house guests.16

Our latest set of house guests bravely arrived in the thick of our audit busy season. Despite warnings that we'd be in the office during most of our waking hours and then feeling rather cranky when at home, our high school friend JL flew down from chilly Pennsylvania with military pal JH for a visit to the Cayman Islands.

  photo credit: JL

I've had my fair share of girl-only visits, so I think N was happy to have some extra guys on hand - especially those that would proudly support our PA sports teams.

           

The guys met me at Seven Mile Public Beach to catch NS and SD playing in their weekly Sunday volleyball league.

N loves volleyball season and is disappointed any time league play is suspended (like for the recent NORCECA tournament). So every once in a while, I like showing up with the good ol' Canon and snapping away.

Besides, what better place is there to catch the evening sunset than at Public Beach, with its wide-open westerly views?

Oh right, back to volleyball. Turning myself around again to face the action...

NS goes for Sand Man while DH goes for...Best Tan Lines.

Slamming it! Sandy legs and all.

Due to busy season constraints, I had only a few opportunities to hang with these visitors and get photos of their trip, but thankfully MO captured this stellar shot of the boys hanging at the beach on a Friday night.

  photo credit: The Hub Facebook page

Old friend, meet new friend. Love it.

NS also took the guys to a snorkeling hot spot: Cemetery Beach in West Bay. After swimming a short distance from shore, the underwater marine park is teeming with fish, as you can see from the video below. Be prepared for some very friendly encounters with the schools of fish who come expecting you to be bearing gifts.



I couldn't let work obligations prevent me from joining the boys for a classic Sunshine Grill dinner.

I took a few extra photos of our food that night, since Sunshine has changed their menu within the past few months, and the additions (as well as the all-time favorites) are worth mentioning.

Crispy Blue Cheese Balls - served with local pepper jelly

Chicken Corn Cake Salad

the Heart Attack burger - served on Texas Toast - alongside
the Sunshine Scramble: a mix of classic fries/sweet potato fries/fried jalepeno

the Kitchen Sink burger - sweet potato fries only, by request

 You should know by now that one of our favorite Sunshine touches is the end-of-meal complimentary mini ice cream cone. What you might not know is that the photo below was actually taken before all of the food photos above. I guess NS feels like we frequent often Sunshine enough to ask for small favors.

Even mini ice cream cones deserve concentration and...style.

One of the things that's surprised me the most about Grand Cayman is how many close friendships we've developed since arriving here just a year and a half ago. Another thing that has surprised me since moving here is how easy it's been to remain close to our friends back home.

While searching for a "back in the day" pic of NS and JL,
I rediscovered this photo of JL and his lovely wife RL from a wedding in 2005. The cutest!

Maybe it's because of technology (primarily Facebook) or maybe it's because we have had several visits from the Northerners, but I also think that certain friendships that were forged in our early teen years are simply the ones that we'll continue to cling to for years to come. I'm glad that JL falls into that category.

Anyway, I'll try to keep this post from being too sappy, since it is about a guys' visit and all. Speaking of which, I'm finishing this post none too soon, since another two of our guy pals arrived on the island this week. N's stoked for more males in the house, and I'm stoked for other reasons. I don't think I need to remind any faithful readers what the month of April means in my house. Stories and photos of my pre-birthday trip and other shenanigans to follow.