My work permit has been approved!!! I think I will start my new job Jan. 7th. I am going to be working for a Temp agency for six months. Then they will place me unless I want to keep temping. I will mostly be working at banks and law offices. I'm not too exciting about the idea of doing temp work, but this company is known for it's great placement after you put in your time. So hopefully I will get a great job in July.

Travis had a little scare this week. There was a tropical depression on the radar (Olga) that they thought was going to hit the island yesterday. He spent Wednesday and Thursday boarding up windows and securing materials on his job site. But it dissipated so I think all they got was a little rain.

Also, Dan and Kelly Boggs were our first visitors. Unfortunately, I was here. They flew in for 4 days. They snorkeled at more sites than we have! Dan also brought his fly fishing gear and Kelly laid on the beach while he fished. They said they had a blast. So come visit!!

Frozen in Wisconsin

I haven't blogged since I got back to Wisconsin. The only thing I have to talk about is how cold it is. Travis is still working on the island. He actually had the nerve to complain to me about getting a sunburn on his neck while he watched the Packers last Sunday at an outdoor tiki bar. Poor baby.

I had to leave while they processed my work permit. It usually takes 2 weeks, but I still haven't heard if it has been approved or not. Travis comes home on the 22nd. Then we are both flying back on the 25th. It was the cheapest ticket so we will have to celebrate the holiday there.

My family is all getting together this year in Rapid City for Christmas. We are pretty bummed that we will miss out on the get together. Maybe next year?

As far as exciting news goes the only thing I have for you all is that Sarah (my sister) got engaged last weekend so we are getting a new member to the Olson clan sometime next year. Welcome to the family SAM!

I have worked almost everyday since I returned. I am looking forward to having this weekend off to relax with Trent, Travis's family, and my friends. I miss Travis!

I haven't blogged for a week because I was in Janesville. I brought Trent back with me and we have been very busy since we arrived. We got off the plane and went straight to the beach(Trent's request). Even though it was dark he played for a couple hours. I thought we were going to end up sleeping there. :)

Friday morning we got up and we were heading for the beach when we got a surprise. Travis took the afternoon off. So the 3 of us loaded up and hit the beach for the afternoon. It was a gorgeous day. Trent got to snorkel for the first time. He and Travis went pretty far out. They saw a lot of fish, but no stingrays. We ate dinner on a Pirate ship cruise. It was pretty neat. Trent seemed to enjoy it.

Saturday we went to the Turtle Farm. It was really cool. They let you hold the turtles. I have a few pictures of me holding a 40lb one! Trent passed on holding one, but he pet quite a few of them while I was holding them. At the farm, they also have a shark tank, iguana exhibit and a bird exhibit. I highly recommend going to anyone who comes to visit.

Saturday night we went to Hard Rock Cafe for 25 cent wings, then went to a storybook reading. There is a festival going on this week called Gimistory. It is a whole week where different locations host storybook readings. They serve food and drinks and it's all free. It was really neat. The government and a couple local companies cover all the expenses. They bring readers in from all over the world. The hotels give them free rooms and the Cayman Airways gives them free flights. We saw seven readers and a Calypso band. One of the readers we saw was a couple from New York. They did a rap to the three little pigs. It was hilarious.

Today we went to the beach at Rum Point. It was a little cloudy, but we swam anyway. Trent can't get enough of the beach. I hadn't been to Rum Point yet either. It was really beautiful. We have another couple action packed days, so I will blog again when I get back to Wisconsin later this week.

This Past Weekend 11/9/07

We had a fantastic time over the weekend at the Pirate celebration. On Friday we both dressed up. Travis was, of course, a pirate and I was his wench. He says I played the role to a tee... Not Funny! :) I actually used clothing from my closet, so it didn't help my case. We went out around 8pm and met up with some friends who went for dinner on the pirate ship. We didn't go because we want to go for the first time with Trent. So we met them afterwards and hung out at a couple of spots. It was fun to see half the town dressed up like pirates. Some people sure put a lot of time into their costumes.

Saturday we had breakfast with friends and then had a BBQ at Colin's house. We went downtown in the afternoon for the parade and pirate ship landing. I got quite a few photos. It was really neat. I dressed up again, but Travis didn't because he had borrowed Colin's outfit. Next year, we will have to prepare a little better. Hopefully we can work out a flight where Trent can come and dress up too.

Sunday and Monday we ran errands and relaxed. Travis drove me all around the island. We even went places he hadn't been yet. We also borrowed Colin's snorkeling gear and went on Monday for a couple hours. We went to Cemetery Beach this time. It will be a great place to take Trent because the reef is very close to shore. There were a lot more fish than at Smith's Cove. We talked about bringing food next time, but I don't think either of us are courageous enough yet to have the fish swarm us. Maybe we'll make Colin come and we can watch him get swarmed.

Trent is coming next week. And Dan and Kelly Boggs booked tickets for the beginning of December. We are looking forward to seeing familiar faces.

Pirate's Week

The official kick-off to Pirate Week was last night. A huge pirate ship landed on the island and bunch of people dressed like pirates and wenches got off at the Wharf. It was pretty neat. I guess they do it again on Saturday. Only they go to the Govenor's house and capture him. They take him on the pirate ship and sail away. It's suppose to be quite the scene. The festival lasts 10 days. They have all sorts of costume contests, live music, and neighborhod parties. I think we will check it out tonight and maybe one night next weekend.

Monday is a national holiday so Travis doesn't have to work. He says he's taking me to the other side of the island to learn how to drive. Scary! I am sure I will get used to it, like he has. I need to know how to drive so when visitors come, I can take them places while Travis is at work. I don't think it would be fun if we all had to hop on my bike. :)

I will try to take a lot of photos tonight so you can see what I am talking about.

One Week Already

So the Navy Seal Training is completely insane. We went the past two nights and both feel like we are going to die. Our trainer, Phillip, says we won't be sore after about two weeks. In the meantime we are going through Aleve like it's water. We took "before" photos, so hopefully when we take "after" photos we will see that is was worth it. No, I am not going to post the "before" photos. I would like you to keep visiting the blog.

I ventured out on my bike for a couple of hours this morning. The drivers here are mad men, but they really seem to respect people on bikes, so it's not too scary. I am actually more scared in a car than on my bike. I still can't get used to driving on the other side. At least our steering wheel is on the same side. It's only like that in some cars.

I actually went out to look for some beach towels. I didn't find any because they were all such cheap quality. If only I could repack my suitcase! I would have left home my long sleeved sweaters and thrown in beach towels! It's just hard to shop here. I don't know where to go. Some hardware stores have pots and pans and bicycles. So do some of the clothing stores. But I can't find a Walmart type store anywhere. I guess it gives me something to do during the day.

I took some photos of our home, some flowers in our yard, and some geckos. I also tried to shoot a video of the chickens. I will put it on here if I can figure it out.

Response to comments

A couple people left questions so I thought I'd try to answer.

The food is amazing, but remember we came from Janesville. We are used to chain restaurants. Travis had a garlic shrimp and mango wrap for lunch yesterday. He hasn't stopped talking about it. Lot's of seafood, rice, and jerk seasonings.

The weather is warm, at least 85 everyday and night. It's been very windy because of Tropical Storm Noel. I think the snorkeling will be pretty amazing when the wind slows back down to normal. We keep our air on about 80 degrees. It just takes away the humidity.

Our place is two bedroom, two bath. The living room and dining rooms are huge so they will definitely fit an air bed or two if needed(Uncle Steve). We have lots of creatures around our place. A few in it too. The cockroaches are ginormous. I've only found a few, and they were already dead, but I have to admit I let out quite a shriek. Travis thought I was being stabbed. We have a ton of geckos outside that are very cute and harmless. Our neighbor also told us that pretty soon it will be crab season and they will come in our yard as well. Between the chickens, geckos, crabs, and cockroaches, we have lots of new friends.

Also, Congrats to Alli & Chris and Cassie & Chad and Nikki & Mark! I'm glad to hear you had healthy babies!

Over the Weekend

Over the weekend Travis and I rented snorkeling equipment. We went to Smith's Cove, which is the beach near our house(check out the photo). It was both of our first time. It was absolutely amazing. I think we are addicted. We are planning on buying our own equipment this weekend. Once we have the gear, we can go wherever we want. We are pretty excited.

We also start "Navy Seal" training tonight. I guess an ex Navy Seal started a workout program here about a year ago. It is training on land and water. He's got all sorts of training equipment. We are not as excited about joining this program as we are about the snorkeling. We know are both going to be in a lot of pain. It's four nights a week for about an hour and a half. Neither of us have had a whole lot of physical exercise in the past decade. We are going to take "before" photos tonight and weigh ourselves to see if it works as well as everyone says. Wish us luck!

I'm here!

I made it! For any of you who decide to come visit, the runway that you land on here is only about 10 feet long. That is an exaggeration, but by the time the plane is stopped you only have about 20 feet until you would hit the water. It's a very fast stop.
The plane ride was fine, but I was exhausted when I got off at 1pm. I didn't sleep the night before. My lovely husband was so excited to have me here, that he wanted e to see every place he had seen in the past week and a half, in about 3 hours. I finally bailed on him about 5pm and took a nap. We went out with a few guys from his work since it was Halloween. I will post a few photos. The guys in the photos are: Brian from Canada-tall leprechaun, Rha from Australia-chips cop with a bad wig, and Colin from England-Bam-Bam with face paint. Travis was a pirate. I didn't bring costume so I went as myself. We hit a few of their favorite spots and headed home early.
Life here is definitely different than the States. I don't know if I will ever get used to driving on the wrong side of the road. I practically have a heart attack everytime I'm in the car. There are also a lot of little "creatures"(as Trent would put it) here. When Travis told my he had a lot of new friends, I thought he was talking about humans! I will try to include a few pictures of our other new friends as well!
I relaxed yesterday. Mostly just unpacked and cleaned up. Today I am heading out on a bike ride to take some photos and find a few things we need. It feels good to be able to explore something new.

34 hours to go.....

Only 34 hours until I head to the island to start our adventure. My parents and sister were here all last week and helped me pack up our house. Travis parents have also been over everyday. They were rock stars, I never could've done it without them. We have such nice families. I have a few things left for tomorrow. Then Trent and I are going to hang out and go to dinner. I'll probably go hang out with Jean and Jerry after that.

I can't believe we are just packing up and moving to an island in the Carribean. It sounds so crazy. I've talked to Travis almost everyday and he seems to think it was a great decision. I am just trusting him until I get there. I am going to try to post a picture of our apartment. Travis said it's bigger than our house. He also really likes his job so far, so that's good news. My next blog will be from Grand Cayman, I'll let you know how it is!! Wish us luck!!

The Beginning

Travis is leaving in about 4 hours to start a new chapter for us! The truth? I am a total mess. There are just so many little things to take care of before I go down. It's hard to think of everything I have to do when all I am thinking about is laying on the beach! We are all really excited about our new adventure, but I think we will all be more relaxed once we are there together. I will try to keep you all updated with photos and messages. Wish us luck!