Dracula by Bram Stoker

Now here is a vampire story that holds my attention! (Sorry Twilighters, there are no hot vampires or highschool lovers in this book. Just a freaky, evil count.) There is nothing better than reading a classic book and not being able to put it down. This good verses evil story held my attention for all 450 pages. I wouldn't have thought that Victorian prose written in the 19th century could create a world of spine tingling adventure that would hold up even now, but this book has endured for a reason. My jaded view of horror and violence didn't deter my imagination from being caught up in this masterfully created plot. What a fabulous book. I highly recommend it.

M.E.'s Shower

I threw a bridal shower tonight for my newest sister to be. She officially joins the family a week from Friday.

Cute M.E. wearing her new apron (I want one) and dish gloves.

The decor

Lovely N knew I was stressed since I have only been home for two days so she made delicious food and brought it over. These were beyond tasty.

My other little sister Lee Lee helped with the decor.

Back To The Mess

One of the first things Red Fish wanted to do upon our return was paint (mostly with her feet and hands. We're home and have returned to our mess. I wish that when I went on vacation the rest of the world would stop and wait for me. Wouldn't that be nice? One of the joys of self employment is that your work "patiently waits" for your return. I think I'm going to be crushed by the deluge of things that need to be done. Deep breaths!

Is This Normal

Just another night with the family... performing surgery on the kitchen counter... taking sea urchin spines out of my husband's leg. Completely normal right? He's fine. Don't worry. Didn't really feel much. I just thought the situation was funny. Plus I think it's cute that Red Fish was comforting him the whole time. She takes good care of her Daddy.

7 Years

To celebrate 7 years of marriage, Two Fish and I decided to go out someplace fancy while we were in Grand Cayman. We chose Osetra Bay, which turned out to be the most beautiful restaurant and best food I've ever experienced. We decided to do the seven course tasting menu. It was mini food so seven courses were needed to fill us up. Every course was more delicious than the last and we had so much fun just being out on a date alone together. I'm looking forward to the next seven years together! I love you Babe.

Amuse Bouche- was some kind of tiny soup infused with nitrogen

Potato Veloute (Fabulous)

Parmesan, White Truffle Oil, Petit Bacon Lardons

Wild Mushroom Risotto (Amazing)

Shitake & Oyster Mushrooms, Garden Herbs

Filet of Beef

Asparagus, Pearl Onions, Truffled Arugula Salad, Morel Cream Sauce

Cotton Candy- This was ridiculously fun

Flavored Spun Sugar Trees

Flourless Chocolate Cake (yum)

Red Fruit, Pineapple citrus gel, Cilantro Mint Coulis

Mignardise

Vacation Reading

Twenty Years Later by Alexander Dumas

The second book in the Three Muskateers series. The fearsome four find eachother after twenty years apart and rejoin their conquest for adventure and gentlemanly duty.

D’Artagnan has a much mor

e defined role in this story. His Gascon sense of humor and bravery combine with a more mature mind and strong wit, pushing him into the role of de facto leader of the group. It changes the dynamics of the band of muskateers and makes d’Artangnan a more interesting character than he was in the first book.

I definitely feel a need to brush up on my mid 17^th century French and English history because I found myself a bit lost in some areas of the plot. I understood most references to major historical events but am afraid I missed a lot of the minute details that might have held the book together a bit better for me and kept my enthusiasm up. Some of this was also due to the length of the book. It didn’t hold my attention quite as well as the first book because it is just a bit too long and complicated. I didn’t find myself staying up late at night to read one more chapter but I did enjoy the book overall. I still want to read the next four books but I will definitely need a break.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

Short, fun and spooky with great imagery and descriptions.

I'm reading Dracula now and LOVING it so far.

First Steps

So much has happened lately, I'm having a hard time keeping up. New Fish took her first couple of steps while we were in Florida. Then while I was diving yesterday she took some more. Now she has made it up to 10 steps! My little baby is growing up fast and entirely without my permission!

Scuba Diving In Grand Cayman

The diving here has been great (especially since I haven't been diving away from home in two years.) There are huge orange elephant ear sponges everywhere. We've swam with turtles, pet sting rays and wrangled an eel. The eel is named Psycho and has cataracts and three teeth. Yes, he is slimy and creepy and gave me the shivers. It gives me the shivers just thinking about it now. I saw a juvenile spotted drum which is my favorite fish of all time. We've also seen a ton of Lion Fish. They are taking over the Caribbean because some idiot introduced them to the wrong ocean.

Two Fish and I did the last two deep dives for our Normoxic Trimix class so I guess I've gotten two new certifications on this trip. Two Fish has gotten three. I had to wear four tanks on the Trimix dives and I am definitely not built to carry that many. I did however, log my deepest dive ever (by one foot.)

Scuba Mascots

These girls have now ridden in the equipment wagon, hung out on docks and rode on a dive boat. They are anxiously awaiting their own scuba certification. Red Fish is especially excited to look for Nemo.

Turtle Farm

New Fish was so excited to hold a turtle. I thought she would be scared but true to her usual form she wanted to be right in the middle of the action.

My Dad

This is by far my favorite picture of the trip so far. The second the tour guide held a 7 month old turtle up for Red Fish to hold she gave the turtle a big smooch. She thought the turtles were the cutest things ever.

15,000 turtles are on this farm. Some of the babies are a couple inches long and there are turtles that weigh hundreds of pounds and are 5 feet long.

After we left the turtle farm, we stopped at Hell, Grand Cayman. I remember it being much funnier and more impressive when I visited there as a kid. It was a bit of a let down but still fun to be with everybody.

The day ended with a long swim in the ocean with my kids, siblings and their significant others. We ate dinner together with my parents and chased the kids around making them laugh hysterically. Two very little tired girls are now asleep and I've been reading like a maniac. It really doesn't get more perfect than that.

Hanging Around

Yep, it's official. I take too many pictures of my kids but I don't really see that changing in the foreseeable future.

Sunday

A nice day of lounging and playing on the beach. We went to church in a tiny branch here and it was wonderful. Unfortunately the girls didn't agree and we had to leave early so everyone else could enjoy the meeting. They both took a long nap when we got back to our condo.

Red Fish is obsessed with finding "Nemo". She runs around the ocean looking for him and talks about him nonstop. It's pretty funny. Every fish she sees is definitely Nemo.

* The girls outfits are from a trip my parents took last December to Thailand. The girls were excited to have elephants on their clothes.