Green Monster Smoothies

Time to do a quick camera dump before Brent's sister and brother-in-law get here tomorrow. I haven't been taking as many pictures recently...and though it's kind of been a nice break, I miss it too. So I'm glad we have Lorren and Cole here next week because visitors are always a great excuse to pull out the camera (and go to lots of yummy restaurants! Yippee!)

Walter has free rein of the couches and bed here in our Grand Cayman apartment. Not a rule we allowed in Cincinnati, but hey, this isn't our furniture :) So it always amuses me when he chooses to cozy up on the office chair. But isn't he cute with his little paws resting on the arm like that?


This weekend we made several batches of this Green Monster Smoothie. A while back I posted about my love for homemade Magic Bullet smoothies, and my friend Mary mentioned I should sneak some spinach in there. I was unsure, but tucked away the idea. Then I saw the recipe for Green Monster Smoothies on pinterest, found out there was a whole movement for them, and decided to give it a go.


My mix is frozen peaches and pineapple, spinach, banana, orange juice and flax seed. It was delicious. You really can't taste the spinach, and there's nothing I love more then getting a serving of veggies without having to eat them! And of course, spinach is one of the BEST SuperFoods. Cheers to that!


One last Walter picture to close the post. Walter snuggling with his BFF, orange ball. Man, he loves that thing.


Have a great weekend everyone!

Grand Cayman Restaurants

As I mentioned in my most recent post, before our last date night Brent and I compiled a list of all the restaurants we've already been to on island.  While doing this, I realized how hard it was to find a specific restaurant on our blog.  All my blog posts about restaurants have the "Grand Cayman Restaurants" label, but you have to scroll through a lot of long posts to find any specific one!

So I thought it might be helpful to have the whole list with links to our posts on the dining experience in one handy reference place.  Hence, my new page up top entitled "Grand Cayman Restaurants."  There you will find a short list of our favorite recommendations, and a long list of all the places we've been.  We don't take pictures/write blog posts every time we go out, but a good number have corresponding links.  If you have recommendations or favorites you'd like to share, feel free to do so on the comments part of that page.  My hope is that this will be helpful to our visiting family/friends, as well as anyone else taking a break from reality on this wonderful island.

This and That

It's been a while since the old blog got an update. Here's a couple pictures to highlight what we've been up to.

Jodi's First Birthday

Our friends JP and Lisa celebrated their daughter's first birthday with a cupcake party at Camana Bay. Jodi loved her first taste of sugar!


Seven Mile Beach Sunset

Brent had a Friday night work event a week ago, so I decided to walk to the beach by myself. Once I got there, I was eaten alive by mosquitoes. I snapped two pictures and had to turn around. The trip wasn't a complete waste - I also got TCBY on the way home :)


It's funny...when we moved here we were told that the mosquitoes were awful, but I hadn't felt one bite. I'm usually extremely prone to the little beast, so I thought at last I had found a breed that didn't like me. Little did I know that the mosquitoes didn't show up till about June. I can't wait till fall when we can enjoy the evening weather again!

Date Night

This Friday night Brent and I went on a date to Hemingways. We actually made a list of all the restaurants we've been to on island (the purpose being to make sure we hit all of our favorites again), and I was shocked at the number! We decided to try somewhere new; Hemingways is the restaurant at Grand Cayman Beach Suites. We had the place to ourselves!


This is the complimentary appetizer from the chef. Brent thought he said it was parsley custard...


My beef dish was AMAZING. It had apples, blackberries, caramelized onions and several kinds of sauce. Even the bread sticks were delectable. Brent's pan seared wahoo wasn't as good, but I was glad we were able to split both.


Lazy Weekends

Every now and then we'll pull out the couch to cuddle and watch a movie. Here's Brent checking some fantasy football.


Walter loves the pull out couch too!


It's been pretty rainy recently. July and August didn't feel like "rainy season," but it's been especially cloudy this week. The last two Saturdays we took Walter to Spotts beach, and left when we saw lightning. I don't mind a little rain - it's nice to tuck away inside to watch football (Brent) and do some reading (Katie). I just hope it clears up for Lorren and Cole's visit in two weeks!

Water like Glass

I have a really hard time capturing the beauty of Seven Mile Beach in a picture. This particular evening was the aftermath of a drizzly day. The result was a beautiful mix of dark blue clouds and crystal clear ocean.


I used to love the colored glass bottles lined in the windows of my grandma's house. That's exactly what this turquoise water reminds me of.


All evening I had been trying to capture the turquoise ripple taking place as the waves hit the shore. As soon as I took this shot, I put my camera to rest. Perfect.

Greenville Summer Visit

Hi everyone,

This is Brent writing a post again. Katie asked me to write this post because she thought it was only fair for her to write about Cincinnati with her family and for me to write about Greenville with my family. I'm eager to please my wife, so I complied. (Note from Katie - if I knew it was going to take this long, I would have done it myself! Yeesh!)

First off, I just want to say that I think the pictures that Katie took on our visit back to the States may be my favorites she has ever taken. She is getting so good at photography and editing pictures. (Aw, now I feel bad about my earlier comment.) Take a look at this shot of Pressley. All the nieces loved to wear the "glasses" even though they look painful and didn't stop water from getting into their eyes.

I love this next picture. These girls are so blessed to be living near each other and growing up together. We spent most of our time in Greenville at Lorren and Cole's new house in order to take full advantage of the pool. The three-year-old girls are amazing swimmers and can jump off the diving board and swim to the ladder without any flotation devices! I was impressed. The one-year-olds also love the water, but needed a little more attention.


One night we hired a baby sitter to watch the kiddos while the adults had some grown-up time. we played games, ate lots of food, and drank lots of drinks. This lead to deep conversations and some very enlighting confessions. :)


Cole let Savannah pour the blue raspberry syrup in her slushy. I think she used half the bottle which resulted in a very blue tongue and a very cute picture. I love how kids do weird things with their hands...


We LOVED spending time with our nieces and nephew in Greenville, but it was also nice to get some more laid back time. Mom and Dad took us to their favorite new restaurant in Greenville for a great dinner. It's not hard to tell these two are sisters, huh?


Hailey has been a hard nut to crack for me on our previous visits (such a momma's girl), but this time was different. I think we really bonded. Isn't she adorable? She is such a girly girl.


The rest of these pictures are from a day at the park. We did all the usual activities - swing on swingset, slide down slide, and ride bikes/wagons. This particular park even had a train that we could ride.


Shouldn't this kid by a child model (even with blue chalk all over his face)? He really ought to be in catalogs or Gap kids commercials.


I love to play with these kids and I'm pretty sure they like to play with me too. But, they LOVE their aunt Kiki (Katie). Sometimes I get a little jealous because I try so hard for those kids to like me (read: "smother them") and Katie just lays back, plays it cool and watches them flock to her. It must be because she is a girl.


Here is Lorren and Cole with Hailey riding on the train. Great shot of Hailey's "confused" face.


Me with Savi - doesn't she look 6 years old?


We had a great trip in Greenville, from the time that the ENTIRE family picked us up at the Greyhound bus station with "welcome home" signs until we got dropped off at the airport. Thank you, Dad, David, Cole, and Michelin, for taking vacation days from work everyday we were in Greenville.

My sincerest apologies to Katie for never taking the camera and actually getting some pictures of my wife. I will do better next time.

Thanks for reading. Love you all.

Cincinnati Summer Visit

When we discussed moving to Grand Cayman, the thought of being in a different country than the rest of our family was very...unsettling. I am incredibly close to my family, they are my very best friends. I made Brent promise that we could travel home at least once every 6 months, which netted out to two Christmas trips and one summer visit. The first stretch between October and Christmas seemed long at the time, but in actuality it flew by. Then the long stretch - January to the end of July. We were thinking about making it an even 6 months, but when Jocey set her wedding for July 29th, I knew I had to be there. Man oh man, 7 months is a long time.

I can't tell you how happy I was to see my parents and the Swartzentrubers at the airport. They were waiting with cupcakes, signs, and balloons. It made me feel so special! Joy was busy with maid of honor duties, but Amy met up with us after work that evening. It was just the reunion I had been longing for.


The week flew by with wedding events, random errands, and a special day celebrating our next bride-to-be, my sister Amy. My favorite part of the visit was the little amount of down time at home - catching up with my sisters and mom, playing with my nephews, and getting lots of dad bear hugs.

The Behlert girls cooking dinner together


My dad got an antique croquet set for his birthday. We couldn't wait to try it out!


Love Jack scrutinizing my shot


With such a busy five days, we weren't able to see many friends while we were home. That's always hard because I greatly miss those people too! Thank goodness for facebook. I can't wait to be reconnected with everyone once we move back. Jess and Ben made the drive from Indy to Cincinnati to do a quick hour lunch with us. By our Christmas visit, they will have a new little man in the family!


All in all, it was a wonderful trip, but it went by way too fast. I am comforted by the fact that our next visit is only four months away. Cincinnati - we love and miss you!

Jocey's Wedding

I've fallen off the face of the blogging world for a while, but don't worry, I'm still around. We were in the States for about 12 days, and once we got back I had SIX new wedding album orders. Then in the four days we were home, I got three more orders! I am ecstatic, of course, but very busy. In the evenings I've been trying to squeeze in some photo editing while Brent sits nearby doing mock fantasy football drafts. Luckily I didn't go too crazy with the pictures on our trip, so I'm almost done.

When we got to Cincinnati, the first two days were busy with my cousin Jocey's wedding activities. I was so glad I got to be there for her big day. Jocey is my only girl cousin, and is practically another sister to me. She's beautiful, smart, funny, and has the most bubbly, contagious laughter. I just adore this girl.

Here's the four Behlert sisters with Jocey in the middle:


The rehearsal dinner was at a picnic area by the reception site. It was so good to reconnect with all my family. I've really missed them in the seven months since Christmas!


Next to be married! Amy and Zach, December 17th


Before the wedding, me and my lovely momma:


Couple outdoor pictures of my sisters before the ceremony started:


Jocey and Jesse say "I do"


Candy bar at the reception - you couldn't keep me away from those york peppermint patties


Behlert sisters with the bride once again:


First dance:


My aunt Mary Jean watching the father/daughter dance:


Me and Jack-pot:


The other adorable ring bearer:


Pictures from the rest of our time in Cincinnati and Greenville are coming...I need to catch up before we have more island adventures!