Here we go:
So, we decided to make a serious effort with our garden this year….mind you when I say we decided to make a serious effort I mean we found our green thumb and his name is Varea. He started a nursery under the sea turtle mural in the front yard, dug out a bigger garden by the pool in the backyard and out of nowhere we had a beautiful crop of long beans, eggplant and lettuce.
In addition we have seen an abundance of bananas, papayas, red hot chili peppers, passion fruit and oranges that we missed last year because Cyclone Winston hit in early February.
Without a banana tree in your backyard it is hard to know how a banana comes to be a banana….so, it is safe to say that I became a bit obsessed with the banana trees in our backyard and decided to document start to finish…enjoy. 🙂
Banana Buds
Banana Bread!
Holi is a Hindu spring festival known as the ‘festival of colors” or the ‘festival of love”. I mean seriously, I didn’t think it could get better than the “the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance and hope over despair “ promised by Diwali, but the festival of color and love….come on, it’s beautiful!
How does one celebrate Holi at the kids Waldorf school in Suva? White shirts, lots of colorful paint and one big makeshift slip & slide down the hill behind the school!
Everyone ready?
Lucy is!
Will and Saku. Not so much.
On your marks….
Get set!
Go!
Oh man….nobody was having any fun.
More please!
Monika adding some color…
Shirlyn too……not sure how this one plays out, but am guessing he didn’t enjoy what happened next.
Will and his safety blanket / Nani.
Lora..
Nani!
Malisha going with mostly yellow….
Will’s buddy Gerrard also having 0 fun…..
….and finally, Booma and Will taking a slide together….
Nasili. About an hour from our house…past the airport, down a dirt road and through a village you can drive out to a 2 mile stretch of black sand called Nasili. Outside of Nasili, there is a break in the reef that surrounds our island of Viti Levu resulting in nice little waves to play in…..along with black sand (more like mud) to cover thyself in……and endless amounts of stick’s and yes, water bottles washed up on shore to play with. Certainly not paradise for most, but a perfect place for a 3 & 5 year old to come up with endless games, build castles, cover themselves in mud and catch their first waves.
A boy and his sticks…and lobster swimsuit.
Washed up bottles make the best toys…
Pretty sure this would be a mud castle…
Let’s do this…
Magnum.
Picturesque? Hmmmmmm. Fun? Oh hell yes!
….and by the way, Nicolas (pictured below) who is widely credited with getting Lucy over her fear of water also now is credited with getting both Lucy and Will their first, second and third waves! No pics as I was on the receiving end of their first rides…..hopefully more surfing pics to come. In fact, the board that I bought for myself upon our arrival in Fiji might turn out to be the perfect beginner board for the kids. Funny how things work out.
Trish, you got a little mud on your knee…
I think it is safe to say that Lucy loves to be in the water….she has swim lessons at the olympic pool near our house 3 times per week and a few weeks ago, she participated in the Friday night races at the Damodar Aquatic Center. Generally speaking this is how she looks when at the pool…..excited and ready to go.
She entered in the 25m Freestyle/Front Crawl (she is almost 5) with a bunch of 6-7 year olds. As the lady in end of the video remarks, ‘I love her rotation’……coolest dead last place finish of all time!
Here is Abby and our little Moana waiting for her heat to be called…
Here she is after her first race….
Will still seems to be a bit more interested in the Ice Cream shop than swimming, but he also enjoys the water and we hope to have him swimming without the floaties by end of summer. Life would be far less stressful when this happens.
In addition to swimming, Lucy has been consistently going to tennis after school on Thursdays for much of the past year. She really loves Junior or (JuneYA as Lucy corrects me everytime) and as you can see in the below video has become a bit of a monster on the court. The ground strokes are great as well as the net play, but I love the ‘take that boys’ walk back to the line.
Stay tuned for more stories of a visit from the cousins, Will’s 3rd Bday Party, a trip to the Highlands, Toberua, Leleuvia and much more…..
With love,
William, Lucy, Clancey and Abby