. Issue # 38 .
Hello there!
Welcome to our October summary. Yet again we find ourselves having another busy month. No wonder the year is passing by so quickly. This month we have some swimming, some sailing, a wee bit of partying, some running around, a bit of Halloweening and just generally messing about.
Read on….
Swimming
The kids had a swim meet during the month. They both entered in all of the strokes. Jake came home with a stack of medals, mostly gold. He was pretty happy about that. He also won the points award for the day.
Sam also swam very well. She came away with a few less medals than Jake, but she had some pretty stiff competition and did well to beat a few of them. She had Personal Best Times in every one of her races, so the training and coaching (and 6 am session each Wednesday) seems to be paying off.
Sam also did a 800m sea swim the other week without hardly raising a sweat. The weather has been a bit rough of late so several of the sea swims have had to be postponed or canceled.
Michelle and Jake had planned to swim one last weekend but Jake ended up getting called in to sail in the National Youth Regatta instead (more on that below) and despite their best efforts in racing from the Sailing club to Seven Mile beach they just missed out on taking part as the registration desk had closed five minutes earlier. So they went for a swim anyway – in the opposite direction.
Sailing
Sam has been going to sailing sessions every Friday after school at the Sailing Club with a view to trialing for the School Sailing Team in the National School’s Regatta in about a month’s time. She is really enjoying it and Dave doesn’t mind popping out there on a Friday for a beer while the kids sail about in their Picos.
Last weekend was the National Youth Regatta. Sam and a friend formed a crew and entered. At the time, Jake was too young to enter, however, due to a late withdrawal (one of the kids hurt himself in the second race of the day) and the fact that he happened to be standing around at the sailing club at the time, he was ‘drafted’ onto a boat for the rest of Saturday’s races. In fact the same thing happened on the Sunday where he was asked to sail with another girl who’s partner had failed to show.
So they both sailed and enjoyed the actual racing side of things. They both won a few races as well. Sam and her partner came in 3rd overall which was a pretty good effort. Jake and his partner on the second day came in in a very credible 5th place.
They both consider themselves as expert sailors now and walk around talking in sailing speak while Michelle and Dave just nod knowlingly…
More sailing Pics!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=236831&id=766998601&l=ede92bde36
Girls Weekend
Michelle and a bunch of other girls arranged for a weekend getaway to Rum Point a week or so ago. They had rented a place for the weekend which was right on the water, had its own pool etc and was a really nice place.
They arrived by boat and by car on the Friday night, unpacked their supplies (a lot of which appeared to be in liquid form) and proceeded to party.
No time was wasted - it was straight into the cocktails and nibbles, as everyone arrived. Later one of the girls cooked up some gourmet pizzas then it was time for SingStar (or Karaoke) once Michelle got the system working, albeit in black and white (where are the guys when you need them?!). A great night was had by all - many lost their voices and everyone was very "happy"!
The next day two of the girls got up for a run and two went for a long cycle so Michelle thought she had better do something as well and went for a run - well a plod and was thankful she went on her own so she could sneak in some walks - it was very hard going in the heat (well that's her excuse anyway!). Back home to a nice cooked breakfast with bubbly, then relaxing by the pool for the rest of the day - there were a few zzzz's floating by from time to time. Later that day, more cocktails, nibbles and some lasagne, a few games, Singstar, dancing (some Irish dancing as well from the two Irish girls) but the girls couldn't hack two big nights in a row and all were in bed before midnight! More strange girls getting up for exercise on Sunday morning (what happened to being on holiday?), another cooked breakfast with bubbles, then settling down in peace to await the boy's and kid's arrival for lunch and another afternoon by the pool.
After the rugby, five of the Dad’s gathered at one of their houses for a sleep over. So there was about 10 or so kids staying as well. Once the kids were fed and locked in their cells, the Dads got onto to the serious issue of a little poker and watching some fights on the TV.
The next morning (Sunday), bleary-eyed, they restocked the chilly Bins/Cooler Boxes etc and all headed for Rum Point to spend the day with the Mums.
The kids all went fishing of the jetty, and caught a few fish as well. Sam caught three. They kept the bigger ones which were cooked on the BBQ and then devoured with gusto by the little great white hunters.
The bigger kids all sat around or in the pool for most of the day and enjoyed a great feast of ribs, steak, chicken, fish and a whole bunch of other stuff, including the occasional liquid refreshment. It may come as no surprise but everybody slept well that night. What a fantastic weekend!
More Girly Weekend Pics!
Rugby
Rugby at the club continues. The Summer sevens were played in all five weekends of October. Dave hasn’t played for quite a while now, but is thinking of having a run out soon to determine whether he is up for another AA Cup season, which starts in the new year.
Jake is playing with the Under 10s and seems to be improving in confidence and is starting to get the hang of the game. He is one of the smaller kids in the group but is doing well. Dave is now one of the Coaches for this group as well.
In breaking news, after a lengthy election campaign and a number of political rallies, Dave has been elected the Vice President of Operations on the Cayman Rugby Unions Executive Committee. He’s not sure what he’s got himself into, but it won’t be boring! He also continues his involvement in the CRFU’s free-to-air Live (and recorded) Rugby TV channel www.caymanrugbytv.com
Triathlon
Michelle has been training hard for a triathlon in late November. There have been a couple of mini/training events and Michelle has taken part in those. The first was a bit demoralizing as she was on a mountain bike and most of the others were on racing bikes and sped past her with regular monotony. Michelle got her hands on a ‘real’ bike’ and used that on the weekend just gone with a much improved result. She still hates the running part of the race but will be fine as long as she keeps up the training.
As in most countries this side of the world, Halloween is big in Cayman. Dave and the kids carved out their first ever Halloween Pumpkin, which wasn’t a bad effort really.
On the Friday night Dave was off out on a Sunset Cruise with a few of the Rugby boys which was a fundraiser for their upcoming Charlotte Trip. It wasn't a total success as numbers on the boat were down. But those that were there kept the bar staff busy and made the night more than worthwhile.
Sam and Jake went to a Halloween Party at Camana Bay on Saturday night. Then on Sunday night they went Trick or Treating with a swarm of other kids and came back with buckets full of goodies.
Michelle and Dave went to the Rugby Club’s Annual Halloween Party on Saturday night just gone. There were Hundreds of people there and most had put a lot of effort into their costumes. See the pics for a few of them!
More pics from the Halloween Party Weekend!
Weather
We've certainly been having a lot of weather in October. The Hurricane season is the busiest in years. Thankfully we've only had a few licks from the tail end of a few. As you read this, we are looking to the South where Hurricane Tomas is slowly building. It has already caused plenty of devastation down in St Lucia and St Vincent and there abouts with 14 deaths and a heap of flooding and lost roofing. It is predicted that it will turn off it's path before it reaches Cayman and head across Haiti or Jamaica. It appears to be very random in its path so we will wait and see what happens there.
Some other Pics from October!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=231370&id=766998601&l=190573b457
Next Month
Rugby Trip to Charlotte (weather dependent)
Family trip to Little Cayman
Something called MOvember is apparently growing....
Michelle's Triathlon
Maybe some diving if the weather sorts its act out
No comments:
Post a Comment