Samoa Christmas 2010-Sauniatu

For this Christmas break we decided to explore our neighbors to the west—Upolu and Savaii.

Itinerary was something like this:

Monday to Monday

Apia, Sauniatu, Pesega, Ferry to Savaii, Aganoa, Vaisala, Ferry to Upolu, Sauniatu again, and Home

We began and ended our trip in Sauniatu, a quiet village in the mountains of Upolu. This village was a gathering place for early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Samoa. It is still owned by the Church and today is the site of various welfare farming projects, a primary school, a historic graveyard, a series of fales with carvings representing Samoan legends, and a fantastic waterfall!

Ephraim was asked to help them set up a fish farm, so we were lucky to stay in a lovely house on the property.

It was so relaxing and fun to hang out in such a beautiful place.

"Voi-laaaa!"

Ella was dancing like Billy Blanks, crackin me up.

And playing in the swimming hole and waterfall were some of the highlights of the trip! FYI, Ephraim’s backflip, still got it.

Santa's Workshop 2010

Our school Ta'iala Academy did its first Christmas play this December. It was adorable! The play is called Santa's Workshop, and if you're from Reading Pennsylvania or Florence Kentucky you may have played one of the parts when you were younger!

Our practices took place during Music Class at school in the Fale.

Here we're giving Teddy Bear his nose and freckles.

Our first performance was at the Hope House, a care center for elderly and people with disabilities. The children were touched by the condition of the residents, and afterwards they commented how good they felt performing for them. I feel like the residents gave US the gift by reminding us how to love and care like the Savior.

On a personal note, this was a tender day for me for a few reasons. I was thinking of my mom who helped create this play and who has directed it dozens of times with kids of various ages and abilities. I know I'm not as good a director as she is, but I felt happy to be "in her shoes" that day. I also had my little sister Robyn in mind as we shared our songs and dances. Robyn opened up a new world to me and my family, and I hoped she was watching the performance as well.

Santa Schwenke assured all the residents they were on his "Nice List".

Our second and final performance was for family and friends at the Ottoville Chapel. This one was just for FUN, and the audience was so responsive we really had a good time.

My photos didn't turn out so well, but let me assure you the a good time was had by all, and we're all so glad it's DONE! Until next Christmas...

Peaceful Morning

I love watching my kids sleep in the morning. They look so peaceful, soft, and serene. I also like it because it means Isaac hasn't woken me up demanding breakfast or foraging leftovers from the fridge.

When they're asleep like this, I never want to wake them up.

Isaac and Family Photos

Isaac is a silly boy. He's always been silly. Tonight we did a family photo shoot with our professional photographer friend PowerShot Timer. Check out how he's the only goofy one in all these photos.

Is it just a 4-year-old thing?

Boy Scout Campout at Airport Beach

There's no particular order here and not much of a story to tell, but Ben Goodwin and I took the scouts camping at the end of the runway in October to work on the fishing merit badge. We also dragged our boogie boards out to do some surfing in the tiny waves of the day. I brought my new underwater camera from work to "test" it out. Works like a champ. This first pic shows where the boys camped.
Here we are just before heading out on the mile-long hike along the runway.

hot dogs on my spear, watties canned spaghetti and corned beef. mmmm mmmm good. Any other place or time and this would have me puking, but it tasted good right out of the cans with some bread. Must be that camping/outdoors magic.
Here's Ben on one of the better waves of the day. Funny how taking a snap shot of real life can make it look better than it actually was. Still small, and mushy, but believe me, it was worse than this!
Breakfast of chili and more corned beef and Watties. In case you're wondering, Watties is a New Zealand brand, and Kiwi's apparently adore Watties for breakfast. Strange that none of these boys are Kiwi!
This is looking back on Pala Lagoon from the end of the runway. Behind that pointy peak on the left is the valley we live in.
Same vantage point looking east at Mount Matafao.
Ben and Brock's tent on the left and mine on the right. That's the fence around the runway in the background.
The boys practiced all Saturday with a Hawaiian sling and my triggerless spear gun that Pa gave me.




They were all hooting and hollering when the first fish was speared. I got my hopes up and then crackup up when they brought up a Chaetodon lunulatus (oval butterflyfish) smaller than our hands and basically un-eatable.
That's my best wave of the day. Looks like it's about to barrel but didn't.
Ben showed the boys how to prepare and eat their fish raw. Almost all of them caught fish and got to sample one of them.
The current was strong here and they devised this chain-link system to hang on to the boy at the end of the chain with the spear. Hilarious.
The edible fish were these pone (Ctenochaetus striatus; lined bristletooth surgeonfish)