.. June 2012 ..
Hey there!
We're back! Better late than never! We try and get this done at the start of each month but the end of June was pretty hectic. We had a fairly big long weekend which flowed into July without us really realising it, although we did celebrate Canada Day on July 1st.
Again, plenty of action on the sporting front. The social front wasn't to shabby either to be honest!
Anyway, let's go!
Triathlon
There was a mini tri held in June. Michelle had done one or two real ones. The kids had done some kids ones, and Dave had managed to avoid them altogether.
Michelle entered the Half Triathlon and managed to stay in reasonable shape for that. She will most likely do the big one again in November this year.
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| Starting out on the running leg. |
Dave decided he would have a crack - especially as it was an even shorter distance than the half, It was effectively a 1/4 tri - with a 400m swim, 6 Mile bike and a 3 Mile run.
When he got there for the marking there were about 20 kids (including Sam) about 12 years and under doing the same event. Thankfully there were three or four other big people doing it as well. Otherwise Dave might have snuck off somewhere.
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| The swim went OK, although by the time Dave finished, all the kids had done a bout 1/2 a mile on their bikes! He wasn't last out of the pool though. At least two other big people were behind him. |
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| Sam was one of the first out of the pool |
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| Team Skyler, Sami and Sam |
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| Dave emerges from the pool before the sun sets. |
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| Transition is a bit slow |
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| Dave borrowed a real bike from one of our friends and managed to blow all of the kids off the road |
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| The little buggers did well in the run though ! |
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| Jake poses for the crowd pre-race |
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| A good swim puts his team in the front |
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| And they hang on to win... or maybe it was second. Anyway, great job! |
Beach Day Number....???
Beach days tend to crop up from time to time. June was no different. We popped down to Governor's Beach at least a couple of times. Sometimes it's just a quiet few beers. Other times it's a full-on takeover.
This one was for Canada Day and also a farewell to our Canadian friend who are moving back to Canada, so there were plenty of people there.
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| You're always going to get a little bit of sand at the beach! |
We also had a Jet Ski on hand, as well as a boat. Both were popular and the kids had a blast hooning up and down in front of Seven Mile Beach. A couple of snorkelers got a bit of a fright as a biscuit filled with screaming kids raced on past them.
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| The jet ski was popular amongst kids young and old! |
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| They even let girls have a go driving |
Paul (Jet Ski owner) and Dave spent some time towing the kids about. Then Michelle took over, which was great as Dave was in need of some liquid refreshment by that stage.
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| Meanwhile in the background, the beers and mudslides are under attack |
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| Woohoo! |
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| Taking it easy |
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| The paparazzi are out |
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| Note the portable generator, blender and mudslide ingredients...not to mention the Margarita mix! This is a very professional operation. |
The Brac Attack!
A bunch of us (OK, about 25 or so) visited the Brac for one of the long weekends in June. Cayman Brac is one of the two Sister islands here in Cayman. A bit like Cayman's answer to Anegada (BVI).
The Queen quite rightly gave us the Monday off so we could go and celebrate in true British style.... OK we took a few poms with us. One of them reportedly owns Union Jack knickers...but we can't show them here. This is a family show!
Anyway, after about four separate flights we all made the 30 minute flight to the Brac and set up camp in the Reef Hotel. The kids quickly invaded the pool area en mass and chased away the unsuspecting tourists so we could take up our rightful spot and commence our relaxation...and jubilee celebrations of course.
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| The Brac has a bunch of caves, all of which were popular with the kids. |
The evenings were spent around the pool, the resturant or on the beach. The days were pretty busy with early morning runs (I said runs) for some, followed by excursions to various lacales around the island. These included the Caves, the Bluff and a couple of dive spots as well.
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| Some preferred to watch the Jubilee telecast...but not us! |
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| Another long hot day comes to a close |
We managed to get a couple of dives in while we were there. There is great diving over in the Brac, and also Little Cayman.
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| Shrimpy dude! |
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| Hello in there! |
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| The Wreck of the Capt Tibbetts. It used to be a Russian Frigate or something similar before becoming a dive site. |
More Brac diving photos:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150876649408602.408306.766998601&type=3&l=df9a8dc7d1
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| We took the Cessna over |
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| Another cave! |
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| The Brac's massive lighthouse on the Buff |
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| The aforementioned Bluff |
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| Baby Booby (in the woolly white coat) |
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| Scary Cave-dwellers |
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| Some caves have modern conveniences |
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| Hmmm...looks familiar. |
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| A Hermit Crab joined us for dinner in the Restaurant one night. |
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| Michelle did it tough all weekend |
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| Tonya and Michelle enjoy the fun |
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| Must have been funny |
More photos from the Brac Weekend:
Other Stuff
Tonya and Russ (friends moving back to Canada) held a leaving party on the weekend. It was also Canada Day, so Red was in fashion and tattoos were popular. Half of the island came along and enjoyed the mountains of food and all the fun. The kids all formed various 'gangs' and went about wreaking havoc wherever they went.
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Russ and Tonya
(We miss them already...) |
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| Jake has his year 4 Graduation Certificate presented. |
More Swimming
The kids took part in the Caledonian Swim meet which went for about three days. They have a new coach at the pool these days and he's doing some good stuff. Their times are continually improving, as is their technique.
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| Sam, off the blocks |
Another beach day. This one was a little bit cooler, as the weather was looking decidedly dodgy throughout the day. However the rain avoided us, until we were about to leave and then it heaved down.
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| Always good to have a ball in the car! |
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| The beers went down OK apparently |
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| Weather looms... it suddenly became very dark |
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| Errmmm... yeah. |
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| Jakes hits the water on the next day of the meet |
National Touch Champions 2012!
Yep, it's true. We went through the season unbeaten and fronted up on finals day to brush off the pretenders.
The first semi was a little bit of a walk over, but the final was a tough game. Even a little bit of hand bagging at one stage. But we stuck to our guns and used our speed to great effect.
The Heineken Brew Crew won the final about 8 - 5 or thereabouts. Great effort!
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| The Heineken Brew Crew - Cayman Islands National Touch League Champtions 2012 |
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| Team prayer |
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| Running about aimlessly |
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| Maybe we should pick the ball up? |
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| Sam and Skyler head out with Russ for a sail |
Lots more pics from June:
Rugby Dinner 2012
The Rugby Dinner is always a popular event.
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| Guest speaker Shane Williams (Wales) gets to meet some of the ladies |
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| ...and some Kiwis |
More Rugby Dinner Pics:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150925247888602.413850.766998601&type=3&l=be78907c48
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Michelle took part in a 45 Mile challenge last weekend. 15 miles a day for three days.
Dave said "Bugger that and went back to sleep." |
Mile Sea Swim
The Mile sea swim is a popular event. It's also one of the richest swim events in the world with over $100k in prizes. We all did it again this year. Although it was a little tougher as the current was against us.
Michelle managed to keep ahead of Sam. Jake wasn't far behind. Dave was. But he finished!
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| The race start at the Ritz |
About 800 swimmers take part. Some olympic swimmers, some plodders and some in between. It's a very well run event and this year was the 20th anniversary.
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| We're in there somewhere! |
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| There was even a clown from Italy who did the mile with handcuffed hands AND feet. That's him just coming in. |
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| Finished! |
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| Kiwi flags too! |
They have a massive prize giving after with an average of 1 in 4 people winning a prize. Michelle, Sam and Jake all one spot prizes - a Personal Trainer package, a Hotel stay and a Sunset Cruise. So that was a pretty good result!
OK, that's it for June. I'm sure we've missed a few things, oops...
Check out the photo links that we have provided above to see more pics from June.
NEXT MONTH
Tomorrow we are off to Mexico for a week (Puerto Vilata) and then Dallas for a few days. So hopefully we'll get a pic or two and a story to tell from that.
School camps take over then. The kids are now off until September!
Catch you soon!
:)
