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.