a few villages while explaining some of the sights and the history of the area.
We stopped for lunch and a really nice (and quiet) spot where we could swim in the fresh (and very cool) mountain fed river.
 |
| Some VERY fresh water |
 |
| These are bird's nests. The trees are very smooth and high so animals and snakes can't get up and steal the eggs. |
It was a nice tour but after a few more hours in the saddle we all hard sore bums.
The horse place had a bar in it so while we waited for our ride back to the villas we sat at the bar and had a drink and chatted to a couple of Kiwis. One was there on holiday (also from Cayman). The other actually worked there as a rafting guide. Small world!
The rest of the day was spent lazing about and playing in the river and the pool.
 |
| Lazing... |
 |
| Playing about in the river |
 |
| Cool pool! |
We were due to leave on Monday around lunch time. So that gave us a little time for one more activity in the morning. We arranged for a guide to take us across the river and up to a waterfall. It took us a little under an hour to get there. We were all pretty hot and sweaty by then.
Even though we were all hot, it took a little bit of coaxing to get everyone into the water. It was what some might describe as 'refreshing'.
Pretty awesome spot though! .
 |
| Michelle gets a head massage... |
 |
| The property has a couple of very large (but friendly and tolerant) dogs. |
 |
| Local transport |
 |
| Local bar, complete with portable 'chiller'. |
 |
| Local kids dig up the road. It seems that they do this and then demand money from road users in return for them to 'repair' the road... |
 |
| Love the wiring So, after the waterfall trip it was back for an early lunch and then off to the airport. We made it back to Cayman in good time and Sam was elated to be able to get off the plane and head straight to swim training... It was a great weekend and an awesome spot just to get away from it all. |
Jobs
Michelle has been living the life of leisure over the last few weeks. Her job ended at the end of April after some re-structuring. Hopefully something will come up soon as we can't have her getting used to not working!
She has been spending her time catching up on diving and also keeping fit. There's a 10km sea swim coming up that she is planning to do. Dave and the kids will just stick with the Mile sea swim thank you very much.
Dave's job is undergoing a bit of change as well at the moment. We aren't quite sure what that is just yet, but we'll keep you posted.
Diving
Here's a few pics from Michelle's latest dives. She's been going out with one of the local dive companies, that just happens to be across the road from our house!
Trumpet fish
Yes, that is a shark!
 |
| Siobhan and Podge just loved the Barracudas when they were here... |
 |
| Tarpon |
Indigo Hamlet
Masked Hamlet
Trunk fish
Cleaner shrimp
Spotted Moray
Juvenile spotted Drum
Swimming
A month here wouldn't be complete without some sort of swimming event in it.
This month we have two! Told you we'd been busy!
The first was the Lion's swim meet at the Lion's pool. It was a one day sprint meet with the maximum distance being 50m (apart from the medleys).
 |
| Sam and Steph prove that they can actually walk on water, although Sam sometimes needs a little support. |
 |
| Sam listens attentively to the coach |
Both kids did pretty well in their events, although Jake, who wants to compete at a meet in St Petersburgh (Florida) in July has a bit of work to do to improve his times and impress the coach.
The other event was the Butterfield 800m sea swim. The whole family took part in that. In the Family Takes, Sam was first in, followed by Michelle, Jake and then Dave came in a close (OK, not so close) 4th.
Official times were:
Sam, 18th over all in 12 mins 35 sec. 2nd in her age group, by 2 seconds.
Michelle, 20th over all in 12:54. 1st in age group
Jake, 73rd over all in 18:04. 2nd in age group.
Dave, 116th over all in 20:46. 9th in age group.
This race had 141 entrants and included a group of Special Olympians from around the Caribbean who were here on a swim camp. Sadly, one of them suffered a suspected heart attack during the race and subsequently died. This put a bit of a damper on the event and a few people were visibly upset afterwards as the news broke.
Visitors
Our good friends Tonya and Russ (and Keegan) came down from Vancouver to visit us in May. Tonya loves the beach and within about an hour of arriving in Cayman was settled on the beach enjoying the sun, and a cold beer.
The seas were a bit rough but that didn't stop the kids (and Russ) from having some fun, although Jake did get carried off in a rip at one stage, but he wasn't too concerned.
As Michelle was off work, she managed to spend a bit of beach time with Tonya during their stay - so much so that the staff at the Marriott thought she was a guest! There was quite a bit of relaxing on the beach, working on sun tans, with the occasional beverage to keep hydrated!
Gaelic Football and Touch update
The last game of the round was held for the Gaelic league last weekend. Dave's team narrowly lost to the top team but managed to make third place overall and a place in the finals.
Michelle's team have struck a rich vein of form over recent weeks and after another comprehensive victory last weekend have come out league winners in the women's league. So there's one trophy already in the cabinet for them.
The semis and finals are on this weekend. Stay tuned!
There were two Touch games this month - it was Dave's team's turn to take on the top teams and consequently dropped down the results table after losing both (Dave missed one game as he was in Bahamas). They did end up 4th overall and into the semis. But they narrowly lost their semi.
Michelle's team had one easy game putting them in the top four, but they had to play the 2nd top seed in the semi finals which they lost. Michelle played both games despite her ongoing niggling achilles injury that has now kept her from running for 6 weeks. It wasn't 100% but good enough for her to get back on the pitch which she was really pleased about. Was a bit sore the next day but does seem to be improving. If they have a play off for 3rd and 4th, it will be Michelle's team vs Dave's...
More Beach!
We made it back to the beach one Sunday during May. The rain did decide to pay a visit, but only briefly. The sea had settled down too, so that was nice.
The generator and blender were also out so the Mudslides again became the drink of choice for some!
Is that Sam with a mudslide? Oh, no it's a smoothie - phew!
 |
| The usual suspects |
The Bolter
Usain Bolt was in town for the Cayman Invitational track meet. Tonya and Russ were going, so Dave and Jake tagged along as well. There were a bunch of top level athletes on show and we were treated to some fast racing.
 |
| Some people took to the trees to get a look |
The highlight of the night was the Mens 100m. Usain Bolt was entered for the 200 but withdrew because of a hamstring issue. Because there was no turns in the 100m they deemed that to be OK to race in however. He got off to a slow start and had to work hard for his win. The crowd were convinced that he had been beaten, but the official results came out in his favour.
 |
| Mr. Bolt does his victory lap. He was too fast for us to get a decent photo! |
 |
| Sam and Sami looking dodgy |
 |
| Sometimes there are surfable waves here |
 |
| Jake dresses up as a character from a book for school. The book he chose was 'Nerds'. Luckily he didn't get beaten up or picked on at school that day... |
 |
| The Batabano parade was held in May. This was as close as we got this year. Google it if you want to see pictures of intoxicated people wearing minimal clothing and shaking their wobbly bits. |
Next Month
Next month we have a couple of dinners to go to. One is a Rugby Club Senior players dinner. Why we were invited we aren't sure, as Dave doesn't play much any more.
There is also the Annual Rugby Club Dinner which this year features recently retired Irish International Geordan Murphy.
The following day is the Mile Sea Swim...
Then on the Monday there is the 10km swim. Let's hope the weather is good for that.
We also have the Swim club's annual luncheon and prize giving. We'll be a bit tubby by the end of June!
Summer Touch starts up in June as well.
It's all go!
Catch you soon! .
