November: The holidays begin

One of the things I so appreciate about Cayman is its many public holidays. Although not a guaranteed day off work (you're in my thoughts, audit friends), the majority of businesses are closed on public holidays, and Cayman residents get a long weekend in paradise. 

Even though I'm now forever out of audit, I will occasionally go into the office on these banks holidays to get caught up on projects with no one else around - I seem to work best with complete silence. However, one of our public holidays - Remembrance Day, similar to Veterans Day in the U.S. - falls in November, which I've already established as one of the nicest months of the year.


So I flagged Remembrance Day 2014 as a day to deliberately stay away from the office and get out of the house on a mission to doing something "islandy".


I convinced some of our besties to do the same, and before long we had caravanned out to Morritt's in East End for lunch on the water and a day in the infinity pool.

Little did we know that the resort staff had planned pool games, and everyone in our group was quickly recruited for these team silly-sports.

Sidenote: They tried to get Sheena and I to also join in, but she's pregnant (woohoo!) and I wanted to man the camera. The conversation went something like this:

  Pool guy: "Hey girls, you should get in and play!"
  Me: "What are you playing?"
  Pool guy: "Really easy games."
  Me: "Oh. We only play hard games."

And that settled it. I was in charge of documentation.


The games were pretty easy. Like pass a volleyball over your head to the person behind, who passed it under their legs to the person behind, and so on. When the last person got the ball, they ran/swam/paddled to the front, and the cycle began again until everyone had gotten a turn at the lead. It seemed super simple, but Nate decided to add a twist...


He was trailing Justin on his way to the front of his line, so, as you can see from the smirk on his face, he went in for a little sabotage.


Justin was so focused that he didn't see Nate's Inspector Gadget arm reach way out and...


...nearly knock the ball away!

Justin's quick slap to the face kept Nate at bay. It was a close race, and Justin's team ended up finishing first...


...but due to a technicality, Nate's team pulled out the win.


Jeremy & Co. were incredulous.


Nate was gleeful.


More silly games continued. In the next game, everyone held hands and had to pass a hula hoop down the line without breaking grip. Nate decided an inversion was the best tactic.

I honestly have no clue.

Well, it got the right results he wanted.


Another game required players to swim from the bar to the pool's edge with a soaking towel, which they then had to squeeze into a bucket until it was full.


I love the team cheering efforts in the background!


Like with everything else, Nate gave it his all.


More games, more photos, more laughter. A little bit of winning at the end. 

Draw your own conclusions on who took home the trophy.

After our fill of exciting at Morritt's, we ended the day with a dinner stop at Kurt's Korner - a fantastic place to get delicious local Cayman food in the Northside area. I recommend the conch fritters, and I don't get to say that often around here.

For more evidence of shenanigans at Morritt's, check out the full album here.

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More holidays: Thanksgiving was celebrated in full force in November, as we tend to do. We don't limit ourselves to just one Thanksgiving feast; we prefer to stretch it out over four days, with two large gatherings - one we attend, and one we host.


Thanksgiving #1 at Jen & Brett's was a special treat, as Jen designed one of the prettiest Thanksgiving tables I've ever been a part of, including custom name tags and season-appropriate centerpieces.


Everyone pitched in with their favorite holiday dishes, making it another memorable celebration on the island.

Some call this kind of thing a "Friendsgiving".


But I call these people "family". They're the people that we laugh and cry with, the people that we run and wakeboard with, the people we pray and worship with. They're our island brothers and sisters, and without any blood relatives around, it was an honor to be celebrating with our extended family this Thanksgiving. 

photo borrowed from Rachel

Happy holidays, everyone, and may your loved ones be near you during this season of celebration!

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