.. December 2016 ..
Merry Christmas!
Happy New Year!
We hope you had a nice break over Christmas and had a little fun as well as sun!
We can say that we have been pretty busy this time around. Some sport, some swimming, some beaching, some traveling, some visitors and even a little bit of Christmas cheer thrown in the mix.
Lots of pics this month...and maybe a little bit of reading as we explain what's been going on.
Coconut Cup
Sam and Jake had their final meet of the calendar year earlier in December. This was one of their bigger meets, where the times count as qualifying times for national selection to various events.
They had been training pretty hard over the last few months, and this would be the big test.
Sam, who had done it pretty tough over the last six months or so swam some amazing races and dropped times in almost all events. Not only did she put in some good qualifying times for next year's Carifta meet in Bahamas, she also posted about five qualifying times for the Island Games which will be held in Gotland in June. Gotland is a Swedish island in the Baltic sea...
But just because she has made some times doesn't mean she is off to the Island Games. There's a whole bunch of other stuff that needs to happen before that. But at least it's a step in the right direction!
Jake also swam really well, putting in some good results and personal bests in every event (with some huge drops!). The qualifying times for his age group are pretty tough this year, but he did manage to post one Carifta time and come close to several others, which is encouraging.
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| Sam psyching up. |
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| Jake moving some water |
Marathon
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| Post-race hydration |
Michelle took part in the Marathon again this year, doing the half while also running the first leg for her relay team. She started off pretty well despite the humidity even at 5am, but after about 3 miles had to take a couple of unexpected pit stops which added a couple of minutes to her time which she wasn't happy about, especially in the relay leg. Once she'd handed over the relay chip she found it hard to get going again, struggling mentally and physically to keep to a decent pace and finding she had to stop quite a few more times for the rest of the race. She got a second wind for the last mile but it was too late - the damage had been done - she wasn't happy with her overall time, although it turned out that she still managed to have the fastest time of the relay team! The girls came 4th female team which wasn't too bad. They celebrated the end with some bubbles!
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| Three of the team and a ringer! |
New Orleans
Or 'Nawlins' as the locals pronounce it.
We managed to take a week off before Christmas and head over to New Orleans to check out the culture, the music, the food and a few other things.
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| One of the first Jazz Clubs we went to |
The music was pretty good. Jazz bands all over the place, as well as a few other musician types. You didn't have to travel far to hear a tune!
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| Nothing like taking a selfie when you are up on stage playing! |
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| We went out and left the kids in charge tonight! |
The kids visited the Aquarium...albeit briefly!
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| This place was about 200m from our front door |
There were plenty of pub bands, and street bands and buskers all over the place. It has a real party or carnival type atmosphere to the place.
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| These guys were about 200m from our door as well, just in the other direction. |
Because the kids are still mid-season, they needed to maintain their swimming. Their coach arranged for them to train with a local team at the University. So, quite a few early starts but it got them out of bed! Each morning started with a trek to the bus stop then on to the pool, then on to brunch to refuel before getting into the day's tourist activities.
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| The weather turned a bit rough for a couple of days. We got to re-educate ourselves about feeling cold! |
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| Tough set! |
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| Jake and Sam were pretty happy with the Beignets! |
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| Cool house number! |
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| "And a Happy Christmas to y'all as well!" |
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| Called "Eleven" this is a memorial to the eleven people that died in the BP Oil explosion in 2010 |
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| That ain't no horse! That's a Mule! |
We did plenty of exploring around town. One day we found the Zoo!
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| Stirring up some trouble... |
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| Gator.... |
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| Another street busking band. They really are pretty good! |
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| A visit to the Mardi Gras factory where they make all of the floats and things for the Mardi Gras. |
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| Heading out to the Bayou's and the swamps lookin' for some Gators... |
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| Caught one! |
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| This a big gator, still hiding under the bank in his Gator Hole. He hissed a lot but wouldn't come out...too cold just now! |
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| Scenes around Bourbon Street |
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| A sculpture park also received a visit |
There were some pretty awesome sculptures on display.
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| A Man of Many Words? |
What an amazing sculpture this was - each an identical smaller man holding onto the lower one - went really high and the top ones were tiny!
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| Christmas lights in the park |
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| Pat O'Brien's bar is always popular, as is The Hurricane that Michelle is trying! |
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| The mist is coming in... |
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| "I'll have some onions rings please!" |
So, we had an awesome time in 'Nawlins'. Ate far too much but enjoyed trying the various local dishes including Crawfish, Gator, fried Oysters, Gumbo, Jumbalya, Shrimp, Beignets, Crabby Wife (yes, it is a food!), Grits (Barff!) and a whole bunch of other things. Michelle enjoyed a couple of Hurricanes (local cocktail) and various other cocktails as well!.
Christmas Time
We arrived back on the Friday night before Christmas. We had Saturday morning to get everything ready and do the food shopping and last minute buying, because in the afternoon we were off to a sand bar near Rum Point for the annual Xmas Eve beach gathering.
There were about four boats - all full of Xmas-hatted revelers.
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| Here's two of them |
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| Team Photo |
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| Yay! It's Christmas! |
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| We'll let you guess what's going on here |
After that, we headed back to town, went to a Christmas Eve party at a friends - and collected Gordy (Dave's brother) and Lisa from the airport and took them back to the party - then home to bed before Santa came.
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| Christmas morning at home |
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| Getting ready for Christmas brekky |
After our Christmas breakfast we went around to our friends (the Kehoes) for some Christmas bubbles and nibbles by the pool. Then it was home for a while before heading to the Rowland's for Christmas dinner, along with about 25 other folk.
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| Christmas Dinner |
The Keg was also in attendance, much to the delight of the gentle folk. The evening ended with a rather large version of the Xmas present stealing game...but all in good fun!
Sam's Surprise
Boxing Day was Sam's birthday. We'd arranged to take Sam and a couple of her friends out for dinner. We were 'picking up Taylor' from her parent's house along the way.
Click here to see what happened:
But if you didn't click, or the click didn't work - these guys happened!
All of these kids managed to keep this a secret from Sam for about two weeks. Not a bad effort really!
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| Ella, Sami, Sam and Taylor |
Sam asked later, "Are we still going to dinner?"
Diving #1
The next day we took Lisa for a dive. Her last dive was here about four years ago!
But she soon got back into the swing of things and away we went at Eden Rock.
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| A mass of Silversides |
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| Made it! |
Some of the Christmas lights at a house down the street
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| Dinner at the Lobster Pot |
Local specialties that were tried by our visitors included Ceviche, Turtle (yes, turtle) and Conch
Dive #2
So, since we had a little time on our hands on the morning of New Year's Eve, we thought we'd take Lisa for another dive. This time at Sunset House, where the Mermaid lives.
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| Conch on the hoof |
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| Shrimp |
After the dive and some lunch, we headed out to Cemetery Beach for a bit of a snorkel and some chill time before the parties later that night.
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| We get all sorts at the beaches here |
First stop of the night was at Camana Bay for the 7 pm fireworks.
It was pretty impressive!
Just a couple of the fireworks shots
Next stop was at our friends Toni and Paul for a quiet drink and some loud fireworks.
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| This does go off with a bang.... several in fact! |
Then, for the final act of the night, it was off to Jo and Raz's for the NYE party.
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| Sandwiched between Nellie and Dan is Victoria, our other visitor who is travelling with Gordy and Lisa. |
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| It must be next year! |
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| Jacky, Michelle, Kathy & Lisa |
A fun night was had by all!
The following year, we find ourselves back on Governor's beach for the Annual New Year's Day party. This is well attended by a large number of friends and acquaintances. It's really a pot-luck byo all day party....
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| Gordy and Lisa managed to find a Mudslide...or two! |
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| Oooh look! A Keg! |
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| This is the majority of the crew |
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| First Sunset of 2017 in Cayman |
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| Having a beer for Podge... He couldn't make this trip, but he was there in spirit. |
The sun set, but the party didn't stop
See you all soon!Click here to see a short clip of one of the bands we saw
