Turtle Release and Pumpkin Lasagna

Ha, I am loving my random blog titles. Who would have thought turtles and lasagna could go in the same post? This girl, that's who.

First of all Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Americans! It's weird thinking about families gathering all day today, people putting their turkeys in the oven and watching the parade as I type this. Just another work day in Grand Cayman. But before you get all sad for me, we do have a legitimate Thanksgiving dinner to go to tonight after work. One of our new friends from church is hosting a potluck style Thanksgiving. We joined in a little late and all the traditional Thanksgiving sides were all ready taken, so what are we bringing? Carrot cake. Carrots are kind of fall-ish, right? Hmm...

We also have another large Thanksgiving party to go to on Sunday. Jenn and Nate are hosting one at their place with people from work. It's mostly non-Americans, which is fun because people are pretty excited to experience their first Thanksgiving. Jenn assigned items and sent recipes to make sure it's the real deal. I'm making Pioneer Woman stuffing - yum yum!

I do have a lot to be thankful for this year. My wonderful family and in-laws. Great friends here and in the States. Good health and jobs. Beautiful weather. Our first guests coming TOMORROW. Less than a month till we are home for Christmas! Another reason to be thankful - we are almost completely moved into our new one bedroom apartment. And by "moved in" I mean all the stuff from Unit 55 is now residing in Unit 60. We aren't quite unpacked or settled, but it's getting there. It's nice to finally be in a place and know we are here to stay.

Ok, on to my reason for this post! I'm behind on pictures and updates. There seems to be a week delay on all your Grand Cayman news. Last Tuesday we went to another annual Pirates Week festivity, the SMB turtle release. Every year the turtle farm releases about ten 1-year-old turtles into the ocean. I don't know why they do this, but it sure does draw a crowd! We got there about 30 minutes early, and it was already packed.

The first turtle being released


This is a small portion of the attendees. It was like turtle paparazzi (although since I was there and also taking pictures, I guess I looked as crazy as these people).


I'm not sure how people are chosen to walk the turtles down to the ocean. Last year they had all kids, this year I think they were raffle winners. The lady below was so proud to be carrying that turtle. She was parading it around and showing it off like it was a trophy.


There it goes!


After all the turtles were released the crowd broke up. There was this beautiful sunset - dark clouds with just a little slit for the sun to come through.


My last two pictures are the pumpkin lasagna I made last week. I got the recipe from one of Jenn's visitors, and was excited to give it a try. I consider it a definite success. Can't beat all those superfoods! (You might be able to see Brent's electric toothbrush sitting behind the lasagna on the kitchen counter. Lime Tree Bay doesn't allow outlets in the bathroom. What the heck?)