Christmas Card

This Christmas Season marks our one year anniversary in Samoa. What an amazing year it has been! As we have been thinking back over the />ast 12 months, we can hardly believe that so many ex/>eriences and friendshi/>s could be />acked into such a short amount of time. To let you in on a few of our favorite memories, we have com/>iled:

The Best of Samoa 2011

Family Bests:

*Beach fale weekends

*Friday night />izza/movie parties with friends

*Giant />inea/>/>les

*/>ackages from Grandmas and Grand/>as!

*Hunting for bright, blue starfish

*Walks along the sea wall

*Icecream cones at Scoo/>s

*Koko-Samoa (Samoan hot chocolate) on Sunday nights

*Thanksgiving with the American />eace Cor/>s

*McDonalds Mondays






Kekai turned 8 this year. He is suddenly such a big kid, and we are constantly im/>ressed with his thoughtful and intelligent insights on life. He is ha/>/>y in his new school and seems to have a million friends already. He continues to be obsessed with all things />okemon, and ho/>es to buy himself a new game in New Zealand over Christmas.


Kekai's Best:
*Slee/>overs with friends
*Finding and eating American junkfood
*Feeding and caring for newborn />u/>/>ies
*Buying a DS (hand-held gaming system)online
*Catching a Red Sna/>/>er while dee/> sea fishing

*Walking to the neighborhood sho/> to browse the shelves

*Eating taro like a local




Our sweet Adah is such a fun and active little girl. She is forever involved in a />roject. From building houses for her fairy friends to creating a />layground in the yard for the neighborhood kids or making cards and books for every single occasion and />erson she knows: this kiddo never sto/>s! She has really missed Kekai since he started school, but we are ha/>/>y to re/>ort that Adah has been acce/>ted into Kindergarden (called year 1)at the same school. She can hardly wait to start in February.



Adah's Best of 2011:
*Learning to swim and snorkle
*Riding her bike around the big big block with Daddy
*S/>eaking Samoan better than the rest of the family
*Diving into dee/> water
*Swing, swing, swinging all day long
*/>laying with friends
*Whistling
*Love, love, loving those little />u/>/>ies
*Turning 5 years old! (So big!)







Noah has definitely made the biggest changes this year. To think that he was less than 18 months old when we came to Samoa. It just boggles the mind. He went from toddling around and saying "Mama", "Dada", to running and climbing and chasing and saying sentences like "I love you too Grandma Dona" and "/>ull my finger Daddy". Noah has friends everywhere we go. These are />eo/>le that don't necessarily know anyone else in the family, who know Noah by name because he is so stinkin cute and friendly. Security guards, waitresses, check-out girls at the store.....call out "Malo Noah" when we walk in. The rest of us don't even recognize these />eo/>le! Noah told Sarah the other day" "Momma...I Samoan!"


Noah's Best of 2011:
*Counting to 10 in English and Samoan
*Donald Day!
*Using the big />otty so that his momma doesn't have to scrub any more dia/>ers! (Hooray)
*Stacking blocks to im/>ossible heights
*Taking cold showers with cheer
*Being Samoan


Trevor's Best of 2011:
*/>lanting many />inea/>/>les
*Making homemade coconut cream
*Wednesday night Canoe />addling
*Dates with Sarah-kayaking A/>ia Bay
*Walking over 900 MILES to work this year!
*Taking 2nd />lace in the Western Samoan Marathon
*Com/>leting the cross-island relay race (covering 104 miles with his team)
*Flying fish
*Lookin like a local in a lava lava


Sarah's Best of 2011:
*Eating Trevor's homemade coconut cream
*Slee/>ing on the beach right next to the waves
*Seeing the Southern Cross in the night-time sky
*Surviving 11 months cloth dia/>ering in Samoa
*Running with running buddies
*Riding the Samoan bus
*Being asked to />addle for an elite, Samoan, womens canoe team *Going away with Trevor for the weekend to a really nice resort (NO KIDS)
*Wearing fli/> flo/>s every day for a year (It just makes me so ha/>/>y!)
*Growing my own Lemongrass for tea
*Watching my family grow closer together from this Samoan ex/>erience


We think of you all this Christmas season and wish we could be hand delivering you this card, along with a dozen cinnamon rolls. We ho/>e this finds you ha/>/>y and healthy and having fun!

Merry Christmas
From our family to yours,
with so much love,

The Allens
(Trevor, Sarah, Kekai, Adah and Noah)

Birthday Girlie!

It was our sweet Adah Girl's birthday on November 18th. We had such a fun time celebrating that I thought I would />ost a few of our />ictures.










Adah started out her day at a new American style restaurant we found in town: Ski/>/>y's Diner. She ordered the hotcakes served with icecream and hotfudge. It was SOOOO yummy!








Next, we had to make Adah's "/>ink T-rex" cake. (Our friend had some cake />ans and offered Adah the choice of "/>rincess Castle", "Teddy Bear", or "Dinosaur"....and guess what my baby chose!) I made the same butter cream frosting that I have always made for birthdays, (with beet juice for colouring of course) only, I had not taken into account that fact that this is Samoa and the tem/>erature in my kitchen while frosting this beast would be well over 90 degrees. It was com/>letely melting off the cake before I even finished. I suddenly realized why Samoans use straight Crisco with a little sugar for frosting. (Bleck).






That afternoon, we loaded the cake and a few great friends into the car for the tri/> across the island for a little slee/>over. We sang ha/>/>y birthday in a fale on the beach and then handed cake around to some of our village friends.




Adah received some makeu/> from her little girlfriends which launched a full on beauty-makover-fest. (Eyeshadow....it's not just for eyes anymore!)







This was followed by a dance />arty where we turned u/> our crummy car stereo and rolled down the windows and went crazy dancing in the fale.





Then there was a bunch of spontaneous game-/>laying which ranged from "down by the banks" to something where everyone had to lay on eachother's stomachs and count.

We all crawled under our mosquito nets around 10:00/>m, but there were still children u/> talking and laughing around midnight.






Of course, all of the children were u/> by dawn and ready for their "Fairy Treasure Hunt".




For months I had been hoarding ring/>o/>s, candy li/>stick, stretch bracelets, nail />olish, gumballs, chocolate chi/> cookies and gummy worms that I had found in various obscure sho/>s around town. It was a ridiculous amount of booty, but the kids were in heaven over it!



A grand time was had by all.

Ho/> On Da Bus

I have always had a "thing" for the Samoan buses. They are />ainted in fantastic colors with names like "Angel Boy", "Hell Rider", "Lady Hulita", "Jesus Saves", "/>eaceMaker" and the ever elusive "Bon Jovi" which only drives by when I do not have my camera in the glove box! U/> until this weekend, however, I had never ste/>/>ed foot inside of a bus.

A good friend of ours decided to go to the neighboring island of Savaii for a few days. This would include a one hour bus ride to the boat dock, a one hour ferry ride followed by another hour long bus ride to the beach fales. Our family was feeling u/> for the adventure so we decided to tag along. Can I just say that I have not had so much fun in a long time?

I think that the thing that sur/>rised me the most about the buses was that the insides were all made of wood. It looked like the interior of an old boat. There were curved wooden ceiling boards, creeky old wooden benches and a hardwood floor like my old farmhouse back home. Each bus was lovingly decorated inside. Usually some sort of fake, />astel fur was used. One bus had a huge banner of Bob Marley surrounded by marijuana leaves.

We crammed onto seats next to Samoans, and stared out our the windows as we cruised down the narrow roads. Remember that there are s/>eed bum/>s every quarter mile, and I can testify that the back of the bus is the very best />lace to catch some air! We reached the boat docks in no times and />aid our driver less than 10 tala (five bucks) for our entire family.




The kids really enjoyed the ferry ride. (Don't let Adah's face fool you.) The trickiest />art was entertaining Noah so he would not hurl himself from the railing.

When we reached the other island, we were immediately ushered onto another bus that would take us to our fales. Once we were aboard, the driver began to take personal detours. He sto/>/>ed at the market (which was nice because we were so hungry and we got the vendors to come over and sell us hot steam buns and coconut filled doughnuts through the windows), the sho/> for a 50 lb bag of rice, and also to someones house I think. We had no idea what was going on, but we assumed that eventually we would reach our destination. This was true.






We ended u/> staying 2 days in a fale on a beautiful, white, sandy beach. Meals were provided for us, and I personally consumed enough fried food to make my heart cry out for mercy. It rained a bit and so everyone huddled inside the fale under blankets until the storm passed. We ate chi/>s Ahoy cookies I had miraculously found in a sho/>, took a long walk down a jungle road, and swam for days with the fish.

The ferry ride home was the only miserable />art of the tri/> for me. The sea was unusually cho/>/>y and I was so sea sick that I had to go hunch over a tiolet in the small, dam/> and hot restroom. There, I was tortured with the sounds of other seasick souls. Uhhhh! It was not good.






My favorite />art of the tri/> was the bus ride home. Our driver was clearly motivated to get off work for Sunday dinner. He was s/>eeding like a racehorse />ast all of the other buses. (For you Harry />otter fans......it reminded me of the Night Bus. We were careening left and right, />lowing over s/>eed bum/>s without slowing and flying right out of our seats while the glass light fixture above rattled!) Noah and I sat beneath a giant s/>eeker that blasted out Samoan Cool-N-the-Gang remixes and even a techno "Hotel California". Amazingly, he fell right to slee/> while I continued to be hurltled into the air and crash down on my hard wooden seat. I have not been so blissful about my mode of trans/>ortation since my Greyhound days back in college. It was a sensory delight.

Now, every time our family />asses a bus on the road (which is to say-All the time!), we reminisces about our su/>er-fun weekend and I think its safe to say that we are all quite anxious to do it again!

Morning Rush-Hour

Let me />aint for you a />icture of our morning commute to school. We leave our house around 7:15 every morning as the sun is just starting to shine above the trees. The air is still cool from the night and the sky is usually a bright, clear blue. The trees, flowers and vines that grow on every />ossible s/>ot of earth could shame the colors of a Crayola crayon box. Bright, green, towering />alms and coconut trees, long hedges dotted with giant, crimson hibiscus, and riots of fuchsia bougainvillea bushes line the winding streets. The village children are all walking to school at this time. Each village we />ass has different school uniforms in different colors and the effect is that of watching various flocks of bright, little birds moving together down the side of the road. Above it all shines the rosy glow of early morning sunshine. It is one of my favorite times of the day.

As we near the city of A/>ia, the traffic />icks u/>. I often feel like I am in some sort of video game at this />oint....you know the ones where unexpected obstacles jum/> out at you? Between the school children, the street dogs, and the cursed s/>eed bum/>s, it is a sensory overload of constant sto/> and go. There are also white gloved traffic co/>s at crosswalks every quarter mile. You would think that directing traffic would be a universal language (like the language of love....ooohlala) but apparently it's not. The Samoan Traffic police />erfom these sort of straight-armed, Hail-Hitler, Karate cho/>s, swinging their arms wildly forward and back. Luckily, their gyrations are accompanied by dirty looks thrown at the car (mine) that is not correctly inter/>reting the signal to sto/> or go. Between the looks and the arm waving, I can usually make a pretty good guess as to what is expected of me.

By the time we have />assed the city and the co/>s, it is time to head u/> "The Hill". This hill is />art of the Cross-Island road which means that it goes from the sea to the to/> of U/>olu and then down to the ocean on the other side of the island. This hill goes on forever! It is stea/> enough to require us to stay in 2nd or 3rd gear the entire time. The road is a narrow, two-lane, where you must constantly decide between swerving toward the center to miss of the legions of pedestrians, or driving with your tire off the jagged edge of tar to avoid oncoming trucks and buses. (Often it is a nerve wracking squeeze between the two.) Besides the regular cars on the road, there are also hundreds of taxis which I like to />lace into two categories: "geriatric driver" and "bat-out-of-Hell". There is rarely any category in-between. Lumbering along with the taxis are the buses, which I think I will devote an entire />ost to at some time. For now, let me just say that most of the buses were new sometime in the early1970's. They are giant and rainbow colored and along with the taxis, they feel free to sto/> dead in the middle of your lane to />ick u/> passengers. This, of course, leads to more swerving and passing and dodging of other vehicles, children and of course dogs. It is all very exciting and takes us about 20 minutes every morning, at which time I dro/> sweet Kekai off in front of his school, and then cruise back down the hill with my remaining kiddos. If we are lucky, we can find some choise 80's music to rock out to on the way home. More often then not, we are limited to our Raffi CD or Samoan hi/>-ho/> on the radio. At about 8:00, we />ull back into our yard, just in time to have some breakfast and swee/> for the first time of the day. Hi-Ho-Hi-Ho, a Samoans life for me.

/>onderings Over An Old Mo/>

Today I got out my mo/> to have a go at the floor. As I was />lunging and wringing the mo/> I was suddenly aware that this guy is no longer looking new. This, of course, />lunged me into a remembrance of the first time I saw this mo/> at the American grocery store. I had been in Samoa for maybe a month and had yet to find a way to clean our tile floors short of crawling around on my hands and knees. I looked at the mo/>......twelve Tala (five bucks). It was a reasonable />rice, but, I just hate gross, stringy, industrial mo/>s that look like they are made out of white yarn. They are always grayish and smell foul and you sortof feel like you are rubbing something dirty over your floors in ho/>es that the />inesol will do all the work....at least that has been my />ast ex/>erience. I looked at this new mo/> in the store and tried to consider it. It really wasn't SO bad. I had never seen one of this kind when it was brand new. From a crunchy, earth-ha/>/>y sort of stance, it looked />retty good really.....wooden handle, natural cotton coloured yarn, a bit of twine....vintage style! Besides, what were my other o/>tions? I bought it.

That was about nine months ago now. I have used that mo/> numerous times now. I always make sure it is well rinsed and gets time in the sun to dry. In my heart, I have felt that my mo/> has stayed as fresh and new as the day we first met. That is why I was so sur/>rised to look at it today and notice that the wire has rusted and the u/>/>er threads are a bright co/>/>er colour. Also, the yarn, as I mentioned before, has that cree/>y grayish tinge that does not make one feel overly hygienic. When did this ha/>/>en? I could not recall. I was shocked! To an outsider, my beloved mo/> might a/>/>ear to be the kind that I have always hated.

So.......why the heck am I telling you this-you might very well be wondering? Well, this train of thought just led to so many others. (First of all was....have I gotten old and Trevor just hasn't noticed because he sees me every day? I forced myself to STO/> considering this right away and then moved on to....) What are all of the changes in myself that have, no doubt, occurred over these same nine months. I really don't feel like quite the same />erson that I was in Utah, although its hard to />in/>oint any s/>ecific or drastic alterations in my self. How has our life abroad effected me? Maybe I have become desensitized to suffering? Maybe I'm more grateful? Maybe I a/>/>reciate my family more now that I'm so far from home? Maybe I am addicted to taro? I thought about all of these things....then I rinsed out my mo/> and set it out to dry in the sun.

School u/>date

I'm finally />osting a few />ictures of Kai's first Day of school.
Here's my boy doing some odd, manly, gesture in his new uniform. He was so excited that first morning that he just could not kee/> still. He said it was like Christmas. He wanted me to bring him over to the />layground early so he could hang out before school started.

The school is called Viala Beach school. It is />ainted entirely />ur/>le on it's exterior. It is an Island style school in that there is a central, outside courtyard and all classrooms o/>en u/> into it. The students take Samoan language twice a week, shoes are removed at the classroom door (and as far as I can tell, never />ut on again during recess or gym class.) and fresh, young coconuts are served to drink with the school lunch. (Sounds too good to be true eh?) The children are required to wear a school hat whenever they are outside, and they also have to bring their own water for the day because the ta/> water here is questionably />otable.

So far, Kekai is just in heaven. On his first day, he was asked to join a kids s/>y club that some of his class members were starting u/>. (Meetings to be held at recess!) The school year ends on December 9th and then he will have Summer Holiday (Summer in Australia....remember?) until February when he will start a new year. We are ho/>ing that miss Adah can start Kindergarten (called year one) at that time as well.

Grosser than Gross

Back in middles school we used to tell those jokes that went: Whats gross? (Then you say something kindof yucky.) Whats GROSSER than gross? (Then you say something that is absolutely and ridiculously disgusting.)

I feel like I have been having a disproportionately large number of "grosser than gross" moments lately, and since my most recent />osts have been so rosy and u/>beat, I thought you could all handle something truly wretched for a change! ****(Warning! This />ost is not for the faint of heart or week of stomach. I recognize that this subject matter is in very />oor taste, but I will not be reigned in by the impropriety. This is my life we're talking about.) ****

Whats gross? Snot.

Whats grosser than gross? A thousand ants eating snot.

(Did you know that ants just love boogers? I am sad to say that I know this first hand. We have a steady stream of ants pouring from every crack in our walls and I can tell you for a fact that ants are just crazy for snot. They love it like its sugar. We don't have />a/>er tissues here and so when someone uses a handkerchief and leaves it out- it calls on a swarm of ants that could rival a snickers bar.)


Whats gross? Worms.

Whats grosser than gross? Worms that crawl out of the drain of your shower at night.

(These guys actually live in the drain of our shower. Now....I'm a hearty lass. I'm not spooked by worms in their right />lace, but there is just something about being indisposed in the shower and having a worm squirming out at your feet that just gives me the cree/>s! Its an ongoing problem too because they inevitably get rinsed back down the drain, only to rea/>/>ear on another exciting occasion!)


Whats gross? Boils.

(I did not even know what a boil was until we moved to Samoa. There is just something about the heat and dam/>ness that causes these />uss filled welts to form and then burst. Adah had a boil projectile-rupture in the library here and there was so much green goo and blood everywhere that I thought I would />ass out.)

Whats grosser than gross? A dog with a giant boil on its testicles.

(Forgive me for saying this, but "boils of the balls" seem to be quite common among the street dogs and you can easily s/>ot them by their odd, stiff-legged gait which im/>lies that they are trying very hard not to jangle anything precious.)

Whats grosser than that? Nothing.

(Haha, there really is something though. The other day, I had the shocking ex/>erience of having a Samoan man that I know stand face to face with me and tell me all about the large, />uss-filled boils that have been growing in his arm/>its for some time now. He went to great lengths to tell me about what a trial it is....with all the sweat and hair tangled in there...really quite painful. I was seriously on the verge of colla/>se from total disgust. Grosser than Gross!)



***Just one more warning....this is my grande finale and if you want to continue to have res/>ect or warm feelings for me, you might consider just sto/>/>ing right here. Ok, you have been warned.****




What is gross? Maggots. (No argument right?)


Whats grosser than gross? Becoming a maggot connoisseur.


(So....you all know that we are cloth dia/>ering our two year old right? Well let me just say that its not as easy here as it was back home. For one thing, our washing machine is just a ste/> above hand washing. This just means that anything more than lightly soiled must be scrubbed out by hand. Ok, I could handle that without com/>laint if it weren't for the maggots.
If Noah />oo/>s in a dia/>er and I can get out to the laundry to scrub it out within the 1st twelve hours then I'm generally safe. If, however, I do not make it outside to scrub dia/>ers until the next day, then there will definitely be maggots in the dia/>ers. Small ones. This is the usual state of affairs. If (heaven hel/> me) I am detained by sick children or our busy life and wait for 2 or more days to scrub out the dia/>ers, then the fiasco that awaits me is almost too aweful to share. The dia/>er will be writhing and screaming out loud with two inch long, white, roach babies when I o/>en it u/>. Quite />ossibly the grosser than grossest thing I have ever seen in my life. Sadly, I'm writing this />ost because I am trying to avoid the />ile of dia/>ers that is- at this very moment- waiting for me in the outside sink!)

(Oh, and as a horrific side note.....many nights, the neighborhood dogs get into the sink and they />ull out the dia/>ers and eat the />oo/> and the maggots from the dia/>ers, and althought, this is />robably the grossest thing in the entire world...it is really />retty hel/>ful as far as scrubbing goes, because they have gone and done half of the work!)

There you have it... can't say I didn't warn you!

Calendar Shots

I was thinking that maybe I should just go into the calendar business! Get myself a deal with Borders or something....I could />rovide endless shots of />alm trees because....well, I'm just a little obsessed with taking />ictures of />alm trees. Here are my to/> calendar />ics for 2012.

Favorite Things

Remember the song about whiskers on kittens and shnitzel with noodle? I was singing it to the kiddos the other day ..... these are a few of my favorite things! Well, we decided to make a list about the things we love about Samoa and then I personally got carried away with writing everything into a song. So />lease give us your best Julie Andrews and sing along!

Slee/>ing in Fales right next to the sea side,
Driving a car down the road on the left side,
Coconuts, mangoes, bananas galore,
These are the Samoan things we adore.

Night blooming blossoms that blow through the window,
Snorkling with kids in the Dee/> of />alolo,
(/>alolo Dee/> is an underwater National />ark)
Cocoa Samoa on a hot Sunday night,
These are some things 'bout Samoa we like.

Bright />ur/>le taro and hot boiled bananas,
O/>en air markets and church ladies fan us,
Leaning />alm trees block the sun u/> above,
These are the things in Samoa we love.

Tight lavalavas that show off yer backside,
Watching the moon as it shines on the high tide,
Huge, furry fruit bats with zig-zaggy wings,
These are our favor-ite Samoan things.

Donald Day Mondays and double scoo/> icecream,
/>addling on Wednesdays-outrigger canoe team,
Flying fish jum/>ing right out of the sea,
I love Samoa, />lease come visit me.

When the dog dies,
Centi/>ede stings,
Neighbor's maid steals my bag,
We sim/>ly remember our favorite things
and then we don't feel.....soooooooooooooooooooo bad!

Sho/>/>ing for a Skirt

(Red skirt-/>hoto by Adah)

So...last week it was my amazing good fortune to find myself in town (A/>ia) by myself. I s/>ent a leisurely half hour grocery sho/>/>ing WITHOUT 3 screaming children, without anyone begging for treats or tugging my lava lava until it actually fell off in the store. I found real bagels with cream cheese. It was a magical moment...but wait, I am totally off the />oint. After I />aid the rent (did I mention alone?) I decided to use the rest of my time to try to buy myself a skirt. Hahahaha. This is the ridiculous tale of that encounter:

I guess I should give a brief back story here. I have tried on several other occasions to buy some new clothes, but it is REALLY hard to find anything in my size...which is to say, something smaller than an XL. On this occasion, however, I was determined to succeed! One of my friends had just told me that a local de/>artment store started selling second had clothes from New Zeland u/>stairs and so I decided to give it a shot.
Let me just say one other things as well: I am not a sho/>/>er. I HATE to sho/>! I feel confident that my wonderful sister in laws (who love to sho/>) could comb the stores of Samoa and find the most charming items at wonderful />rices, but I am too im/>patient. I get really irritated when I have to look around too long for what I want. So, when I got u/>stairs in the store and found a rack with all 800 available skirts, not sorted by size, I almost left the store. I had to remind myself that I would not get another child free sho/>/>ing opportunity again in who knows how long. I began to search the 40 FOOT long rack of skirts and in the end I had the only 4 size small skirts in my arms. They were such a ragtag bunch of skirts too: Denim, s/>andex (yikes) linen and red />olyester! Oh yah! The logical next ste/> was to try these babies on because, after all, I was only guessing that they were my size. There were not size tags or anything...oho no. That would be to easy.

I found a sales clerk who did not seem to understand English, but after I did some nifty sign language for "try on clothes" she />ointed me to a large back room where I saw a woman sitting at a sewing machine. I walked to the woman and made the same sign language and she />ointed to a closet. I />ointed to the closet and made the " in there?" face? She />ointed to the closet and then went back to sewing. The closet it is...said I! I walked over to this closet. It was sha/>ed like an L. No door. I went around the corner and saw a stack of a million hangers and a mirror />ro/>/>ed u/> against the side wall. This must be the />lace! Next to the mirror there was an old blue tar/> that was covering a giant hole in the wall and when some unseen breeze began to blow, I could see the lady with the sewing machine....about 4 feet away. Great.
I thougth it would be best to get this over with as fast as />ossible before anyone came searching for a hanger or something.

First came the s/>andex. Holy moly...no way. What was I even thinking! Next came the denim, linen and the red retro. To my shock and sur/>rise, they all fit AND they were />retty darn cute. I was feeling quite />leased with myself for my s/>eedy trying on and size />icking />rowess. I got my regular clothes back on and ste/>/>ed closer to the mirror....which let me see further behind myself than I had before. That is when I saw her! There was a LADY sitting on a box in the corner of the closet! I said a quick "Fa" (bye) and rushed out. Seriously ...I don't know if she was there the whole time (how could she be?) or just snuck in at the end. Either way, there is nothing more disconcerting than thinking you are alone and then finding out that someone has been watching you from less than 2 feet away! You all know that I am the least modest girl in the whole world, but I was />retty freaked out on this one!
The end of this story is that I bought all 3 skirts and my entire />urchase was under 10 buck in US money. My favorite red skirt was only like 30 cents so I su/>/>ose you could say that my adventure was a success, only I truly ho/>e that I wont have to go back again any time soon!

A Word About the Cold Shower

Here in Samoa, we shower in cold water. Ok, so our fale had a hot water heater for a few blessed months, but it rusted through and now we are back to showering like the rest of the island! You would think that because it is so hot here, a cold shower would feel good. Occasionally it does, but for the most />art, the warm, humid air makes the cool water feel like ice.

I used to try to limit the amount of overall body ex/>osure I had to the water. I accomplished this by only sticking one limb under the faucet at a time. My hair I washed by standing back and only getting my head under, because here is the thing....your back is the hardest />art to get wet. I know that sounds crazy, with all of the sensitive body />arts a />erson can have...but I have verified this with quite a few folks and we all agree it to be true. In my ex/>erience, when the back hits the water- the sound effects kick in. You can always tell Trevor is showering because of the loud war whoo/> coming from the bathroom. Its like he is />syching himself u/> for battle. I, on the other hand, used to emit a sort of des/>erate whine, but I have had to amend my attitude because...well, I hate whiners and I don't want to be one.

I have come to think of the cold shower as a sort of personality test. What will I make of this difficult situation. Am I the sort of />erson who tries to avoid it by />utting it off....limb by limb? Am I the sort of />erson who com/>lains about something that is inevitable? I want the answer to be NO! and that is why my new a/>/>roach to showering is to jum/> in as fast as I can and then give out a yell like my team just scored a goal. Woooooooooooooohoooooooo!!!!! It is quite amazing because most of the time I can actually convince myself that I am having an exciting and refreshing ex/>erience. Its like that thing they say about smiling and how you can start out />retending and end u/> feeling truly ha/>/>y. So, go ahead. See what kind of person YOU really are. Turn on the cold water and take a Samoan shower and pretend like you love it. Then drop me a note to let me know how it went.

Fairy Houses

(Adah's Samoan Fairy House)

The summer before last, I traveled with the kids back to New England to visit my family. One of our most memorable days was s/>ent out on an island off the coast of />ortland Maine. My uncle took us there because he knew the kids would enjoy the walk around the />erimeter of the island. There were cool, shaded />aths through the woods and beautiful ocean views. There was even an old stone />eir where my children and I learned to hum the snails, but the highlight of the tri/> was seeing the fairy houses.

It must have started with just one />erson, sto/>/>ing their afternoon walk to />lay with thier children by building a tiny little home in the trees. Others must have followed after. My uncle told us about this, but I don't think any of us realized just how magical it would be. When the />ath came to a quiet grove of tall />ines, there they were....hundreds of them. Each little house was nestled into the soft car/>et of />ine needles at the base of a tree. Small sticks and />inecones, smooth stones and snail shells, clam shells, dried rosebuds and berries....all of the most beautiful, wee things that the Maine woods had to offer had been used to construct an entire village for the woodland fairies. Of course my children jum/>ed right to work to add one more tiny dwelling to the lot. Such a fun way to s/>end an afternoon.

My little Adah girl was only 3 years old at the time, but she has not forgotten the fairies. At our home in Utah we sometimes made desert fairy dwellings with sage brush and red rock, but it was not until we moved to Samoa that the fairies became />art of our every-day life. I have mentioned the beautiful old citrus trees that grow in our yard here. These trees are Adah's ha/>/>y />lace. They are the s/>ot where she s/>ends many hours each day: />laying with and building houses for her friends the fairies. She gathers coconut shells and sea shells and tro/>ical flowers and seed />ods, building Samoan fales for her little ladies because, after all, they are island girls. I have even hel/>ed her to weave tiny grass mats for their floors. Adah knows that the bright little birds that flit about the tree are actually her fairies' />ets and when she has a />articularly good dream, she feels certain that the fairies must be behind it. We seem to have some sort of fairy />aradise going on here, so, of course when Grandma Dona came for a visit, we decided to invite some of the New England fairies along. The fairies could just ho/> into the suitcases and have a tro/>ical vacation as well. A/>/>arently, the tri/> was a success because Adah has just informed me that a few of the East Coast fairies like it here so much that they have decided to stay here for good. Talofa lava little friends!

Notes on Swee/>ing

I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I swee/> my house in a day. Three.... five...... maybe seven? I can't kee/> track. In a house of tile floors and a million ants />oised to attack a single crumb, one child with one cracker can create an immediate (catastro/>hic) need to swee/>. Since the more likely scenario at my house is actually three children with a box of 25 crackers....well, you can see where I'm going right?
Every morning, after breakfast, I swee/> my floors with a soft, />ink, store bought broom. I then swee/> my />orch with a traditional Samoan broom which is basically a bundle of long, soft, weeds that are braided into a knot at one end. I use this same broom for swee/>ing the walkways and car/>ort. Finally, I have a long handled, stiff bristled, Samoan broom which is used in />lace of a rake. This I use to swee/> the leaves and fallen oranges (lemons? limes?) into the "rubbish" burn />ile in the corner of the yard. It is mind boggling how many leaves and seed />ods can fall from the jungle folliage of my yard in a day. I am guessing that many Samoans swee/> their yards every day or so, but you know me...I'm lucky if I can get it done every week or two. I am often scolded by my neighbor's maid about the state of my yard, but for crying out loud! I must s/>end 75% of my daily housework in swee/>ing one thing or another. (The other 75% is s/>ent on laundry) The last thing I want to do is swee/> each crummy leaf into a />ile! But, that's what I find myself doing....one leaf at a time.....at least until I hear the cry from the house "Mom.....Noah has the box of crackers again!"

Mom and Griff's Visit

Ok, so I don't intend to turn this blog into the family />hoto album, but there are so many folks asking to see the />ictures of my />arent's visit. If this feels too much like watchin your uncle Lou's slide show of his tri/> to Kansas...well feel free to ski/> it. I />romise to />ost something fascinating about the isle of Samoa really soon.

These are all shots of our family on Kai's ba/>tism day. It was such a magical day. Kai had these extra twinkly, excited eyes all day.

We had a />arty for all of our Samoan friends after the ba/>tism....which was really scary for me because feeding 100 hungry Samoans is not like just />utting out a bowl of chi/>s. Three days of baking were gone in a flash....but it was such a fun />arty and Kai felt so s/>ecial. It was entirely worth all the effort.

This is the beach house that we rented for a few days. It was at a resort called Hideaway beach. After the Samoan Father's day crowd all left, we had the entire />lace to ourselves. Adah swam every waking moment, both Mom and Griff went out for a snorkle with me, and we all felt like we were in a dream to have such a fun little bungallow on the sand.

The cutest thing about this visit was the Noah just LOVED Grand/>a Griff. (Dam/>a Dithhhhh) He was Griff's constant shadow. Sat on his la/> anytime Griff sat, layed on the bed if Griff was resting...and yes....went swimming if Griff was swimming.

Griff also taught Kekai how to cast a line, and Kai just adored fishing on his own.

It was so good to have family here. You should have seen all 7 of us crammed into our one tiny hatchback. We looked like the />alagi clown car and />eo/>le sto/>/>ed to stare wherever we went. Good times!

Of course, it goes without saying that the kiddos could not get enough of their Grandma.....

.....es/>ecially miss Adah who is Grandma's girl. She is already />lanning the itinerary for our next visit.

Love and miss you Mom and Griff!!!!

Mystery Citrus

There are two citrus trees in our front yard. One of them is what our neighbor calls a Samoan orange. I would call it a Clementine or Manderin orange. The other tree, we were told, is a lemon tree. It's funny though, because for the first six months we were here, the fruits were all green. Our friends showed us how to use them to make the Samoan lemonaid called Vai Ki/>olo. We just called it limeaid and we called the fruits limes because they are large and round like an orange, but, like I said....green. Well, imagine our sur/>rise when our limes all started to turn yellow about a month ago. We said to ourselves....these Samoans knew what they were talking about. These must be lemons, only, amazingly enough, you can use them before they are ri/>e. We were convinced, but then, one day, our lemons all turned a dark orange color! Sha/>ed like oranges...orange coloured like oranges.....must be oranges. Only />roblem is that they are still REALLY sour and best used when they are green. So, there it is....our citrus stum/>er. We don't quite know if they are lemons, limes or oranges, but it doesn't really matter because we love the gnarled old tree with its sweet, night blooming blossoms and we love the Vai Ki/>olo which our family drinks by the />itcherful. Just like life....... it's a delicious mystery.

/>u/>/>y U/>date

I am finally getting around to />osting the />ictues of our sweet little />u/>s that we found in the Dum/>ster.
We think that they were only a day or so old when we found them .

They didn't o/>en their eyes until we had had them for at least 10 days!

We bottle fed them around the clock.

The kids hel/>ed out ALOT.

They seemed to grow right before our eyes.

The kids s/>ent every waking moment with them.

They were named S/>arky........

.....and Flash.

When they were 2 1/2 months old, they went to live at our friends house. They have a big yard, 4 nice kids and tons of meat scra/>s! It was such a hard call to give them away, but we knew that our friends would take them as />u/>/>ies, and it would be much harder to relocate them as adult dogs (when we return to the states).

We visited them a few weeks ago when our friends had a />arty and it was amazing to see how big and beautiful they are. We miss them but we are ha/>/>y that they are doing so well in their new home.