. August 2019 .
Hello!
Here we are. August done!
An interesting month. The main event was moving Sam up to Ohio for College (or university if you please). We did get up to a couple of other things but the big move seemed to take up most of the spare time!
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Sam's last night in Cayman for a while.
She took her brother out and also her mother (for a while)!
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| Maybe more than one Mum came out... |
Michelle, Sam and Jake headed off to Ohio the next day (Saturday). Dave stayed to help out the Cayman Rugby TV Crew stream the Cayman v USA South Rugby game.
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Sponsor's jackets looking good!
They actually have Three-Piece Heineken Suits - but it was just too hot to wear the whole thing!
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| A little later in the day! |
Meanwhile, Michelle & co are spending some time in Bed, Bath & Beyond and Target and a few other stores, getting a bunch of stuff for Sam's room in Athens. Jake particularly enjoyed the shopping part of the trip...thankfully most shops had WiFi so he could fill in his time online! Sam's room is on the 4th floor (no elevator) so the legs got a workout on move in day! Luckily we had 3 pairs of hands to drag it all up!
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| Jake assembles an office chair for his sister |
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| Sam's new pool |
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Across the street from her dorm is the university basketball stadium.
They also play Volleyball there.
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There was a Volleyball game on while Jake and Dave were still there so Sam took them along to watch that.
It'll be an amazing atmosphere when the place fills up for a big Basketball game!
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| Apparently these guys all went to Ohio University! See anyone you know? |
Michelle wasn't able to take more than a couple of days off work so she stayed until Tuesday, handing over to Dave to pick up where she left off. Given the majority of the shopping and moving had been done it was a little less crazy and have a bit of a look around. Jake and Dave booked into the University Gold course for a round one morning. They hired the clubs and bags etc and were pretty much all set to go.
Dave then asked: "Can we have some golf balls?"
Golf Guy: "Errrr…. No."
Stunned, uncomfortable silence....
"Ummm… can we buy some?"
"No"
"Not even old ones?"
"No. We haven't had any for a few weeks now. It happens often..."
So, that was the end of that! They did find a Golf Driving range down the road so had a bash there.
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| Jake got hold of a couple! |
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| Golf in unison |
They had a few dinners together, checked out the town of Athens (about a 5 minute walk from Sam's place). Dave even dragged Jake out for run!
Soon it was time to say farewell to Sam and let her get used to life on Campus.
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| Last time together for a few months |
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| See ya soon! |
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| Random cloud on the flight back to Cayman |
Stroke n Stride
Just before leaving and soon after getting back, Michelle and Jake entered in the first and last Stroke n Stride race. They would miss the second as it was while they were away. The first was a 400m Sea Swim followed by a two mile run, and the third was an 800m Sea Swim and two mile run. In both swims Jake was first out of the water but in the first event he got a stitch in the run and really struggled to run at all, with quite a few people managing to catch him, including Michelle (much to her surprise!)! However, in the last race he had a much bigger lead from the longer swim and went a lot better in the run, managing to hang on and finish 5th overall. Not bad for someone who never runs! If he did, he'd do alright in these things!
Michelle did her best to catch him in the second race, but there was no way this time - his swim lead was too big, and he had a slightly faster run!
The times below are the Total time, then the Swim time, then the run time:
Race 1
40th. 285 Michelle Bailey F Female 40-49 0:25:17.3 0:08:15.1 0:17:02.2
59th. 42 Jake Bailey M Male 13-19 0:26:47.8 0:05:33.9 0:21:13.8
Race 3
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| 38th. | 210 | Michelle Bailey | F | Female 40-49 | 0:32:44.0 | 0:15:35.6 | 0:17:08.3 |
Over the last couple of weeks Sam has been busy settling in to life in the dorms, orientation activities and training with the swim team. The team did a few activities to get to know each other better over the first weekend and during the first week.
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| Canoeing day |
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| The team! |
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This is a pic of all of the freshmen (first years) that they took during orientation.
Sam is down in the front of the 3 near the 20 yard line.
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They all went to their first College (American) football game and supported their team - The Bobcats! Although all Teams here, no matter what sport are called the Bobcats it seems.
This place is about 300m from her room!
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| The Ohio Mascot (The Bobcat) |
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| The sign speaks for itself |
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| The swim team get all dressed up for some formal pics. A couple of the Freshmen! |
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| The Team! |
In Other News...
Meanwhile, you've probably heard about the Hurricane doing some damage in the region. Fortunately, it isn't anywhere near the Cayman Islands, however Dave has a bunch of friends in Freeport (Bahamas) that didn't fare so well. Dave and Jake have travelled there each year for the last 8 or nine years and have some good friends there. Dave was in touch with a few of them while the hurricane was pounding the island. They all seemed to get through that, but it sounds as though most of the houses and other buildings there aren't looking so flash. But it's early days and we hope for the best.
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| The eye sat on Freeport for ages. Not fun! |
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This is about the extent of any effects in Cayman from the weather in the region.
Almost felt guilty being there while the Hurricane was doing its thing a few hundred miles away.
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That's it for August!
We start to get used to life in a household of three...
September could be a quiet month, but we'll see about that!
Bye for now!
