October Variety Show

It's been over a month since we've arrived back in Cayman since our Eurotrip. While I still have more photos and stories to share from Belgium, Amsterdam, Prague, and Berlin, I wanted to ensure that current events didn't take a back seat to our travels. It'll take two posts to share it all, but here is what we got up to in October:

Pasta Night

Many restaurants in Grand Cayman close during August or September due to the low tourist traffic caused by hurricane season. Grand Old House was one of these, so when Pasta Night was reinstated in early October, all of us regulars were itching to go! We had an extra excuse (not that we needed one), since B&K had family in town.

Pasta night draws some of the same people every week, and we've never shown up at Grand Old House on a Thursday night without seeing several familiar faces. It's understandable that arguably the best dinner deal on island - $10 (including tip) for your entire meal - makes for a standing Thursday appointment on more than one weekly planner.

Birthday month

October is birthday month for B&K. Their birthdays are just ten days apart, with BK leading off. His party of choice involved a low-key night in with the usual suspects.

Where can you find two 6'3" guys after a long week? On the couch, of course!

While we conducted a Community Season 2 marathon, KK made dump cake, in which we attempted to put some wobbly candles.

We discovered that while dump cake may be yummy, it is not designed to hold flaming sticks of wax. Fortunately, we didn't try for his actual age. Apparently 4 is the new 28?

Happy birthday, B!

Casanova


The first restaurant we ever visited in Grand Cayman (outside of Sunshine Grill, which doesn't count, since it was at our hotel), was Casanova. It was a great introduction to island dining, since the restaurant is well-situated on the water in George Town and serves traditional Italian fare, which is the comfort food you need when you're far from home.

We returned to Casanova recently when our standing double-date with R&M required something other than the norm.

(Sorry for the yellow cast; these were pre-flash photos.)
Three cheers for seafood risotto, potato gnocci, and veal!

I'm happy that these two make time for us on a regular basis. I recently read a wonderful post by Kelle Hampton on cultivating one's friendships, and I can honestly say, these two rock at that.

I love N's bright little blue Breo watch that he wears with everything to everything.

A live harpist provided the evening's accompaniment. This guy wasn't shy, sidling up to tables and asking for special requests.

Don't you just love the enthusiastic sing-along going down in this next shot?

My special request: Guantanamera. And for the record, I didn't sing along...loudly.

Hurricane Rina

We're almost out of hurricane season now. The closest call came within the last week, with Hurricane Rina to the west of us, bashing Honduras with rain and threatening to circle around in an easterly direction. Thankfully, the storm fizzled and caused us no major damage, but the wind, rain, and storm surge was impressive nonetheless. Here are a few photos I took from our beach in West Bay:

Yes, a blurry photo, but the best one I had of the waves harassing the dock.

Contrast the rolling waves in this photo...

...with the flat, calm sea from back in July:

You can see a storm on the left on this photo, too.

You can get an idea of how strong the winds were by the looks of these palm trees:

Thankfully, the weather has calmed down now, which is beneficial for our outdoor basketball games and our half-marathon training. Ugh; running. That's an update that I'll spare you from reading. Let's just say that this might be the longest race I ever run.

Enough about that. More fun October photos in the posts ahead, including a successful girls' craft night, and, let's not forget, the second half of birthday month!