. June 2013 .
Hi there,
We hope you are doing alright wherever you may be in the world.
Another busy month for us. On reflection it looks like all we've done all month is go to swim meets, swim or go to parties, with a couple of other events thrown in for good measure. Still, can't complain about that! .
Enjoy the read!
Previous blogs from 2007 - Oct 2012 are available here:
http://baileybviadventure.blogspot.com/2012/11/issue-62-october-breeze.html
Yep, it's that time again. The Bow Ties and Shoes and Dresses etc all came out for the annual Rugby Club Dinner. It was held at Papagallo's again this year. A nice spot. The guest speaker was Geordan Murphy - ex Ireland and Lions player.
 |
| Pre-dinner drinks with Cayman's Mr. Heineken |
 |
| Girl's Table... It's a popular event. Some people flew all the way from Vancouver just to be there. |
 |
| Chocolate Rugby Balls! |
 |
| Dave accepts an award from Mr. Murphy on behalf of Koro (who wasn't at the dinner) - one of the partners in Crime at Cayman Rugby TV |
 |
| Koro turns up later to retrieve his award, before it got emptied. |
There were about 230 guests at the dinner. As always, a good night with lots of fun and laughter. Last year the place ran out of beer. That didn't happen this year...The dancing carried on and we ended up missing our ride home. Fortunately the taxis were on hand! It would be a long walk!
 |
| Sucker for a man in uniform |
Coaches' Dinner
The Friday before was a little get together of the Junior Coaches around at a friend's house. We all gathered there to help with a keg as well as a copious amount of wine, and some very nice beef.
National Team Dinner (the next evening's activity)
And just to continue the theme of dinner parties. We also attended the National Men's team dinner at the Wharf. This was another black tie dinner, but Dave didn't get the memo. Oops!
As luck would have it, the annual one mile sea swim was scheduled for the day after the Rugby Club Annual Dinner. Michelle, Dave (and Tonya) had had a great night out at the club dinner but were now faced with fronting up for the sea swim. With much groaning and complaining we all piled in the car and headed down to the Ritz (which was the start point).
It was another very hot day too, so waiting around on the beach in that heat with a slightly dodgy head wasn't the best. Although, some looked better than others.
 |
| Sam, Skyler and Sammi are all set! |
 |
| Almost a Mother and Daughter shoot! |
 |
| Pre-race hydration is important |
About 900 people take part in the swim which is apparently the richest event of its kind in the world - due to the prizes given out - approx $100k in prizes ranging from Hotel stays to International Flights to phones and other goodies. Sam won a brunch at the Ritz, and Jake got a swim with the dolphins voucher. Skyler won a blackberry, so a pretty good haul from our lot!.
Michelle came in at the front of our bunch in about 24:35 minutes (89th) with Sam (26:45, 110th), Skyler (27:52, 154th), Tonya (32:34, 275th) and next there was Jake (36:53, 416th) - all were personal best times! And a little bit further back in the pack was Dave (40:55, 553rd). But he did beat about 350 other swimmers and took about 5 minutes off his previous best time! (Which isn't really that flash...).
 |
| Post race Cider-ritas are also important |
Michelle has been getting a few more dives in of late, making the most of her time off. She managed to get out on a two tank boat dive once a week with the closest dive company, just on the corner of our street.
Here are some of the pics from her latest dives.
 |
| Squidly Didly! |
End of School!
Yep, school finished for Sam and Jake at the end of June. They are off until September now. Man, that year flew by!
 |
| Jake's end of year awards ceremony |
Both Sam and Jake received awards for their efforts throughout the year. They have both been doing pretty well, and Sam seems to have adjusted pretty easily into High School life.
Rugby
The last rugby fixture for the boys was the curtain raisers prior to the National men taking on Bermuda in the North America/Caribbean championship.
 |
| Jake shapes up for a tackle |
On this day Jake's team came out winners two tries to one.
 |
| A couple of post-test match drinks |
Jake plays soccer on a Sunday morning and that finished up a couple of weeks ago with a finals day tournament. They ended up third overall - not a bad effort really.
High School Swim Sports
The inter-school swim sports were held two weeks ago. Sam and a few of her mates took part in that.
There were no individual winners so as to encourage the kids to have a bit of fun, but scores were taken and Cayman Prep was announced the winning school!
The Cayman Prep Team!
Swim Awards
The swim club awards lunch was held two Sundays ago out at the Reef resort at East End. The kids all get presented with their achievements based on their official swim results over the year. Both Sam and Jake came away with their respective certificates.
There were awards in each swimming group as well for Most Improved and also best swimmer. Sam's good mate Ella got the most improved award while their other buddy Stephanie was awarded the Spirit award for her efforts and hard work she has put in over the year.
 |
| Stephanie and Sam 'n Ella |
Anyway, they finally put us out of our misery and announced Sam as the club swimmer of the year, which is a pretty big deal really. This award usually goes to a Senior Swimmer.
So Sam was pretty stoked, but not as stoked as her Mum!
 |
| A collection of loot from the last few months... |
For some unknown reason, Dave had been talked into entering a team in a Trivia night which was a fundraiser for some hockey kids. We never had much of a team in mind but ended up with Michelle, Tonya (who was vising from Vancouver) and roped in the swim coach about an hour before.
 |
| Groupies in the background |
The first round just happened to be a True/False round. We managed to guess almost every answer and came out on top after round one. That earned us tee-shirts and some vouchers for a local bar restaurant, which was a pretty good effort for a bunch of numpties.
We actually did pretty well in the other rounds as well, and ended up 2nd over-all. Fun night!
 |
| We actually used our vouchers from the trivia night about three nights later |
Kids Triathlon
Michelle entered Sam and Jake in the annual kids tri. Both managed to organise teams (so they didn't have to do the whole thing on their own). Both ended up doing the swim leg, which was really a bit of a doddle for the both of them.
Although an error in the lap counting for the bike meant that one of the teams in Jake's race ended up ahead of them going into the run. It didn't matter - little Igor is a running machine and caught them no trouble. He was even passing people who were still on the bike leg!
 |
| Sam's team finished the run leg together |
 |
| Pre race tactics... |
 |
| And the team finish |
 |
| Done! |
Michelle had trained for the event though and as long as the weather behaved she would be fine. It did, and she finished in a time of 3 hours and one minute.
Great effort!
Swim Meets
The last local swim meet of the season was held last weekend. Sam, Jake, and Michelle took part and all three did some personal best times! Michelle was very busy during the meet - she helped with the initial organisation of it, then was an official at each session, and added some entertainment by stripping off the official kit and racing a couple of times in each session! Not only did she swim a couple of Masters races, but she decided to swim a few 50m sprints with the 13 and overs - she even cleaned up the others in each of her heats (needless to say they were the slowest heats!)
 |
| Michelle takes off in the girls 13 and over race... |
 |
| Sam was a little critical of Mum's starts. |
 |
| Michelle's Butterfly |
 |
| Jake wins his 50m fly as well. |
 |
| The 10 and under boys relay team put in a great effort to win their event. |
 |
| And still they celebrate! |
 |
| The Navy comes to town, and gets their ar$e kicked at the rugby club |
 |
| Tough swim! |
 |
| Not your best dive Jake! |
 |
| Winners of the girls 18 and over relay |
Bit's n Pieces
 |
| Jake the scientist |
 |
| An afternoon at Spott's beach |
 |
| The kids have fun out on the water |
Swim Tour
Sam is currently up in Florida on a swim tour with her club. They were at Sarasota this weekend at a meet there. Sam made three finals all up and managed a silver in one. Now they stay there and train for the week before going to St Petersburgh next weekend for another meet.
Michelle, Dave and Jake will travel up for that. Jake will swim there as well, so that will be a good experience for them both.
 |
| Pre race - Sarasota |
 |
| Sam, sitting on a heat pad after experiencing her first (and possibly last!) ice bath. |
 |
| The weather turned to crap, but training must go on! Next month |
Next month we'll have the results from the St Pete's meet.
Not sure if we have too many other plans for a while so we'll just have to see how we go!
I'm sure there's something we can fill the blog up with!
.
