Olympic Beach Volleyball on Seven Mile

This weekend Cayman is hosting the NORCECA Olympic Qualifier for beach volleyball at Seven Mile Public Beach up in West Bay.  Saturday morning Arianna and I drove up there to catch a little of the action.  They had three different volleyball courts set up and we managed to catch a little action at all three.

We got to see the men's teams from Cayman and Barbados play a match that went three sets with Cayman pulling out the win 18-16 in the third set.  The top five men's and women's teams in this tournament advance to another tournament where there will be five more teams and the winner there gets an Olympic invite.  It is a way to guarantee that a Caribbean team makes it to the 2012 London Olympics.

Arianna was clapping with the crowd after every point and was genuinely fascinated by the action for much longer than I expected.

Christmas Decorating

If she had her way Katie would start decorating for Christmas in late September.  To avoid overload we have a family rule that we wait until after Thanksgiving.  This year we had a third helper as we set up the decorations and tree.

Arianna loved seeing her penguin from last year and danced with it to music but really liked her new Rudolph.

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

 

Rina dies out but the rains continue

Yesterday we got some welcome news as Rina died out after brushing against the Yucatan and her projected turn east and then south never happened.  We continue though to get rain from the remnants of her as well as the remnants of 97L.   We were going to take Arianna to a Halloween trick or treat festival at Caymana but that got postponed because of the rain.  Instead we went to a party with the other babies in her baby group.  Ironically yesterday afternoon and evening were rain free and this morning the sun is shining.  Hopefully that helps some of the flooding on island to recede.  We did put up sand bags on the southern end of Friends Hall Friday as an emergency measure just in case we had massive rains over the weekend.  Turns out they weren't needed but we would rather be wrong and overreact then under react and flood half that building.  Here are some shots from yesterday of Arianna is her Ladybug costume.

Presents from Rina

Although now well to the west of us and menacing the Yucatan, Hurricane Rina continues to give us a ton of rain and now some incredible swells as the picture below, that I got off the web, of George Town Harbour shows.  She is the storm that keeps on giving and our campus is a virtual lake with islands of buildings and parking spaces.  It has gotten so bad that we are almost to the point of sand bags for the southern end of Friends Hall as the water is close to cresting the sidewalk.  There is no where for the water to go as the ground is so saturated so now we have almost a foot and a half of standing water surrounding the eastern, western and southern parts of Friends Hall.  Only the northern part is dry and that is because the building sits on a slight slope from north to south.  Rina will be turning back east tomorrow and then perhaps straight south this weekend so we are continuing to watch her closely.

Way too active late October

Hurricane Rina (which is to the south and west of us right now) is giving all of us stomach acid as it does a long slow semi circle around us.  One little move and we are in the cone and on alert so we have to watch each update closely.  And now invest 97 L in the eastern Caribbean is beginning to form and its track takes it toward us as well.  The first map below from NHC shows the two storms with Rina already formed and 97L the orange circular area.  Right now it has a 30% chance of forming a tropical cyclone in the next 48 hours.  The second map shows the semicircle track of Rina.  We are the island in the southern quadrant below Cuba with the 5 day uncertainty cone basically going across the tip of West Bay.  Whether we actually get hit or not we continue to get a ton of rain with nowhere for it to runoff.  Our parking lot has two large lakes though so far at least our parking spaces aren't being affected too much.  The house is 4-5 feet above the parking lot so it hasn't had any issues either.  The college is a lake with any area that isn't built up underwater.  The buildings are fine so far but other than the buildings and the raised sidewalks and parking lots everything else has at least a 1/2 foot to 1 foot of water and the field has a couple of feet.  Yesterday egrets and ducks took advantage of Lake ICCI as a temporary home.  Classes went on as normal last night but we are now day to day. Arianna is taking it in stride sleeping through a loud thunder and lightning storm late last night just doing her normal every three hours wake ups.  I still remember her mommy sleeping through the loudest parts of Dean and Gustav without an issue so hopefully she inherited that from her.

Update with new map that gives a good idea of distances:

Tropical Storm (now Hurricane) Rina floods Cayman

The depression to the south of us finally formed into a tropical storm and while its path takes it toward Cancun and the Yucatan, we are in the upper right quadrant from it which is the area that gets most of the rain.  It was a long rainy night and we awoke this morning to flooding all over the island.  TS Rina (which became a Hurricane Rina this afternoon) won't bring us anything more than the rain so the three year streak of leaving the hurricane shutters in the back is still safe but there were some anxious moments over the weekend as we waited to see what the path would be.  It looks like Rina will go around us in a half moon like track, starting below us as it heads west then turns north and finally then above us as it moves back east after an expected turn just before it hits the Yucatan.  Yesterday we attended the first birthday part of one of Arianna's baby buddies, Brayden.  The party started outside but had to head inside as the rain got going and never let up.  All the babies from the baby group were there and Arianna was definitely in her element.  She is very social and had to play or talk with everyone.  Her birthday is just a few weeks away and we are hosting her party the Sunday before over at Camana Bay so yesterday was a food day to take notes also on things to do.  Here are some pictures from before the rain drove us inside.

Wet and Rainy Late October

As we reach the final days of the month of October, rainy season and a cold front have made the past few days wet and cool.  That beats the heck out of wet and hot but means that there isn't much stuff that can be done outside.  It also means a wary eye to the south where possible late season hurricanes form.  This week we have a close watch on a system down by Nicaragua.  In 2008 we got hit by Paloma with only two days notice since it formed in the Caribbean to the south of us.  The problem with this weather is that Arianna gets bored easily when stuck in the house so we are always looking for opportunities to get out and this weather is making that tough.  Yesterday a trip to A.L. Thompson hardware store became her outing so she could wander up and down the aisles, stare at all the fans and make some future decisions about a new bathroom or kitchen.  It was also cool enough to put her in the Texas track suit my sister sent down and here are a few shots.

Guest Lecture by the Premier of the Cayman Islands

This week has been an eventful one on campus.  Yesterday we were visited by the local commission that is charged with doing a national survey on the relationship of the UK to its overseas territories in the greater Caribbean region.  They were in a number of classes to talk to the students and discuss the implications of the survey and the input desired.  This evening we received a visit from the Premier of the Cayman Islands, the Honorable McKeeva Bush, who came to do a guest lecture.  Under the new constitution, the Premier is the leader of the majority party in the legislative assembly and is the leader of the government.  Only the British Governor holds higher office.  He spoke to a combination of three classes out in the new classroom building for a good two hours doing both a lecture and a question and answer session on the current Cayman economy and the role Cayman plays in the greater world economy.  The college is apolitical and interestingly the instructor who invited the Premier, Joey Ebanks, is actually associated with the other political party but it is always good to get government officials out and on the campus.  A reminder of the role ICCI plays in the Cayman Islands.  The premier is the holder of an honorary degree from ICCI and he mentioned that during his lecture lauding the college for its role in helping the Cayman Islands over the years.

Greeting the Premier upon his arrival

Listening to the Lecture

With Premier Bush and Joey Ebanks

Happy Birthday Katie

On Friday we celebrated Katie's birthday by going out to dinner and then Saturday heading up for a morning at Rum Point.  We did another baby swap sitter for Friday night and that gave us an evening just the two of us.  We went to a new restaurant called the Blue Iguana Grill at the Ramada Grand Caymanian on the North Sound Side of Seven Mile.  We hadn't been to that resort before and Katie wanted to do something new for her birthday.  Saturday we got up early and drove the family up to Rum Point to spend some quality beach time together.  Arianna got to swim and spent some hammock time with mommy.  Saturday evening Katie had a girls night out with her Mommy group while I stayed home and watched Arianna.  This week we have the Premier of the country coming to the college to deliver a guest lecture along with a government committee on another of the nights to interview students for a UK government white paper.  Sadly we also have the funeral for Hank Bodden so it will be a busy week.  I have been doing Thursday baby sitting with Arianna which is giving quality daddy-daughter time though she still cries each time Mommy leaves.

At dinner Friday night

In the hammock at Rum Point

Tough Start to Week

This week has started with some very bad news.  An ICCI graduate and former Director of Admissions Hank Bodden was found dead on Monday.  He was only 43 years old.  It looks like natural causes but on a small island like this there are always a lot of rumors that often are quite mean.  We were all shocked to hear the news Monday afternoon and it has cast a pall over the campus as many current and former students as well as our staff and faculty knew him well.  It has given all of us a little pause to reflect on how no one is guaranteed time and that we should never forget to enjoy the little things in life and take nothing for granted.

World Cup Qualifier Cayman v. Suriname

The second home fixture of World Cup Qualifying was last night at the Truman Bodden National Stadium in George Town against Suriname.  A much smaller crowd than attended the El Salvador match was on hand to watch two teams that were a little more closely matched than what we saw in the first home game.  Once again a mostly defensive first half saw a nil-nil draw at halftime though Suriname hit the post and Cayman had a couple of good scoring chances.  In the second half a defensive breakdown by Cayman gave up an easy goal but Cayman pressed and created three or four really good chances to tie.  Unfortunately, none found the target and the match ended in an exciting but ultimately disappointing 1-0 loss for the home squad.  Cayman was officially eliminated from possible advancement though there are three matches remaining including one more home game with the Dominican Republic.  That game though is during our fall seminar so I will be unable to attend.  Today is Texas-OU so I will head over to the Dog House to watch and hope that the Horns can pull off the upset.

Slow October

Hasn't been much to blog about this month.  The term is going well, Katie is really enjoying teaching and generally we are marking time as we approach Katie's birthday in a week and Arianna's first birthday in just over a month.  The Longhorns are 4-0 so Saturdays have been enjoyable though Oklahoma looms this weekend.  This week is also World Cup Qualifiers and with Cayman hosting Suriname I am hoping to again get some tickets to the game and catch some futbol.  I am now on baby duty every Thursday evening giving Arianna and I some daddy-daughter time.  This past Sunday we got to spend some time together at Camana Bay as mommy did some work at the coffee shop preparing for her classes.  One of my students was out that day and took this shot of us and emailed it to me.

First Week of the Term and Grand Opening of the New Building

Last week was the start of our fall term and with 233 students registered it was typical first week of the quarter insanity.  Adding to the regularly expected insanity were three things.  First Katie is back teaching for the first time in over a year.  She is teaching two classes, both on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  That means a sitter on Tuesdays and that on Thursdays I am working a full day and then in the evening watching Arianna.  Katie is very excited to be back teaching and has already set out weeks worth of lesson plans.  The second thing was that with the first week, a board meeting and the grand opening of the new building, John was on island and staying with us.  Finally, there was of course the new building and getting it opened and in use.  It was supposed to actually host classes last week but we couldn't get electricity to it until Friday so we had to move classes around all week while we waited for that to happen.  Tonight will be the first classes in the building which is quite exciting.

The ceremonial grand opening went off Friday afternoon with the Minister of Education on hand to give remarks and representatives from the financial services organizations that had donated money to outfit the two classrooms.  Arianna was on hand and happy to be passed around by her ICCI family all of who wanted to hold her and pay attention to her.  The building looked great and it will definitely be well received by the students who take classes in the new classrooms.  The first official function in the building would happen Saturday as the Board of Trustees held its fall meeting in the CISPA (CI Society of Professional Accountants) classroom.  In a bit of good timing this was the bye week for the Horns so no football watching was harmed in the insanity of this weekends events.

Arianna in her outfit for the ceremony

Arianna and Daddy after the ceremony

Gang War in Cayman

The real world is interrupting this island's desire to be a quiet sleepy tourist and banking destination.  Two gangs from up in West Bay the far west and northern part of the island have broken into open warfare and there have been four murders in the last six days in tit for tat shootings.  That is almost as many as these islands will get in a year.  The Governor called a special meeting of the top government officials and there has been open discussion of a curfew for the West Bay area and with the spread of shootings to the capital yesterday the Premier made an address to the nation yesterday about it.  So far at least everything has been far away from our neighborhood and from the college but we are keeping an eye on things.  Everyone seems conscious though of the fact that this is one short step from us being like Jamaica and not being the "safe" tourist destination in the Caribbean so we expect heavy police presence and crackdowns over the next few weeks.

Classes started yesterday but unfortunately we had a hiccup with the new building as CUC wont get electricity to it until Wednesday.  That meant last night we had to move classes around and use the canteen, something we will have to do again tonight while we wait for the new classrooms to open.  Yesterday was number 41 and we did a baby swap sitter and had a nice birthday dinner for me Sunday night at Yoshi's to celebrate.

New Building on Campus Complete

McLaughlin Hall

Last fall we broke ground on the newest building for our campus, a new classroom building to be called McLaughlin Hall after one of our distinguished graduates and benefactors.  It had been two plus years since completing the tearing down of the old administration and library building and that work had left a big empty space in the rear of our campus.  During the spring we dealt with delays from the architect and from planning but as we entered May construction finally started.  All summer we have been watching the construction of the new building with growing excitement.  The weather has been kind enough to not cause too many delays.  That doesn't mean we didn't have problems but the majority of issues with it were caused by government's generally slow and plodding movement which isn't unexpected, though definitely frustrating. 

Still, everything has finally been resolved, the construction completed and Monday the new McLaughlin Hall classroom building will finally open.  It is the third building on our campus and is to the rear of the Friends Hall classroom building back where the old storage shed used to be, behind the old library.  The new building has two large classrooms with seating for 32 students.  Two local financial organizations sponsored the classrooms purchasing smart boards, lecterns, whiteboards, tables and chairs for seating and generally insuring that these will be state of the art classrooms.  It is an exciting time on campus and will definitely make for a fantastic fall term as we get the 2011-2012 academic year started.

For comparison, here is an aerial view of our campus taken in 2008.  You can see the white shed to the rear of the campus where the new building and parking lot now sit.  The college owns the field north of the lot and Clayton Strain so there is still a lot of room to grow.

World Cup 2014 Qualifier

Cayman scores its only goal on a PK in 4-1 loss

One of the perks in my work for the Ministry of Health is that the Minister of Health is also the Minister of Sport and from time time that means an opportunity to attend significant sporting events on the island.  This evening was one of those times as I got to sit in the VIP section of Truman Bodden National Stadium in George Town as the Cayman Islands took on El Salvador in World Cup 2014 qualifying.  I attended with the CEO of CINICO and was a few rows up from the Governor of the Island and most of the CI Government Ministers and officials.  We were also one row above the officials from El Salvador and it was interesting to watch how they were living and dying with every pass and shot.

El Salvador was unlucky not to get two or three first half goals as the half ended in a nil-nil draw. But as the second half began they scored twice early to take a commanding lead.  But then, trailing 2 nil Cayman had a fantastic ten minute run that included their goal on a deserved PK and then culminated just a few minutes later when a great shot from distance after three beautiful set up passes almost tied the score at 2 but went just over the cross bar. The crowd was really into the game and you could feel the electricity in the air.  After that though it was back to dominance by El Salvador as they scored twice more and easily could have won 7 or 8 to 1 but hit the post at least four times. The crowd of around 2000 was great for a small nation and it was a blast to see world quality futbol (such as it was) in person here in the Islands. Even though it was "work related", it was a great evening and a fun match to watch.

Fan below us shows the colors

With one of the El Salvador officials before the match

First Day of Football

The sixth annual First Day of Football (FDOFB) celebration kicked off in the Cummings household last night with the ceremonial giving of gifts.  This year that consisted of two new Longhorn car decals for our vehicles and some Longhorn cookies made by Katie.  One of the decals we had been trying to find for a couple of years and Katie found it on the Internet and secretly ordered it.  Unfortunately, a few months ago I randomly ran into someone in a parking lot at a restaurant who just happened to have the decal.  With Katie watching on in horror I proceeded to ask him where he got the decal and after he mentioned he was leaving island began to negotiate for the purchase of it right then and there.  That forced Katie to step in and reveal she had already bought one and it was a FDOFB present.  Although the surprise was lost, it was still great to finally put the decal on the car after waiting patiently for a couple of months knowing we had it.

Katie also hung out the Texas Longhorn flag this week from the window of the nursery overlooking the living room.  This morning we took some family photos decked out in our longhorn gear and this evening I will head over to the sports bar which is going to be streaming the Texas opener against Rice.  Someday this will take a lot of explaining to Arianna why Daddy gets his own private Christmas in September (after all, it is the most wonderful time of the year, the start of the college football season).  I am so lucky to have married a women who embraced my obsession rather than fighting it. Lets hope my daughter is as understanding as her Mom.