Grimmer's on Island

This past week the entire Grimmer family was on island for some fun, scuba, and family time! It was nice to see them when I could and help make sure their trip to Cayman was as good as it could be.

We held a beach bbq on 7 mile beach on Friday. This meant a beautiful sunset complete with a pirate ship.

I am too frustrated with my new camera to fix this but below is a photo of Rachel with her son Finley. He was such a trooper!

The motto of this story: Cayman is fun so come and visit. We will be staying through next summer, so plan your trips now!

4 Years of Wedded Bliss

After a broken camera and a new camera purchased that had incompatible software, we are back!

On the 22nd Bob and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary (we are at 7 years of being together, for those of you keeping track). We decided to do two small dinners this year, both at the Ritz-Carlton.

First was sushi dinner on Thursday at Taikun.

The tuna was phenomenal. So fresh and so yummy. The menu is limited but priced reasonably. We will definitely be back!

Second on Saturday we went to Periwinkle. It is an Italian restaurant that was doing a pasta and pizza taster menu. We celebrated the Christina way with a bottle of Prosecco.

Our anniversary gift to ourselves was this beauty: The Playstation 3

So far I think I have gotten more use out of it than Bob. Mostly this is because he wants to play online games but our signal is too poor. Also, our TV is not large enough for him to read the gaming instructions. I have Lego Harry Potter and it is SO much fun! It is made for like 12 year olds, but perfect for a non-gamer like me. I enjoy it's "Mario Bros" feel and the fact that it follows the first 4 movies very closely. So fun!

Though Bob may not play as often as me, he really enjoys having it so much so that we added a second TV to our living room. Yes, we are regressing to the college dorm room days but we love it.

In other news, Bob passed the first test of the CFA - though he doesn't know how. He seriously must be the smartest/luckiest guy in the world. Just goes to show the quality of the KU Business School and the CPA. Congrats Bobbo!

Cayman Apartment #3

Here is the first and most important picture of our new place:

You guessed it, this is our new guest room. Fancy, no? It has it's own bathroom and everything. So it is time to come to Cayman, whether it is for your first time or you are a repeat visitor.

Our new place is SO awesome. Bob and I are super excited. We have moved from Governor's Harbour and now live in Snug Harbour. It is closer to George Town, which is nice for driving Bob to work. For those of you familiar with Cayman, we are just north of Camana Bay (like a 5 min walk). It is fully furnished, everything is in good working order and it actually feels like a home. They even had a candy dish with a lid JUST like the one I used to have back in KC. We will be here for a year, so you have plenty of time to book your trip. I'd suggest coming in the winter to escape the cold and snow :)

Back to the photos. Here is the kitchen. Note all of the cupboards - they are filled with nice dishes and cooking utensils. And let's not forget the coup de grâce - a dishwasher!

After I took the kitchen photo I turned 180 degrees and took this photo of the lounge:

I already moved that pink, yucky chair to the corner. I'm trying to convince Siena that this is her chair, but so far she doesn't like it either. She has better taste than Bob, he thinks it is fine. The little hallway to the bedrooms and bathrooms are to the left of this photo.

Drum-roll please for the next photo, our view and back patio:

Yes, that is a screened in patio. There is a door to the right going out to the lawn and a door to the right leading into our bedroom (our room also has a walk-in closet and bathroom. Awesome). Bob and I have had most of our meals out on the patio. There is a light and a fan and, most importantly NO MOSQUITOS! Siena likes the patio, though she did run into the screen twice. We are trying to be cautious with her, I'm sure if an iguana walked onto the dock she'd bust through the screen in a heartbeat.

We are so happy in our new place. We are renting through a property management group and our rep was born in Wichita, KS. I knew she'd get me a great place, but I couldn't have expected this. Other good news, we are getting DVR!! It is new to the island this year and we are super excited.

That is about it. This week has been filled with me moving, cleaning, trying to start up/close out utilities, wait for cable and internet service men, unpacking, etc. Everything is done now and, needless to say, I'm pretty tired. I'm ready for the 3 day weekend with Bob (Monday is Constitution Day here). No plans for the 4th. Maybe a boat trip or a brunch. Something fun :)

And because it just isn't a post without a photo of Siena, here she is with her latest catch.

Siena and the Iguanas

I was finally able to take some photos of Siena chasing and stalking iguanas. So far she has trapped two large iguanas (she doesn't try to bite them) and captured 4 small iguanas.

She is such a good dog!

3 in 4

Siena has caught 3 iguana's in the past 4 days. She is on a roll - photos to come!

PS - Go USA on Saturday!!!

Super Success!!

Still no photos. Sorry. I just want to disclose that fact at the beginning of this post. I know this may be a tough concept for some of you to understand, but I don't carry a camera with me at all times. Also, my phone doesn't take photos (thought I rarely carry it with me regardless). I live in a bubble . . . on "the rock" . . . in a twilight zone time warp.

Today we experienced the ultimate success. Siena caught an iguana. Like, she had it in her mouth. None of this "cornering it" crap, this was a full on catch. Super caught = super success. She played with it until it played dead long enough that I felt bad and made her walk away. She obviously learned from the first baby chick she caught not to kill her prey right away; she was very gentle.

Siena has been gunning for the iguanas ever since her arrival on the island over a year ago. Today was a big day for her.

June

Hello June.

I can't believe you arrived so quickly this year. I think that may be because the weather here doesn't change much. Many things are happening/changing this month and I wanted to give you all a preview of things to come!

June 5th - Bob takes the CFA exam. He assumes he will fail as he had decided he doesn't want a job in financial services or fund management after all and stopped studying a couple of months ago. The past week he has been off to "study", which was mostly to take a break from work and do some skimming of the CFA books. After his exam Bob has requested our dinner specialty of peppercorn steak with gorgonzola, asparagus and sweet potato. Bob can grill a perfect medium to medium rare steak, so it should be super delicious!

June 11th - USA vs England, FIFA 2010 World Cup. How do I know this? It is the first time ever that I've been aware of the soccer world cup, let alone know a game and it's time. I think I may actually watch (and by watch I mean have the game on while I do other things around the house). All my friends down here are excited for the World Cup and I would enjoy if the long shot USA team actually beat #3 ranked England. I may gloat a bit if that happens. Sounds like a good Cinderella story to me :).

June 12th - Sad day. We were meant to go to Kingston, Jamaica this day for the West Indies vs South Africa Cricket Test Match 1. Why aren't we going? Well, the stupid Jamaican government finally decided to extradite a drug lord wanted in the US (9 months AFTER the US asked them to) and a riot ensued. The cricket has been moved to Trinidad and our trip cancelled. Luckily our money will be refunded. There was a group of 25 people going and we all had shirts made. Here is to having a t-shirt and never attending the function (you had a t-shirt like that, didn't you Rach?)

June 15th (maybe earlier) - Michaelyn arrives for a relaxing holiday. I expect it will be filled with snorkeling, reading and sight-seeing. Should be a good time! Now that Jamaica was cancelled, she may arrive earlier as Bob has Monday the 14th off for the Queen's Birthday holiday and may bring Bob's father as well.

June 30th - We move! We are moving to a new place in Snug Harbour on Palm Heights Drive. The place is in a 4 condo building and our unit is on the first floor. We have a screened in patio (YEA!) with a great back lawn out to a canal. The views are great! The layout much better than we've had so far, two proper bedrooms and two baths, big kitchen, and large lounge. The furniture is a little dated, but who cares? I'm so happy to move! Oh, the craziest part! Our representative at the property management group that runs the unit was born in Wichita, KS and lived most of her life in Missouri! What are the odds?

I think that is about it. Siena is doing well and probably really happy she doesn't have to be boarded this month during our trip. Bob and I are working out a lot and are not eating out until Michaelyn arrives. Hopefully we can lose a little of our "vacation" weight!

Here is to a great June. Please do not get too hot, rainy or mosquito-y!