Goodbye Hurricane Season

Today marks the end of hurricane season 2011.  For the third year in a row we have not had to put up our shutters and with Arianna going through her first full season this year that was a definite blessing.  Six months of not having to daily check the NHC site are now ahead of us and with the weather turning markedly colder yesterday we actually turned off the A/C this morning and opened all the windows.  In a few weeks Katie's sister Mel arrives for her month long stay (with lots of babysitting in return for a free room) so we are already counting the days to the next house guest. 

Hughes Family heads home

Chuck and family head home today after a fun week in the Cayman Islands. Sunday saw them heading up to Rum Point and touring East End to see the "Caribbean" part of the island. Yesterday they went for a snorkel at Eden Rock (where the above shot was taken) and then did some shopping in George Town.  Cory and Christie are now unofficially Arianna's older sisters and we have already asked Chuck and Twila if one of them could stay but unfortunately were turned down. They fly out this afternoon back to colder climes.  Meanwhile Arianna continues to be under the weather and we are watching her closely for bronchitis as she has a very chesty cough.  This is the last week of the fall term so we are in very busy mode for work to finish out 2011.  It is hard to believe that Christmas is just a few weeks away!

More Touristy things with the Hughes

Cori, Christie and Arianna with
Poof the Magic Dragon at Camana

Arianna has been under the weather since Thanksgiving evening so for the most part the last two days have seen us give the Hughes directions to things while we stayed with her.  Chuck and family have done the iconic Cayman trip, the visit to the stingrays:

Christie was a little freaked out!

They have also been to Pedro Castle, the Botanics and Arianna was better enough last night to go with to Camana to play in the fountains again and have a sushi dinner at Yoshi's.

It has been a great visit and with two full days still to go promises more fun to come.

Happy Thanksgiving

The second full day of our visit from the Hughes family began with a visit to Governor's Beach on Seven Mile for some sun and snorkeling.  There were four huge cruise ships in and they provided the scenic backdrop to a gorgeous Caribbean day.  We spent a couple of hours on the beach then made a quick trip to the college to show them ICCI.  After a lunch of sandwiches and patties we went back to Smith's Cove for some more swimming.  Around 2:30 we made a run over to Chicken-Chicken to pick up a full Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, green beans and of course pumpkin pie. The meal was great and having family to share it with made it truly a thankful time. 

Some shots from the morning:

Smith's Cove and Camana

After a good nights sleep following their long day of flying yesterday, we took Arianna's God-Father Chuck and the rest of the Hughes clan for their first swim in the Caribbean at Smith's Cove on the western side of the island.  The water was very calm which made for a great introduction to snorkeling around Grand Cayman.  The fish also  accomodated us coming close to shore so that we started interacting with them almost as soon as we stepped in the water.  Arianna loved the water and loved being in with her cousins who she is already viewing as her two big sisters.

After a lunch at the Foster's buffet we headed over to Camana Bay so they could play in the fountains see the Christmas tree and watch a sunset from the observation tower.

Scott had to work in the evening so Chuck also got his first experience driving on the left as he drove the van home. It was a great first day on the island. Today we plan to have a Thanksgiving dinner early before Katie goes to teach and get some more snorkeling in as the girls need to practice ahead of their stingray trip on Friday.

Chuck, Twila, Cori and Christi arrive

Last night the Hughes family arrived on island for a week long visit.  Even though it was after her bed time Arianna woke up and yelled to come down and welcome her visitors to Grand Cayman.  We are looking forward to a great Thanksgiving with them and lots of snorkeling and beach time.

Chuck and Family Visiting this week

This week will be an exciting one as Scott's cousin Chuck and his family are visiting for Thanksgiving.  We havent been snorkeling or to a beach in over a month and this will give us a great way to reintroduce ourselves to some of the wonders of Cayman.  The term is almost over with just this week and next to go before the big Christmas break for December.  Yesterday we went to the last of the one year birthday parties for Arianna's friends and Arianna got to play in a bouncy castle which she decided was the coolest thing ever.

Home from Georgia

This past Wednesday as we celebrated Arianna's first birthday, we headed to Georgia for the fall seminar in Atlanta.  The seminar was a great reason to have Katie and Arianna come with and see her Uncle Kevin and Aunt Kristy as well as her Grandma Maryanna who flew down from Washington state to see her granddaughter on her birthday.  There were only 20 or so people on our flight to Atlanta and that meant Arianna could walk around, have her own seat and generally have a fun time for the two and a half hour flight.  We opened up birthday presents and she did great flying.  We spent Wednesday evening at Kevin's house in Warner Robbins and then I headed to Atlanta to teach and Katie and Arianna got in a lot of family time and a chance to see several of Katie's old college friends in Macon.  Katie and Arianna came up to Atlanta Sunday and we flew home yesterday.  It was an early morning wake up and this time Arianna slept most of the flight but did wake up for the last 45 minutes and talk constantly to make up for lost time.  We have just three weeks left in the fall term.  Next week our cousin Chuck and his family are visiting and that will give us a great chance to play tourist with them.

Quiet week following Halloween

The last remnants of Rina gave us some rain on Halloween but any danger by then was long gone of further flooding.  By Wednesday the waters had receded and as the week ends the island is just about dried out.  On Thursday basically our entire campus with a few exceptions was dry enough to walk on and it was time to put away the sandbags we had gotten for the south end of Friends Hall.  Arianna got to break out her costume two more times this week, first on Halloween to go to Hurley's for trick or treating and then on Tuesday for the Post-Halloween baby group.  We crossed the 51 week mark on Tuesday and it is hard to believe but in just a few days Arianna will be one year old.  This year has really gone by fast. 

Arianna with an early birthday present