. January 2014 .
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| Like our New Year Fireworks Smiley Face! |
Welcome to 2014! Yes we are a bit late but we're here!
I don't know about you but the time just seems to be whizzing by! January is normally a chilled out relaxing time, but it seems like we've been on the go since day one!
Grandma (Dave's Mum) spent a month with us over Christmas and New year. We managed to get her working though. She cooked a yummy Christmas pudding. Helped us move house, and did some painting with Sam, amongst everything else she got up to.
Lots of outdoors time this month, which is always good. Enjoy the read!
New Year's Eve
We kicked off New Year's Eve with a fireworks display at Camana Bay. It was at 7:30 pm (and it's dark by then here) so that was a good way to start the evening off with a bang!
After that it was time for a quiet beer (or cider!) before Sam headed off to a party for a few hours.
Jake, Michelle and Dave took Grandma out for a quick bite to eat in the interim before picking Sam up again and then heading to our friend's place on the beach for the New Year's party.
Hair styled by Sam
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| Grandma with Kim Lovelock - a kiwi living here who has rellies out at Waihaorunga (Waimate folk will know where that is) |
There was a good bunch of people at the party. The kids disappeared to do what kids do and everyone else mingled and did the usual party stuff.
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| Michelle entertains the crowd |
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| Look at that! |
We saw 2014 in with some bubbles and lots of cheer and plenty of laughs. Then it was bedtime. Everyone was looking forward to the annual New Year's Day gathering at Governor's beach.
For more pics of New Years Eve, click there!
New Year's Day Gathering
Every year on New Year's Day, there is a fairly large gathering of like-minded folk who drag themselves out of their AC and their beds to come down and enjoy the first day of the year with friends, family and whoever else turns up.
There is usually a generator and a blender so the Mudslides are out in force. There are also two or three handy chefs who really do put on some lovely food for all. It's never planned or organised to any extent, but it's always a great day.
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| Grandma checks out Seven Mile Beach |
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| The gathering gathers. |
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| Mudslides a-making |
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| Pulled-pork and cider a-tasting. |
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| Bit of beach rugby going down. |
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| The sun does it's thing with the clouds |
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| ANZAC parade... |
Another great day on the beach with lots of friends and plenty of cheer. The next day isn't a holiday here, but we made sure we had the day off!
Other Happenings
Dave was lucky enough to have the pleasure of looking after five kids one day over the break. And wouldn't you know it, it would be a rainy wet day. So after a few hours of continuous racket in the house, we took Grandma (and the tribe) to the National Art Gallery for a little bit of culture.
Being in a place where you are supposed to be reasonably quiet and respect other people's peace was a foreign concept to some, who were close to being removed from the premises. But we survived and the kids even found a few paintings and exhibits that were of genuine interest!
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| Four of the five budding art critics... |
Ironshore Ultra
No, it's not a new beer label (although the local brewery does make an 'Ironshore Bock'). The Ironshore Ultra is a race from one end of the island to the other, covering roughly 52 miles. Some people did it on their own (hence the 'Ultra') and others did it in teams. Michelle and a few of the local girly runners got a team of 8 together and spent about half of a Saturday traipsing the trail and cheering each other on.
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| Must be early on in the leg, she's still smiling. |
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| It's later on in Lisa's leg, she was hit by dehydration and thought she was a Moose. |
As the day wore on and the sun became hotter, they battled on and eventully the end was in sight. Dave took Grandma and the kids out to meet up at the finish line at Kaibo. Kaibo is a bar/restaurant out by Rum Point. Unfortunately for the runners, the finish was another 300 metres past the bar. It was noted that at least one team stopped in at the bar before resuming the last dash to the finish line. Michelle's team came in in a respectable time of about 7 1/2 hours with a few teams and individual runners behind them. Nice job!
Grandma's Visit
As we reported in December's issue, Grandma made the long trek across the world to spend Christmas at our house. The weather is a little cooler (and usually drier) at this time of year so it would have been a little more bearable.
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| Grandma in Cayman |
We managed to drag Grandma out and about to show her some of what Cayman life is all about.
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| Grandma at Starfish point (not sure why they call it that...?) |
I had to wear my winter pj's when I got home, it was so cold round here. In fact it has been the coldest January anyone could remember. Warming up now though, so that is good. I just loved watching Sam and Jake swimming; they are so good! Just keep it up kids!
The submarine was great, could have stayed down there a lot longer!
All the meet and greet and eating out was wonderful. I tried out the Mojitos on a few friends lately - they got the thumbs up. Have yet to try some of the other delights on the locals here.
Have kept this brief, all the best for the swim team in Jamaica.
Love, Grandma
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| A quiet Cider in the sun. |
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| OK, maybe a couple of ciders... |
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| Grandma samples the famous Rum Point Mudslide |
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| "That was nice. I think I'll have another!" |
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| "OK, just one more..." |
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| They are good aren't they! |
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| ZZZZzzzzzz......... |
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| Some of those Iguanas are huge! |
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| The dock at Rum Point |
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| Dinner at 'Over the Edge' |
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| More Christmas lights - this is at a private house. |
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| Jake tears it up for Grandma |
We went out to Pedro St James to show Grandma the start of Cayman's history.
There was a pretty good show that described life in the early days and gave some history. There is also the house where Cayman's first legislators used to meet.
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| There was also a midget Donkey. |
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| The Blow-holes were just up the road. They were on form this day! |
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| Some turtles came to say Gidday at Spott's Beach. |
The local swimming association arranged for a couple of Olympic swimmers to come down and spend a weekend with the swimmers on island. Swimming Olympian Ruta Meilutyte, World Record Holder of the Women's 100M Breaststroke (Olympics 2012) and her coach Jon Rudd from the UK were there. Cayman's own Olympian Swimmer Brett Fraser; US Olympian & Coach Neil Walker (USA); US High Performance Coach, Dave Kelsheimer (USA).
The kids went to a couple of their clinics and got to learn a few things about being an olympic swimmer, as well as some technique work at the pool.
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| Jake gets a few tips on his starts from Coach Dave. |
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| Jake with Olympic Champion Neil Walker and his Olympic Gold Medal (although it looks as though Neil may have had a couple cheeseburgers since his last meet) |
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| Ruta autographs some kit for the kids. |
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| Grandma was intrigued by this little critter who scurried around the beach one day while we were watching Jake surf. |
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| Jake and Tommy team surfing. |
Swim Meet
The weekend just gone was the first swim meet of the year. Sam and Jake swam in a number of events, and Michelle made a splash or two as well in the girls 11 and over.
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| Michelle flies up the pool. |
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| Jake off the block. Not sure if his coach would be that happy with his technique! |
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| Is Mum any better? You be the judge. |
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| Sam 'n Ella try some synchronised racing in the IM. Check out the FB pics for the full sequence. |
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| Michelle and Dave admire the entertainment at the Olympian's dinner. |
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| Grandma, inspired by Sam and Jake, puts in a few lengths in the pool at home. |
We took Grandma to the Turtle farm. She got to get a good close up look and feel with the little Turtles.
The big ones were a tad big.
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| Just chillin... |
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| A few Iguanas hanging out. |
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| Cayman Parrot |
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| We always said that Grandma was going to hell! |
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| Another relaxing time at the beach |
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| Sam gets a bit 'arty' with the camera. |
Night Dive
We took Grandma on a night dive - in a Submarine.
It was a great way to dive to 112 feet in relative comfort without getting your feet wet!
Depth 112ft
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| Grandma takes Waimate to new depths... |
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| Phew! I survived! |
Gaelic
Gaelic season kicked off again a few weeks back. We took Grandma down to watch Michelle in action during the season opening Social Mixed Gaelic day.
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| Someone is running in the right direction... But who? |
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| Aha! The ball! |
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| Jake had a few mates around for his birthday and a sleepover. Lord of the Flies has been rewritten... |
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| Another beach day... |
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| Sam looks after her latest admirer. |
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| Beach day (or night) fun! |
Our good mate Russ came down from Vancouver for a week to work here in Cayman. He stayed with us and it was great catching up and doing some beach time.
One day we went to the beach and hired a couple of Jetskis. The kids had a blast, especially when they were allowed to drive! Jake loved it so much he didn't want to stop. Wonder what he'll ask Santa for next Xmas...
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| Russ and Jake check out the Jetski. |
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| "I'm not so sure about this" says Russ. |
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| Give that kid a lemon to suck on. |
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| Back on dry land... |
Netball
You can't live this close to Jamaica and not have netball going on. The courts are right next to where the kids do their swim training, so that's handy.
Michelle and a few mates play in a social team in the 'B' league here.
They have had mixed results - a win, a draw and a couple of losses, but all were really close games and quite entertaining to watch. The Jamaicans here get right into it on the sidelines, and I'm talking about the men!
Sam finally got to have her Birthday party - only a month late this year. A bunch of her mates came with us to the beach where they got to hang out and go for rides on the Banana Boat.
After that, a few came around and stayed over. It wasn't quite like 'Lord of the Flies' the previous week.
Click the two links below for more pics from January
- Waitangi Day (Cayman Style)
- Sam and Michelle do Jamaica (Swimming)
- Jake heads to Jamaica later in the month (Swimming)
- Dave hangs about the house
