Mastic Trail

Another of our "Cayman Adventures" was spent trying to find a good hiking trail on this island.  The jungle here is thick and if it isn't maintained there is no way you could walk through it.  The mastic trail is a nature walk that is maintained although it was still very wild.  Joel and I set out in the morning thinking we would do the whole trail and it would be really fun.  In reality we made it about 15 minutes in and turned around.  We started getting freaked out by the spiders and spider webs and because it wasn't a loop we decided it wasn't worth sticking it out when we would just have to turn around at the end!  We aren't used to bugs, so you can call us wimps but we weren't having fun.  We did read though that you can hire a guide who will point out the wildlife and plant life so our plan is once the weather cools to try it again.   I think if we hadn't been alone we would have had more fun. For now though, here are the few pics we took!

My First Mother's Day

For mother's day this year we set out on another Cayman adventure (seeing a trend here?) and had a nice lunch out.  I got to sleep in, spend the day with my family and even have a few island drinks!  What more could a girl ask for?  The downside to our day was that Olive was very crabby and of course we chose to drive almost as far as you possibly can on this island.  She was not happy with us.  But we get over it eventually!

Why so crabby?

Ready to head out for the day!

For our adventure we went to Davinoff's Concrete Sculpture Garden.  It is just someone's front yard where they display their sculptures but we actually loved it!  The sculptures were great and whimsical and such a fun find on this island.  Sometimes activities off the beaten path are the best.  I think my favorite was the crab but they were all so cute!

Olive liked the chicks!

Cool crab.

Even a fish hooked to a fishing rod.

Creepy!

Even a blue iguana!

So despite the crabbiness we ended up having a nice day, this is somewhere I would even take guests!

Olive is 1!

My baby is all grown up!  Ok, I know that isn't true but the changes that have happened over the last few weeks are so crazy.  It was like over night she was a toddler.  She walks and "talks"  and sings in the car.  She knows what you are saying and answers questions (with sign language) and she listens and follows simple commands.  She is also strong willed and opinionated, loves to eat and likes to pick out the books to read.  I can't believe how fast she has changed.  Joel and I spent the day of her birthday reminiscing about the hospital and bringing her home for the first time.  From a 6 pound munchkin to a 25 pound chubs she is the love of our lives and we agree that this has been our best year yet.  We can't wait to see everything else that life has in store for us!  Happy Birthday Olive!!

(Family) Pics of the day!

Recently on a beautiful clear day we took a few cute family pics that I thought I would share!  I think it is rare that we get all 3 of us in a cute pic!

Mom and baby

Love my family!

Watching the big fish

My 30th Birthday!

Turning 30 was not as scary as I though it would be.  I felt very spoiled and had a wonderful time, even though I told everyone I didn't want to do anything!  We had a few people over for drinks one night before the big day and my friend Melissa was so sweet and brought cupcakes to celebrate!  It was such a fun night, I love the chaos of having good friends and their children in our house.  

Boys and Babies

Girls and babies

Thomas liked having his picture taken!

What a cutie!

Beautiful cupcakes that Melissa made!

Blowing out my candles.

Special treats!

For my actual birthday I made Joel promise that he would throw me a party, which he was nice and didn't, but he did plan a whole day of surprises and activities.  He had 30 presents for me, yes I am spoiled, my favorite of which was a lime tree!  As you saw from a recent post, I am trying my hand at gardening so I was very excited about my new tree.  He also bought me a few herb plants to add to my collection!

There she is!

After a big homemade breakfast from Joel we set out for a day exploring Cayman.  First we took a drive out to the blow holes.  Probably not something you need on your must see list when visiting but when you live on a small island you take what you can get!  It was actually really fun exploring, we stopped in several dfferent locations along the way to search for shells and take in the sunny day.

Olive and I

There she blows!

After the blow holes we headed to the Pirate Caves.  This reminded me of China actually, just a really funny (and sort of depressing) zoo tour and playground with caves you can explore underneath.  The lady did not warn us about the bats and I accidently shined my flashlight on them thinking it was an outcropping of rock.  Joel was a head of me and when the rock moved I started screaming and running and Joel followed close behind.  Olive thought it was hilarious and laughed for like 5 minutes.  Not cool!

Heading into the caves.

Olive found a chew toy.

To round out our night, some good friends offered to watch Olive so Joel and I could have dinner alone.  We took them up on their offer because we do not get nights out alone very often!  We took Olive to play in the fountain at Caman Bay first so that she would be tired and sleep at our friends house. Then Joel took me for sushi and then dessert at another restaurant.

Fountain Baby!

Drying off.

Kisses for daddy.

With my girl!

It was such a fun filled day!  I was so loved and spoiled, and had my wonderful husband and beautiful baby girl to help celebrate!

Pics of the day!

These are just a few pics I thought I would share from a walk we took to the beach.  We live across the street from a beach where we love to walk in the mornings.  Olive loves to ride her trike when we go too!