Marla's house

a couple of weeks ago, we headed out to our friend's house. her name is Marla and she has 55 acres out in Newlands with a fresh water pond, horses, chickens, geese and even a hydroponic garden. it was amazing. there was a cool tree with these giant flowers on it called the fire of the forest.

this is an ackee fruit tree--ackee is a jamaican fruit, but you can't eat it in this form because it is POISONOUS!

you have to wait till the ackee fruit pops open like this--you only eat the white part--the jamaicans make a traditional dish called ackee and cod with it

or you can wait till it pops this much--you only eat the white part--the black part is the seed--the jamaicans make a traditional dish called ackee and cod with it

here's an iguana that jumped into the water and shot like a rocket across the pond

she has a bunch of geese on the property--true story--she incubated them all herself as a project with her kids like 10 years ago

key limes--yes, we brought some home and made a delicious key lime pie!

Marla's house

a couple of weeks ago, we went to visit our friend Marla. she has 55 acres in Newlands with a fresh water pond, horses, geese, chickens and even a hydroponic garden! her spread was amazing. this is her dog, Melvin

this flower is called fire of the forest and grows on trees--it is one cool flower (and BIG)

this is ackee fruit and it grows on a tree-it's a jamaican fruit--you can't eat it when it looks like this because it is POISONOUS!

you have to wait until it pops open and exposes the white part which is the part you eat--the jamaicans make a dish here called ackee and cod--will I try it? don't think so, must people who are not jamaicans are not fond of it

or you can wait till it looks kinda wild like this with a giant eyeball that looks like an olive--the black part is the seed

here's an iguana that jumped into the pond and shot like a rocket--he was afraid to come out--i think he thinks he's invisible!

marla also has a bunch of geese--true story--she incubated all her geese herself (as a "project" to do with her kids)-these geese are easily 10 years old

key limes--we came home with a bag full--made some delicious key lime pie

this is a plum tree--isn't it just adorable? fun thing about this plum tree is that it will not sprout any leaves, just fruit

Scuba Lessons

Star, Sky and Maya are FINALLY getting their scuba certification. This past week we've been having the lessons after their schooling.
here's Star

and crazy Maya

and last, but not least Sky

Andy Croft, our boat captain, scuba instructor, great guy and good friend

doing some pool work first

Andy whipping them into shape

"wildlife in the islands"

here's some photos of the "wildlife" that we have seen around my house here in Cayman
Cayman Parrots--you always see these in pairs (yes, they mate for life) they are green parrots and are really pretty when you can see them flying and see the pretty colors on their backs

conch--this is what is inside that really pretty shell--some slimy icky looking thing (and yes, people eat them here)

this is that same conch that "strolled" up on our shoreline

this grasshopper was really LONG!

close-up of a pretty blue lizard--we couldn't believe we could get so close to it

body shot of the blue lizard

"typical lizard" that runs around here--usually brown and always with the curly tail

body shot of a green lizard

very cool looking guy

saw this guy on the driveway--sort of missing a claw

hermit crab-her name is Lupe--she's an escape artist

Kirk's shadow

Kirk has a shadow these days and it's a little brown girl named Lea! She loves her Daddy and is with him whenever he is "being still".

Fun with Bebe and Ophelia

These two little cuties were here in Cayman for 2 weeks and we had a blast with them. Bebe kept us in stitches constantly and we all fought over who was going to hold Ophelia. Brittany and Andrew...you'll have free babysitters for life in this household!

sea urchins

a while back, it was a VERY calm morning and Maya and Sage went out on the waverunner. they discovered a cache of sea urchins and thus the adventure began to collect them.

one sea urchin

the booty

this is what girls do with sea urchins--decorate them with paint and glitter!

Homeless

While we've been here in Cayman, we found out that our house had just gotten another rental. That's ok, because we have somewhere else to go. After packing up all our stuff and trust me, it's quite a bit, we headed over to our condo on the other side of the island. We were completely unpacked and organized and I had even gone to the grocery store and gotten all stocked up with food. Then,less than 24 hours into the condo stay , we got an offer to rent it as well. WHAT TO DO? Well, if you know Kirk and I'm sure you all do, there was no hesitation. But, we had to be out right then and there! Thank goodness, Rick & Kim and Brittany and Tregan were with us because they cleaned all the food out of the kitchen and got it all packed up! THANKS you guys! It was a zoo as we were all trying to collect our belongings and get out. So, yes we were homeless for about 15 whole minutes! We ended up going back to Cayman Kai and staying at Derek and Becky's house just about 7 houses away from ours! And yes, we have spied on our renters. Kirk even went over one morning and cleaned the pool! ( he said no one saw him?) THANK YOU to Derek and Becky for allowing us to stay at your home while ours was rented!


my house in Cayman Kai named Kaiku

pool deck at Kaiku

north tower of Ritz Carlton where my condo is

what I see from my balcony at condo--seven mile beach

Derek & Becky's house called Fantasea