Isaac takes its toll on Cayman

Although the storm passed well to the north of us and is giving New Orleans headaches it has had an impact here in Cayman.  We had a tremendous lightning and rain storm that its outer bands kicked up Monday evening  and early Tuesday morning.  During the storm, the college radio tower which is next to Friends Hall was struck by lightning, blowing an electrical box and wiring, and sending a surge through the phone and ethernet lines that were attached to the tower.  The power surge that went through the ethernet cords crossed over to Clayton Strain Hall and the administrative offices frying 10 of our computers in various offices and our lab classroom.  The computers seem to have been impacted almost at random as some are just fine while others will not turn on.  The strike took out our entire phone system, fire and security alarms for two of the three buildings and knocked our radio station out.  The rain has also flooded our campus again re-creating Lake ICCI around Friends Hall and to the east of McLaughlin Hall.  My office was one of the lucky ones as the electronics in it are OK.  This morning we had another powerful band of rain come through and it seems to be lingering for the next couple of days.  Sunday morning was to be our first practice mini triathlon but for now we are going to have to wait and see what the weather allows.

Tropical Storm Watch

Overnight we briefly went on Tropical Storm watch as Isaac headed across Cuba and we found ourselves in its outer cone.   Fortunately, the watch ended shortly after it began as Isaac continued on its path toward Florida and did not take any unusual turns that might have impacted us more.  We have gotten some rain today and thunder from what are likely its very outer bands and we should have a wet weekend. Next Sunday is the first of three practice triathlons on Seven Mile Beach involving a 200 meter swim, a 3 mile bike, and 1 mile run.  This is part of a training series that slowly builds and lets you get used to doing all three as well as the transitions along with building up the distances.  We are both keeping up with our training and trying to develop endurance as much as speed.  Next Saturday is also the first day of football so we are gearing up for celebration of that "national holiday" in our household.  Should be an eventful week.

The Mendoza Line

In baseball there is a term for hitters who are really struggling, its called hitting above the Mendoza line. The Mendoza line is named after a short stop who was a lifetime .215 hitter but it has traditionally now become a description for a hitter who is below .200.  For the past ten years I have been dieting and exercising in a vain attempt to get below 200 pounds and have always viewed that as my own personal Mendoza line only this time the goal is below 200 not above.  Three weeks ago I got a reading of 199.8 on my weekly weigh in.  I wasn't really trusting of it and said that if I got three straight weeks of readings below 200 pounds I would be convinced that I had truly broken through the barrier. Last week was 199 even and this morning 198.6 so it seems the Mendoza line has been broken.  We are still doing active training for the triathlon and that looks like it was the impetus to break through the 200 pound barrier.

Stephanie heads and home and the Storms line up

Stephanie headed home yesterday but not before she got a going away present from her niece, who said her full name yesterday morning getting squeals of delight from her Aunt.  The weather improved dramatically on her last day and since her flight wasn't until early evening, we headed to the beach and she got in some paddle boarding with Katie.  As she leaves, the National Hurricane Center in Miami is warning us about a storm that will become Gordon either later today or tomorrow and track into our general vicinity next week Wednesday.  It looks like it will be similar to Ernesto and just give us a lot of rain and high wave action but we are watching it closely just in case it shifts north and gives us some wind action either as strong tropical storm or weak hurricane.  Meanwhile off the coast of Africa a true monster storm has formed and everyone in the Caribbean is watching that one to see where it goes.  It is August in the tropics and the hurricane shooting gallery is in full force.

Storm Passes, No Taxes and Two more Days with Stephanie

A lot has happened to start this week.  Tropical Storm Ernesto passed to the south of us giving us some high winds and a lot of rain the last two days but no real issues or concerns. Last night after two long weeks of very heated debate the Premier announced that the "Community Enhancement Fee" which was government speak for direct income tax was being withdrawn and was "no longer on the table". We are enjoying our last two full days with Aunt Stephanie who leaves Thursday and used the rainy day yesterday as an excuse to visit the Caybrew Brewery and take a tour.  There have been spots of sunshine that has led to quality beach time for Steph and Arianna. We are hoping that with the storm having passed, these last two days will give us nice tropical weather for Stephanie to enjoy.

Storm Threat Decreases and Mastic Trail

Every track since yesterday afternoon has pushed Ernesto further south and this afternoon we have pretty well shut down hurricane preparations as it looks like it will not impact us at all beyond a little rain.  With storm worry taking a backseat we headed over to the Mastic trail this morning to do some hiking.  Unfortunately, the rain earlier in the week flooded the trail and we only got in about 1/2 mile before we had to turn back.  Still, it was the first time Arianna had done any of the Mastic Trail so Aunt Stephanie got a first with her niece.

Watching Ernesto

Early August has brought with it an unwelcome surprise visitor.  Tropical Storm Ernesto has entered the eastern Caribbean and is now tracking into our neighborhood as a hurricane late Monday/early Tuesday.  The current track puts it about 77 miles south of us which is way too close for comfort.  In the map below we are just above and to the right of the 2 a.m. Tuesday track which has the storm at a low level hurricane.  This weekend is now full on hurricane preparations as we get up the shutters, buy any last minute supplies and get the house ready.  Stephanie is going to get the real tropical experience it would seem.  Unless it blows up into a huge storm we plan to ride it out as the house is more than capable of handling a category 1 or even low level category two hurricane.

A welcome guest and a potentially unwelcome one

Aunt Stephanie arrived on Tuesday and is here for the next week visiting.  She brought Arianna a much bigger "mouse" doll that she has been carrying around ever since.  We also got news that early next week what is now tropical depression five may be in our neighborhood as either Tropical Storm Ernesto or even Hurricane Ernesto so we are keeping a weather eye on that.  Should make for an interesting several days of family and storm watching.

An Island Without Power

We were awoken this morning at 6:30 by the familiar but never welcome sound of the click of all the appliances, fans and air conditioning units turning off as they lost power.  At first we thought it was just our neighborhood but as we drove Arianna to school we heard on the radio that it was island wide.  A short up in West Bay caused a system wide failure that affected the entire islands grid.  The outage would last most of the day and this evening parts of the island still remain without power.  We finally got it back around 2:30 p.m. and are holding our breath that it wont go out again tonight as has happened to a couple of our friends who got it back for a few hours and now have lost it again.  We went snorkeling early in the day with Russ and Gail at Sunset House.  Around 8:30 we were re-joined by Arianna who's school had closed after an hour and a half of waiting for the power to return.  We all headed over to Camana Bay which had generators and was up and running.  While there, we saw more people at Cafe Del Sol (which had a generator and wifi) than we had ever seen before. The whole island was out looking for A/C and Internet access and Camana had both.

Late in the day we got another unwelcome surprise, the government is looking at introducing taxation of work permit holders.  It looks like a 10% flat tax but we don't have the full details yet.  Never-the-less it does look like our tax free existence is coming to an end. In the coming days they will release the full details of how much and what income is subject to it. 

Here are some shots from our snorkeling with GG and Russ the last few days.

Sunday Afternoon at Rum Point

Yesterday we went to a special service at Cayman Islands Baptist Church for our new President Dr. Garcia in the morning and then after Arianna's nap we headed up to Rum Point.  The last time Russ and Gail were here was right after Arianna was born and one of the first places we had all gone together was to Rum Point so we took a picture of them with Arianna at the same spot as one we had taken with them and Arianna when she was just over a week old.  It is fun to compare the photos and amazing to see how much Arianna has grown in 21 months.

The water was very warm and it was a hot day at the beach.  Typical of Sunday afternoons in Cayman there were a ton of boats that had made their way up there which made for a very picturesque setting.

First day with Russ and GG

On the Crewe road bypass right as you get to the roundabout to Bobby Thompson Way there is a goat farm and every time we pass it during the day the goats are out eating the grass by the side of the road.  You can see a farm back from the road but until recently we hadn't looked any further than the goats.  A few weeks ago one of the mommies in Katie's group found out that the farm on the weekends does a petting zoo for little kids.  We decided that would be a great first day activity to do with the grand parents and headed over there Saturday morning.  We met Arianna's partner in crime Braden who was also seeing the petting zoo for the first time.  Arianna got to do a horse ride, pet some rabbits and goats along with a donkey.  Later in the day Arianna took her grand parents for an afternoon out at the Duck Pond, Dart Park and finally, the fountains at Camana Bay.  After getting Arianna to sleep, we did a baby swap night with Braden's Mom and took Russ and Gail for all you can eat lobster at Deckers on Seven Mile Road.

GG and Papa arrive

Last night Katie's parents Gail and Russ (also known as GG and Papa) arrived on island.  They are here for a week and we are looking forward to some fun times with the grand parents.

Referendum Day

Today is a national holiday in the Cayman Islands as locals go to the polls to vote on a national referendum to reform the election system.  With such a small population, elections are difficult to hold if it is a normal work day so they typically declare a national holiday.  This is both so that everyone can get to the polls and so that all the poll workers aren't missing a day of work.  The issue at stake today deals with single member districts and the concept of one man, one vote.  The current system allows people in each district to vote for all the representatives in their district meaning that some people have up to five votes while others have as little as one in the smallest districts.  The referendum can only pass if a majority of the registered voters approve it which means it must not only win amongst the people who actually vote but must get 50.01 % of the total registered voters whether they vote or not.  It has been a lively debate among the population and amongst our students so it will be interesting to see how things go tonight when they count the returns.

Goodbye Terry

We got the news last night that GG's beloved friend and companion Terry had to be put to sleep yesterday.  GG and Papa were both there to say goodbye and we were all there with them in spirit to say farewell.  All dogs go to heaven and there is a special place for Terry there.

Other shots that didnt make the cut

The A/C is back on and the house is once again a reasonable 80 degrees.  We are still editing and playing with our photos and videos from the Orlando trip.  We took almost 4 gigabytes of photos and videos while in Florida so many of them aren't making the cut on either blog.  Here are a few more we really liked but just didn't fit any of our posts.

Unplanned Hotel Night

Last Wednesday our air conditioning gave out and we discovered from the repairman that our condenser unit had given up the ghost.  The next three days would be spent by the repairman and our landlady trying to find a replacement unit.  We have gotten by with fans and keeping activities in the house to a minimum.  Five days in the tropics without air conditioning is no fun at all and we have a new found respect for those who lived here when there was no such thing as air conditioning. 

Saturday night though Arianna started to run a mild fever and we never could get it back down.  With the house so hot we were concerned both that the heat was causing her fever and that it was preventing the medicine from working properly.  When we learned it would be Monday before the replacement unit would be available we started looking at local hotels so that Arianna's fever would go down in a cool room.  We headed to the cheapest hotel we could find and after a dinner out put her down to sleep.  She was very restless and our secondary hope that she would get a good nights sleep wasn't realized but her fever did come down and stay down.  We are back home now and hopefully the A/C gets fixed today and everything goes back to normal.

Day Two at Disney

Our second day at the Magic Kingdom was just the three of us since everyone else had to head back to catch flights or head home.  We had mapped out the day and planned to hit the rest of the rides that were Arianna size as well as pop over to Epcot and of course at both parks see a few more of the characters. 

We started the day by meeting the Disney Fairies, Tinker Bell and Vidia.  Arianna doesn't watch much TV but she absolutely adores a Tinker Bell video she got from her Godfather Chuck and so this was one of the few characters that she actually recognized.  After that visit we were able to ride Aladdin's Magic Carpets (three times as Arianna kept wanting "more"); Pirates of the Caribbean; The Jungle Cruise and even see a show at the Enchanted Tiki Room.  Then it was time to hop the monorail over to Epcot.  Arianna was getting close to her nap time and we thought Epcot would be a quieter option for hopefully a longer nap.  She did get a little under an hour sleep while we walked around the various countries and then when she woke up we did the Nemo ride and were going to do Crush the Turtle but she kept wanting to walk up to the screen and touch it so we had to leave early. 

Arianna was getting pretty exhausted from several long days and this last afternoon she bounced between really excited, really tired, and melting down.  She got to see Chip & Dale and Daisy Duck at Epcot and then two different visits to "The Mouse" when we got back to Magic Kingdom.  We picked up a personalized pair of mouse ears with Arianna's name on them and she happily wore that around the park.  There were just a few rides left on our list of Arianna sized ones so we headed to tomorrow land and rode Buzz Lightyear and then did the People Mover.  That turned out to be an unfortunate circumstance as it broke down and we were stuck on the track for 20 minutes waiting for them to repair it.  Arianna was not pleased and let the world know about it drawing stares from below. We had thought about staying for the fireworks but it was clear Arianna needed to get a good nights sleep and both of us were feeling the same way so we headed out around 5 to get some dinner and have a quiet night at the hotel. It was a great two days in the park and we will definitely be bringing Arianna back again.

First Day at Disney

We start this post with a huge thanks to Uncle Brent up in Naperville without whom we would not have been able to do two days at Disney or be able to park hop or have some extra spending money to get gifts.  Brent came through with passes for the entire family and we are all grateful beyond measure.  Thank you very much for the passes! We owe you a bunch of babysitting next time we are your direction or you can get down this way.

Our first day at Disney World started with the three of us along with Grandma and cousin Eileen headed to the Magic Kingdom.  Once we had our tickets we got on a ferry ride across the lake to the entrance.  Arianna was awe inspired by all the sights and at times couldn't contain herself she was so excited.  We headed immediately to fantasy land and the lines were very manageable as we got on the Carousel, Winnie The Pooh ride, Dumbo ride (twice), Mad Hatter Tea Cups (twice), It's a Small World, Peter Pan, Mickey's Philharmagic and even took in the noon character parade ahead of Arianna's nap. 

After a nice but short nap that involved Katie and I riding a monorail and then riding the ferry boat back just to mark time while Arianna slept, we had a fun afternoon of meeting Mary Poppins and what was by far the highlight of the afternoon meeting "The Mouse".  Arianna all day had been yelling out "Mouse" whenever she saw Mickey or Minnie and as we took her in to meet them she was literally screaming with excitement which led all the other kids to scream with excitement and gave all the parents a great chance to live vicariously through the pure excitement and happiness of their kids.  After the 'Mice" we crossed the hall and went in to meet some of the Disney Princesses, including Mommy's favorite Belle.  We also rode the train around the entire Magic Kingdom and mapped out which rides Arianna had not done and what we wanted to do with her the rest of the time we had the next day.

We left the park at four with everyone exhausted.  That evening instead of heading back to the park Katie went out to finish all our shopping while Arianna and I went over to the fountains and lazy river at the villas with the rest of the family.  Arianna ran herself ragged in the fountains and after saying goodbye to everyone as they were leaving the next day, fell asleep as soon as we got in the car to head back to our hotel.