Month: November 2015

In Fiji, rugby (particular Rugby 7’s) is the sport and like most of the countries in the S. Pacific, they grow ‘em big.   From the moment we landed in Nadi,  it was obvious that Will was going to be the main attraction of our family, mostly because of his size (he is huge), brown/blonde hair and his ‘taro’ legs….ie, big and strong legs with a calf like a taro or an apple….perfect for rugby.

Here is Will groovin’ a traditional sulu….

Now, Abby (more than me as he was 9lbs at birth) and I have always recognized his size and strength, but we have often wondered about his intellect as he seemed more concerned with physical activity (ie, being a caveman) vs. say reading a book.   WELL, problem solved.  A recent study in the NY Times shows a link between big thighs and high IQ.  Looks like we have a dashing AND wicked smart potential rugby star on our hands!

Here is Will zoning in on this coconut vendor who is explaining his craft….followed by a totally confident stroll through the market.Two can play that game…

Most days when Will takes a nap (2-3 hours a day), Lucy gets to hang with her ladies and eat lunch.  Salote is our amazing nanny and Lucy’s main squeeze.  Salote knows what makes Lucy tick so she makes sure that Lucy has her total attention and that makes Mommy and Daddy just about cry on a daily basis. Main squeeze #2  is Josie who is an incredibly sweet soul who helps clean while making delicious vegetarian meals and giving our kids gobs and gobs of hugs and kisses.  Squeeze # 3 is Rachel (one of our guards) greets us with the most lovely HI LUCY’s one could ever imagine.……..oh and ‘Yeah for Mangos!’.

Lucy and her besties Talaw and Chei Hte.

After 3…seriously, 3 swim lessons, Lucy has ditched the jacket and has learned to swim sans jacket and sans noodle.  At the moment, the only thing keeping her from swimming laps is that once she ditches to the noodle and starts to swim,  she can’t stop laughing/screaming in joy which means that after a few strokes she has swallowed about a gallon of pool water……. something to work on.

She is wearing the jacket in the video, but I had to include because of the giggle at the end…..so, wait for it……

16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence Campaign.

From November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to December 10, Human Rights Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is a time to galvanize action to end violence against women and girls around the world.   Abby has been working 10-14 hours a day speaking to the press, other agencies (UN agencies, EU and Australia agencies), panel discussions, film festivals and been Chief Guest at numerous local functions to drum up awareness and support needed to End Violence Against Women and Girls.  Lots being tweeted about her, but here is our rock star in Fiji Times (http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=331620).

Gobs of love from the S. Pacific!

Abby, Will, Lucy and Clancey

Fiji Girl Guides launch Voices Against Violence curriculum

Developed through a partnership between the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and UN Women, Fiji Girl Guides has been piloting the curriculum in nine schools thanks to a grant from UN Women’s Pacific Ending Violence against Women Facility Fund. The curriculum teaches girls about violence – what it is, how to recognise it and how to get help – and about the importance of speaking up. In 2016 it will be rolled out to around 100 schools in Fiji. Fiji is the first country in the Pacific to implement the curriculum.

Here are a few pics of the event that featured Abby as the Chief Guest.  🙂

 

Mantanivusi

While Suva is beautiful, aside from the mud flats at low tide, there are no beaches……the closest beach is about a 45 minute drive.  Boo hoo, I know.

Last weekend, we rented a Mazda 2 (the smallest 4 door door car ever made) and drove out to a recommended resort called Mantanivusi….a lovely ’boutique eco resort’ with 8 or so cottages (or camps for you Mainers) right on the water….all connected by boardwalks.

The big question was, could we do it without disrupting everyone’s vacation…especially at night, when Will now and then wails (a prolonged high-pitched cry of pain, grief, or anger…..so, really the perfect description) out for 5-10 agonizing minutes.

We did it…..we all slept and more importantly so did all the guests at the resort!

Here are some pics:

Lucy under the immense Banyan tree:

Mommy / Will arranging the yoga blocks:

Will trying to wrap his brain around the setting:

Daddy Chillaxin’….

 

 

Hooray for coconuts…

Classic beach style…..

Sunset off our deck…

Classic ‘wish you were here’ shot….seriously though, we wish you were here!

Our bungalow on the beach.  Now you can see why neither Abby or I slept that first night for fear of our ‘Wailing Will’…

This adorable moment lasted all of 8 seconds….

More squats….this time memorized by the hermit crabs scurrying around…

Make no mistake, we will all be surfing just in time to return to CO…

On the hunt for starfish…

Found one!

Whatever you do, don’t drop the LOVIES!

….more to come.  🙂

 

Love,

Abby, Lucy, Will and Clancey

 

 

 

 

 

Trying to settle on a new normal in the second week after picking up and moving the family to the S. Pacific is probably not possible, but why not, lets give it a shot.

Grocery Store Playground.  Yes, this qualifies as a playground….and, yes, it is about as corny as it comes, but look at that smile.  Hence, this needs to be factored in for every grocery store trip with the kids:

Suva Point playground.  We have about a 10-15 minute walk to the ocean where there is a lovely playground next to the bike/walking path along the water.  As we head into summer though, this playground is good for about 10-15 minutes of product fun before quickly descending into a cascade of sweaty meltdowns followed by a desperate walk up the hill home or an even more desperate run/walk to the  grocery store referenced above for treats, rides and some air con….:)

Below are some pics from a lovely walk home with Salote and Josey:

Trick or Treat.  Little did we know that our neighborhood was a trick or treating hotspot.  With no Target or Pinterest to lean on, Daddy’s last minute attempt at a My Little Pony outfit was quickly rejected so Lucy and I sat on our front steps to give out candy.  After 5 minutes it was clear that we underestimated the numbers and had about 5 pieces of candy left so Daddy decided to leave the bowl on the front steps and ‘scram’….or head out trick or treating with Lucy against her will.    We came back when the coast was clear and quickly ripped down our sweet pumpkins and locked the gate.  🙂

Cut me Mick!  Will woke up with this shiner, so we decided that it was the day to check out the daunting health care facilities in Suva.  Our first call / landlord Tanya got us in at the Suva Private Hospital where daddy was a bit unsure of the treatment plan (lots of meds) so we took to a well regarded pediatrician, Dr. Kim which gave us a much less intense regiment which I had to get cleared by the boss which was not easy since Abby’s colleagues were recommending the antibiotics or else blindness would quickly ensue.  WE decided to go with Dr. Kim’s treatment plan (anti-allergy medicine) for 24 hours and thank god, it worked…:)

Suva Market.  The Suva market is an open air market where farmers and middlemen have every fruit / vegetable  and spice that we could ever want…..2-5 x the amount of food for a fraction of the cost.  Daddy hits this 1-2 times per week to keep fruit in the bellies of our kids and dinner on the table.

Naked Picnics.  Our furniture doesn’t arrive till mid-December so now and then when we need to change things up from the kitchen nook, we go with naked picnics…and they never disappoint!

 

Morning with Mommy.  Yup…as good as it gets y’all!

Coffee issues.  So, we are running low on the beans that we brought on the plane (which are borderline disgusting at this point) and the below image of the best option available at our most western grocery store (ie, the one that carries Huggies wipes)…..which makes Abby’s trip to Bangkok in 2 weeks a crucial supply run for one thing…..coffee.

The absence of an US level of consumerism is certainly refreshing, but it does highlight the complicated relationship that most of us have with Starbucks.  🙂

Our new rig.  We bought a 2005 Hyundai Terracan which to me is Hyundai’s answer to the Landcruiser.  It is diesel, 60,000km’s on it and the seats were still wrapped in plastic so our butts were the first to touch the fabric seats which is pretty important when buying a 10 year old car with fabric seats in Fiji.

..and yes, that is Ganesh on the side and we are pretty conflicted as to what to do about it.  🙂

Denver – LAX – Nadi (Fiji) – Suva (Fiji)

After an emotional and wonderful 3 weeks of good byes, the family Erikson – Boettcher took off from Denver with 7 checked bags and 6-8 carry-ons (by the time we arrived in Suva, I completely lost track and just hoped to god that they were in the van) for Suva, Fiji.

On the way to DIA (notice the smile that is masking a deep deep fear of the next 24 hours )

Needless to say, the flight from LA to Fiji was epic……we had a full middle row and a block of time between 2am-5am somewhere over the Pacific where all hell broke loose (we even got yelled at by someone….at that point, it was like, sure..why not, yell at us, that should help), but we held it together and the kids somehow got back to sleep allowing us to land in Nadi, Fiji………..still married.  Amazing.

From there, we had to find all of our bags and then someone to help haul everything over to the domestic terminal which was a few city blocks away and resembling a small auto shop:

Domestic Terminal at Nadi International Airport

Our ride to Suva (from Nadi).

From Nadi, we took 30 minute flight across the island to Suva.  Again, everyone hit their mark, bags arrived and we found ourselves in a van on the way to our new house at 14 Vui Vui Road.

14 Vui Vui Road

Back in late September, we signed a lease on the house sight unseen (with a few random pics and some testimonials from some of Abby’s colleagues).  The alternative being upwards of 3-5 months in temporary housing till a place came up for rent.

For some reason, there was more excitement than fear and it turned out to be the right emotion as the house was beyond belief amazing.

Front of the house:

Tree House / Playground in front yard (to left of house)

Will in Tree House:

Lucy being super adorable in her new sunnies:

Back of the house (The tiki hut could double as an office for any of you ‘remote’ workers…just sayin’):

Kids getting ready for first dip in pool (safety first)!

Lucy Pool Jump Video!  Check out this 5 second video of Lucy’s first pool jump!

Lucy Pool Jump

Back of the house 2:

Our landlord are an amazing Fijian couple named Tanya and Peni who took us under their wing and showed us absolutly everything we needed to know.  They couldn’t possibly be more generous as Tanya literally took my hand and showed me almost every super market, market, coffee shop, hardware store, spice store, another super market (where they had the best trash bags…..apparently, the Chinese know how to get good trash bags for cheap), another for good cheap kids stuff….you get the picture.  She also took me to get set up with water delivery, propane delivery, internet service….etc.

Thank god, because by Monday morning (mind you we arrived on Friday) Abby was off to work and the kids were off to school.

First day of school – Kid’s First Fiji

Needless to say, we were nervous about dropping the kiddos off at school 3 days after landing.  We initially planned on only sending Lucy, but after seeing how Will adjusted (he is a madman), we decided to keep them together and bring them both to school Monday morning.

Honestly, this is how we entered school on day one (pretty sure the sunnies gave them confidence as it all went down from here….until I left of course….a sweaty shell of a man):

After some serious clinging, they released me and the kids became kids again and had a great time (says Clancey to himself).  Anyways, the school is small, professional, lots of sweet women teachers, kids from all over and it is close to home.  Not to different from Lucy’s last school in Platt Park.

After dropping off the kids, I walked to blocks to the water, waited for 30 minutes for a panic call to come back and walked home along the water (there is a great bike path that follows the sea wall) all the way home.

 

Visit from The First Lady (Oct 28)

Abby and I were enjoying our first lunch together when I received a call from Tanya asking if I could be at the house in 15 minutes as she was with the First Lady and wanted to come by to see the house and meet the family (they had been at lunch with Tanya’s mother who is a big deal politically).  Not to dissimilar to the reactions to much that has happened the past two months, we kind of giggled and said, “I/you gotta go”.  So, I hopped in a taxi and arrived at home minutes ahead of the First Lady’s rig.

Tanya and Lucy gave her a tour of the house and then we sat on the 4 chairs we have in the house and talked about the house, our move, local politics and then she was off, but not before some pics and hugs from Lucy

Here is Lucy in mid tour giving Adi Koila Nailatikau a big hug:

Here is a few more on the back porch:

….and bare feet was totally kosher.