. October 2017 .
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| Lazy sunday, watching the world go by at Governor's beach |
Hi there,
October is done gone!
We were a bit all over the place this month. Michelle was in NZ and then off to a Touch Tournament in San Diego.
Dave and the kids remained on island, but had a few things going on - when the weather didn't intervene that is. It's been a fairly wet month which was capped off by Tropical Storm Phillipe who dumped a bit of rain and roughed up the seas a little.
Enjoy the read!
New Wheels
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New wheels! Sam and Jake check out the little car we got for Sam to drive....
She'll be 17 in December (where did that time go?!), and able to go for her licence!
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We took it for a test drive one Sunday and ended up down at Macabucca, which is a nice spot for lunch. However, after about 15 minutes, the sky turned black, the wind came up, the rain came down and the seas cranked it up. But we found shelter at the bar under the roof and had lunch in relative shelter.
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| View from our sheltered spot |
We headed back toward home after that, and thought we'd stop in at Governor's Beach to see if anyone was out braving the elements.
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| A lot of rain in a short time makes an impact here - being a flat island, there isn't too many options for drainage |
The beach was deserted...apart from a bunch of crazies huddled up under a tent with umbrellas keeping the sides dry...
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Yes, the crazies were familiar to us... Mick & Lisa and a few others. The rain did stop and the sun actually came out a while later, so it wasn't all bad!
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Michelle's NZ Trip
Continuing on from last month, here's a few more pics of her trip.
She had a lovely time with Gordon, tikki-touring around Canterbury, reminiscing about places they used to visit, including Sumner, Christchurch central city to see how the rebuild was coming along, Akaroa and Wainui where they used to have a holiday home - they even went up the hill and looked at it since no-one was there! They went to Motonau Beach, Waipara vineyards and the hot pools at Hamner Springs. Sonya who came up from Dunedin which was fantastic and Gordon enjoyed having his two girls home at the same time! Michelle spent some time with Jan and Keith, caught up with a couple of friends and even managed to go to one of the netball tests between NZ and Australia - sadly we didn't win but it was good fun seeing it live. Before Sonya left, they went to visit Grandad, who is still going strong! The spring blossoms were still out and she was lucky to have some fabulous weather for the first week - unfortunately, it didn't stay that way the whole time, and rained for the last 3-4 days! She had a great time and was really glad she went back again.
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| Rush Hour... |
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| Waipara Vineyard...just for a tasting (only 14 to try in total!). |
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| Dad and his daughters |
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| Catching up with Claire after the Netball Test |
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| Silver Ferns v Oz |
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| Post game drinks with Jan (Mum) and Sonya |
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| Spending a moment with Grandad, who had his 100th birthday earlier this year. |
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| About time they caught up with her! |
US Nationals
On her return trip from NZ, Michelle turned south at LA and headed to San Diego to meet up with the three Cayman Teams who were there for the US Touch Nationals. Cayman has been going to this event for a few years now. Michelle has been to a few, and Dave went last year to Orlando.
This is the second year Cayman has sent a women's team and it was by far a stronger, fitter team this year. The tournament was over 3 days with 2-3 games a day, giving time to rest and recover as well as watch the other teams play. There were 9 teams in the women's league, so it was split into 3 pools. Cayman won one and lost two on day 1 but were happy with the results as they mamanged to score at least once against the strong teams and limited the opposition to no more than 8 tries. Day 2 saw them playing a very well drilled but very friendly OZ team that were surprisingly nice to play against, despite cleaning the girls up! They came back fighting in a 2nd game against NY and game them quite a surprise, being only a try behind them at half time, and ultimately losing by 3. The third day saw them play San Diego and LA again - they lost both games but they played and defended well, scored with some set plays and came off happy that they had improved and done their best. It was a shame they didn't get to play all the teams but they improved by playing the top teams. They ended up 6th.
After the Touch, Michelle headed to Venice Beach for the night with a couple of her Kiwi team mates. Had a wander and bike ride along the beach, then a lovely dinner, followed by unplanned karaoke at a cocktail bar they stumbled across on the way home! Was a fun night but the lack of sleep took its toll the next day, as she pretty much slept all the way home!
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| Sunset with Vikki |
Swim Meet
Camana Bay was the venue for the three day October meet.
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| The girls check the numbers... the boys follow the action |
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| Jake, at one with the water |
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| He's been making some big strides with his Breaststroke of late. |
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| Sam doing alright in the Fly with a big PB |
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| Cool down lane...or time to chat? |
Summer Touch Dinner
The theme for this year's touch dinner was 'Phobias'.
Can you guess what our team's phobia was?
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| Pre-dinner apperitifs at Katy's place |
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Haven't worked it out yet? Read the shirt.
Fear of going to school.
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| Sponsored by..... |
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| Thinks she's a teacher now... |
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Full moon.....
(Taken from our back step)
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Was that a witch?
(same night)
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It must be close to Halloween!
Unfortunately a lot of this year's Halloween activities got curtailed by a Tropical Storm.
But we still got a little into the spirit!
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Liz wore a Spider web to work!
(The photo is around at Mick and Lisa's... a couple of Mudslides under the belt.)
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| Michelle's work .... can you spot her? |
And that's a wrap!
Not sure what November will bring. Wait amd see !
