More of Canada

Last night at the beach with Uncle Randy.

Today at Silver Star.
Fun at the waterslide a few days ago.

Driving race cars for Hunter's birthday.
Just a few more days and they will be back home to their lonely dad!

Move along...

Saturday morning and the move is on. And I had a great helper too!
That helper was Selda, seen here driving the CRV behind me in the truck. Of course we just got the truck loaded when the heavens opened up so all the bulky items in the back got soaked. Then the skies cleared and everything got blown dry on the way into town. One more trip and I will be all moved, but still have the rest of the family to go.

Playtime

Rex and I had a Sunday morning walk on the beach and met up with Ms. Ann who happened to be walking Rex's playmates, Trio and Fergus.
They had lots of fun and now a completely exhausted Rex has passed out on the porch.
Now he will have a bath and then enjoy a relaxing afternoon as I take advantage of a flat-calm cloudless Sunday and do some boating.

Sunset walk on the beach

How romantic is that! A sunset walk on the beach with a dog! And tough to get a picture of too. But it was a beautiful evening on the turtle-nesting beach with about 15 nests so far.
And Rex the chick-magnet came through for me finally! And he is quite proud of the fact too. Mmmmmm...

Paper Canadians

Being completely unaccustomed to extreme heat, my paper Canadians have had to employ intersting strategies to adjust. Such as playing under the sprinkler and
... sleeping outside on the deck.A visit to the waterpark with some real Canadians (Tanya and Rod's children) also helps.
For the birthday boy, a ride on a train with Grandma was meant to be relaxing but low and behold they were robbed at gunpoint!

Luckily cousin Devon is now big enough to take good care of them. I just can't wait for them to get back to the "land of soft fresh breezes"! :-)

The Storm in Little Cayman

I broke down and bought another camera. So back to blogging. It was a very rough flight over, but just before we arrived the skies cleared over Little Cayman. We could both smile after feeling like puking for 40 minutes.
The first day the weather was nice and we spent the day fishing. And of course relaxing afterward. Went almost around the island and a fantastic boat trip only made better by the fact we did well fishing too!
We even caught some nice crabs in the evening.
The meals were first class. Here our freshly caught fish prepared "Brown-stew" by Chef Gary.
Then Tropical Storm Dolly put a damper on the fishing, but not on our fun. Very windy conditions and high waves but very little rain. Notice the"mangrove club" is surrounded by water. The boat also pulled anchors and fortunately came ashore right on the beach. Got lots of rest, ate way too much. Nice flight home this evening and back to the many tasks at hand...

Caymanians in cold water

The Caymanian snugglers brave the frigid Canadian waters with friend Braden at Kal lake.

Coffee

Rex and I enjoying coffee outside on a warm Sunday morning but missing the rest of the family. Luckily we had Nana for company two mornings in a row. Hope everyone is enjoying their time in Canada.

Dad, dog and kitchen

Last day of my "vacation look"! Back to clean shaven on Monday.
Rex and I had a nice evening swim in the pool, then he had a nice bath and enjoyed having some company. He really misses his three playmates. So do I.
Got up some hurricane shutters, also replaced the kitchen fans and fixed the light! Yes, and then cleaned up the mess after the picture was taken.

Canada and Cayman

H & H are safely at Grandma's in Canada as of this afternoon, enjoying the cool temp's and fresh fruits and veggies!
I continued my decking project with the help of Carol pretty much all day today sweating profusely and starving from the total absence of food in the house!

Bits & pieces

Now that I am without a camera, I am limited in my selection of photos. This is Jenn and Hayley from our Little Cayman trip.
And the boys; me, Colin and Paul busy watching TV at Pub Quiz Night!

Awards Day

The Poet

Hunter's class at the Children's Festival of the Arts.

Frank in his new job as the Blue Iguana collecting fund raising from Grace Christian Academy.

Blue Friday

We have been a little short of staff at work, so I got to be the Blue Iguana on Friday for the children of North Side Primary. The school was having a "Blue" dress down day and also holding a fund-raising fish fry. Photographed as I sweated to death in the school office awaiting the start of the assembly. I got lots of hugs and high-fives from some very excited children.
Jenn couldn't resist trying the head on for size!
Then she dressed Rex for the part of mascot for the fish fry. But she forgot to make a hole in his shirt for his doggy needs... the outfit was short-lived.
Finally, this is Hayley in her Penguin costume for Wednesday night dance competition at the Children's festival of the Arts. She already has a silver medal in piano and she and Hunter both earned Gold medals in poetry.

Mangoes!

We hiked in to Winters Land this morning to get the first of the "wild" mangoes! These are round mangoes and very stringy but sweet. Will check the farm this evening to see what they have too.

Some Cayman Brac

Staff, volunteers and "friends" of the National Trust visited the Brac for the Discovery Day long-weekend May 16-19th, sixteen people in all. View from the apartment with Jenn "studying" on the dock.
Jenn hiking into the "Splits"; one of the nature reserves owned by the Trust. Note the jagged rock. Hell on the hands!
The crew that braved snorkeling the wreck of the "Prince Frederick": Liv, me, Caroline, Jenn. The ship wrecked in the late 1800's and much of the wreckage remains strewn around the bottom including mounds of anchor chain, masts and four huge anchors. A big barracuda followed the girls around. Great trip except for the "sea itch" that some of us acquired.
Stealing mangoes is always dangerous work! We did manage to get some mangoes, naseberries and papayas and also bought some freshly caught "dolphin" (mahi mahi) from the guys on the dock by the apartment. It was soooo good! Jamie also made a cassava cake. I think between that and the beverages we all gained 10 pounds!

We also made new friends. This is a Caribbean Fruit Bat Artibius jamaicensis hanging out in one of the caves. What a cute little snuggly bat!

The days are getting longer

Now that the days are getting longer there is more daylight for fun when the homework is done.


Wish I didn't have to work...