Merry Christmas

Hello all,
    I realize it has been a long time since we have posted so I will try to catch up.  Life has been very busy here on tiny Grand Cayman.

    Emma has been busy looking for a job and looks like she is close to getting a position to start with a new firm early next year.  Nothing is certain yet but things are looking good.  Along side the job search we have had lots of visitors during November.  First were our good friends the Maddens from Oman.  They are in Senegal now but had been in the States because Sean was undergoing medical treatment.  He was unable to come down but Kim came down for week with Abi and Madeleine.  Abi is three days older than Alex and they were best friends back in Muscat.  We haven't seen them in almost a year and half, yet Alex and Abi picked up as if they had just seen each other the day before.  Ellie had a blast playing with a big kids as she wasn't walking the last time she had seen Abi.  While I was at work everyone else had a great time enjoying the sites of the Caymans.  One day my cousin Melanie and her daughter Tricia were in town for a day on a cruise.  Emma and Kim picked them up and they spent the day at Rum Point,  a wonderful beach on the north side.  The cruise ships are not in town for long and they were back on the ship by the time I was done at work so missed them.  There were also trips to the beach and the Turtle farm which the kids just loved.  The highlight was the trip out to  Stingray city.  There is a shallow area out in the north sound where stingrays congregate.  You can get in the water and the stingrays swim all around and you can feed and touch them.  Everyone had a fabulous time and i was quite jealous being at work all day. 

    A few days after the Maddens left, Emma's parents came into town for a couple week visit.  We had fun hanging out, enjoying the beach and enjoying the kids' first batch of Christmas presents.  The kids are still enjoying Montessori and swimming in the pool and at the beach.  We also still make lots of visits to the airport and the airport park to watch the planes.  While all our visitors were here Alex and Ellie slept in our bedroom with us.  Alex has a single mattress and Ellie slept in her cot.  After Emma's parents left we put Alex's mattress back in the kids room where our visitors had been sleeping.  We decided that Ellie was getting too big for her cot so put her in a bed.  The other bed in the kids room is a queen size bed.  We offered Alex the big bed but he wanted to stay in his mattress as Nana had just brought him a single bed size Cars blanket and matching pillow case.  He was more than happy to let little Ellie have the queen bed.  So now Ellie has more bed per size of person than anyone else in the house.  She loves her new bed but only sleeps in a tiny corner of the bed on the side next to Alex's bed.  Alex is still getting up at various times in the night and coming upstairs and crawling into bed with us.  Ellie has done this only a couple times but now has started getting up and going into Latha's room and getting into bed with her.  One morning I came down and Ellie had gotten out of her bed and wandered into the living room and was sound asleep on the sofa!

    Alex and Ellie have really been enjoying the Christmas season.  They helped put up the tree and just love watching the lights on our tree.  While decorating the tree we put on lots of beads.  They are Mardi Gras beads I got in New Orleans back in 1998 when I went to Mardi Gras with OJ.  Ellie just loves the cheap, tacky beads and plays with them all the time.  She keeps holding them in her hands and saying "Thank you daddy for my beads".  As I told her, I am more than happy to make the sacrifice to go back to Mardi Gras to get her more if she wants.  It is hard to keep them on the tree as she takes them off to wear them and play with them.  They both enjoy Christmas music and can now sing along.  We watch the Disney Christmas DVD's.  Sadly for us there are only a few of the old classic Christmas programs that the kids like.  They enjoy the Gumby Christmas, Tom and Jerry and the Grinch.  None of the others like Rudolph or Frosty,  when we try to get them to watch they aren't interested.  They are really enjoying the Dora Christmas special.  I wish I could say we were enjoying them but after a few dozens times we have had enough.  We have been to see Santa a few times.  This year Alex doesn't cry and will sit with Santa but Ellie is still terrified of the big man in red.  We have also enjoyed driving around and looking at all the Christmas lights.  Unlike in Oman, a lot of houses here go overboard with the Christmas lights.  There is one house which beats anything you have ever seen in any TV show or movie.  I am sure it is a good marker for planes on final approach to the airport.  You can park and wander around the front lawn to see all the lights.  It is very amazing and the kids just love it. 

    I go on Christmas break next Friday, the 18th and then on Sunday we fly to Minneapolis to spend Christmas at my sister, Tamara's house.  My parents will also be down and my brother OJ and wife Songul will also be coming out.  It will be nice to see the family and for the kids to experience American Christmas, with all the trimmings including what seems like will be bitter Christmas cold and hopefully some snow. Hopefully we will be able to stay more current on the blog.  We wish everyone a wonderful holiday and hope to see a lot more of you next year.

        Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year.....


            Love Eric, Emma, Alex and Ellie