Sunset House Snorkeling

This is Katie's last week on the job as Director of Admissions for ICCI so this morning we did the end of the month placement exams out at the college. The morning at the college used up a good part of our Saturday and Katie still needed to finish her last assignment for one of her Masters classes for the quarter. We didnt want to just hang around the house so this afternoon we decided to get out and while Katie worked on her homework sitting under a palm tree pagoda I did some snorkeling off Sunset House south of the George Town Harbor. I swam out to the mermaid to see if clearer skies would enable some better photographs of her. I was able to see her better though I had a number of issues with fogging of my goggles. The camera seemed to be getting some good shots and when I got home and put them on the computer I was very pleased to see that the shots had turned out much nicer than any others I had gotten of her previously. There was a lot of material in the water so the below shot has some particles that were like little clumps of sea dust in the water and showed up in the shot.

Yesterday was potentially the day we might have learned the gender of little Baby C. Unfortunately for us someone went into labor and the Doctor was called away causing our appointment to be reset for next Tuesday afternoon. Keep an eye on the baby blog for any updates and even if we dont learn the gender on Tuesday we should have some more ultrasound shots of the little one at 17 weeks.

A huge congratulations to our neice Kelsey who graduated from high school today. We are very proud of her and cant wait to see how she does up at Smith College in Massachusetts this fall. We also got to see some picture of our new nephew Zachary and he looks incredible. We have been keeping Jo, Brent, Nicholas and Zachary in our thoughts all week and send our love up to Naperville.

Crabbing

Last night as we drove home from the college on the bypass we constantly had to slow down or move to the right as the pickup trucks and crab hunters were out in force looking for catches. If it is late May and early June in Cayman that means one thing crab season. The crabs are everywhere and in the evening come out of their holes to find food. As you drive around at night you have to watch out for them to make sure you don't run one over and mess up a tire. It is also not at all uncommon for a car to suddenly stop in front of you, someone to jump out and grab a big one off the side of the road. Katie and I aren't in to the whole catch your food and take it home to cook thought that goes into the crabbing so we have yet to engage in this nighttime activity. With hurricane season starting in less than a week the crabbing is a reminder that the seasons down here have changed (even if the weather hasn't).

Welcome Zachary Alexander

Scott's sister Johanna gave birth last night to our newest nephew, Zachary Alexander. We are very happy for Jo, Brent and Nicholas and pass on our love and best wishes to our newest relative Zach.

Everyone back on Cayman

We are both back on Cayman after two weeks of various travels to Atlanta and the Bahamas. Katie enjoyed her sister vacation and is home now rested and relaxed. Ironically, we have three weeks of work to finish the spring term and then we head to Jamaica for our "baby moon". We have this flurry of travelling culminating in both of us going to the States in July (Scott to Miami and Katie to Duncanville) and then we are both on Island for the duration of the pregnancy.

Georgia on my mind

I am heading to Atlanta tomorrow for the spring seminar and on Monday Katie heads to Miami to get on the boat to the Bahamas with her sisters. Katie's appetite has returned somewhat and although she still faces a lot of bouts of dizziness she seems to be getting her footing back as we head into the second trimester. Between me being gone and her leaving before I return we were surprised to realize that this is the longest we will have been apart since we first started dating. thank goodness for email and skype.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to both our Mom's we love you very much. God willing this time next year will have a special meaning for us too.

Busy May and early June

In non-baby related updates, the past few weeks have been very busy at the college as we get deeper into the spring term. Scott is teaching 2 classes and Katie 1. In addition Katie is working part time as the Director of Admissions so she is back on campus in an office 20 hours a week. The arrangement is temporary and hopefully we have a new full time admissions person by the end of May but it has meant some strange work hours for us as Monday through Thursday we go in at 2 in the afternoon and work until 10:30 p.m.

The month of May is going to be a very busy one for us as we start this weekend with the annual board of trustee's meeting for the year. As this is the most important meeting of the year many of the board members from off Island fly in so we have extra work getting ready for it. Then next week Scott is in Atlanta for the spring seminar. He is flying up next Wednesday and will see his brother Kevin in the trip as Kevin is helping with the field trips. The following week Katie is in the Bahamas for her sister vacation with Mel and Stephanie and then we have the final two weeks of the spring term and getting ready for the summer quarter. We also have our "Baby moon" set for June 11-14 in Jamaica. Katie is calling it our baby moon since it is our last holiday together alone until the baby comes and that means last holiday together for a good long while (we hope). It has gotten really hot and humid down here and last week a massive infestation of mosquito's bloomed making it miserable to be outside. Most everyone is walking around with mosquito bites on their faces and arms. The news says that the rain we got a few weeks back enabled the mosquito's to lay their eggs and this is the result.