Go to... Where?

Go to Hell!!!

Ok, If you think I swore... you're... NOT RIGHT!!!  Hell is a real place!  We visited there this morning.  Hell is a place to take pictures of the crazy lava rock and pose with a devil.  So, if you don't have a camera on ya, then DON'T GO TO HELL!!!

Go to Boatswain's TURTLE FARM!!!

Let me start off by clearly stating that I LOVE TURTLES!!!

The Turtle Farm is a place where you can go look at turtles... and hold them :).

I got to hold a 12 week old turtle!!! He was sooo cute!!!

Then we got to see turtles that were the size of me (literally).

They were huge!!!

After that, we got to go into a wading area and pick up turtles that swam by.

Question of the day:
What is your favorite aquatic animal?

Mine:
Turtles, dolphins, penguins, blue tangs, etc.

Mission House

Yesterday, we went to the Mission House.  It teaches some of the history of Grand Cayman.  Our tour guide, Denise Bodden, was the great-granddaughter of the last person to live in the Mission House.  The original Mission House was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan 2004, and an exact replica of the original home was rebuilt a few years later.

Caymanian men actually did a lot of sewing and cooking too!

I learned that Christopher Columbus first discovered Grand Cayman and claimed it for Spain.  Well, like everyone says:
Columbus sailed the ocean blue
In 1492.
BUT he climbed a coconut tree
In 1503!

Hahaha, I made that last part up!  I'm so awesome.  There's no charge for awesomeness...

I also learned that the women pretty much ran the island in the 1800's.  The men often had to go overseas to get jobs, sometimes being away from their families for years at a time.  The women started to do pretty much everything themselves.  When the men came back, they had a hard time fitting in again because the women were already doing everything themselves!  Go girl power!!

Coconut Meat grater

Silver Thatch rope woven by women.

A few years after that, Grand Cayman became a British territory, and Great Britain began sending Presbyterian ministers to convert the Caymanian people to Christianity.  In time, the Presbyterians began to set up churches and schools.

The Hammock Room! :)

It was a pretty good tour and very full of lots of historical information, facts, and stories about the people and families who lived in the home.  I would highly recommend it, though it is "far" away from the main tourist area (7 Mile Beach).

Caymanian cookstove

Mosquito Swatter

Corncob backscratcher and pull rope to swing the hammock

Question of the day:
What has been your favorite or most memorable tour you've ever done?

Botanic Garden

Yesterday, we went to the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Gardens.

It was a large, walk-through garden.  We saw many exotic and beautiful plants, water lillies, and tropical flowers and trees.

We also saw animals like iguanas, turtles, water-birds, and snakes.  Caymanians say they don't have poisonous snakes in Grand Cayman, thank goodness!  I actually saw a snake slithering about a foot away from me!

While we were walking around the gardens, Mom spotted a Blue Iguana just sunning himself in the middle of the path!!! It was really cool!!! After that, we saw a few snakes and water-birds off the trail.

*back at house*

Dad and Audrey went for a swim in the pool.  Audrey wanted Dad to throw her "Way HIGH!!!" So Dad picked her up and threw her as hard as he could up into the air.  She 'flew' well over Dad's head.  When she resurfaced, she had the largest grin on her face (even bigger than Wendy's smile from the movie Peter Pan! ).  She wouldn't let Dad stop tossing her, and if he tried to leave, she would just flip-out.  She'll make an AWESOME flyer someday!

*Just now*

HOLY COW!!! (Moooo)  Grandma just now found a Brobdingnagian crab.  (Like my use of adjective?  Go ahead, look it up)  It was HUGE!!!  And it was in attack mode, standing on his hind legs with his claws up in the air.  Fortunately, no one was hurt.  We all escaped....barely.

Question of the day:
What is the largest crab you have seen?
I've only seen one larger than the one we saw tonight.  It is called the Tired Mommy Crab.  It can be quite deadly when provoked.  :)
Shhhhhhh!  Don't tell her I said that! :)  Love you Mom!!!

Pirate Caves

On Monday, we went to some Pirate Caves.  Right when we walked in, Gill, the owner, put parrots on us for a photo moment (no extra cost). :) Even Audrey and Aiden got parrots on their heads!  There were quite a few animals there too.  We saw peacocks, fresh-water rays, turtles, goats, agouti, guinea pigs, and pigs (which Audrey and I fed potatoes to).

Then we went to the pirate cave, which had a bit of a cheesy entrance with fake skeletons, cobwebs (and real cobwebs), tombstones, etc.  Further back in the cave, we saw live bats! They startled me out at first.

*flashback*

Me: Dad, where are the bats?

Dad: Alli, look above your head.

Me: Aaagh!!! (As a bat came swooping down over my head)

I wasn't afraid, I was just startled.

After that little adventure, we went into the gift shop.  Audrey got a snow-globe and I got an awesome smiley-face pirate shirt that I now wear to bed.

*Back at our beach house*

EEEK! I can finally do my full splits! I was dancing around our yard and decided to try it as a dance move... and... I DID IT!!! All the way down! Yay me!!! *Insert clapping*

*Later that evening*

So we're in a nice beach house that has everything... except power.  Dad couldn't afford that part... just kidding!!! But the power went out for 2 hours, so we played games by lantern light.  Kind of fun, but I hope it doesn't happen again when I'm in the middle of MOPPING THE FLOOR!!! (Just had to get that off my chest.)

Question of the day:  Have you ever seen a bat? If so, what was your experience like?  (It can be a different cave critter, but bats are just really cool!)

Scorpion Video

Thanks for the reviews!!! And now, it's time for something you've all been waiting for...

Here is the SCORPION VIDEO!!! 

Enjoy!!! :)

Grand Cayman Day 3: Coconuts and Great food

Today started out like any other day.  I ate breakfast, did school with Mom, and then did an INSANELY hard but short work-out (if you want to go to the awesome "calorie destroyer" site visit BodyRock.tv).

That is where the normalcy died... may it rest in peace.

While I was enjoying my freedom of being done with school, Mom suddenly peeped into my room and eagerly said, "Alli, come here!  I need to show ya something!" She was acting overly excited about something... scary.  I followed her outside to find her holding none other than the perfect coconut!!!  She had already taken off the thick outside husk, so all we had to do was crack open the shell.  To do that, I got to chuck the coconut as hard as I could against the pavement... that was my favorite part!!!

After that, we went inside to cut the coconut.  That was a little difficult since we used cheap knives to cut the coconut meat out (Mom's knife broke in the process...hehehe).  

Now, what to do with the coconut meat...  

Oh, wait... I don't even like coconut!  Unless I get to wear the husk like a hat! 

For dinner tonight, we ate at an Italian restaurant called The Lighthouse.  If you're wondering what the restaurant looks like, the name says it all.  The food there was to die for, the view was awesome, and it wasn't a place you had to dress up really nice for!  That is my type of place to eat!  First, we devoured 2 basketfuls of the yummiest bread I've ever tasted.  Then I ordered a mouthwatering lasagna, smothered in wonderful melty cheesiness.  Mmmmmm... I think I'll have really sweet dreams tonight!

Question of the day:
What is your favorite way to eat coconut?
Mine is in a Pina Colada...virgin, of course!

Day 2: Coconuts and Scorpions

Today has been a rather interesting day.  After school, we harvested a couple coconuts, not by climbing a tree, but by using a ladder instead.  Mom always says to work smarter not harder!

But, that's where the smart work stopped and the hard work started...





We didn't have a machete, se we used a saw.  Big mistake! It took forever to get that coconut open.  Good thing I used slave labor.  Thanks Mom! :)

I think that we may have cut too young of a coconut.  It had almost no meat inside of it.  But it did have a good amount of coconut water inside.  Mom liked the coconut water, but I didn't.  BLECH!!!

While we were looking for a ladder in the garage to get the coconuts, we found a big black scorpion nearly the size of my hand.  Mom thought it was dead, so we got the ladder and proceeded with harvesting coconuts.  Later, when we came back, we discovered that it had moved and was clearly still very alive.  So, Mom trapped it in a container until Dad was available.  I then proceeded to watch the most gruesome death experience I have ever seen.  It was cool yet gross at the same time.  I admit that I felt a little nauseous afterwards.  I took a video of it.  You can hear Mom and I screaming in the background while Dad killed it.  I'm debating whether to post it or not...

Sooo...

Question of the day: 
Do you want to see the video I took? I need at least 10 of you to say yes before I post it.  Let me know what you think.  Are ya up for it?