Visitors!

For nearly a year we've been trying to convince friends and family to come see this beautiful island. We finally had someone take us up on the offer to crash on our couches and we didn't even make them sleep on the couch! My parents came for a few days this month so Clif and I took some days off work to be tour guides. The kids were so excited to show the island to their grandparents - they helped us plan our outings so we didn't miss out on any of their favorite spots (like the old WWII guns, which happen to be just about the coolest thing if you're a 6 or 8 year old boy).

The first day they were here, I put my mom to work. Our friends Moi and Polu were getting married and we heard that it's traditional for couples to wear matching outfits to weddings. All the sewing shops were so busy with outfits for graduations the same week that I ended up sewing my own puletasi. Unfortunately, I was sick the weekend before so I hadn't been able to get it done before my parents got here. Thank goodness my mom likes to sew! We finished up just in time for the wedding.

In the rush of getting to the wedding in time we forgot to take our camera. I wish we hadn't because it was amazing (see here and here for picture proof, including pictures of us in our matchy outfits)! Moi and Polu are such a great couple and I can't imagine a more beautiful setting for their wedding. We were so honored to be able to share their day with them.

And then the running around began! My dad vacations like no one else. If he can he'll wake up at the crack of dawn, run around all day seeing nearly a week's worth of sights in a day -barely stopping to munch some crackers for lunch en route to the next place and only really taking the time to eat after it's too dark or too late to see anything else. You see a lot of stuff that way, but you need a vacation to relax after your vacation to sight-see! I've gotten used to the laid-back Samoan pace so I was glad that it's a small island and, even if we wanted it to, that just can't happen here. We did manage to see a whole lot of island in a few short days, but I'm sure my dad would have liked to see more. I suppose that just means they'll have to come back ;)

First we stopped to check out the octopi on side of the road in Faga'alu. We've driven past these before, but hadn't ever stopped to see (and smell) them up close. Simon didn't seem too sure about it.

We hiked to the old WWII guns on Blunt's Point, with Everett leading the way. The first gun has been cleaned up and drained. The second one, a little higher on the hill, is absolutely full of toads! It was crazy to see how many were in there. Simon found a tiny one (on the leaf in the picture at the beginning of the post) that was about as big as a little black bean.

We drove the the end of the road on the East side of the island and stopped for a picnic in a fale at a beautiful beach with Aunu'u in the background.

We hiked out to see Pola Island in Vatia, snorkeled, hung out on the beach, and even got to see an amazing sunset over the mountains.

We hiked out to Airport Lagoon for some snorkeling and shell collecting. I'm sure I've said this many times, but airport is one of our favorite beaches on the island. The snorkeling is excellent and the hike is beautiful, especially at high tide when the blowholes are going crazy.

Then Ruth, my sister, came too. Ruth is staying until August! Everett and Simon have been talking about it for months, "our Aunt Ruth is coming and she's going to teach us school stuff and we're going to call her Miss Ruth" over and over. It's calmed down a bit lately, but not because they are any less excited!

The next morning we hiked Mount Alava in the National Park of American Samoa (described in more detail here). Everett was really excited about writing his name in the book in the fale at the top. The hike back down was much slower because Ruth showed Simon the grass that closes when you touch it. He tried to touch every single one he could see the whole way down, which, as you may imagine, slows down a 6-yr old just a little bit.

We hurried down the mountain (well, except for Simon who was too busy closing the grass) to get cleaned up and ready to eat dinner at Tisa's. Mmmmmm. I don't know how Candyman makes breadfruit taste so good - except that coconut cream is somehow involved, which makes everything taste better!
Then we snorkeled at Faga'alu and saw lots of cool stuff - tons of trumpetfish, moorish idols, and even an eel.

We shopped for souvenirs and then they left for Hawaii. Thanks for coming mom and dad!

so much to blog about...

We loved seeing all of you who came to visit before we left! I wish I had been a bit more on top of the picture taking though - we hardly have pictures of any of you! We finally finished up all the moving/packing/cleaning details the evening before our flight left, although at times it seemed that we'd never get it all done.

The trip here was fairly uneventful, although there were some differences. The flight from Hawaii to Pago was the only flight I've ever been on where the flight attendants walk down the aisle with seat belt extenders before take-off (the kids kept confusing rocket & airplane terminology and asking when we were going to "blast off" - the flight attendants and I were amused by that). We also noticed that people were much more polite on that flight than the other two we'd been on earlier.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the kids were so exhausted after 24 hours of traveling that they fell asleep on top of the luggage as we were waiting at baggage claim in Pago Pago.

Although they did get to play some computer games in between flights.

We met a very nice, informative Samoan woman during our layover in Hawaii. Since then she's stopped by our house a couple times - she found the place when she spotted the boys outside (it's a small island!) and just tonight she brought by some fresh bananas. It's been a nice reminder of how interconnected we all are on this island.

Our first couple days here were pretty slow. The High Court put us up in the Tradewinds Hotel where the kids enjoyed racing each other in the pool and we had some time to get over our jet lag.

It was a good transition to a completely foreign-feeling place because we still had American style lodging. When we got to our new house, we had some adjusting to do! It's a lot like camping. And we have these bugs that are like mini-ants on crack. They are superspeedy and basically act like vacuum cleaners because they completely devour any dead bugs or food that we don't clean up right away. It's pretty weird living in what is essentially a screened-in porch, although the geckos that crawl on the ceiling at night are pretty cute.

A couple days ago we had a bit of excitement when Clif caught a tiny one and it crawled around on him. The kids loved it and insisted that we let it go in their room so it could eat their bugs.

Simon's had a bit of a rough time of things the past week. Our last night in our Boise house, he got a spider bite that made his arm look a bit like Popeye's. I didn't think to get a picture until after the Benadryl so you don't quite get the full effect.

Then we went swimming/snorkeling in the ocean on Saturday where he fell and cut his hand on the coral. It's doing fine now, but he was nursing injuries for a couple days.

Everett is adjusting very well. He's generally pretty oblivious about many details and it's coming in handy! He doesn't seem to notice that things are not as sanitary as we're used to or that the grass is maybe a bit too rough to be rolling around on or that he's one of the only palagi's in his class at school -which means he doesn't really have to adjust at all! He did let out quite a squeal when he realized that the shell he picked up at the beach wasn't just full of dirt. The hermit crab that lived inside started to emerge on our way home!

And, as promised, we've got pictures of creatures! Our second morning here we woke up to find a poisonous centipede in our bedroom. We sprayed it with extra-strength Raid and it seemed to have no effect. Clif wanted me to step on it - in flip flops. There's no way that was happening; the thing was at least 4 inches long! So we got out the only trusty weapon we had - the frying pan!

a backlog of kid quotes

Roman (neighbor kid): Can you give me a moment please?
Simon: They don't give moments on this game.

me: Be nice to your brother.
Everett: Even when he has the evil bionicle mask on?

Uncle Steven: Why are you so cute?
Simon: I'm five!

Simon: Clouds are water, but they look like milk. The sky looks blue like water, but the clouds are really the water.

four generations

My grandpa sent me this picture. It's always been one of my favorites. In case it's not blatantly obvious, it's of me, my mom, my grandma, and my great grandma.

Jon loves us

See how much Jon loves us:
We didn't make him work alone though. We helped too:

Uh, I mean, we helped too:

Now our house looks beautiful! No more two-toned house. (I know, technically it's always been more than 2 tones, but you know what I mean.)

Hooray! Thank you Jon!!

Special thanks to Charlie & Tenielle for the use of their freakishly cool ladder!

MY frisbee!

Some of you may not know that I am related to the utlimate, ultimate frisbee player. As part of his obsession he designed a logo for Daweena, an ultimate tournament in Utah. Each year people submit designs to be used on the discs for that year. When he came to visit us last year he was playing around with some designs and I gave suggestions. His design was chosen and here's my reward!