Short Stop in Las Vegas

 We made it to Las Vegas around midnight and immediately felt the OVEN-like heat!  What a difference the desert is from the rainforest we'd come from.

 We had hassles getting the rental van, so we didn't leave the airport area until about 2 am.  We were SO tired.  Thank goodness Mariko had packed us bunch of snacks, that totally got us through the day!

We stayed with Ephraim's brother Israel who is closest to him in age.  It was so wonderful to go to their house in the middle of the night, and see the light on for us.  Cailin was waiting up and had little beds ready.  That felt like a huge blessing to me: having a clean, comfortable place for my kids to lay their heads in this big, unfamiliar city.  Isn't that what family is all about?

We slept in the next day, and enjoyed some delicious fruit, bagels, and authentic, fresh chips and salsa from Cardenas.  Thank you southwest USA!  When we finally got up the energy to venture out, it was pretty late in the day.  But it was still HOT!!   We went to the Rio hotel where they have a pool area you can go to (for free).  Just walk through the casino.

 
It was fun to go the "beach" again. :)  Afterwards we did drive thru at In-N-Out!  Love it!

The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins.  And Ephraim and I had so much fun catching up with Israel and Cailin.  It's nice to be closer to family now.  We can see them a lot more often!

Cailin and I took some of the kids to a MOMS party with a bunch of other families.  It was really neat to be around so many palagi families again.  Plus they hired a magician to do a simple show for the kids.  Ella and Isaac were thrilled!

 My kids, the magician, and my nephews

The next day we went to Wet and Wild water park.  The whole city was there, or so it seemed.  I was feeling a bit out of sorts being around SO many people.  Especially in bikinis.  In Samoa people swim fully clothed, so being in Hawaii and Vegas I saw more palagi skin in a week than I had in several years.

 Saturday morning it was time to move on again.  By this time, our kids were pretty familiar with the airport scene.  They got drinks at the drinking fountain (which we didn't do it Samoa), watched all the airplanes out the window, and staked out a spot for our family to watch some Napoleon Dynamite before we boarded.

As we landed in Salt Lake City I had a feeling of arrival.  We'd finally reached our destination, and our time in Samoa was now officially over.  I was happy to be with my family, but also overwhelmed and sad to see how things have changed in the states since I'd been gone.  I'll talk more about that later.

But one thing was certain, being in Las Vegas made Utah heat feel very pleasant!

A Week in Hawaii

We spent about a week in Hawaii with our awesome friends the Jacksons before heading to the states.  It was a great way to transition from remote island life to modern mainland life.  We were very "fresh off the boat" for a little while, so I'm glad the Jackson's were patient with our strangeness.  

Interesting experiences:  

• I refused to drive the rental car because of the highways and high speed.  Even Ephraim had trouble keeping up at first.
• We marveled again and again at the internet speed; you click on something and it loads.  No waiting.  Amazing!
• We stared at the tall buildings in Honolulu and even snapped a few pictures.  Like we're really gonna look at those pictures again.
• We had to borrow some car seats and booster seats, cause apparently you can't just put your kid in the back of the truck.
• We noticed that people were mostly pretty skinny, small, and healthy compared with what were were used to.
• We felt very comfortable in Hauula since it seems similar to Samoa in some ways.
• When I drove from Hauula to Laie, I don't know if I even reached the speed limit, but I felt zero pressure to speed up.  And the line of cars behind me just had to be patient.
• There were a lot of radio stations.
• We could eat anything we wanted.  Think of something to eat, you can just go and get it!
• We watched mail being delivered to the mailbox.  Granted the 'mail truck' was some lady's car being very skillfully driven from the passengers side, but there was a mailbox at the house that gave and received mail daily.
• I got teary-eyed in Longs looking at all the selection.  Some people are so blessed!  Do we need that many choices, really?
• We couldn't get enough of the fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Our kids had no problem reading Hawaiian names.  For example, Isaac read, "The Like-Like highway?!  That's funny." Then Ephraim said, "Read it like Samoan." So Isaac read, "Li-ke-li-ke."

You might notice that these pictures show us basically doing two things--going to the beach and eating -- which frankly are the two best things do to in the whole world.  Plus we were with awesome people.  So we had an amazing time.

Beach trip to Kawela Bay

So 'ono' that Ono Yo!

Sunday stroll on at the Temple

The small dot that represents Tutuila

Visit with Auntie Lauren, a fellow American Samoan

Shave Ice ... Mmm

Waimea Bay

Date Night Dim Sum

Cruising in Hauula

Lunch at Tokkuri-Tei on Kapahulu

Off to the Airport

Last Days In American Samoa

Since we've now been settled for a week, it's about time to recap a little bit.

In our last week in Samoa we stayed busy packing, sorting, and doing all the normal moving things.  We never felt stressed, flustered, or worried.  We felt really peaceful and excited about moving.  We spent a morning with our good friends the Porters.  Gregg Porter is a PA at LBJ Medical Center and was key in helping us make our decision.  Ephraim had been shadowing him frequently in the last few months.  Our kids get along great, and they have an awesome island-style water park in their front yard.

So on our last night in American Samoa we had a full house of friends coming by to pick up items they'd purchased from us.  It made for a pleasant night of interesting, wonderful people.  We went outside for glow sand and glow balloons.  The glow balloons made some cool pictures.

 Our last day in Samoa was June 19th.  We began the day with a full house and ended it with an empty house.  Everyone knows what immense, exhausting work it takes to get there.  Need I say more?

A bunch of people came to pick stuff up, and most of them left with much more than they expected.  The hero of the day was Ben Goodwin.  He's been our home teacher, Ephraim's surf buddy, the husband of my amazing friend and paddling coach Lana, the first counselor in our bishopric, and an all-around awesome Laie boy.  Ben came over around 11 to help us clean.  He and Ephraim started at the back end of the house and moved forward cleaning every inch along the way.  My job was to get all the stuff packed, given, or thrown away by the time they reached the front room.  When the house was empty, I thought Ben would call it good and go home, but he didn't.  He washed every louvre, swept, mopped, scrubbed, and then took out the trash.  It was funny because Ephraim took the boys to run some errands, and then I got a phone call from my professor in Hawaii on my 80's corded phone, so I couldn't leave my 3' radius.  So Ben totally finished cleaning the house by himself.  Heaven bless that man!

Our final meal was at KokoBean with the Porters.  It was great.  They'd made leis for us, some lei's were made from things in their yard.  We miss these guys.

Then it was off to the airport.  Thanks to the Pili's we had a vehicle to drive since our car was sold already.   Everytime we see a Yukon now we think of how kind Ali and Phil were to us, and we think of all their awesome Filipino family who drove us, and took care of the car.  Good thing the car was big because we had 7 check-ins and 7 carry-ons.

We tried to be as calm as possible at the airport.

Just kidding, it was all party.  This is just a small part of my American Samoan family:

I got a little teary when I saw the airplane come and realized that I'd seen so many airplanes like this come and go, and this one now was mine.

I almost stayed strong saying goodbye, but didn't quite make it without tears. I'm just so blessed to have known these great people, and I'm happy to know that I will be with my Samoan brothers and sisters again someday.

We literally skipped down the tarmac toward the plan and turned back to wave goodbye.  We saw our family waving and shouting farewells back at us.  When you board the plane it's like stepping onto Hawaiian ground, so it already felt different.  The last friend I saw was Mitzi Semo, one of my closest friends in Samoa (and queen of Hawaiian Air) who came on board for one last hug and smile.

And then we were off.  Thus ended the days of the Temple family in American Samoa.