Our Caribbean Adventure - continued: July 2014

.. June 2014 ..

Hi there,

Welcome to our June edition. Apologies for the delay. The end of the month seemed to slip by without us realising!

Anyway, we had a reasonably busy month, off and on. A couple of quiet weekends, and a couple of busy ones!

The kids have now finished school for the (School) year. They start back in September after another long hot summer. We have a few summer camps lined up for them both. Sam has another swim meet in Florida in August, as does Michelle. We also have a small holiday planned for Quebec. Anyway, that's all in the months to come. here's what we did in June.

The Social Scene

We had a few social engagements to attend during the month. The first of which was a farewell for our Kiwi friends Koro and Emily, who are heading back to NZ after living here for about Seven years. Koro is our main Commentator on Cayman Rugby TV, so that's a bit of a blow! You might hear him at some stage on Radio Sport back in NZ.

Dave & Koro - the face for Radio.

Michelle & Lisa enjoy a Mojito!

Next on the social calendar was Michelle's work's Masquerade Ball. Not too much to do in preparation for this one, apart from chucking a mask on!

They went to a bit of effort in preparing the venue for the night. Some impressive hangings and art works adorned the hall. That combined with the lighting made it very impressive.

Swimming and Sam takes on Sarasota

The kids had their annual swim club prize giving banquet a couple of Sundays ago. It's always a nice thing to attend and see all the kids getting different awards for their various achievements over the year.

They replayed the video that the kids made earlier in the year. If you haven't seen it, it really is worth a watch. Sam and Jake both play cameos in it.

Click here to see Sam, Jake and the other Stingray Swimmers sing Bohemian Rhapsody.

Sam and Jake didn't get any major awards this year, but both made some real progress in their swimming and now look forward to the last couple of swim meets for the season before taking a short break over summer.

Jake did win a game of Caymanopoly in the Raffle though!

After the lunch it was off to the beach for Olympic Day. The National Swim association were putting on some swimming displays as part of the day. Their efforts involved a series of short/fun relays in the sea.

Three swim mums look on, waiting for the start.

Sam's turn to hit the sea!

And back!

Jake powers up the beach for the handover.

Next event - Backstroke.... in the sea

The Backstroke race was very entertaining as the swimmers didn't have lane ropes and couldn't see where they were going. After some interesting (if not questionable) looking backstroke styles, they all zig-zagged their way out to the buoy and back to the beach.

No, not synchronised swimming.

The rain dance.

The Swim-In-A-Big-Tee-Shirt-and-then-pass-it-to-the-next-swimmer race

Jake strangles his team mate while trying to get the tee shirt off her.

At the end of the month, Sam went to compete in Sarasota, just out of Tampa, with the Stingray senior swim team. There were 9 swimmers that went along - keen to show the US swimmers what the Cayman swimmers are made of. There were three sessions each day - heats in the morning, timed trials in the afternoon, and finals in the evening. Sam started out very strong on the first day, with a good PB in the 200m IM, narrowly missing a Zones qualifying time. She made it into the final for the IM and the 50 Free and rested up ready to do it all again that evening. Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided to step in and, due to thunder and lightning. the afternoon and evening sessions ended up being cancelled, much to the disappointment of the swimmers. The next day Sam made another final, but the same thing happened! The third day the weather improved, however they did not have time to make up any of the swims missed and unfortunately, Sam was unable to get the qualifying time she was aiming for. Not to worry though, she already has two qualifying times so will be able to go to the US Zones meet at the end of July. Luckily, as is often the case when we go to the US, there was a little bit of time found for some retail therapy - and the message Mum gets is..."oh by the way, you owe Miss Kathy $150"....mmmm - must get that girl a job, so much like her mother!

Boston

One of our friends was having his 50th Birthday celebrations (which have gone on for about three months now). Anyway, he invited a bunch of guys to head up to Boston for the weekend to celebrate (and to take in some of the culture that is Boston). Dave attended the weekend with seven other willing participants.

Boston. Beacon Hill is over there.
Apparently it's where they had a Beacon but never lit it. Go figure...

Taking in some of the sights on the Trolley Bus Tour

We spent some time listening to the orchestra

No trip to Boston is complete without setting foot in Cheers!

"Norm!!!!!!!"

This lady played tunes on wet wine glasses or varying sizes. She even did requests!

And yes, we did have some British with us!

These clowns were at Paul Revere's place. At this point they were singing the "Star Spangled Banner" but had to read the words from a sheet of paper. Even then they struggled. Hmmm...not a great effort by the patriotic 'mercans'.

Hmmmm.... are we in Italy or Boston?

Group photo outside a popular bar...somewhere in Boston

Ooh look, another bar!

This (American) guy played for North Harbour....

Wandering the streets on a sunny afternoon

One side of a building. Looks more like a solar panel.

That would be about right!

This one definitely isn't the Pour House...until you leave!

Ah yes, it was the same weekend as the Gay Pride Parade.
Perfect timing for Eight guys travelling together.

Our accommodation had an open feel about it, and was very inexpensive.

The real (original) Cheers....

That looks like a challenge!

"Twenty three...."

It was a good weekend. The boys all had a lot of fun and had a decent look around Boston. The trip home on the Monday was a little quieter than the arrival on the Friday afternoon.

Click here to see the other photos from Boston

More Randoms...