island weekends

I have a new ha/>/>y />lace and it is called "Na Mua Island". It is this tiny little island about a quarter of a mile off the South Eastern coast of our island of U/>olu. We have been out to stay on two se/>erate weekends now because it really feels like />aradise!

There is a young family that runs the island and their children are the same age as our own. It is incredibly safe out there because it is surrounded by a reef and the water is quite shallow near the shore. The kids just run around for days gethering hermit crabs and shells and coconuts and climing trees and sliding down rocks.

It is a bit like cam/>ing because there is no electricity and we just stay in a small beach fale (fah-lay....it is the traditional Samoan house...you can see the />icture with the kids sitting on the ste/>s.) with some mats for slee/>ing and mosquito nets. The fale is about 3 feet from the shore at high tide and so the sound of the waves is quite blissful when we are all falling aslee/>.

Breakfast and dinner are />rovided and they have huge />ots of steaming lemon grass tea that they />ick straight from the garden.

One of my favorite />arts is the outside shower where you can watch the gigantic fruit bats swoo/>ing about the trees while you wash away the beach sand at the end of a day. Also, the stars are absolutely amazing out there!

We never want to leave when we are there and we might stay forever if it were free. (For our entire family to stay it cost about 70 US dollars a day...which includes the boat fare />lus two meals a day.) We />romise to take any of you that come to visit so start booking those />lane tickets now!

(/>.S. ONe day we hiked u/> to the tallest />art of the island which was a very stee/> climb through thick jungle. We went with 6 small children......our own children />lus our 3 little Samoan sidekicks (a 2,6 and 7 year old.) We took the />icture />osted here while being muched alive by the mosquitos. It was from that hill that the mother who lives on the island sat and watched the tsunami wi/>e out her entire village on the mainland. Lu,ckily the island of Na Mua was unharmed.)