Tummy Bug

Last night's date night was interrupted 20 minutes into Straight Outta Compton by a vomiting Caroline :( Here she is during her world record setting hurl-a-thon which lasted until approximately midnight:

And during a brief rally this morning:

At 12PM:

1PM:

2PM:

You get the picture. Feel better soon Caroline!

First tumbling class

Becca had her first class at Southeast Gymnastics tonight - she is in Tumbling 1 which is an introductory floor gymnastics class. She seemed to take to it immediately and is already doing things after one class that she couldn't do before!

Big Girl Bed!

After much drama/delay about which I shall not bore you here, Caroline is finally out of her crib and into a big girl bed! 

First Day of School!

First day of second grade for Becca. Her first grade teacher moved up to second grade this year and Becca is in her class again -- actually the teacher requested to have her again, which is easier for everyone and she can continue to follow Becca'a progress on the ADHD meds we started her on at the end of last year. Becca is thrilled to be with the same teacher again and seems to have had a good first day. 

Ben started middle school today! He was happy with the extra sleep -- he doesn't need to get up until 7:15 -- and he would not allow me anywhere near the bus stop with him :) His first day seems to have gone well. He had some math homework already and to get all his supplies ready since he gets his locker tomorrow. 

His schedule seems rather complicated; he has math and ELA every day and science and social studies every other day. This semester he has computers and Spanish on alternating days as well; next semester he will have engineering and 9 weeks of PE followed by 9 weeks of health. He went to all his classes today except social studies and Spanish, which he has tomorrow. So far he says all his teachers are nice but that they give a lot of homework especially math. 

He is in the honors ELA section and a just-below-honors math section from which it's possible to move up to honors depending on how the first month or so goes. Science and social studies are what he called "integrated" which I gather means they just throw everyone together ;)

The highlight of his day seems to be the discovery of a Gatorade vending machine. 

Haircuts, Shoes, School Supplies...!

School must be starting! Rebecca went rogue on me at the hair salon today and directed the stylist to cut her hair WAY SHORTER than I would have. After my initial shock I think she looks pretty cute :)

A men's 8.5 for my soon to be 6th grader. We went to open house at SCMS today and met his home room / science teacher Mr. Tubb who seems like a cool friendly guy. He won't know the rest of his schedule/ meet the rest of his teachers until Monday. 

Hand-Me-Downs

Caroline was the lucky recipient of a plethora of hand-me-down shoes and clothes from cousin Amelia yesterday. Here she is yesterday and today modeling some of them:

Dress and shoes:

Shoes and shirt. The sneakers are probably a half size too big but we can work with that! She loves that they light up:

Dolphin Cove

Sorted through the dolphin cove pictures today. Here are some highlights:

Headed Home

A parting shot from the airport as we headed home yesterday!

One For The Road

One last piña colada!

Fun Friday

Our last day of vacation! We went to Dolphin Cove where Ben and I did the ultimate swim, which included a dorsal pull and toe push by two dolphins. The girls and Joel did the dolphin encounter (although Caroline wouldn't get in the water and so just watched which was okay because she was free anyway). They got to pet / kiss / dance with a dolphin named Nemo :) Pictures will have to wait until I get back home to a computer since they won't let you take any of your own, you have to buy theirs ;) So I have a CD of pictures. 

After that we had lunch and then headed to the Cayman Turtle Farm which was nearby and admission was included with the price of the dolphin swim. The kids enjoyed handling the turtles although out of an abundance of caution we did not let Caroline touch them (sea turtles can carry bacteria). 

Thursday Beach Day

We switched our plans and spent Thirsday at the beach instead, to give Ben's eye a chance to heal. He saw an opthamologist in the middle of the night Wednesday who didn't want to do much beyond antibiotics until the morning so he spent a pretty sleepless night (as did Joel and I) with a very painful corneal abrasion. In the morning we headed back to the eye doctor who gave him a soft contact lens and some numbing medicine. Those and a pair of sunglasses helped enough to allow him to have a pretty good day at the beach. 

Mid-Week Update: Cayman Edition

Vacation is going by too fast! Grand Cayman is beautiful. We are staying at a villa in one of the more remote portions of the island, which has its benefits and drawbacks. We have great snorkeling right out our back door -- I saw a stingray and a barracuda this morning in addition to the usual oodles of tropical fish I don't know the names of ;) 

Tomorrow we are supposed to head back down to the 7 Mile Beach area (where 90% of the tourists are) to swim with dolphins and visit the sea turtle farm. Unfortunately a game of Itsy Bitsy Spider went horribly wrong in the car on the way to dinner tonight -- down came the rain and when the spider got washed out Ben got a bad poke in the eye. He must have a corneal abrasion because he has been in horrible pain pretty constantly since then. Joel just left with him to try to find the hospital which is of course an hour away from here. Hoping he will be able to get some numbing medicine or something for it! Poor kiddo. 

Here are some random pictures from today. We ate dinner at a place called Tukka which is Australian and had crocodile and kangaroo on the menu. (None of us were brave enough. I had filet mignon). 

And the poker of eyes herself:

Island Babe

Kaibo Beach BBQ

Stingray City