Visitors!

So Kelly's Uncle and Aunt were down visiting the last week. It's been super fun going out for fancy dinners and telling them all about our home here, but I wish I could have had a few days off during the week to go with them on all their adventures. They did and saw almost all there is to see here, including Stingray City, Rum Point, a Helicopter Tour, the Atlantis Submarine, snorkeling at the reef, visiting the beaches, and walking through the Queen Elizabeth Botanic Park, which inhabits the endangered Blue Iguana, only found in Cayman! Before we leave I'd like to do everything again and make sure I have pictures of it all!

Our visitors said the best thing they did was Stingray City, where you get to stand is waist deep water in the middle of the ocean, while wild, 5 feet wide southern stingrays swim around you searching for food. It is definitely a must-do while visiting here. You then get to go to the reef and snorkel while interacting with hundreds of different fish and seeing tons of colorful coral and sea fans.

The activity I'll remember most is diving. There is nothing more relaxing and exhilarating that swimming 100 feet deep while staring at fish, coral, crabs, octopus, lobsters, eels, and turtles. Being weightless and the sound of your breathing makes you feel like your in space. Breathing through your regulator even sounds like your an astronaut (or Darth Vader!). That's a picture of me on the left, and the one on the right is an angelfish, which are my favorite kind of fish to find!

Last night a bunch of us celebrated our friend's graduation from his Masters study in Education. God is so good and saw him and his wife through these last two years as he studied and she took care of him. He worked full time while completing it, so it is a huge load off his shoulders knowing it's finished! They will be moving to Malaysia this summer to take up new teaching jobs there, so we are sad to say goodbye, but they are following God's calling and we are glad for that!

So it was a very good week! Kelly's aunt took a few pictures of Kelly and I at some beautiful places - it's nice to be able to have pictures of both Kelly and I in them! I hope you had a good week too, and don't forget to leave a comment so we know you visited!

Easter Holiday

Well, my Easter break was fabulous! I had the whole week off, and spent most of it working out, sitting by the pool, swimming, and reading outside in the shade. I have to get as much of this stuff in as possible, as our countdown to leaving has been shortened. We are now planning on leaving at the beginning of July instead of the end, since we will need to buy a vehicle, find a place to live, and move all of our stuff up there, which could take a while!

Kelly's Aunt and Uncle are planning on joining us this Saturday for a week, which will be exciting. I'm starting to wish more people would have been able to come and visit, but the invitation is still open until the end of June! Kelly's family came down 3 times (except for Landon, who only came once!) and mine made it down once.

The lifestyle down here is very laidback - people ride their bikes as slow as people walk. In fact, it's so laidback that it takes a month to get your phone and internet hooked up! The main motto is, "If it can be done tomorrow, why do it today?" So if you want a relaxing vacation, this is the place to come. It is definitely different than our North American lifestyle, which I have actually come to enjoy very much. There is no rush to do things down here, most places aren't open on Sundays, and the biggest question I have to ask myself on the weekend is, "Beach or pool?" I know this will all change when I get back to Canada, but I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends again, as well as being able to go to a WAL-MART whenever I want!! I've only been to 2 since moving down here (since there isn't one here!). I also can't wait to eat McDonald's food again (fries and a McFlurry will make up most of my meals the first two weeks!).

So, needless to say, I am excited about moving back, especially near the mountains where we can go camping and hiking and skiing as often as I can convince Kelly to go. But I should get back to sitting by the pool and enjoying the beautiful weather, so so long for now!

What's a Blog?

I remember the day Kelly asked me if I wanted to make our own blog . . . and I looked at him like he was speaking Latin. "Blog? What's a blog? Are you making that word up? Are you trying to joke on me?" (I am often the brunt of many jokes at my own expense, many of them deserved). I was soon informed that most of the world knew what a blog was, and some of our friends even had their own blog. I tried to blame it on the fact that we are on a little island with little knowledge of the rest of the world, but low and behold, some of our friends who live here, the Bloms, have their very own blog! So I had to claim mere ignorance, and succumbed to the fact that I am sometimes slow in the ways of the world. So here I am now, creating our own blog, and acting like I always knew what a blog was. Who doesn't?

Anyways, the creation of our blog at this time is bittersweet. We are living a fairy tale life down here in the Cayman Islands, but our time is now drawing to a close. I have accepted a job teaching second grade at Trinity Christian School in Calgary, AB. We will be moving sometime this summer, and leaving behind our amazing friends, beautiful beaches, and sweat-inducing hot weather. People keep telling me we are crazy for moving away, but the job at Trinity was truly a gift from God, and we are not about to pass up on the opportunity to follow Him.

I hope to stay faithful to this whole blog thing, and I was able to figure out how to add a picture, so I'm feeling pretty smart!

Blessings!