National Heroes Day

Today the Cayman Islands celebrates National Heroes Day with a ceremony at Heroes Square in George Town.  It is  a national holiday and the celebration this year honored educators.  Among the honorees were the founders of ICCI.  Arianna got to attend part of the ceremony and posed with a few of the honor guard members after they left the square.  The heat forced us to leave early but not before Arianna gave a running commentary as we walked down Fort Street to all the people off the cruise ships who were walking in the area about the sights she had seen. 

La Dolce Vitta

Yesterday evening Katie and I did another of our baby (really now toddler) swaps with Andrea and Darren and got a date night out just ourselves.  We decided to try a new restaurant in George Town on the water called La Dolce Vitta.  An Italian place that from the road side almost looks abandoned it turned out to be really good food with an incredible view of the water and the harbor.  We had two wood grilled pizzas with seafood on them as well as a combo calamari and shrimp appetizer.  Like all down town restaurants it was on the expensive side so we ate on a budget while others around us had some incredible looking dishes that we didn't even want to know the price of.  It was great to have a night out just for ourselves and Arianna was nice enough to stay asleep the whole time Andrea was with her.  This weekend is a three day long one as Monday is Heroes Day in the Cayman Islands, a national holiday.  We are working on finishing our paper to be presented at a conference in March over at the University College and plan to also get in a little beach time.

Friday at Motions and Saturday on Seven Mile

As Katie's sister Mel finishes her visit, Arianna is getting in some real quality Aunt time. Yesterday she went to motions and this morning we all headed over to Seven Mile for a couple of hours on the beach and in the water.

Several of Arianna's baby group joined us this morning and so it was like an impromptu baby group.

Tomorrow morning we put Mel on her flight home.  We had a very good first week of classes and a ton of late registrations and new admissions meant our winter numbers were not as bad as they looked like they might be two weeks ago so we were feeling pretty good by Friday.  With both of us teaching this term Arianna will be getting a helper two nights a week and we are interested to see how she reacts to that.  This week I am getting to experience the Cayman Islands court system as I am a witness in Grand Court.  Hopefully it will be quick and the experience not too painful.

First week of classes and Last week with Aunt Melanie

This week we started classes for the winter term and there was no pause after the rush of graduation as we jumped right into teaching and all the administrative work that goes into getting a new term started.  It is also the last week for Katie's sister Melanie here on island.  We have taken advantage of her presence to get a lot of baby sitting time in (mostly for work and for time on our paper for the conference that is due in a couple of weeks).  We also have probably insured that there wont be any cousins for Arianna for a while from Loski sister number two.  It is not that Arianna is so difficult its just that any 14 month old can exhaust you in a single afternoon and the experience of it over several days adds up.  Yesterday, Arianna got to paddleboard with her Aunt Mel up at Cayman Kai and found the whole experience very exciting.

2012 Begins

Though only seven days old this has already been an extremely busy year.  Literally every evening this past week we had events for the college from the faculty meeting to orientation to graduation and last night the U.S. seminar meeting.  We also have house guests finishing their visit to the Cayman Islands that include Katie's sister Melanie and some friends of hers.  That has caused this week to pass with a blur and we are just beginning to catch our breath.  Next Monday is the first day of classes for the college so there wont be much of a break this weekend before the insanity begins anew.  We are also both teaching this term in addition to writing a paper for submission to a conference that is due at the end of the month.  It has been a bit of an adjustment moving back to 80 degree weather after our visit north but we are acclimating back.  The winds this past week here helped as it cooled down into the low 70's for a couple of days.  We took the opportunity to turn off the A/C and open all the windows.