It's Always Fun When Grandparents Come!

My parents came to American Samoa for the holidays and we had the best Christmas ever! No snow, lots of beach time, and plenty of fun.

These posts are mostly for the benefit of my sisters to show them that we took good care of Mom and Dad here. And that visiting Samoa is a really good idea.

Because of mechanical problems with their plane, my parents missed their connection on Sunday. They would've had to stay until Thursday, missing Christmas, but HawaiianAir miraculously had a special holiday flight on Tuesday, so they were only stranded two days... I know, two days stranded in Hawaii... big bummer. They went to Dole Plantation, Bishop Museum, and got to go to the Laie temple before it closed for renovation. They also picked up a bunch of stuff for us at real stores--ooh ooh. Here's mom having fun 2,608 miles from us.

I finally picked them up Tuesday night at 10:30. They looked exhausted, and very WHITE!

We let them sleep and then bombarded them with hugs and kisses in the morning.
Mom was excited about her real plumeria and sweet smelling ginger lei.

On our first excursion we drove to the far east side of the island to give them the grand tour. (On a side note, ever since we bought our car, I've been fantasizing about filling all three rows with of my favorite people, so it was a big thrill for me to drive around with my parents. It's kinda silly, but made me feel justified in purchasing such a big vehicle. But anyway...)

We boarded the little boat that goes to Aunu'u, a tiny island off the southeast coast of Tutuila. The ocean is an amazing blue out there, and the boatride itself is a great experience. Well worth the $1 fare.


We walked to the east side of the island to see the quicksand lake and the arch and picnicked under a pandanus tree.

We're just "monkey-ing" around. Har har har.

Aren't they sweet?

Later we walked (what I termed the "Deathmarch" in blazing heat with tired kids and no shade) back to the harbor, and there cooled off snorkeling and swimming until the boat driver was ready to take us back. We finished off the excursion with Samu's ice cream (the best ice cream in the Pacific) sold exclusively at the gas station in Utulei.

A nice way to spend Christmas Eve. More to come...