We had a great time with our Moms here. Here are some pictures and the story to go along with them.

The long weekend started on Halloween with a celebration of Frank’s Birthday. Debbie made her traditional carrot cake with yummy cream cheese frosting. Here it is decorated for the holiday and Debbie with Frank before he blew out his candles.

On Thursday while Frank was working, I took the Mom’s to lunch at Eats Cafe and then to the beach at the Westin. Here are some pictures of the Moms relaxing by the pool. We had a few frozen, tropical drinks and then headed down to the ocean.

The Mom’s enjoyed the tropical setting and warm sun. The breezes were perfect off of the water to keep us cool in the sunshine. The palm trees were a nice break from the dying leaves back in Michigan.

Here is a little friend that followed by Mom around the pool.

Friday night we took the Moms to one of our favorite restaurants - Copper Falls.

We took a drive out to the East End on Saturday. On the way out, we stopped at the blow holes. Here are some pictures of us as the water spewed through the rocks.

My Mom found yet another little friend along the way.

Later on, we headed out to the far, far east end. Here are some pictures of the island out that way. Our Moms really liked the flowers and greenery out there.

It’s like the tropical countryside when you get out that far.

We stopped to enjoy one of the beaches on the way back. The Moms found conch shells in the sand, while Frank and I took a walk.

The last night the Moms were here, we took them to dinner at one of our favorite little hole-in-the-wall type places. The restaurant sits on a deck that is literally on the beach. While we were waiting for the yummy seafood pasta dishes to arrive, we watched the most beautiful sunset Frank and I have ever seen in Cayman.

Dropping the Moms off at the airport was hard to do, but it helps knowing that we’re coming home in just over a month for Christmas! Can’t wait!

Recently, my family visited us from Michigan. Since several people have asked that I talk about island life more, I thought I would include some pictures of fun stuff with the family. Also, I never have cute kid pics like all you other Moms…. this is as close as I’ll get for awhile. I should explain my parents divorced years ago and my Mom remarried my step- Dad. I now have two sisters, Sam (short for Samantha, 14) and Taylor (11). We had a blast together! Here’s some proof.

SAILING TO STINGRAY CITY (Frank, Me and Sam)

THE FAMILY WITH STARFISH (Sam, me, Taylor, Frank, Dad)

LIZARD

TURTLES AT THE TURTLE FARM

PIRATE CAVES (Taylor, Mom, Frank, Me and Sam)

FRANK & I WITH STARFISH

SAM, TAYLOR AND I - CAKE WE MADE ONE NIGHT - please excuse the no-makeup sunburn look

Yeah, we live here. Everyday.

(I’m going to start posting more about island life, per some of your requests. But I also want to make sure I keep this an “adoption blog.”)

So this blog is supposed to be about Adoption, right? I guess I should return to some of those topics, as I’ve deviated from them for awhile now. Before I do though, I have to thank you all for not teasing me about my hair pictures. When I was looking back over my hair cut post I realized how funny those extreme close ups look. I really was just trying to show you the color against a dark background - not trying to pose like a Sears Glamour shot.

Anyways, back to Adoption stuff.

While we were home Frank told everyone (and I mean everyone) we spent time with that we’re planning to adopt as soon as we move back to the States. He told them all about what he’s learned about Russian Adoption, the process, the children, etc. I couldn’t believe it. He actually has been reading our blog, some of yours and listening to me when I blabber on and on about all this stuff. He actually knew what he was talking about. (Not that my hubby isn’t smart… he really is…. but, I didn’t think he really knew that much about Russian Adoption.) He even told some of your stories to our friends and family. It made me feel good that he is excited and planning for this, too. The only thing that kind of bothered me is that we have both agreed we weren’t going to announce our official “start date” to people. We are planning to announce it in some sort of special way to our parents, first. Really though, that doesn’t matter…. what matters is that he is choosing to talk about it and learning about it on his own. He wants to share it with everyone we know because he is just as excited as I am about this! Adopting Olive is really going to happen and I’m not going to have to do all the work to get us there!