. October 2013 .
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| This is a time-lapsed photo taken on Saturday night during a very busy electrical storm here in Cayman. No, we didn't take it.... |
Hi there,
Welcome to our October edition. Again, we are a little behind schedule and we apologise for that.
Compared to recent months, October appears to have been a relatively quiet month. A bit of swimming, some beach time and Halloween pretty much make up the high points.
We hope you enjoy the read!
Swimming
Sam and Jake continue to train. Sam's training has changed a little where they now have two Cross-fit sessions each week along with the other six pool sessions. They seem to be working pretty hard so hopefully all the hard work pays off.
The Club had a swim meet earlier in the month. Both kids took part. Jake was particularly happy with one of his swims were he managed to come first and beat one of the other boys who has been dominating in the pool for a while. Jake had 2 of 5 PBs that day.
Sam also had a good few races with 3 out of 4 PBs and her times are pretty much on track for another showing at next year's Carifta champs. Although having said that, she has moved up a year group so the competition will be even harder this time around.
Jake also swam in the Camana Bay swim club's Club's Spooky Splash Swim meet. He PB'd in two events, but he is starting to realise that he needs to put the extra effort in at training to get the results these days.
The kids also had a fundraising Swim-a-thon for the Stingray Swim Club during October. Each child was asked to raise a minimum of $400. This is a small place and fundraising is an ongoing activity for all of the many sports on the island. If it isn't swimming, it's Rugby fundraising, or Football, or Hockey, or Baseball or Netball and on and on it goes so it can be a challenge. Although the kids found it difficult to ask people for money they realised that people are very generous, especially when it's for a good cause and the kids are being challenged to achieve something - they both managed to get a fair amount of sponsorship, raising $1000 between them. Jake even managed to get someone to sign up to sponsoring him $1 per 50m lap. They would have two hours to do as many laps as they could.
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| Jake managed 95 laps (a little under 5km) in his allotted time. |
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| Sam's group were told to stop once they had completed 100 laps. She did that with time to spare. |
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| Clocking up the miles! |
The aim was to raise $20,000 for the club. The final total was over $24,000 so that was a fantastic effort by the entire club.
Jakey Baker
Jake was a bit bored one Saturday morning after Rugby so he decided to make a Gingerbread house (as you do...)
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| The Happy Baker |
He wanted to eat it all the same day! But was told that it needed time to set etc so he left it for a few days. We did notice however that some of the jubes/lollies that were used to decorate it seemed to be mysteriously disappearing... And the fact that Jake was not complaining about someone stealing his decorations confirmed our suspicions.
Surfing
Our friends Tonya and Russ popped down for a week in Cayman. Before they left, they managed to pop down to the little surf beach for a play.
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| Tonya comes in for a break. |
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| Jake just comes in! |
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| Dave working the massive surf! Halloween October always seems to bring out the crazies, and this year was no different. It was a busy time on the Halloween front with two Halloween parties to attend on the one weekend. One was with Michelle's work function on the Friday night, and the other was the Rugby Club's annual Halloween party on the Saturday night. Big weekend! |
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| Michelle finally puts her face on... |
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| Dave, looking pretty! |
We decided to catch a taxi home after the party. There were none lined up outside so we started to walk down the road a bit and flag one down. Several went by and none of them stopped, which was a little annoying. So we popped into a bar and had them call one for us. It wasn't until then that we realised what we looked like and our chances of flagging a taxi down at that time of night while looking like we did were rather slim!
Anyway, a taxi did arrive and we made it home OK.
As we said, Saturday night was the Rugby Club Halloween party. We couldn't go out wearing the same get-up as the previous night so we made the effort to do something completely different. Michelle had a black ballet outfit and thought she could go as the Black Swan, from the movie of the same name. Dave thought he could scrounge up some gear to do something similar, although he probably looked more like a Gay Goose.
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| All kitted up and ready to go! |
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| Lisa and Mick |
A small group gathered at our house prior to the party. As it wasn't too far away, we all walked into town wearing our costumes. There was plenty of it about!
Us kiwis seem to really get into the costume thing! Fellow kiwis, Vicki (above) and Gemma (below)
And another kiwi - Jo the mermaid (below)
They had some prizes for various categories. We managed to get the prize for the best couple (we think!). Oh well, can't complain!
Another good night, and this time we could walk home!
Click here for more Halloween pics!
Weather
Yes, we have had our fair share of weather this month. The rain continues! The official Hurricane season ends at the end of November. We have to say we've been pretty lucky again this year with no major storms coming anywhere close.
This photo was taken minutes before the picture at the top with all of the lightning. Jake and Dave were about to come home from the Rugby club on Saturday night when the skies opened. Soon after that the lightning started up. It was very close, and very loud. So close in fact that Dave's car got showered in sparks as the power pole next to his car took a hit. Luckily the car was undamaged and they managed to get home safely! The Rugby club was without power though!
Well, that's our whack for October.
Enjoy November and we'll see you at the other end!
Next Month:
Michelle attempts the Olympic distance triathlon.
MOvember 2013! :{)
The NACRA Sevens
Visitors....
And other stuff we haven't thought of yet.
