Shawn Ebanks is from the Cayman Islands and he and his family moved down when we were both in the 10th grade. From the moment we were introduced by a mutual friend, and I met the rest of his family, we all became friends and have remained so for the past 17 years.The whole family moved back to Grand Cayman after Shawn graduated from high school, but have moved back and forth a few times ever since. No matter what, we have all stayed in touch and they are one of those friends that even if you haven't talked or seen them in a few months, you get together again and no time has passed.
Shawn's Dad had to have a heart catherization and a balloon procedure done last Monday morning in Fort Lauderdale, so Shawn accompanied his Dad over from Cayman and after the procedures were completed were heading up to our neck of the woods for a couple days. Steve and I had made a bunch of fun plans for when they got here, like taking Shawn out on our boat and pulling up to a nice restaurant on the water, etc. but two things changed those plans, the weather (a hurricane was supposed to hit, but instead just got a lot of rain) and the fact that the hospital decided to keep Shawn's Dad in the hospital an extra day and night.
Shawn, Steve and I were all disappointed, but we came up with an alternative plan and Steve and I met Shawn at CityPlace in West Palm Beach for dinner, since it was half way in between for all of us. We had a great time that night and caught up on each other's lives and laughed a lot.
Shawn and his Dad and his Dad's girlfriend all made it up on Tuesday afternoon and that evening Shawn just came to our house and hung out for dinner and a relaxing evening. His Dad was still feeling sore and tired and had to rest in the hotel. Steve and Shawn talked a lot about their businesses and compared notes. (Shawn and his wife own Ebanks Watersports in Grand Cayman. They take groups of tourist out on their big two story boat and/or waverunners to stingray city to swim with stingrays and also to a reef to snorkel with all kinds of sea life. There is a lot more involved than this, but that is the jest of it.)
Wednesday night, Shawn's Dad and girlfriend and Shawn came for dinner and I went out on a major limb and fixed Mahi-mahi and Talapia for dinner with homeade cornbread, wild-long grained rice and vegetables. Thank goodness the fish was a huge hit and turned out good, because it was my first time to ever fix it. They spent the whole evening here and we all had a great time.
Thursday morning they headed back for the islands and we were already looking forward to the weekend for when our cousins were arriving for a fun, busy weekend.
The picture above is from last November when Steve, Bryce and I went to Grand Cayman for five days and this is at the Turtle Farm there, a big tourist attraction.
visiting family.
On Friday late afternoon, our cousins, Danny, Lori, Dillon and Danielle Kemmerer arrived with the most beautiful and incredible rig. A gorgeous motorhome with a nice tow package behind it. We will share more on that later.Friday evening five families, all cousins, headed to City Place to eat dinner at The Original Steakhouse. Danny and Lori and their two kids, Brenda and Jamie and their two kids, Rick and Mary Huff, Andy and Sue Mydock and Steve and I. We had a nice time eating and chatting with guys at one end, the women at the other and the four kids in the middle. Afterwards some walked around and did a little shopping, while others sat in the courtyard area talking and drinking Starbucks coffee.
We all were ready to head back home at a decent hour and get a good night's sleep because the following day was going to be a full day.
Saturday morning found the same families, plus all the rest of the kids (except for Rick and Mary's youngest Devin and our youngest Connor, who both stayed home with babysitters) and my Dad and Mom heading out on two boats for a nice sized island in the middle of the waterway, where we set up chairs and umbrella's for a good part of the day. While a few at a time would head out on the boat to ski or tube, the rest would stay back at the island, either exploring and finding crabs, fish or whatever else or just sitting getting some sun and talking. It was a beautiful and fun day, until around 3pm when the sky became dark, thundering and lightning and we all got caught in it. The Mydock boat with the Huff's in it got the worst part because they had to head back to Hobe Sound on their boat in the midst of the storm, the rest of us on our boat got caught in it when we pulled up to the dock. It was a nasty little storm, but we all made it safe and sound.
That evening after everyone got cleaned up and got a little bit of rest, we headed to a Chili's in St. Lucie West. There was 25 of us all together and we spread out on two long tables. Then afterwards we went bowling at the coolest bowling alley. It had 48 lanes to bowl at, a miniture golf place, laser tag, pool tables, air hockey tables, batting cages, all inside. An RJ Gators and a ice cream shop will be opening soon in their as well. So 25 of us had four lanes in a row and bowled for 2 hours. Needless to say, although everyone had a great time all day, we all slept well that night.
After the morning service on Sunday, the same families, plus a few more relatives met at Rick and Mary's for a yummy lunch and then spent the rest of the day just visiting and enjoying being together. It's always great to get together with family and friends! A very fun week!
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