Butterfly Farm, Pirate Caves and Vivendi Cabaret

This past Monday celebrated Constitution Day here in the Cayman Islands. With work being closed, we decided to take advantage of the holiday by visiting some of the tourist sites we have often driven by but never gone into. Since we got on Island Katie has wanted to go up to the Butterfly Farm which is located north of George Town across from Marquee Plaza. It houses several species of butterflies and actually was a very interesting hour. We went early as the butterflies are active in the morning before it gets too hot. We toured the farm seeing butterflies in every stage of growth from caterpillar to death and food for the ants. After a home made lunch we headed east out to Bodden Town where the Pirate Caves and Bodden Town zoo are located. They are right next to the coast in Bodden Town on the main road East. We have passed the caves quite often both in our car and on our bikes and decided that it was time to see what they were actually like. We toured the mini zoo then climbed down into the caves to look around. The caves were interesting though extremely unlikely to have ever been used by pirates. They are home to bats and we kept a look out for any flying friends while walking through them. Having been to Carlsbad this was a huge difference and we kept having to remind ourselves that essentially this was a cave for bats to hide in and not an 8th wonder of the world so we needed to not let our expectations overtake reality. All in all we needed to see them at some point but could see why everyone had told us the Pirate Caves were a tourist trap and they were right.

We went to the caves around 1:30 in the afternoon and definitely were reminded that during July and August being out after noon and before about 5 is not the time to do things as it is way to hot and steamy. El Nino is supposedly going to keep down the storms in the Atlantic but it not doing anything to keep down the summer heat here in the tropics. After a trip home and a cleansing shower we headed out to the Vivendi Cabaret a new restaurant and Cabaret show on Seven Mile Beach. The show is a combination lounge singer, dancers, showgirls, and cirque de soleil style acts. The show was fantastic, as was the service though frankly the food wasn't that great especially considering what we paid for it. We would definitely recommend seeing the show but pass on the meal in the future. There are two different shows and we plan to go to the other show at some point soon and just eat a meal before we go and have drinks/appetizers at the show.

Home from Chicago

By Scott: I am back in Cayman after my week up in Chicago. On Wednesday the wake for Julia was held in Oak Park and then the funeral Thursday in Willow Springs. Julia was laid to rest in a very pretty cemetery and then the reception was held at Nikos a banquet hall style restaurant where ironically Nick and Julia's wedding reception was held. On Friday we had a big breakfast with Nick, his brother Dean and his wife Olympia, his sister Michelle and her husband Keith, Johanna and little Nicholas, Chuck Cori and Christi at George's in Oak Park where we always meet on Sunday's before Bears games to ride the train downtown. Friday afternoon Johanna, Nicholas and I headed over to Lyons to see Uncle Hank and Aunt Mary. Hank turned 90 not too long ago and was looking good. Aunt Mary had just won over a hundred bucks at bingo so she is staying active too. Saturday was a very early wake up call for my 5:59 a.m. flight. The flight actually had mechanical difficulties and as a result I was going to miss my connection. I got moved to another flight and another connection and made it home about 2 hours later than I would have if I had made my original flights. A big thanks to Chuck, Twila and family for letting me stay with them part of the week and to my sister Johanna, Brent and Nicholas for letting me stay with them part of the week.

Chicago

By Scott: I am in Chicago this week for the funeral of our cousin Julia Koclanes. Julia had an incredible affect on all of our lives and will be truly missed. She was a wonderful person who lived life to the fullest and never let all the problems she faced get her down. She had a long battle with several medical conditions and after a protracted struggle died Saturday afternoon with her husband at her side. We learned about her passing Saturday night and immediately looked into whether I could fly up here. Someone upstairs must have wanted it to be as after seeing the first couple of options at 1500, 1200 and 1100 dollars we found a cheap last minute fare through Charlotte that was less expensive than some of our flights to Miami.

I arrived late Sunday and yesterday I got to see my nephew Nicholas for the first time in over two years. He has gone from being a baby in my arms to a walking talking 2 year old ball of energy. I am not bragging but my nephew is a genius, already counting and spelling and reading his books to me. While the reason for coming here is not at all what I would have wanted it is giving me the chance to catch up with a lot of family I haven't seen in the two years we have been in the Caribbean. I am staying with my cousin Chuck and his family until my sister gets back in town tomorrow. That has given me the chance to spend time with Aunt Catherine who turns 90 this August and to catch up with Twila (Chuck's wife) and Cory and Christy (their daughters). Seeing and babysitting my nephew was a great time, even changing his diaper (something I am sure that would not be near as fun the 100th time as it was the first time). I was the lone baby sitter for about 2 and a half hours and by the end I was worn out which means I need to get into better shape so when Katie and have our own I can keep up with them.

I am spending today with Julia's husband Nick and some of his family who have already made it into town. Tomorrow is the wake and the funeral is Thursday. I plan to see some other family throughout the week and will try and do an update before I leave. Keep Nick and all of Julia's family in your prayers this week as we celebrate her life and remember fondly the affect she had on all of us.

Julia Koclanes Rest In Peace

We received the sad news that our Cousin Julia passed away yesterday after a long illness. She was a fighter who held on much longer than the Doctors ever thought she would. We will always remember our time with her and she will always be in our memories. Her husband Nick is like a brother to Scott and he is headed up to Chicago for the funeral. Our thoughts are with Julia's family during this time and we ask everyone to keep them all in your prayers.

Early season storm kills some of our Appliances

Thursday night we got home from the college to find the electricity out at our house. It seems a transformer near us had blown during the fairly big rain and thunderstorm that struck Cayman from Wednesday afternoon through Friday morning. The power surge to our house knocked out the electricity and in the process fried our DVD player, our toaster, our microwave and our cable box. Fortunately, the computers and I-home were not affected nor was the television though without a cable box we are sans any stations. We bought a new DVD player last night at Cost U Less and will look for a cheap microwave and toaster in the next couple of days. The microwave that blew out wasn't ours, it belongs to the homeowner so that one will be her concern. We are just getting a small miniature one that can get us through since most of what we do is oven related anyway. We did get some good news yesterday as the repairs on our car and the two new front tires came in substantially less in cost than expected. Of course those savings are now going into the DVD player, microwave and toaster. They are also helping to pay the cost of the two adapters we had to buy when our cats chewed through both of our adapters in less than 24 hours. Next weekend is Constitution Day here in Cayman so Monday the 6th is a national holiday. In celebration, we are going on a vacation to Grand Cayman. Everything we do will be as if we were taking a vacation to the Island. Renting a house, going to all the tourist things etc.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to our Dad's and to all the father's in our families.

Great Stirrup Cay

On Sunday the cruise ship headed to the Berry Islands and we spent the day at Great Stirrup Cay on a private beach. Scott made a donation to the Bahamas leaving his snorkel gear somewhere in the water, necessitating an expensive replacement when we got back to Cayman since he had specially made gear with stronger lenses for his vision. Later Sunday night we went to the Italian restaurant for dinner on the boat and the picture taken before the dinner had an uninvited guest who looks a lot closer than he really was and who fortunately didn't give us a present. We definitely feel now that doing an Alaskan cruise is a possibility as Katie did well with a patch to control her motion sickness.

We are back in the Cayman Islands for the balance of the summer and with hurricane season really starting in force next month will be getting the house and our kits fully ready. We plan to get a car later this summer and are hoping the little Charade can hold out until the fall so we don't go too much into debt getting the car. For ex-pats buying cars is a cash deal so we have to pay the full price up front as well as buying one years insurance and paying the government fee's so it is something you save up for a couple of months and then do. Our thought is that if the Charade can survive to September we will buy the car then. An advantage to that is that we get through the peak of hurricane season and don't have to worry about buying a car and then having it flooded right after we buy it if a bad storm hits the Island.

More Nassau Ardastra Zoo Photos

Some Bahamas Pictures

On Saturday morning our cruise ship docked in Nassau across from Paradise Island and the Atlantis Resort. At right is a picture of us on the dock right outside the ship with Paradise Island behind us. During the morning we wandered around the areas near the port before doing our tour of some of the city and the Ardastra zoo. Below right are the Queen's steps built in honor of Queen Victoria. Below is a picture of us at Fort Finfrock overlooking Nassau and the harbor in the background.

Thoughts and Prayers for our Cousin Julia

Our cousin Julia in Chicago is going through some very difficult health issues and we want to send our love and wishes for a speedy recovery to her as well as asking everyone to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Bahamas Cruise

We are back from our three day cruise to the Bahamas and have definitely found something we will want to do again. More pictures and text will follow as we play with the photo's we took. We were in Nassau on New Providence Island Saturday and then Great Stirrup Cay in the Berry Islands Sunday. We got back to Miami this morning and flew back to Grand Cayman in the early afternoon. The picture at left is from the Ardastra Gardens and Zoo in Nassau.

Checking off another place in the song

We sometimes joke to each other that we are just going places in the Caribbean to check them off from the Beach Boys song Cocomo. From Key Largo to Montego and Jamaica we are working our way through them and this weekend we check off the Bahamas. Our cruise ship leaves Miami on Friday evening at 5 p.m. and sails to Nassau Saturday and then Stripling Cay on Sunday before returning to Miami Monday morning. We will take lots of pictures and post them early next week. This week has been strange with no classes. We are taking advantage of the time to play catch up on a lot of work and get ready for the summer quarter which starts on Tuesday. This Monday is a national holiday here to celebrate the birthday of Queen Elizabeth II so that is why we have a Tuesday start for the quarter.

Two things we wont miss

Two things we wont miss when we do finally leave Cayman are the terrible drivers and the large number of animal corpses on the roads. Unlike many parts of the USA, the Cayman Islands do not have sufficient municipal workers to go around and pick up all the dead animals on the roadways. With over 100,000 cars on this Island (compared to only 50,000 people) and very little space the run ins between car and wildlife occur all too frequently. New roads are being built through previously uninhabited parts of the Island driving the wildlife into active areas of driving. In addition, unlike the US where new development usually simply means the animals move, this is an island they cant just keep moving here. Whether driving to work or biking for exercise we are guaranteed to pass several corpses on our way. The green iguanas breed like rabbits down here (sadly the much rarer blues do not). That means lots of iguanas looking to sun themselves on the roads and lots of minor tragedies every day. The drivers here for the most part are terrible, going too fast for one lane roads and passing at incredibly stupid times. We literally have watched people pass with blind curves just ahead. They have no idea about concepts like closing distance or reaction time and will tail gate so that if the car ahead were to suddenly hit their brakes there would be no way there wouldn't be an accident. Throw in the tourists who are uncertain about driving on the left and you have a recipe for lots of accidents. There have been several head on collisions since we arrived two years ago and whenever we are on the Harquayle bypass we are hyper aware of what people around us and ahead of us are doing because the chances of them doing something stupid seem so much greater here than even Miami where the drivers are the worst in the US. This may be paradise for vacationers but is free for all on the roads.

Late night with the Texas Baseball Team and On Line Poker

By Scott: Saturday evening we got home from the Grand Old House and Katie went upstairs to scrapbook while I turned on the computer to see how my Horns were doing in the Regional baseball tournament against Boston College. They were tied in the bottom of the seventh so I logged into the streaming video site and settled in to watch the last two innings. Little did I know that the game would go 25 innings, the longest of any college baseball game ever. The Horns were actually the visiting team since it was a tournament game even though it was happening in Austin. It ended shortly after 1 a.m. some 4 1/2 hours after I started watching with the Horns winning 3-2. It included a stretch at one point where a Texas relief pitcher appropriately named Austin Wood pitched 12 and 1/3 innings of hit less ball and 13 innings of scoreless ball overall. When the Horns finally scored in the top of the 25th and then held on in the bottom of the inning, I had to quietly celebrate so as not to wake up the neighborhood. The Horns followed that up Sunday night with an amazing come from behind win by scoring 8 runs in the ninth inning that ended with a walk off grand slam. 14-10 over Army. The games are all being streamed on video and with only a few outages I was able to watch the full games Friday and Sunday and of course 18 plus innings of the marathon game Saturday night/Sunday morning. On to the Super Regional against the school I used to live next to TCU from Fort Worth this weekend and I will have to find a way to watch while working the comprehensive exams.

I also participated in an online poker tournament on Friday evening with some 3006 participants. It was all for play money though the winner got a free entry to some on line tournament for real money. We all started with 2000 play chips. The early stages were a free for all with people going all in just for the heck of it everywhere and in the first ten minutes over 500 people were eliminated. By the first hour over half the field was gone and by the one and a half hour mark we were down to about 500 players. I stayed alive for close to five hours and with only 300 players left actually had the biggest chip stack. In the end finished in 12th just shy of the final table. I don't get to play as often as I did before being married, in fact this was my first real tournament action in several months. I wanted to get a little practice time in before we go on our cruise as there is a poker tournament that happens on the ship one night that I want to play in. I was happy with my play, though I made a couple of foolish bluffs that wasted chips. Overall I laid down hands when I knew I was beat and played conservative early while all the idiots played foolish going all in on anything. I lost on two hands where I made trips and the other player made a full house on the river. He went all in and I thought I had him beat so I called, it was one of the few mistaken reads I had all night. Then I went out on a hand where I was short stacked and so I went all in with an ace and got called by someone elses king and they flopped a king. If you have to go out that is the way to do it, making the right play and just getting out drawn. There was obviously some luck involved but I never made a huge call or all in where I didn't have the better hand and the numbers played in my favor until the end. If hadn't made some foolish bluffs and gotten called down who knows what might have happened.

Two years in Cayman

It is a strange coincidence but most of the big anniversaries for us come at the end of the month of May. We met four years ago on May 20, we married three years ago on May 27 and we moved to Cayman two years ago on May 31. Last week we met with Katie's doctor who has given us the go ahead to start trying to have kids later this summer after Katie comes off her medication. This means that year three in Cayman could be very momentous. We are dealing with some insurance issues as well so between the medication and insurance it will probably be September before we really start trying, but it has us both excited and in full on get ready for baby mode. Our personalities are very much plan out as much as we can so we are planning everything. We both know that the best laid plans always go awry but that doesn't mean we aren't trying to plan it all anyway. As we know more we will let you know. There is something exciting about the fact that Scott was born in the Caribbean and hopefully our first born will also be born in the Caribbean, a sort of symmetry.

Last night we went out to the Grand Old House for our delayed Wedding Anniversary dinner and watched the sun set while we ate our meal. This week is final exams and our comprehensive exams. After that, we have a week of no classes before the start of the Summer quarter so our quick cruise up to the Bahamas takes advantage of that. Scott's father is on Island for his quarterly visit as Interim President of the college this Thursday. The weather here gets miserably hot by 9 a.m. and stays muggy until 5 or 6 in the evening. Hurricane season starts officially tomorrow though we already saw the first tropical depression of the season last week. This week we will do a Cost U Less run that will include stocking up our hurricane kit.

Third Anniversary

It hardly seems possible but three years ago today we were married in a Pecan Orchard in Aurora, Texas. So much has happened since then but it still feels like it cant have been three years. We aren't getting much of a chance to celebrate today since it is the middle of the week and a work day. We will have our anniversary dinner this Friday at Grand Old House and the cruise to the Bahamas in two weeks is our anniversary present to each other. We reminisced last night about the events of the evening before our wedding and the morning of the event. We have such great memories of the family and friends who helped us celebrate that special day and all those who have been a part of our married life the past three years. We have had a great first three years and cannot wait to see what the future brings. We are very hopeful that by our fourth wedding anniversary our family may have grown or be about to grow (and not with more cats).

Election Day

Update: The referendum on the new constitution has passed with over 62% in favor, a somewhat stunning result given that just a few weeks ago it seemed destined to go down in defeat. It seems the voters here realized that the alternative was worse than voting for this version. Meanwhile taking their cue form the US, court battles appear to be imminent over two of the Legislative Assembly seats in Bodden Town where two of the top three candidates failed to file a required disclosure on time and are having their election challenged. They are both UDP candidates but with a 10-5 majority even if the court ordered a new election, UDP would still have enough seats and support from the independent to form a new government. Unlike the US where there is two months from election to inauguration, the new government will be sworn in next week.

Original Post: Yesterday was National Election Day here in the Cayman Islands. After being bombarded for 30 days with billboards, TV advertisements, public meetings and people flying the party flags from their car windows, we woke up yesterday to all of it being gone. In Cayman it is against the law to have any kind of campaigning on election day. Campaigning is broadly defined here s0 all the road signs and billboards had to come down, all the flags put away and people even had to go vote wearing neutral colors so there would be no charge that by wearing red or wearing blue and green that they were supporting one of the two major parties. Over 80% of the eligible voters participated (around 12,000 total on the three Islands). It is strange that in a country of 50-60,000 only 14,000 or so have the right to vote but that shows you the number of ex-pats living in these Islands. As expected there was a change in government with the ruling PPM party losing 5 seats and the opposition UDP gaining 4. The fifth seat went to an independent who has said he will caucus with the UDP so the legislative assembly effectively went from 10-5 PPM to 10-5 UDP. The new Leader of Government Business has an honorary degree from ICCI and two members of the new Legislative Assembly attended ICCI so hopefully the change wont affect the college much or if it does hopefully it will be for the better as we will be asking for more government recognition and more government funding.

With both national holidays for the week out of the way we are finishing up week nine of the quarter tomorrow. Final exams are in two weeks and then we have a week between quarters with the Summer quarter not starting until the 16th after the holiday for the Queen's Birthday which falls on June 15. We are taking advantage of that week between quarters by popping up to Florida for a three day cruise to the Bahamas from the 12th to the 15th out of the Port of Miami. We have a stop in Nassau and another stop at a private Island. We have talked a lot about an Alaska cruise some day but Katie gets sea sick and we want to see how she will do on a short cruise before we spend the money on a long one so this is both a quickie vacation and a test.

A Week of National Holidays

We got back from Miami late last night after the spring seminar. It was once again held at the Courtyard by Marriott at Dolphin Mall and that has become our usual site. We are fast learning the streets and short cuts around the area and driving in Miami is now much easier than it used to be. Scott had one of his veneers pop off before leaving for Miami and was able to get an appointment in Miami with a dentist to re-attach it. The seminar went well and we did some much needed shopping for items way too expensive here in Cayman. There were no classes yesterday since yesterday was Discovery Day. That is the day Cayman celebrates the discovery of the Islands by Christopher Columbus. Tomorrow is the national election and that is also a holiday on the Island. That makes for a strange week as we come back for one day of work today, then take a holiday, then have to work the last two days of the week. The Island is really ready for the election and both major parties had huge rallies yesterday with competing motorcades of supporters that apparently crossed at one point and almost caused a riot. The evening news normally only comes on at 6 p.m. with the 10 O'clock newscast being a repeat of the 6 p.m. show. Tomorrow they have to work like real journalists and actually stay on the air until the election results are in. We will know the new legislative assembly tomorrow night but not the results of the Constitutional election. They wont start counting those ballots until Thursday. Amazingly enough the Cayman Ministers Association came out in favor of the new Constitution so now it looks like maybe it will pass after all. We shall see.

Happy Mother's Day

Wishing a Happy Mother's Day to our Mom's Gail Loski and Maryanna Cummings. Also to Scott's sister Johanna and our sister in law Kristy. All the best to Mom's everywhere today.

Star Trek

We went to the matinee showing of the new Star Trek movie yesterday over at Camana Bay to feed Scott's trekkie inner nerd. The movie was "awesome" and is a fantastic reboot of the whole Star Trek story. While changing dramatically the Star Trek story the explanation for the change is very credible and gives them an opportunity to do more movies etc. based on the new storyline. We seem to have fallen into the habit of Friday afternoon movies the past three weeks as we have now seen Monsters vs. Aliens, Wolverine and Star Trek on consecutive Friday afternoons. The Friday afternoons off from work really help to balance the late nights Monday through Thursday and the weekend work.

Elections in Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands are hot and heavy into the national election cycle. Things are done so much better down here than the US. The candidates declare for the election about 60 days before it occurs and they are limited to $50,000 in campaign spending. As a result we don't have to deal with the nonstop political campaigning and commercials for a year and half before the actual election. Instead the campaign is very intense for the month, month and a half before the national election, we have the election and it is over. This year the election is on May 20 and that date is a National Holiday. The government is based on the British system with an elected legislative assembly. There are 15 seats in the legislative assembly with 4 seats from the District of West Bay, four from the District of George Town (which we live in); three from the District of Bodden Town (in which the college is located); two for the sister Islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman; and 1 each for the Districts of East End and Northside.

The majority of the assembly forms the government which consists of a Leader of Government Business (essentially the Prime Minister or Premier) and a cabinet with various Ministers. There are two political parties and lots of independent candidates contesting the 15 legislative assembly seats. The party currently in power is the People's Progressive Movement (PPM) which holds 1o seats in the legislature and is only contesting those ten seats in this election. The minority party is the United Democratic Party (UDP) which holds 5 seats and is contesting 11 seats in this election. The UDP's seat of power is West Bay where they have all four seats and PPM isn't even contesting them in the upcoming election. PPM's power is George Town and Bodden Town where they hold all 7 seats but UDP is running 4 candidates in George Town and two in Bodden Town. There are several independent candidates running in West Bay and George Town as well as some independents in each of the other Districts and the real excitement here is if a few independents can win seats and prevent either party from having a majority in the Assembly.

ICCI graduates and former students are running for both political parties and as Independents so hopefully the next Legislative Assembly will have several ICCI exes in it which should help the college. There isn't any real polling down here so no one knows for sure who is ahead. We are told that typically they have a shift in power every few years and that it is about time for the opposition to take over but who knows. Its hard to see what the real difference is between the two parties (unlike the US where cultural differences define the two major political parties) both are conservative on social issues and if anything the differences are minor on matters of economic policy. Interestingly enough, also being held on May 20 is the referendum on the new Constitution and it certainly looks like it is going to be defeated. Most Caymanians wont say it but the real reason it will be defeated is because the Ministers Association is against it because they fear that the Bill of Rights in it will lead to Gay Marriage. Since we don't have a vote we are just watching from the sidelines and basically cheering for whoever has ties to ICCI regardless of their political affiliation.

Legends Tennis

Today while Katie scrap booked, I went over to the Ritz Carlton on Seven Mile Beach to watch some Legends Tennis. Several retired players are playing a tournament here on Grand Cayman. I got to watch a doubles match involving Mats Wilander a former World Number One and his partner Mikael Pernfors against Wayne Ferreira and Karel Novacek. Then the singles semifinal between former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash and American Jimmy Arias. The matches were played on a clay court and since all of the players were retired it was slower than you would see on the regular pro tour but still fun to watch. The tennis stadium seated several hundred people on box seats and bleachers set up on temporary stands. The canal from North Sound ran past the north end of the court and with the palm trees to the south it was an incredibly picturesque location so of course I had left the camera at home. I can remember as a kid watching these players when they were at the top of their game and so it was a treat to get to see them in person even if it was at probably 1/3 speed of what they used to be. The Swedes, Wilander and Pernfors won the doubles match and Arias beat Cash in the singles to advance to the finals tomorrow.

Easter Sunday

On Easter Sunday everyone was at the Loski's house. We all went to church in the morning and then had Gail's birthday meal (Her birthday is next Sunday.). Here's a shot of all of us at church on Sunday. Gail and Katie wore saris from Maryanna as their special Easter dresses. The rest of the day was spent lazing around and figuring out how to get all of the stuff we bought this weekend packed into the two suitcases we brought down.

Texas Bluebonnets

We are in North Texas for Easter this weekend. We arrived late Thursday and are in DFW for five days. We have been spending time with family as well as catching up with friends. Friday we had lunch with Scott's old law partner Jerry Bullard and then dinner with Danny Knowles the preacher who married us and his wife Sharon along with our friends Jack and Rachel. In between we spent the afternoon shopping and running errands. Today went down to Ennis and drove through the Bluebonnet trails with Russ and Gail. The bluebonnet's are having a fantastic year and we went to three different fields that were absolutely incredible. Tomorrow we will celebrate Easter as well as the birthday of Katie's Mom and Monday we have Doctor's appointments most of the day. We head back to Cayman on Tuesday after some much needed time off Island with family.

Sushi on Seven Mile

We are trying to work in beaches to our date nights of late so last Friday it was subway sandwiches and stars at Beach Bay after dark. This Friday we got sushi and headed over to Cemetery Beach to watch the sunset from the northern end of seven mile beach. We are just five days away from heading back to Texas for Easter and seeing all of our family and friends back in the metroplex. The spring quarter is now two weeks in and we both know that we will blink and it will be summer. We will be heading up to Miami in May for the spring seminar and are trying to figure out if we will take a short vacation in June during the week off between the quarters. The debate is a quickie cruise out of Florida to the Bahamas or a longer trip over to Costa Rica. Since Katie is going to be doing two courses for her Masters in the summer we want a little time away that isn't work related to keep us sane until the November/December trips during our long break.

Sea Thimbles

Monday we decided to take advantage of the calm winds and do some snorkeling over at Eden Rock. As we swam out from shore we came across a swarm of small jelly fish that we later learned are called Sea Thimbles. We were amazed at the sheer number of them and today the local paper has an article warning residents about them.

http://www.caymannetnews.com/news-14529--1-1---.html

Empty House and First Week of Class

After a straight month almost of having guests this week it was just us and the cats once we put Mel, Stephanie and Johnathan on their plane home Monday. With this being the first week of class both of us have been very busy. the college enrollment is up to over 180 students so there is never a slow minute at work. We are both also teaching and Kathleen is taking another course toward her Masters so the days are pretty full. We have also both been negligent in keeping up with exercising so yet again we are re-starting our training regimen. We are going to see "Annie" this Saturday being put on by the Cayman Drama Society with our friends from France, Thierry and Marie-Claude. The cats seem to have taken the now empty house in stride though Ginger has shown her anger at the presence of suit cases by acting out in little ways that remind us she is upset whenever a suitcase appears.

Week of Playing Tourist

With Stephanie, Mel and Mel's boyfriend Jonathan in town this week it has been several days of playing tourist while also trying to finish out the Winter quarter and get ready for the start of the spring quarter on Monday. Mel and Jonathan have been diving which has really gotten us fired up to get certified and learn how to dive. Stephanie has spent a lot of quality time working on her tan and watching "Bones" on DVD. We all went out to East end last night for dinner at Portofino and tomorrow night we are treating them to Grand Old House. We have been out to Rum Point and up to Cemetery beach as well as several sunsets on seven mile beach. They head home Monday afternoon and then two weeks later we head to Texas for Easter.

Katie, Melanie and Stephanie

Some shots from this past weekend.

Hiking the Mastic Trail

Yesterday we got up early and drove to the north side of the Island to hike the two mile long Mastic trail. Since we did not have two cars that meant a 4 mile round trip walk. The trail is well known for the Cayman Parrots who live in a section of the trail and for the various flora and fauna common to these islands. We started hiking around 8 a.m. and had decided that we would turn back by no later than 9:30 since we didn't want to be on the trail after 11 a.m. when it gets really hot. The trail was very rocky and we only made it about a mile and a half in before it was time to turn around. We did see several parrots (one of which is pictured at left) and some other varieties of birds. We also got to see the different varieties of tree's and plants as well as getting in a nice hike. There weren't any iguanas out which was the one disappointing thing, so we will go to the Botanic gardens at some point to show them the island dragons. In the afternoon we went up to Queen's Monument to snorkel and then to a new site called Barefoot beach where we saw a yellow stingray, something we hadn't see before.

Katie's sisters in town

Katie's sisters Melanie and Stephanie arrived yesterday and are in town for the next ten days. We will be showing them around the Island and will post updates and pictures. This afternoon they went snorkeling and diving at Eden Rock and this evening we had sushi, which seems to have become our Welcome to Cayman meal. Tomorrow we are hiking the Mastic trail and it should be an eventful weekend.

What Kevin saw "Under the Sea"

Kevin and the Stingrays

Today our twice delayed trip to the Sting Ray Sand Bar finally happened and Kevin got to swim with the rays. Here are some shots from the trip. The shot at left was taken at the Coral Gardens snorkel site as a ray came to see what was happening.

Kevin in East End and Northside

Here are some shots of Kevin this afternoon at the blow hole in East End (bottom), the Wreck of the Ten Sail monument (top right) and with the blue iguana's at the botanic park (top left). We circled the eastern side of the Island showed him the Districts of East End and Northside. We went swimming out at Rum Point before heading back to East End for dinner at Portofino restaurant which overlooks a wreck out on the East End reef.

Kevin at Wreck of the Callie

We went for an early Sunday snorkel to Wreck of the Callie which is in about 25 feet of water in George Town Harbor. Here are a few shots of Kevin at the wreck. The ship behind him in the picture above and to the right is the pirate ship that every year in November during Pirate's week "invades" George Town. This afternoon we are headed to the east and north end of the Island to show Kevin some of the traditional Cayman sites and see the blue iguana's.

Cemetary Reef

Some more shots of Kevin today snorkeling at Cemetary Reef. We headed up there this afternoon to get in some more swimming and beach time. Tonight is a rest night and tomorrow we plan to head up to rum point and the northside of the Island. Hopefully by Monday we will see a decrease in the winds so that we can do a sandbar trip to see the sting rays.

Kevin's First Day

Scott's brother Kevin arrived last night and we took him out for sushi as a welcome to Cayman dinner. Afterwards we headed over to Seven Mile Beach to watch the sunset. This morning we headed out early to Smith's cove for his first snorkeling trip of the visit (his picture is at left). We also snorkeled at Eden Rock giving him a full morning of getting used to swimming in the Caribbean. We saw a new fish called a scrawled file fish. We were supposed to do the Sting Ray sand bar but the high winds on the Island today caused the maritime patrol to close the sand bar. We are hopeful that it might open this afternoon to let us do the tour or we will try tomorrow or Monday.

Our next two years

As many of you know, our contracts with the college expire at the end of August. We have been spending a lot of time recently thinking about the next couple of years and whether we would stay here, move back to Texas or move somewhere else. In light of the on going economic issues in the US and the likelihood of our finding jobs in similar pay brackets and after much discussion and thought about our future, we have decided to seek a renewal of our contracts with the college for an additional two years (through August of 2011). There is obviously no guarantee the board will extend our contracts (though we are reasonably confidant they will) or that our work permits will be extended by immigration (though again we are fairly sure it wont be an issue). Staying an extra two years will mean that when we start trying to have kids that will happen down here (more on that in later posts). It also means not seeing family as often as we would like though we will try to get back to the States for holidays and our doors are always open for visitors. Speaking of which, we are looking forward to all the visitors we will be having this month and will post pictures and updates.

Land of the White Butterfly

Grand Cayman has been a land of white butterflies for the past several weeks. This invasion is a first for us to see. We don't know if this is because the weather is cooler this year than last but we don't recall seeing anything like the number of butterflies that are out. You cant drive down a road without seeing literally hundreds.

Miami Seminar

This past week was our Winter quarter Miami seminar and we both flew up to Miami to work the seminar and get some much needed shopping done. Scott who taught the seminar flew up on Wednesday while Katie came up Friday afternoon. Wednesday was a national holiday in the Cayman Islands (Ash Wednesday) so the seminar ran from Wednesday afternoon through Sunday morning. It was the first time Scott had taught the full seminar so it made for a long weekend. We stayed at a Courtyard by Marriott just across from Dolphin Mall which made the shopping very convenient. For field trips, the seminar students went out to an Indian Reservation, volunteered a morning at a homeless shelter and met with the Miami Dade Public School Board for presentations on Urban schools. The rest of the seminar was spent in class sessions at the hotel in a meeting room. Saturday night we completed that days sessions at 5 in the evening and we took advantage of the early finish to the day to go to something called a Cinebistro where you order a full meal and watch a movie (we saw Slumdog Millionaire, which was quite good). The seminar ended Sunday at noon and we spent the rest of the day running errands and shopping. We flew back Monday morning and are looking forward to seeing Scott's brother Kevin this Friday for a visit.

Long Saturday

Our day began yesterday with a 4:45 alarm. We were holding the college's annual Memorial Walk to raise funds for the Hugh Cummings Memorial scholarship and with sign ups and pre-walk activities starting at 6:00 a.m. and the walk kicking off at 6:30 in the morning that meant getting up and being out the door by 5:15. We have to start the walks early like that because by 8:00 a.m. it gets too hot for many people to be out strenuously exercising. We helped set up the tables and water stations along the route and then participated in the walk with Katie being in a faster moving group and Scott acting as the back end marshall having to make sure everyone was in front of him and that everyone who started finished the walk or got a ride back. About 40 people participated in the approximately 5k walk from the college campus down to Pedro Castle and back. Dubbed a walk from the birthplace of tertiary education in the Cayman Islands to the birthplace of Democracy in the Cayman Islands we raised over $1500 in scholarship money and had a great community building event for the student body.

Our late morning and early afternoon were uneventful but as evening drew near we dressed up to attend the long delayed retirement dinner for our past President Dr. Elsa Cummings at the Grand Old House Restaurant at Petra Plantation. The dinner and program lasted almost four hours and we pulled back into our drive way just before 10:00 p.m. and just in time to watch the second half of the Texas-Oklahoma basketball game (Horns won 73-68). At 11:15 we trudged up to bed exhausted from a long and eventful day. On Wednesday Scott heads to Miami and Katie comes up Friday afternoon. We will be in Florida through Monday morning returning early Monday afternoon. This morning we put Scott's father, John, on a flight home after a week on the Island and later in the week Scott's brother Kevin arrives and we are already planning the fun things to take him to (we hope he like stingrays because a trip to the sandbar has already been reserved).

Valentine Pizza

The past four years it has been our tradition to go out for sushi on Valentine's Day. But we have been to sushi so often of late that we wanted to do something different. So this year we decided to do our Valentine's date as a joint cooking together experience, something Katie is always pushing for. We made pizza and ice cream pie together with Scott making the meat and slicing up the vegetables for the pizza while Katie prepared the crust. For dessert Scott cut up the bananas and covered the chocolate crust of the pie, he also whipped the cream into a solid form while Katie put the ice cream and toppings on the pie after the crust was prepared. It took us a good 45 minutes together in the kitchen to get everything ready and then another 15 minutes of cooking the pizza's to make our dinner. It was a lot of fun and as we ate we watched a movie called Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day with Amy Adams and Francis McDormand, a really cute date movie that was a wonderful capper to a really fun evening of cooking together. It wasn't our traditional Valentine's date but it was really special.

We start a very busy run this week of relatives in town and trips of our own. Scott's father is in town for a week starting Sunday the 15th of February leaving on the 22nd. Then on Wednesday the 25th Scott heads to Miami to teach the Winter quarter seminar. Katie is flying up Friday for some shopping and get away time. We get back on March 2 and then on the 6th Scott's brother Kevin is coming for a visit. He will be here until the 11th and then on the 12th Katie's sisters arrive for their visit through the 23rd. We are planning lots of fun activities for all of our relatives while they are in town and looking forward ourselves to playing tourist. After everyone leaves we have a couple of weeks off before a trip back to Texas over Easter.

As some of you already know, we are currently weighing our options about where we will be and what we will be doing when our contracts expire this August with the college. We have to decide whether to renew the contracts (assuming the college offers to renew our contracts) and stay here another year or two or look for jobs back in the states starting in the fall and head back to Texas. There are a lot of factors to consider and we hope you keep a good thought for us as we decide what our next step will be.

It's cold down here

The temperature has dipped into the 60's the last couple of nights and we are getting very high winds in the western Caribbean. I know this cannot compete with what our family up north are dealing with but this almost 20 degree difference in the regular temperatures has everyone on the island sick with the flu and people walking around in sweaters. We have broken out clothing that hasn't been worn since we were in Georgia over a year ago.

Fitness February

In the past we have not been very good about maintaining our exercise regime and keeping to the good habits we always start the year off with. This year to make sure we keep on exercising and eating right we are doing a fitness February. We must workout 22 out of the 28 days, no alcohol for the entire month and a minimum of averaging 60 cardio minutes a day (which means for every rest day we have to do 120 minutes on another day). So far we have gone 2 for 2 with workouts yesterday and this morning. Today our bike ride was into a rain burst that left us both soaked but feeling very accomplished as we kept on going in spite of the shower. On Saturday we were able to run for 14 minutes around 40 or so minutes of walking. We walk to warm up then do 2 minutes of running and 2 minutes of walking seven times followed by a warm down walk. We both cant wait to get our I-pods which should arrive when Scott's father visits in February. The problem with running without music is that you tend to lose focus and get in your own head. The good news is we have both seen a small but consistent weight loss every week in January and while we are still well above where we want to be, that is slowly changing

Tomorrow is Johanna Bernard's birthday so an early Happy Birthday to Scott's sister up in Chicago. We have learned that we will be getting a visit from both of Katie's sisters in March and are already planning lots of fun activities. We are headed to Miami at the end of February for our winter seminar and now have confirmed a visit back to Texas over Easter so the next few months will stay very busy. We are in a period of time where we will be making some significant life decisions about where we will be a year from now, what work we will be doing and when we will start to try to add to our family. Keep a good thought for us as we mull over and make these momentous decisions over the next several weeks,

Great Turtle Picture

We have been very lucky with turtles on our last few snorkel trips and here is a great shot we got of a hawksbill turtle that swam just below us and that we are using as our background on one of our lap tops.

National Heroes Day

Today is a national holiday in the Cayman Islands celebrating National Heroes Day. The first national hero of the Cayman Islands is James M. Bodden Sr. who actually donated the land on which ICCI sits. He is a national hero for his work in making Cayman a tourism destination in the 60's and 70's. We took advantage of the three day weekend to do a getaway to the Reef Resort on the Northeastern tip of the Island. On Saturday morning we got up very early and drove home to get our bikes and bike back to the resort. The 22 mile ride was into a headwind and for the first time we got to deal with the hilly terrain of East End. Yesterday we biked back home to complete the loop. We returned by going across the north end of the Island on the Queen's Highway to Frank Sound road before turning south and then west again when we got to the southern side of the island. The return trip was a little over 22 miles but much easier because of the tail wind. We had a very restful weekend at the resort, aside from the biking. We are hoping to do the entire loop in a single ride soon but will need to factor in the hills in East End which really affected us. They aren't big hills but there are so many of them one right after the other that they really strain you. We are also doing more jogging to get into shape for another half marathon and both of us are seeing some changes. Last week Scott fit into a pair of shorts that he hadn't been able to use for six months because they were too tight. Katie has hung up a pair of jeans on the bedroom door which is her goal to get back into and she is getting close. We are getting fit and looking better and it is really improving our outlook.

33.12 Miles

This morning we decided to take it up another notch in our biking and try to go an hour and a half out and an hour and a half back. We left early getting out the door at 7:45 a.m. after our breakfast of eggs, spinach and mushrooms for energy. The weather cooperated with overcast skies but a very strong head wind as we made our way east on the main road did not portend good things. In spite of the headwind we headed out through Red Bay and Prospect on to Savannah and then Boddentown, past Pease Bay and Breakers, beyond Frank Sound Road and Heritage Beach to the outskirts of East End. We had rest stops about every thirty minutes for water and granola bars. Eventually, we stopped at the Blow Hole 1 hour and 42 minutes into our ride, the furthest East we have ever gone. The trip out was some 25.5 kilometers. The return trip was actually a little longer because we took the bypass back requiring a trip up Hirst road from Savannah and the return trip requires us to go past the house to a roundabout where we have to double back to get to the entrance to our street. The return trip with a tail wind was much easier though an intermittent cross wind kept psychologically affecting us. We pulled back into the house 3 hours and nine minutes and 33.12 miles of riding later. The actual time was some 3 hours and 45 minutes when you included our rest breaks. We were very proud of ourselves but exhausted having pushed ourselves close to the breaking point.

Next weekend we are doing a getaway weekend out to the east staying at The Reef Resort where we stayed during our first month on the Island to celebrate belatedly our firt wedding anniversary. They are running a 25% discount for locals over Heroes Day which is a national holiday on Monday the 26th so we are taking advantage of our status to get the good deal. Our plan for next Saturday morning is to get up very early drive home from the resort and then bike back to the resort. We would then bike home Sunday morning. Today proved we have the stamina to do the one way trip and with not much more work we will be ready to do the full loop of the eastern end of the island which has been our goal since we got here 20 months ago. Had we not gotten distracted from our biking the past year we would have been able to do this some time ago but everything happens in its own time so we guess now is just the right time.

Back in the saddle again

After several months of almost daily rain and very little opportunity to go bike riding the weather since Christmas has been great and we are cross training with one day walk-running and then the next day biking. We are resting one day in seven and thus getting three runs and three bike rides in each week. Today we decided to kick it up a notch on the biking and did a two hour bike ride from our house in Red Bay east out to Moon Bay. The almost 20 mile ride really pushed us but as we finished we were both pleased to note that we were not exhausted and that building up slowly to this longer ride had been successful. We both came out of Christmas overweight and feeling sluggish but in the last three weeks have both dropped weight with Katie dropping almost 6 pounds and Scott (who had ballooned up to 215, dropping 8 pounds). Our goal is not so much weight loss as it is getting into shape, though the weight loss that comes with it is happily accepted. We would both like to drop 10-15 more pounds each. We were very proud to finish the half marathon in December but distressed at how much it took out of us particularly considering we walked it at a pretty slow pace. We want to do another half marathon this year and shave at least 45 minutes off our time and also do our bike around the east end of the Island. Both of those goals require us getting into shape so we are hard at work on that with daily exercise.

Justice Finally

Texas wins a heartstopping thriller 24-21 Monday night and tonight 24-14 Florida beats the cheating, should never have been in the game, land thieves. Justice delayed but justice finally served. Another college football season in the books, only got home for one game this season, will look forward hopefully to going to many more in person next year.

New Grant of Accreditation

When we first arrived on Grand Cayman in June of 2007 we knew that our first and most important task was helping the college get ready for an accreditation visit that would happen sometime that fall. Several months of work leading up to the visit and almost a year of subsequent work were rewarded yesterday as ICCI received a new grant of three years accreditation through December 31, 2011. With the new quarter starting on Monday this was great news to start 2009 and has given all of us a nice shot in the arm to go forward.

First Snorkel Trip of 2009

This morning we headed north to the Queen's Monument for our first snorkel of the year. It ended up being a short swim as the current and waves were too strong to be swimming as close to the reef as you do up at that site. We headed back to the western end of the Island and went to the Sunset House site where we were treated to a Hawksbill Turtle (pictured with Katie at the left) and a Southern Ray. The rest of the day will be watching football and some work related tasks as we get ready for the quarter to start on Monday.

Happy New Year to everyone, lets hope 2009 is a great year for all.

Happy New Year

2009 should bring some big changes to our lives. We wish all our family and friends a Happy New Year.

Not a Merry Christmas for Everyone

Merry Christmas

Thanks to everyone who sent us cards, gifts and Christmas greetings. It is strange having a Christmas day where the low temperature will be the mid 70's. We are going for a Christmas bike ride and snorkel to continue the tradition started last year. Love to everyone, may you all have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Biking the Blue Mountains

One of the longest day trips we took in Jamaica was a tour out to the Blue Mountains in Eastern Jamaica. We caught a tour bus early in the morning and took the two hour bus ride east across the island. The bus ride was great all on its own to see Jamaica. We drove through several towns, saw the James Bond beach where the famous scene in Dr. No with Ursula Andress was shot and got to get a real sense of the Island. We then drove up a one lane road 3000 feet up (that was scarier than any roller coaster you could ever be on) to a cabin high in the mountains. At the cabin we had brunch and then later lunch. We drank some Blue Mountain coffee which is very rich and strong. We then drove another 1000 feet up into the mountains where we got on bikes and rode down the mountain through several coffee plantations that are on the mountain sides. The winding roads that overlooked valleys, rivers and mountainsides with incredible views made for a very interesting ride. We stopped back at the cabin for lunch then continued down the mountain to a water fall called the fountain of youth. The three hour bike ride was spectacular and we absolutely fell in love with the mountains. Although the tour took an entire day and we were exhausted by the time we got back to the resort it was well worth the time and effort.

Merry Christmas Eve to everyone.

Dunn's River Falls

Our first day trip in Jamaica was by far the most memorable. We took a catamaran over to the Dunn's River Falls and literally climbed up the falls. Its the kind of dangerous attraction that would never work in the US where the first time someone fell and broke something they would sue. Here are some photos of our climb. We sent out our Christmas stuff late to everyone so watch your mail the first week of January for our Christmas greetings.

St. Ann Mountain Canopy Tour

Here are some photos from our canopy zip lining up in the St. Ann mountains of Jamaica. At times we were several hundred feet off the ground traversing over nine gorges high up in the tree tops. The longest traverse was 660 feet the shortest was only about thirty feet but was almost straight down from one tree to another further down the gorge. It was a spectacular adventure and really got our adrenaline flowing.

Horseback Riding in Jamaica

Here are a few shots of us riding horses at the Chukka cove in Ocho Rios from earlier this week.

Jamaica Vacation

We are back on Grand Cayman after seven days in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We stayed at the Sandals Dunn's River Resort with gorgeous views of the Caribbean on one side and the St. Ann Mountains on the other. Our room was on the fifth floor and overlooked the main pool with the sea behind it. We did four different day trips, one to climb the Dunn's River Falls, two up into the mountains (one in the St Ann mountains near the resort and the other to the Blue Mountains on the Eastern end of the Island) and a day trip over to a Polo ground where we went horseback riding overland and in a cove. The food was incredible and we had a fantastic time. We will post pictures and give info on the trip and all the activities later.

While we were gone we did get some sad news. Scott's half-Uncle Ian Cummings who lived here on Grand Cayman was killed in a boating accident last week while fishing. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time, may he rest in peace.

Jamaica bound

With graduation behind us we are headed to the north coast of Jamaica for a well deserved week long vacation. We are staying at the Sandals resort in Ocho Rios called Dunn's River. We have some day trips planned but mostly are looking forward to just relaxing after a long year. The graduation ceremony went very well. The Leader of Government Business (the Cayman version of Prime Minister) gave the address. Also present was the Minister of Education and the Minister of Health along with three members of the legislative assembly. Its an election year next spring so they all wanted face time. The ceremony lasted about an hour and a half and the church where it was held was filled to overflowing. With 53 graduates it was a very large class. We were both a little stiff from the half marathon earlier in the day but the adrenaline was flowing through the ceremony and that kept us going. Afterward we went to a restaurant on Seven Mile Beach called Luca and had a great dinner overlooking the beach and under the stars.

Half Marathon

In the early morning darkness we lined up on South Church street in downtown George Town for the 5:00 a.m. start to the Cayman Islands Marathon/Half Marathon. In spite of not doing nearly the preparation we should have in terms of training we decided to give it a go. The 13.1 mile route was a loop that the marathon runners do twice. At five sharp the race started and we quickly brought up the back of the pack. Walking at an early pace of seventeen minute miles we got to watch the sun come up over South Sound as we headed east along the road out to Savannah. Around 6:45 we passed through Red Bay and almost right at the two hour mark rounded the half way point and headed back west. Shortly after we rounded the half way point the lead marathon runner lapped us. Meaning we had done 7 miles and he had done 20. We kept a good 17 minute a mile pace until mile 10 where we hit the wall and suddenly the seventeen minute miles became 18, then 19 and by the end 24 minute miles. We crossed the line in 4 hours 5 minutes and 57 seconds beating our goal of 4 and a half hours by a good 24 minutes. We have graduation at 3:00 this afternoon so it will be a very long day. We are exhausted and sore but very proud that we finished. Will upload pictures soon.

When there just isnt time to update the blog

The last month since we got back from Miami has been crazy and the blog has been pretty far down the list of things that needed to get done. We have discovered to our happiness and dismay that Ginger doesnt have anything wrong with her but a bad attitude and so we will need to work on de-conditioning her from peeing on our couch. Graduation is this Sunday and that has meant a month of insanity trying to get everything ready. The rehearsal was last Sunday and the banquet is tomorrow.

We are less than a week from leaving for Jamaica for seven days and a vacation at an all inclusive resort so we are counting down the days. All the roundabouts on the Island now have Christmas lights up and Katie has decorated the stairs with tinsel garland and hung lights on our front window. We also have a small christmas tree up that the cats have not yet decided to knock over but we are waiting for that to happen. The storm did no lasting damage to this Island other than messing up our feeder road and requiring extensive repairs that are still on going. The rainy season still is lingering and has more than overstayed its welcome. Hurricane season officially ended Sunday so we will start taking down all the shutters at the college this next week. We took down the home shutters about two weekends ago.

We are not commenting on the travesty that is the Big XII and the utterly incomprehensible decision to let the land thieves take the place of our beloved Longhorns in the championship game. If there is any justice in the world Oklahoma will lose this weekend and the right team will get to play for the National Championship.