ThaNKsGiviNg

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! This year we are spending it again with out our families. This is the 3rd year for Darin and the 2nd for me not being home today. Thank goodness for skype, we'll get to see everyone all together eating all the home cooked food we so badly want. Even though we're not home, we're very thankful for our families and for their continued support as we live our life in another country. We're thankful we have been given this amazing life, that Darin has such a great job and we have each other. We will be home for Christmas and New Years which we can't wait for! See you all in a month!!!

ViMeO

I just signed up for this video website called Vimeo. I shared the link on the side of my blog and it will play a slide show of all the videos I've uploaded and you can click on them anytime to watch. 


Dad, this is kinda meant for you since you can't navigate the internet very well except for youtube and break.com. This way everything I tell you i've done is all on one page instead of 4 or 5!! Uber-easy!! Love you!! xo

CaYMan iSLanDs

I tried to make a clever title for this one but we were there for 2 weeks and so much happened that I had to many "clever ones" to choose from, so I kept it simple with the obvious, Cayman Islands. We got back 5 days ago and i'm just getting around to having all the pictures up and the house cleaned so I can sit for a bit and write what I owe you, a good, solid post. We went to Cayman for a few reasons, 1. to help out at the shop while they find a new manager over there 2. the second episode of Paradise Pawn was being filmed 3. it was pirates week! Only the biggest event of the year over there!! This was my first visit to Cayman and I was SO excited! Darin was there for a few days before me and he was hard at work helping train "the new guy", who is Chad, we'll call him CD (not Chad Mcghee). He's only been there for about 2 months but has picked up on things quite well, still has lots to learn but Darin was there to help out. 


When I arrived, I was lucky enough to spend a good 4 days with Emily and the kids. It was great to see them and spend a lot of quality time with them since I haven't seen them in over a year. Especially little Kailyn, which las time I saw her, she wasn't even crawling yet and now she's walking and talking, it's crazy! I got to see Chandler at his finest during his boxing lessons, Annelie colored me lots of pictures, she's learning how to draw animals so I told her to draw me an ocean with all the sea animals in it, now it's on my fridge! Kailyn is the sweetest most patient kid ever. Her feelings get hurt and she cries when Annelie and Chandler fight, she cries when Emily has to yell at them, kind of like she feels bad for both parties and is upset people are getting in trouble, you only tell her no once and she just does what you say and walks away, she's the peace keeper in the family, doesn't like conflict and wants everyone to get along, she would also rather go around the house hunting for trash to pick up rather than play with toys, haha :) she's a great little Mcghee, you gotta love that kid.


When filming started is when the crazy breaks out, so much is going on all the time, but we made it through the week and it went smoother than the Nassau shoot. During the filming week i'm "errand girl", I get a car and a cell phone and then i'm put to work. I get props, drive people around, pick up lunch, get coffees, run back and forth to the shop from locations and for a crew of about 8 boys, it's a lot to do. I have to admit I enjoy it though. After getting lost a few times going places I had the roads down and running errands was a lot easier. For some of the shoot we enjoyed Pirates Week, which is a week long party of events everyday and starts off on a Friday street party right downtown with everyone dressed up as pirates, including Darin and I. That was fun!! The fireworks were the most insane ever, better than any i've ever seen and the grand finale was breathtaking, literally, the pounding in your chest you didn't have a second to breathe during it. So amazing!! We also tried out the flowrider, which is a machine that makes a wave you can surf on or boggie board on, use a floating animal on or just slide over the wave (which is what the kids do). I did bust my cheeks on the wave trying to use the boggie board, hurt myself pretty good, I won't post pictures or you might vomit :)  Chad is a natural at it and Darin's gotten good but he's only been a few times. After the flowrider (and the skinless top of my left foot) we ventured to a cliff.....i've learned that wherever Chad lives he will find a cliff to jump off of or a large hole to jump into. I jumped off the cliff in Turks and Caicos so it was only right to jump off the one in Cayman. Standing on the edge looking down, getting yourself to jump never gets easier. I did think for a second maybe I shouldn't jump because I had just hurt myself, but when was I going to be back here in Cayman standing on a cliff like this?? Not for a while, so then I thought about the family motto, YOLO, means You Only Live Once, and I jumped!! I had great form (I thought) until the top of my left foot SMACKED the water!! HOLY MOTHER that hurt!!! It stung SO so bad, I wouldn't take it back though. The next day we went free diving and the day after that we went scuba diving. I had my foot all bandaided up but if you know where the fin rubs on the top of your foot, you'd know I wasn't in the best shape, and of couse I did it anyway because why? YOLO....when would I ever be back in Cayman where some of the BEST diving in the world is? I dunno. So with bandaids and stinging pain in my foot, I toughed it out knowing I had to do ALL of this! After being certified in June for scuba diving, i've only been twice, so this would be my third dive. It was a deep one, about 115+ ft down. Chad is great to dive with and for some reason I feel super comfortable knowing he's down there too. Deanna is a great lady who works for the shop in Cayman and she dives a lot with Chad, so I knew I was in good hands. Chad said Deanna would stay with me about half way down, about 60ft or so and if I was comfortable there I could continue to the bottom with everyone else. The place we dove was called Big Tunnels....about 4 people can swim through at a time, the top of the tunnel starts at about 90ft and the bottom is about 110ft. When we got down, I didn't even realize that we were in the tunnel before Deanna pointed out to me at the end of it we were down 112ft!!! So crazy....I can't believe I did that! To be honest you loose track of your depth because everything is just so beautiful in that clear water and the coral reefs and so huge!!! We dove and snorkeled a ship wreck after that which was pretty amazing too. At the end of the trip I decided next time will be a vacation trip so we have time do LOTS of diving and do some tourist stuff to. I did get to walk around with Emily one last time the day we left and saw the huge Margaritaville with the water slide in it which looked like a lot of fun! Met Guy Harvey in his store, he was just upstairs painting another fabulous painting. I wanted to buy everything in there, but only left with a new tervis tumber, a Guy Harvey Cayman Islands one, pretty sweet to add to my collection.


Ok, that about sums it up. If I think of more i'll just make a new post, Cayman Islands continued.......until then, enjoy some photos!! 

YouTube Challenge - I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy

This is actually really really funny!!! The last two boys are the best! Enjoy!

ALaN & tHe AirPorT bLueS

Last Thursday we found out our Abaco fishing trip got pushed back a week and of course Darin's first reaction is to call Alan and tell him to fly down that afternoon because there's waves, 24 hours later Alan arrived. We had sponsored a comedy show Friday night so we all went to that which was better than the last comedy show we went to in July. We laughed A LOT!! Saturday we stopped by the farm for lunch and then the boys went spear fishing while me and Remie played on the big rocks and little ponds of water in them. She runs forever, she has so much energy and absolutely loves being outside, a true "potcake". Unfortunately the boys didn't catch anything, the did get a grouper but he swam away injured and then a reef shark showed up so they came in empty handed. We did the Senor Frogs night on Saturday, which was "Halloween" so all the costumes were out in full force. Sunday we got into the Atlantis Cove pool, which was a little dead but still such a cool place. Apparently it's like Vegas on the weekends, with lots of people and music. Not the day we went though lol. Alan made dinner for us on Sunday which was AWESOME!!! Hogfish Darin had caught a few months ago, with his new fish recipe, Alan made one of the best fish dinners i've ever had! 

I dropped off Alan Monday morning so he could get back to his real life and then stopped really fast at the other airport here to pick up something, came out 2 mins later to my car gone and towed to the airport impound lot. That's a long story but basically I was in my pajamas, had no phone, no purse, so not a dollar on me, Darin 30 mins away downtown at work, a $60 fee to get the car out and nobody would give me a break. So a little bit of a wait on the curb, a short ride on a free bus with airport employees, a few tears, a really upset husband, 2 hours later and $60 fee paid, they let me leave. Tough morning for this chick.

Today is our niece Jordis's birthday. She turned 4 today, hard to believe it's been 4 years already!! Happy birthday Jordis!!!!