American Moment

After watching the documentary "Super Size Me" several years ago, Andy and I vowed not to eat at McDonalds again. I seriously can't remember the last time I did. I've also said that I would never have my children play at a MacDonald's playland, mainly because of the germ factor and I've heard a lot of horror stories about those ball pits. Well on an island with very few, if any, toddler friendly play grounds, walking past the MacDonald's fenced in, all plastic, toddler friendly playland started to look a little intising. We decided to treat our children to their first ever MacDonald's Happy Meal, and allow them to play on the playland. Our compromise was giving them a "wipes bath" afterwards. Little did we know - its one of the biggest holidays of the year here in Samoa - White Sunday. In honor of White Sunday they had a special on Happy Meals for all children - $7 tala instead of the usual $10. Great for saving money - not great for beating crowds.
We were thrilled to see they actually had these little high chairs for them. I think they both enjoyed the "treat." Although Tyler is still on a hunger strike from his molars coming in and ate exactly one bite of one Chicken nugget and spent most of the meal sucking sweet and sour sauce off of french fries. I guess we'll be sharing a meal if we ever do it again. It was getting close to nap time and the boys were falling asleep in their high chairs so no playland time on this trip. Maybe next time. The free toy was hit on the way home though. Thank you MacDonalds for this small American moment in Samoa!

Endless Summer

So while all of our friends and family back home in the states are now enjoying cooler temperatures, long sleeves, falling leaves and apple cider - its still hot, humid and green in Samoa, the land of endless summer. Its been kind of strange for me not to have a change this time of year. I think I'll appreciate fall even more next year. So while everyone else may have blog posts about fall activities - we're still swimming in the pool, going to the beaches, and sweating all the while. Here's some pics of our trip to the local Aquatic Center on Wednesday. They have a big Olympic sized pool and a great kiddie pool with a slide. Tyler and Kye loved sitting on the edge of the pool, counting to three and jumping into our arms into the water.

A Bad Case of Molars

Over the weekend Tyler got a fever and started to act pretty lethargic. Kye had had a fever a few days before so we figured he'd caught something from him. He wouldn't eat anything on Saturday afternoon, fell asleep at 5:45 pm and slept until 6:45 the next morning! He had a fever on and off Sunday that got up to 103 at one point. We kept up with the Tylenol and tried to make sure he at least had fluids even though he ate next to nothing. Sunday afternoon the drool fountain started for Tyler and still hasn't stopped. He had a rough night sleep last night too. Suzie took Kye into the doctor on Saturday because he had similar symptoms. The doctor thought all of it was probably being caused by his molars coming in. I started wondering if it wasn't the same for Tyler. This morning I decided to inspect his mouth a little closer only to find out he's getting all 4 molars at the same time and at least 2 of them had broken through all ready. It just seemed funny to us that Tyler and Kye would have the same symptoms and be getting the same teeth in days apart from each other. Who knew getting molars was contagious?

The Reunion

Suzie and Kye went to America for a wedding and were gone most of September. Tyler and I missed them a lot. It was a great reunion for the little guys. They got to show off all of the new toys they got from America. There's lots more trucks and cars to go around now.

Here's a pictures of the two of them watching a Signing Time video. Tyler loves them! (Thanks Aunt Carin). He sits on the couch and yells out all the words and attempts some of the signs. Its the only video he'll watch from beginning to end.

We're coming to America!

So we decided after a lot of thought and financial planning that we're coming home to America over Christmas for 3 weeks (Andy will stay 2 and Tyler and I'll go to Maryland for one extra week). Andy's brother is getting married two days after Christmas so we decided we didn't want to miss out on that and have the chance to be with our family over Christmas. I can't wait to see everyone, for Tyler to play with his cousins, to wear sweaters and have cold weather (never thought I'd say that), and to eat Cafe Rio!

Our first Visitors!

Andy's mom, Paula and her sister Ginger came to visit this past week. We were so excited to have our first visitors in Samoa and share with them everything we've experienced here. They were great guests and had lots of stamina to fit everything in we wanted them to see and do in just 6 short days. They wanted to experience everything in Samoa, the good, the bad and the ugly. It was a great chance for Andy and I to have a little time out experience too.
Tyler loved having "Gamper" here too (how he says Grandma). He followed her around and always wanted her to hold him. Paula also brought us 4 suitcases full of stuff we wanted from the states. It was like Christmas morning for us. She brought everything from diapers to tennis balls to bug repellant to some great hair gel for me. It was sad to see them go, but we're glad Paula will be coming back for even longer in February. Anyone else who wants to visit - the invitation is always open!
FiaFia night at the Sa Moana resort. We're eating traditional Samoan foods cooked in an Umu on placemats made out of banana leaves.
Our hike through Togitogina National Forest. Tyler loved riding in Kye's backpack on Andy's back. He was a good sport, as always.

Lalumanu 10K

Suzie and I had been training for a 10K charity race for the past 2 ½ weeks. Unfortunately 2 days before the race Suzie got sick and decided she’d better not run it since she was leaving the following Monday for American and didn’t want to be sick for the trip. Andy decided that he’d run it with me, even though he hadn’t trained.
So we left at about 5:30 that morning with Tyler and the Seller’s jogging stroller in the car to be at the other side of the island by 6:30 since the race started at 7:00. We miss calculated how much time it would actually take to get there and ended up being 15 minutes late. (Tyler also randomly threw up on the way there so we had to stop in the middle of some village, get him out strip him down and clean him up- he ended up being fine after that). So we pulled up to the start line, hurried and got out the stroller and started the race 15 minutes behind everyone else. The race was a half marathon, 10K, and a 3K. It was an out and back race so we got to pass everyone coming back on our way out. It was definitely not the same crowd that turns out for the Freedom Run in Provo every Fourth of July. I’ve never seen so many people run barefoot or in flip flops. My favorite was one man who ran the 10K in church shoes, dress socks, a lava lava and a t-shirt. He was probably in his 50s and ran and walked the whole way. He finished after Andy and I and jumped up and down pumping his fists as he galloped across the finish in his lava lava. I loved it.
Andy and I stood out a lot in our microfiber shirts, our Mizuno running shoes and our baby jogger. Tyler was a great sport during the run and kept dropping cheerios for the wild dogs. We had one dog follow us for about 3 miles. It was a beautiful course though, all along the beach road. I still don’t know what our time was and I don’t really care. This picture of us crossing the finish line ended up making it into the Sunday paper here in Samoa with an article about the race.