. November 2019 .
Well, it's all been happening this month! We've been a bit all over the place and haven't been able to get this thing completed!! In fact, we are going to include a bit of December in here too since we are that far behind schedule.
Michelle has a birthday and has several 'events' as part of that, as well as some travel. We also had our wedding anniversary. Jake does a 5k Sea Swim. Michelle does some travel. Sam pops back for Thanksgiving. Jake and Dave head over to Phoenix for a swim.
That'll do it!
Michelle's 50th
Michelle turned 50 this month and celebrated in style!
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| Pre-dinner bubbles! |
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| A little breezy at the Lobster Pot! |
Jake and Dave took Michelle out for dinner on her birthday.
On the following Saturday, we had a party at one of the local bars. It ended up being a combined 50th with our friend Janet. The theme was black and white. Some came in theme, some came in black and white...
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These two made a special effort for the evening!
Unfortunately, they were the only ones in costume. Everyone else wore nice evening wear!
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A bunch of people came along and a great night was had by all!
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| Time for the cake! |
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| Sam was at a swim meet in Columbus and couldn't be there, but sent a special message from the pool which was played over the speakers |
Talking about Sam, they've had a few swim meets lately and have been in exam mode this last week. After that, while most of the other students have gapped it for Xmas, they stayed behind in Athens to spend the week as a team on a training camp and doing some leadership and team building activities.
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| The team |
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| Gingerbread house competition |
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| As the caption says! |
Sam will be home for Xmas on Saturday, and heads back up to Ohio on New Years day....
That could be a fun day!
Pirates Week
Pirates week is always a big event here in Cayman.
First up on the Saturday morning was the Pirate's Week 5k Sea Swim.
The Swimming Association had arranged for an Olympic distance swimmer to come and take part in the race (and also run some clinics for the local swimmers).
Jake had a decent swim and stuck on the back of the guest swimmer for about one lap (of four), but the pace was just a little quick. He came in in Second place overall (and only a few minutes behind), and first in his age group in a time of about 1 hour and 3 minutes.
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| First in Age Group |
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| 2nd overall |
In the afternoon it was off to town for the pirates parade. Unfortunately time got away on us and we arrived just at the end of the parade!
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| Another beach Sunday…. |
More Birthday Celebrations
Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Georgia, Michelle and a bunch of friends were having a good time checking out the sights, a few bars and restaurants, and rolling in the mud.
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| The crew! |
It was a bit chilly up there!
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| The World of Coke! |
Anyway, about that rolling in the mud thing...
Michelle floated the idea of doing a Tough Mudder for her birthday. She got some mixed reactions, but enough interest to enter a team. 5k and 13 obstacles involving climbing walls, scrambling through mud, negotiating rolling barrels and scaling ropes over cold water - what an experience! The hardest thing was keeping warm - we kicked off at 9am so we werethere at 8am and the temp was -1degC - super cold for us so the key was keeping together and moving along. Emphasis was on teamwork rather than speed. Thankfully at that time there wasn't too much waiting around to get over the obstacles and many people doing it were helping others
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The Team, Pre-race
Tonya travelled down from Vancouver for the weekend
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| You had to climb up on this one and roll it over, spinning round to go feet first into the water, then do it again. Toni managed to go in head first both times!! |
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| "Lovin' this!" That's one way to clean off the dirt! |
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| Wake up time! What a way to finish the event - Michelle managed to trip on the hay bales and went face first into the mud, but that helped to avoid some of the electric shock wires dangling down! |
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| Scaling new heights! This was the hardest one for Michelle as she hates heights and it didn't help she could not feel her hands and feet by that time, as it was just after the deep water obstacle! |
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| Took a little work to get through! |
Despite the cold, the mud, the high walls, the slippery slopes and the electric shock obstacle, they all made it though relatively unscathed - if not freezing! They can't wait to do another but somewhere warmer next time!
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| Still Smiling! |
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| A great crew and an awesome weekend! |
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| Anniversary dinner by the sea at Grand Old House |
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| Even had a shark come and say hi! |
Phoenix
Jake and Dave headed over to Phoenix last week for a swim meet. It was at the Arizona State University (Home of the Sun Devils).
Although in the desert, it wasn't particularly hot!
They met up with Coach Tim who used to coach here in Cayman. He was with his team from Utah for the meet, but Jake and Dave hung out with them while at the pool. It was handy having a coach there that knew the ropes and kept an eye on Jake and his swims.
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| Looking a bit dry in the desert |
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| The Pool(s) |
This meet was a 'Yards' meet. They ran two 25 Yard pools concurrently. One for the age group swimmers (under 15) and the other for the Open swimmers (Jake). There was also a warm up pool and the diving pool over the back. The nearest pool doubles as a 50m pool (by removing the bulkhead) when they run those meets.
Impressive set up!
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| Getting some instructions from Coach Tim |
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| Focus... |
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| Early morning start |
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| Oops! No Milk for Jake's cereal... These'll do! |
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| A bit cold! But the sun is out! |
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| Jake improved his times in almost every race |
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| Coach Tim! |
They did a tour of the University while they were there as well as meeting with the University Team Swim Coaches, just in case Jake want's to swim here at College.
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| The main throroughfare through campus |
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Interesting burger joint - "The Chuck Box".
Popular with the student population.
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| Local Footy Stadium |
The stadium was across the street from the pool so we popped over there to have a look around. The security dude immediately accosted us and then went to the effort of explaining the history of the place and then inviting us down to check out the statue of Pat Tillman. He was a star player who rejected a huge professional contract to join the Army. He was killed in action.
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Local Hero, Pat Tillman - opted for Military Service instead of a pro-football career.
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| Ground level view of the field |
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Our Cameraman was a little challenged with the technology.
"Yep, that's fine!"
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The famous (if you follow "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives") Sasquatch Lodge.
It was actually pretty good, and since it was about 200m from their accommodation, the ended up going there twice. We tried a couple of their famous dishes, which were impressive!
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| Just keeping Jake's coat etc warm while he swims... |
Overall, a successful trip. Jake clocked some good Yards Times, which is helpful if looking to swim at College in the US. Jake got to see a little more about university life and the swim team set-up.
Back to a warmer climate now!
Marathon
While Jake and Dave were away, Michelle and her mates did the Marathon Relay (10 ish km each)
They didn't have huge expectations but had a fairly solid team.
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| Second place, to a team of under 16's! |
That's it for now.
Next, we'll have:
- Sam comes home.
- Christmas!
New Year! (and the New Year's Day beach day!)- We have a couple of special guests
- and a bunch of other stuff!
Have a safe and Happy Christmas wherever you may be .
