March Blog Post.
I’ll be honest with you, not much happened.
We try to live an interesting and adventurous life, but were derailed in March by the mind numbing heat/humidity and opted for air conditioning and Netflix. I’ll spare you the pics and move on to April.
April brings rain, trade-winds, cooler temps and big smiles.
Scenes from Suva.
Over the past few months we have posted some pics of the house and our activities around Fiji, but not much has been said about Suva itself. Over the coming months, I’ll include some knowledge and pics to give y’all a better feel of the place we call home.
We live about a mile from the president’s home overlooking the harbor. The house and property are lovely, but what is most blog-worthy is the changing of the ‘presidential guards’.
Some of the fellas have higher kicks and crisper moves, but they are all totally committed.
Right around the corner from Will’s school is a little 24 hour bakery in an area called Nasese. The bread is about $.75 a loaf and the nutritional equivalent to Wonderbread, the cupcakes are pretty dry, but they will make a somewhat decent Multi-grain if you want and they are super sweet and oh so blog-worthy. Our Fijian Pajama Baking Co. (Platt Park reference)….
Scuba
Daddy and Mommy started taking scuba certification classes with a quirky and somewhat inappropriate Brit named Greg. It seemed like the best activity we could do as a couple…especially with a few world famous dives right in our backyard.
The first dive was in the local 50m pool that I used to go to swim laps…that is until I hung out on the bottom of the pool and got to see up close how disgusting it is……no wonder why I always felt sick to my stomach after swimming laps.
Day 2 was out in the Suva harbor near the Lighthouse break. Descending and pressurizing has been the biggest challenge for both of us. Once down, we swam alongside a 100’ wall of coral and saw a 3’ reef shark…..heart didn’t even skip.
We are a few more dives away from being certified, but we are on our way……..and yes, we have a GoPro and no, it will not see the water till we master the art of relaxed breathing under water. Stay tuned…massive coral heads, lots and lots of sharks and snorkeling/diving with the whales in Tonga are on the to do list.
Beqa Island.
Over Easter, there were scheduled outages to power and water in Suva so we decided to check out the nearby Beqa (pronounced Benga) Island.
Our arrival to Beqa Lagoon Resort:
Apparently, the folks on Beqa can work miracles with burns….so we asked about a 20-30 minute walk/hike to have someone look at a burn Lucy got at school (which has since disappeared). Unfortunately, that request was twisted a bit in translation and turned into a 20-30 minute boat ride AND a 2-3 hour hike back along the coast which was at times treacherous….the village that we wanted to hike to was actually about a 5 minute walk and we were far to tired and hungry to inquire if they walked on hot coals.
Dropped off on a beach, Lucy prepares for the walk home…..she might be praying to the sea gods…..or just wondering how the hell we are going to get home (home is the island off in the distance)
We received a care package from Brad and Lisa consisting of DVD’s and treats. One those treats were Pop Tarts which is all the food we had for our hike….the intense amount of sugar kept our energy up and the kids in good spirits for the entire hike…..never has a un-toasted Pop Tart tasted so good.
On the plus side, Lucy made a new friend in Teka who carried her the entire way…..and shares the same birthday as Will – April 17th. A special day.
Once
Back in the water, this is my favorite pic of all time……..going to call this one, “pure joy”:
Croquet and Coconuts:
Tough to beat this one:
Dance.
The USP (University of the South Pacific) campus is a 2-minute drive from our house and Lucy has just completed her first dance class at the Oceanic Center for Arts…which has amazing teachers and student teachers.
Like most organized group activities, Lucy usually sits back and will not jump in until everyone is properly vetted in her mind. With kids ages 3-20 running around this was a challenge for her, but the teachers were unbelievably patient, supportive and loving. A small part of it is that Will shows up for class with Lucy and puts on his own personal show every day.
This week was the big end of term recital and Lucy (and 2 other girls) led off the show in front of 75 people. Lucy came out on stage and was amazing in her first performance. The next morning she asked when she could go back to dance class……which made mommy and daddy cry with joy. 🙂
On their way to the final practice…Will is being an ever supportive brother who loooooooves wearing the tutu.
Lucy and her teacher in the opening formation:
Church
Our latest Sunday tradition has been to immerse our kids in a traditional Fijian Sunday with Salote and her entire family while we go diving or something equally meditative and spiritual.
98% of the time, Will walks out the door with shorts, a t-shirt and crocs, but when he comes back after church he is always dressed in a traditional Bula shirt and Sulu skirt thanks to Salote and family.
In a weird twist of events, we had a friend of friend stay with us for 2 weeks…let’s call him Fritz, a 25 year old German carpenter, but we realized who he really was when he decided to join Will at church. …..:)
Marist 7’s Rugby tournament.
Quick definition of Rugby 7’s from a guy who knows absolutely nothing about rugby: While traditional rugby consists of 15 players on a side and games last at least 80 minutes, a Rugby 7’s match has 7 players on the pitch and the match is two 7 minute halves with like a 90 second break. The games are non stop, physically brutal, fast and over quicker than the last 2 minutes of an NFL game….and you think you want more, but you really can’t handle it.
In an earlier post, I casually mentioned how Rugby was THE sport in Fiji. I was wrong. It is much much more than that. With a population about 900,000 Fiji is a little smaller than Maine, yet their Rugby 7’s team is currently ranked #1 in the world…..which adds a powerful element to meaning to the sport in Fiji….I would start with an immense sense of Fijian pride.
To make matters more intense, for the first time, Rugby 7’s will be an Olympic sport in Rio and while nothing is ever guaranteed, Fiji has a legit shot to win their first ever medal. Find a way to stream a game at Rio… I know most of you get into gymnastics, swimming and/or figure skating every four years so 15 minutes to watch a Rugby game isn’t asking much…seriously, I know some of you will watch rhythmic gymnastics.
Enjoying the 15 minute matches..or maybe its the strawberry applesauce planted in their laps to get them to sit still for 10 seconds. 🙂
Will’s 2nd Bday
Will has a playgroup every Tuesday and Thursday with 4-5 other little dudes his age called Boys Club and it is one of the highlights of our time in Fiji. We decided to get Will a celebratory soft serve on his Bday and wait around for the rest of the boys to be healthy and back from Vaca to have his proper party.
Grannies in Suva
Grammy Ei Ei (Ellen) and Grammy Pat made the long trip from Wisconsin to Suva and have been eating a seemingly endless amount of home made hummus and lentils, riding the # 4 bus to and from town, lounging at the pool, weekending at the beach, jumping into an endless amount of nanny coordinated playdates and hopefully hopefully having a memorable time with the grandkids!
Lucy and her ladies!
Will and Lucy with Grammy Ellen (kids are going with Yiyi or Eee Eee):
Leleuvia 2.0
We returned to Leleuvia with the Grannies. A few things have changed since our last visit. The kids are a few months older and a few months more adventurous and self sufficient which means more activities such as paddleboarding and walking around the island are now possible. The other big change is the temperature which has dropped as we thankfully move from stifling hot and sweaty to just about perfect.
The turtles have grown since our last visit:
Our fearless water goddess gleefully jumping off the pier into the Pacific:
Looking for Nemo:
Watersports with the family:
The South Pacific at it’s best and daddy at his all time worst….:)
Might be the closest thing she gets to surfing in Fiji:
Will and Grammy Pat searching for hermit crabs at low tide:
River Kayaking
It is interesting how you tend to see and do much more when you have visitors. The grannies wanted to take in the Navua River during their trip so off we went on a bus, inflatable kayak, long boat, on foot and lastly another bus.
Buckle up and stretch it out ladies!
Took a short hike to a waterfall…..you can see Joe (one of our guides) laying at the opening to the waterfall.
I could hear the music from Last of the Mohicans as I headed in….
Just one guy trying to keep his shirt dry while crossing the river…
Parting shot from Fiji….love to you all!
Clancey, Abby, Will and Lucy!