and then there was Ruth

With my parents gone and only Ruth left to entertain and all the rain we've been having and 2.5 months to show her the island, things have slowed down a bit at our house. So we spent a drizzly evening at Amanave looking for shells - which is really just an excuse to get to the beach on those days when we don't necessarily want to get in the water.

Although I am pretty sure we have turned Ruth into a shell-collecting monster. Notice the bulging bag under the flip flops... it's full of shells. I think she has more than we do already!

The strangest thing about having a sister at my house, especially a sister that only lived in the same house as I did for 5 years (cuz she's 12 years younger and I left home at 17), is that we say the same things at the same time. All the time. It seems that we can't have a conversation without doing it. If we were playing "jinx," we'd always be silent or owing each other cokes (whichever rules you lived by).

vacation days

Clif and I took a few days off after Christmas so we could hang out with the kids and explore the island a little bit. First we went to the museum.

Then we hiked to this old WWII gun on Blunt's Point.

Then we went to Amanave.

And then we hiked to Palagi Beach. The trail was washed out so we had to climb up a mudslide and once we got to it the trail was pretty bad anyway. We came back along the coastline, which is the route we'll take when we go back. And we'll definitely go back - it's the only beach we've been to with absolutely no garbage on it!

And then Everett accidentally stepped on a nail so we didn't get to do the rest of the things we had planned. I'm sure we'll get to it all though - we have plenty of time!