Happy Thanksgiving!!

Another successful Thanksgiving is in the books!!! Aaron and I enjoyed the traditional Seattle thanksgiving I have celebrated the past decade or so. There was the traditional dinner plus 12 desserts so you KNOW it was good!!! Hannah and Adam are getting so big. Hannah played guitar with us which is really fun to watch. There was singing and game playing. Now I'm ready for a nap!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Nagigi Fiji Book Drive is Underway!!!

The Fiji Book Drive is going great!!! We put out word about a week ago and so far we have 28 books! That's just great. Our goal is 153 books -- that would be 1 per student (grades K-5). So if you know anyone who has older kids that needs to clean out their books at home tell them about us!

Some folks have ordered books and sent them to us and a few have just dropped off books. It's fun to see what people have sent. Charis has also gotten at least one order which is good for Fiji AND good for Atlanta! Thanks everyone!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

AnnerAaron Fall Flowers Review

About once a day Aaron or I will say, "hey, did you see what's happening in the Garden Room....?" So this is the time of year stuff should be dying, and in fact some of it is, but some of our plants aren't ready to go to sleep yet! It's really fun to see the things that we received as wedding gifts still blooming. We are hopful that almost all of them will come back in the spring and we get to watch them grow even more. Here are some pictures we took yesterday:


Fuchsia is quite happy:


Fuchsia from the groom's dinner (there are others like it):



This is more like what we expect in fall. Here's our Wedding Tree. It's leaves were BRIGHT red this fall but we didn't get out there in time with the camera.



This dahlia doesn't know it's time to go to sleep. The Dahlia Barn experts told us to cut down the dahlia's once they start to die. I explained that they are still blooming. Puzzeled, the Barn people told us to just cut them down anyway, wait for them to go dormant and then dig up the tubers and save them until next year. We've had some trouble. First, we couldn't even cut this one because it was still way too beautiful.

We did manage to cut down all the rest and we put them in a dark dry spot, but look what this one did....it started to sprout again!

This is what it's supposed to look like. We'll dig it up next week like they told us. Speaking of the Dahlia Barn, we're going to go there next weekend. They said they have "dried dahlia wreaths". We've gotta see that!

Finally, a plant that is SUPPOSED to bloom in fall and winder, the Helabore (spelling?). This was in the front for a year or two and barely did anything. We moved it to the back and this is the first of about 8 blooms. Aaron got excited and went and bought two more with our Sky gift certificates. It's going to be very cool in a couple of years!

Married People Still Have Fun!

Packing Party!! Helping Jane Ann Move.

Truffel Class!!!

Election Party 2008!!

Halloween - I married Shrek!!!

Being Married is One Party After Another...

With the exception of insulating the studio...

A couple of months ago my new hubby decided to insulate the studio. He even got up early. I didn't really believe him when he said it was a one person job. In fact, I might have felt a little left out. But I had to make lunches for the week and I still own him his official birthday cake (you know, not just any cake but The Cake you identify as your own personal Birthday Cake.) I had my own work cut out for me so I wished Aaron good luck. He headed off he went to Home Depot (the place where we like to keep all our disposable income). I went for a run.

I came home.

He came home.

I offered to help again. He said stuck to his guns, "No I think it's one person job". I wrote up the grocery list and grabbed by purse when about ten minutes later a voice from the doorway, "Ahh, Honey....ah...do you think you could help after all"???

Well, I put down the list and headed out to the studio. I figure insulating the studio is probably amoung the many things that come with the married deal. He said it would only take an hour to up the insulation up. Now lying about estimated completion times of tedious project is NOT a part of the deal. Given Aaron's typical time managment skills I can't hold it against him because I'm positive he aboslutley meant it. He had a perfectly straight face when he said it. I looked around and figured in my head that he was probably correct that it would only take an hour if you have half-a-dozen guys from the Home Depot parking lot there to help you but sadly he was he was stuck with just me.

Fast Forward: FIVE hours later and the insulation was up!! I must say, it looks pretty darned good! Turns out the insulation was a little small so we had to put it over the rafters instead of just tucking it up between the rafters. My Job Of Honor was to use the end of a broom to help "guide" the insulation over the rafters as Aaron stood on a ladder pulling and pushing the insulation. I managed to knock down a light in the process. This is the price he pays when I help. I break things. Never on purpose. Just like he didin't mean to underestimate the time by 400%, I didn't mean to break anything. Turns out it gave Aaron a good excuse to rearrange lights while he was at it.

By the end of the day we rearranged the studio benches and declaired it USABLE!! (In the 2 months since theyn we've re-packed it full of stuff and redeclaired in unusable. It gives us something to do on the weekends. Clean the studio. Clutter the studior. Clean the studio...) The fact is though, we need to get it all squared away because I'm counting on him getting us back to our return to Fiji!! I'm doing my part with a 70 work-week. In the end it worked out great. I wrote-off making lunches and ordered pizza (and reason to order pizza is good by me) and baked the cake. I had time to make frosting while he washed off the insulation. By prime time we were sacked out on the couch watching a movie.

Good times.

So much fun...let's do it again: The Re-Wedd

As if it wasn't enough fun to have a 3-day weekend and 2 weeks in Fiji...we weren't done yet!!! The one big thing missing on Wedding Weekend was Grandma Elsie.  Grandma just moved into the nursing home less than a year ago.  Aaron and I mulled over the logistics of getting grandma to our back yard wedding but it just didn't seem feasible.  I really hated the idea of her not being there.  She actually married Dad and Diane (not to each other) -- I just wanted her at the wedding to see it.   I had imagined the beginning where we would say, "We especially want to welcome Grandma Elise for being here today..." But that just wasn't in the cards so we went for the next best thing: "We'll bring the wedding to you Grandma!" 

A week after returning to work we packed up for second Wedding Weekend.  Dad had done a lot of organizing and my good pal Heidi agreed to "officiate" (on her 12th wedding anniversary no less).  She immediately nominated her boys to be in the wedding .  Old people LOVE little kids and Morgan and Bed provided a lot of entertainment.  My nephew Michael got to be in the wedding too which was totally awesome.   

We arrived late on a Friday night.  Our job before getting to bed was to make about 50 little vases of flowers that Mary put on the lunch tables on grandma's floor.  Mary made goodie bags full of candy and had gotten permission to give them out to the residents.  The plan was that the boys (dressed in suits and being really cute) hand out the goodie bags and invite the other residents to the wedding after lunch.

Dad arranged for the "metro mobility" van to pick up grandma in the wheelchair and take her a few blocks to a family restaurant for brunch with the family.    Everyone went all out!  Dad had his tux on again, Grandma dressed in the outfit Mary wore to Diane's wedding - so very nicely, and everyone came pretty much dressed for a wedding.  Aaron and I showed up in our gown and tux.  We walked into the little diner and everyone averted their eyes (good Minnesotans do not make eye contact...). People pretended not pay too much attention to our spectacle, but you could tell it was the sort of thing where they were pointing when we weren't looking.  

Grandma was excited to see us and mostly loved that my gown had pockets!  And I couldn't agree more!!  She asked me what was going on and I explained that we were going to have a wedding at the nursing home.  "Really!?! I can't believe it!"  She was pensive, "Are you sure?"  I told her were were absolutely sure.  She thought again, "Ya know, I saw you in this dress and I thought you had made a mistake getting dress, but I guess you didn't!"  We had that conversation a couple more times during breakfast.  Later she explained that the activities board said "Elise and Family" and asked if I knew what it meant.  I knew exactly what it meant. We were on the board!!!  I explained it to grandma one more time.  She seemed to pretty much get it and she participated in most of the conversations.  It was great to be with her when she was pretty much "getting it". 

Dad and Mary talked to the nursing home activities director and to our excitement our Re-Wedding made the official "Activities Board".  That's right, we were "on the board" just as grandma had noted at brunch.   The nursing home people were just awesome making us a wedding arch which was covered with white chaser lights, red garland, and cupids.  Nobody has had such a cool arch outside of Vegas.  We played crooner music to get people in the mood. The lunch room was full.  The nursing station was full of staff staring at us.  The chaplain came up and told us how she had brought her interns.  That was an education for me because I didn't know preachers had interns but there you have it.  The activities director from another floor was filling in and introduced herself.  I had a bouquet and a corsage for grandma.  The boys went around with candy and talked to the residents who, of course, loved it!!!  We had absolutely no idea what we were doing.  We huddled up with Heidi and talked about what parts of the first wedding we'd re-do.  And then it was Show Time!

Dad got the attention of all the residents and put grandma in the front row.  He explained we were renewing our vows today.  There was the arch and chairs for the 3 boys in our wedding party.  Andy, Dad and Michael (brother, not nephew) all took pictures.  It was just about as much excitement and anticipation as the real thing!!   And then it was time to walk.  We processed down the hospital corridor.  It was much longer and straighter than our first walk down the aisle.  And this time it was Sinatra not Take Me Out to the Ball Game playing.  

The boys sat in their chair and Heidi started the wedding.  Aaron welcomed everyone and I finally got my chance to say, "We'd especially like to thank Grandma Elsie for having us today..."  Grandma's marriage officient days aren't that far gone.  She took the opportunity to give us a little talk right then and there.  It was so awesome to get to hear my grandma tell us how happy she is for us and just to be able to give a little talk.  We had a poem reading and then Aaron did his vows.  I looked out and saw Andy handing grandma a tissue and then it was pretty much all over for me.  Aaron was busy projecting his voice so the old people could hear him and I could hardly choke out a "of course I do!".  Then it was my turn and somehow or another managed to say my promises back.  And then as fast as it started it was done.  All the old people clapped and someone turned the music back on. 

We immediately got our hugs from grandma and then we tried to make some rounds and thank the residents for having us.  It was SO MUCH FUN!!!  It was so special.  It was so everything.  Everyone should do it!!!

Dad said we were talk of the town for a few days and we have are already trying to think up what would be an other good thing that would get us on the activities board!!!

TIME TO GO :( Honeymoon: Day 13

THE HONEYMOON IS OVER (not really)

Sadly, it was time to leave the wonderful isles of Fiji.  Sniff.  Sniff.  It seemed Fiji was sad to see us go too. It was cloudy and cool on departure day.  It threatened rain.  We would want to snorkel anyway!

We had breakfast and checked in on Lollie.  He now had a block of wood with a really crude fin carved out of it.  Aaron and I pretty much wrote off our hopes of our one authentic Fijian craft.  I prepared by taking all the "coconut lotion" in the hotel and packing it in my suitcase.  Really, you've gotta prove you were there!!

We headed out with Paul and a boat full of new people.  Back to the sandbar.  We plopped in and almost instantly I had yet another first.  Hiccups.  Let me just say that is a really weird experience in the water.  I was trying to snorkel, hold my breath and hiccup all at the same time.  Really, not a lot of fun.  It went on forever.  I bet it was 15 minutes of snorkeling and turning blue under the sea.  Oiy!!  Meanwhile GIANT schools of BIG fish are swimming around.  Aaron and I are having a great time.  It's cold because of the clouds and wind.  Aaron snorkeled with a shirt on and that helped.   I rubbed my legs together, hiccuped, and kept going. When else will we have this chance? We saw the million little blue fish breathing in and out of the coral.  We said good-bye to the reef one fish at a time.  It was awesome and sad all at the same time.  

We kept checking and best we could tell no one was in the boat.  Then I looked up and far away was the boat full of people.   Paul saw me see him.  I got Aaron's attention and he popped out of the water.  Once again we'd be last in the boat.  A few days ago we ended up swimming a long way to get to the boat.  I don't think anyone minded because it was warm and sunny.  They just sunned themselves while we kicked-kicked-kicked our way to the boat.  Today was different. People were probably cold and sick of waiting.  Paul started the motor and boated over to us.  I thought to myself, "oh oh....no way to get into the boat".  This time in front of about 8 witnesses Paul pulled my body back into the boat.  Just a little embarrassing.  Aaron pulled himself in once again, this time pinching his tummy.  I had another charlie horse.  But like always -- it was totally worth it!

We got back from snorkeling and we found out that Lollies block of wood had cracked.  Back to the cinder block oven where we both write off the carved fish.

We spend the afternoon with one final milk shake, a walk on the beach, some serious posing for the camera (see above, hee hee), settled our bill, and finally we were forced to leave.  

One last check with Lollie and we were absolutely floored to find a beautiful (if a little chubby) of an angle fish!!  He even engraved our names in it.  It's totally cool!  Our real, live, Fijian-crafted angle fish.  We named him "Bula".  Sometimes we call him "Tub-Bula" because he's a little tubby...like us.  :) Still perfect though...very perfect!

They put us into a golf cart and drove us back to the gravel airstrip.  On our way we passed the employee volleyball next.  Paul and the other staff were playing against other resorts.  They ALL turned and waved to us.  It made me misty.  Where are the tissues?? I didn't want to go.  Fiji was just absolutely magical (if a little hot in our room).

We had to board the wee little plane again.  Aaron took my picture on the way out and it took us a second.  The airline guy said, "little bit quickly" and seemed annoyed which is an weird thing to hear on an island where we had yet to be on-time to anything.  "A little bit quickly".  We took 3 more pictures and then moved right along.

Back to Nadi. 

 

We checked in to our international flight a few hours early.  It's just how the flights worked out.  We ended up behind a photographer with a lot of gear.  When we inquired he said he was the King of Congo's photographer and he had been here touring with the king.  Well, it's good work if you can get it.  He said he's been doing it for 30 years.  Crazy!  

We tried to get "couples seats" again but no luck. This time I'd sit in the middle for 10 1/2 hours.  Aaron will sit in the middle for the next year.  That should work out.  We killed time in the airport.  It turned out for the best because a while later the line to check-in for the flight was HUGE.  I'm glad we avoided that. We tried the lounge that our travel agent set up for us.  We got massages and water before being the last people to board the plane. We sat next to a young Indo-Fijian who was immigrating to the US.  WOW! Ever meet someone who is leaving their country?  We wished her luck.  She was possibly the nicest most polite person we talked to which is saying a lot.  Hopefully she's doing a-okay. 

Then we had a harried time in customs.  Actually, the customs part went really easy.  We were told on the plane that if we had different last names to fill out two forms. We walked up to the booth and the young and very nice customs guy asked us if we were related.  Probably for the first time we said, "yes".  He asked why we had two forms and we explained having different last names and he said, "well you only need one form".  Aaron asked if we put both names on it. He says no we should just list the head of household name on the form.  I almost instinctively said, "well that would be me".  I have, after all, been a head of household for the better part of two decades.  Why stop now?  Luckily I didn't answer.  Maybe Aaron was having the same internal dialogue at the same time.  The customs guy looked at us and certainly saw the internal debate written on our faces and instead approved both forms.  As we stammered in our sleep deprived state he offered a diplomatic solution: "maybe one of you could be the head of household on the way out of the country and the other can do it on the way in".  Just like that: problem solved!

Then we found our luggage, and not without it being stressful and various agents yelling at us we did make our way out. They should have re checked us in for our Seattle flight but because we had an hour they sent us all the way out!  We had to completely re-check-in going through security and dealing with about six different lines.  It was annoying but we lived.

We were last on the plane for Seattle and 2 1/2 hours later we were home.

Collect the luggage and call the good people at Town Car. The same guy that dropped us off picked us up.  EASY!  Back home to our beautiful garden.  Everything looked even better than when we left.  My cactus plant which has always bloomed one flower at a time is suddenly full of buds -- one on each leaf.  It's going to dazzle when it blooms.  The dahlias are blooming, petunias are bushy...it's all good.  The house is great.  We've done nothing but eat homemade food and putter around out house...the one we're both head of.  

We could not have asked for more.  In a couple of days we'll head back to work and be just regular people.  I hope we can remember for a long time how wonderful and amazing this entire journey has been.  Lucky kids we are.  Yes in deed.

BUUUULAAAH! 

SHARKS! Honeymoon: Day 12

LAST DAY.

The last day was mixed feelings.  On the one hand I was ready to be in my own house on the other hand I LOVE Fiji.  I want to go back.  At the same time Aaron and I area already listing off the other places we want to go.  I decide that traveling in the style of Koro Sun quite suits me.  Aaron calculates that all I need to do is work 70 hours a week and we can do it again next year.  Where's my time sheet...

SHARKS!

We started our day like always: snorkeling.  This time Paul took us to an outer reef.  There were only 3 of us.  It was really choppy.  I don't think he would have brought new people there but we had all been snorkeling all week.  He tells us we might see "big fish" (aka - sharks) "but they just want to say Bula and swim away - don't be afraid".  

I haven't seen sharks since Roi.  It made me hopeful that we were in better snorkeling water.  It was completely different.  Colder water, choppy waves, more current -- frankly, a little more fun.  It was way deeper and there was a big drop off.  The drop off is where I usually migrate too because that's the best snorkeling.  That's where the big fish hang out.  Again we saw the HUGE star fish.  We saw BIG schools of BIG fish.  We saw different coral.  Paul boated behind us watching the three of us.  Aaron and I agreed we were a little chilly but it was too awesome to stop.  We keep swimming.  We agreed "a few more minutes".  We dipped our heads back into the ocean and just then, the real 'big fish'.  About 10 feet below us in crystal clear water a shark!  A white tip!  Aaron had never seen one before.  He didn't say Bula.  It just swam off into the drop off.  We both looked for the rest of the shark family, but no luck.  They are amazing creatures and we both loved seeing the real thing right out there in nature.  

Now for the hard part....there's no sandbar to dock the boat on and just walk into the boat. We're more or less in open waters.  I was not sure how I was going to get back into the boat since it doesn't have a ladder.  Paul took my mask and then told me to turn around.  And in the choppy, windy waves "on three" little Paul hoisted me out of the ocean by my arm pits!  WOW!! Talk about strong!!!  I got a charlie-horse on the way but was just fine.  Aaron managed to pull himself into the boat -- excellent upper body strength right there.  We were so lucky to get to go on that trip.  It was the best of of the entire honeymoon!  Thank you Patch and thank you Paul!!

For lunch I had a milk shake!!  We stopped by and talked to Lollie who best we could tell hadn't started our fish.  We were a little skeptical that it would be done by the time we leave the next day but what are you going to do. We were just nice and hoped for the best.  We spent the afternoon hanging out on the beach.

For dinner we went back to Dicks for our final meal.  I had the earth's best Pina Colada.  It was made with FRESH pineapple juice, FRESH coconut milk, and then the usual assortment of rum. It was divine.  It was everything I could do to not just slurp it right down and order a couple more!  For dinner I had something that could best be called a Fiji Pot Pie.  It was a half coconut filled with fish, cream, and butter and then covered with pie crust and baked. Gotta say --- it was delicious!  

By Bed time we realized we were both beat.  Aaron had a sore foot, backache and a bellyache.  I had a headache, sunburn, and cut foot. These are all signs that it was time to start heading home.

JUST HANGING OUT IN FIJI. Honeymoon: Day 11

JUST HANGING OUT!!

Not so much to report on Day 11.  We went for our morning snorkel.   Back to Sandbar.  This time Paul told us to go to a different side.  It's less protected and it has the drop-off.  That always means a different kind of fish.  Bigger fish!  We saw schools of bit yellow fish, HUGE blue star fish, including one with SIX legs instead of five!!!  We saw some totally incredible BIG BIG fish.  It was stunning.  We can't show you pictures and it's so hard to describe but just know that we had a great time.

The rest of the day we just goofed around.  We went on a "banana ride" which is something that you CAN talk about in polite company.  It's a giant banana that is pulled behind a speed boat. You straddle it and hang on while the boat pulls you around the lagoon. Kids love it but put four adults on it and it's a jump-a-thon to see how much "air" we can get.  It was cool and refreshing -- a great break from the oven-condo and all around good fun. Once again our thanks to That Patch that let Aaron enjoy it too!

That afternoon we stopped and talked to Lollie.  He's a wood carver that camps out on a matte on the beach in front of Lomani. We talked to him about the local work and his carvings.  He had various things for sale but Aaron asked if he'd do a special commission for us.  I don't think he knew the word "commission" but he did understand that we wanted to "special order".  We requested a small angle fish.  I have a turtle and we wanted something different.  He said he could get it done before we leave the day after tomorrow.  The order was placed.

We tried to traverse the island but were totally waylaid. We ended up going to the "art gallery" -- aka "wacky-tacky store".  We did buy a few things in the spirit of being supportive but it was a little hard.  We wandered around the yacht club. We walked the length of the gravel airstrip.  We surveyed the 9-hold golf course.  We checked out the kiddie pool, the lawn bowling and the put-put golf. We sat on the dock and watched a fabulous sunset.  Another lovely day!

We had dinner and a long rest.

DOLPHINS! Honeymoon: Day 10

DOLPHINS!

This was another stellar day in Fiji.  We went on a Spinner Dolphin Tour with Plantation Resort. I've never seen wild dolphins before.  We went in pontoon boat.  About an hour into the tour we found a pod of 15-20 dolphins.  The guide, Moses, said they have babies so they don't come out of the water as much.  I don't  know anything about dolphins.  They swam lurching out of the water so we could see their fins and then dived below and disappeared.  A few minutes later they appeared.  Hide and seek like that went on for most of the tour but after while out of nowhere on of the dolphins spun out of the water.  It was so COOL!  I'd never seen anything like that, but they were entirely out of the water spinning entirely around in a circle, their tails touching the water and their noses pointed to the sky. Later they swam next to the boat and all tolled about half-a-dozen dolphins leapt out of the water and spun.  It was just magnificent.  We just absolutely loved it.  LOVE IT!!!

SNORKELING!

After we spotted dolphins Moses took us to a new snorkeling spot.  It was very good.  It was a little further from the resort which was nice -- a little less snorkeled (a little but not much less).  There were thousands of small blue fish that bury themselves in the coral.  Even tho there are thousands of them they move like one organism.  It's like the ocean breaths and they float in and out of the coral.  It's a little hard to describe but I hadn't seen anything like that either.  It was really cool.  We'd see more of that the next day too.

SUNSET CRUISE!

This night we went on a sunset cruise with Plantation.  They have a 300 HP speedboat that six of us fit in. They served appetizers, beer and soda and then take us on a tour of the local islands. We got to see and even stop at some other resorts (giving me ideas for any additional Fiji vacations!) and eventually they idled while we watched the sunset.  It's the sort of thing where you can physically watch the sun crawl below the horizon.  Then, in order to beat the darkness they tore back to the resorts.  It was the funnest non-snorkel activity we did all week.  So good I wanted to go again but we couldn't get on any other tours.

START YOUR SNORKELS! Honeymoon: Day 9

SNORKELING!!!

Finally, we had putzed around with some so-so snorkeling on the other island, but this is the reason we came to Lomani.  We pulled out the gear and met our activities guide, Paul.  He was awesome.  Sadly he's the only activities guy on duty which I think is really too much for one person but he always was on the go and willing to make things fun.  I also provided the musical entertainment at dinner.  That's quite a job description.

We had a little wooden skiff.  It had nails sticking out of it and a 40 horsepower motor.  Off we went just a few minutes from the resort to "Sandbar".  Aaron and I were pretty much the first ones in.  This, my friends, was the best snorkeling I've experienced since leaving the Marshalls. It left a little room for improvement and my guess is if you could get away from the resort a local could take you to some truly world-class areas.  Still, this was pretty darned good!  We were both pleased.  It's just nice to be floating out there.  Paul fed the fish bread so there were giant schools going nuts.  There were big angle fish, trigger fish, parrot fish, clams and Fiji's trademark Blue Start Fish.  They were everywhere, all sized, and all dark, dark blue.  Just beautiful.  It was just absolutely wonderful.  We were the last ones to stop snorkeling and all too soon we were headed back to the hot-house.

We had our forgettable lunch and then struck up a conversation with some Aussies sitting by the pool.  We asked them what they thought of the food and in a fabulous Australian accent they said, "really quite shitty".  That would be another way of putting it.  They turned us on to "Dicks Bistro" at the Musket Cove just up the beach.  This island was made up of three resorts and that was it (no village school here).  We were more than happy to make a booking for Dicks.  

We took the afternoon to explore the other resorts.  Just a very short walk up the beach is the Plantation Resort. This is a family resort that's sort of a disney-esk sort of thing.  There's some family that owns Plantation (all 200-some rooms of it!) and their kids own Lomani (a reasonable 12 rooms).  As a result all the systems were connected and you could do any of the activities or eat there and just bill it to our room. 

Their dinning hall (and it was a "hall" not a "room".  "Room" would imply a certain amount of decorum that simply didn't exist) was something like Chuck-e-Cheese on steroids. I mean totally mayhem and completely out of control laughing, yelling, crying, freaking out little toddlers.  Holy Cows! Instant birth control right there.  Still, we totally understood why families would go there.  They have a lot of kid-friendly activities, and a shallow warm lagoon.  It was packed with Aussies.  It's only 3-4 hours for them.  Still, we would not be eating there.

We saw that they had all sort of activities that we could sign up for and a fish-and-chip hut...and I noticed a milk shake bar. Plantations was going to have some real advantages. That night we went to Dicks where it was Mongolian Grill night. We both quite enjoyed it.  

Back home...we have 10 hours of shut-eye to catch.

 

LOMANI MEANS LOVE. Honeymoon: Day 8

HEADING TO LOMANI!

Oiy!  They made us get up EARLY!  As in 5:oo freakin AM so we could make the wirily curvy 2-hour drive back to Labasa to catch our flight.  The Patch had worked miracles on our boat trips, drives, and snorkel trips.  By now I was just starting to let my guard down and think it might really be working.  We lucked out again.  It did the trick!

The trip felt long.  Our flight wasn't for hours but they want to leave a good hour or more cushion in case the van breaks down.  It makes sense but it still sucked.  We got to Labasa really early so our driver took us around town.  By then it was 8:00 and the stores and schools were opening up.  The streets were packed with kids in uniforms.  It's a town of about 25,000 people. That was way bigger than I expected.  Also to my surprise was a significant muslim population complete with a mosque and school.  We saw the hospital and women's clinic and bunches of schools and a branch of the University.  Yes indeed, this was a real city!!

We went back to the tiny little unassuming airport where we had arrived a week earlier.  This time it was packed.  Again they weighed us for our flight back.  I asked the clerk if he'd announce our flight and he said he would.  After our experience getting to Labasa we had no expectations that the flight would be on time but turns out it was totally on time.  We waited about 45 mins I think and then the flight arrived.  We knew it was in but to my surprise the clerk came over and found us in the crowd and told us this was our flight.  We were the only white folks there, I think. We went to the door.  It was like Roi where you just wait and then they flag you to walk on to the plane yourself.  On our way out the door they yelled in my ear (there was a lot of airplane noise), "Ms Charrier, Mr Barr - seats 1A and 1B."  I just love little flights!!  I love the personal attention.  And I totally dig that they called us by our names.  The Fijians are so totally awesome.  

We flew back to Nadi and then waited around and then connected for a 10-minute flight to Malolo LaiLai.  That's a little island that's only made up of resorts.  It's located in the Mamanucas - a chain of islands with excellent reefs for snorkeling and diving.   This is when Aaron and I both got to land our first ever gravel runway!  No pavement to hold us back here.  No way!  At first it took us a bit by surprise because it was a bit bumpy when we landed but maybe it helped slow us down so we didn't skid of the end of the island.  ??? Don't know, but it worked just fine.  

It's a little bit soulless after being at Koro Sun for a week.  It was a harder adjustment than I bargained for.  We stayed at Lomani Island Resort. It's a couples only resort with about 12 condo like rooms.  It had a mix of ages. They claimed to have A/C which was a major criteria for us.  We said kids would be fine - but we weren't interested in roasting in our rooms.  Turns out they just give lip service to the A/C.  They had the same little air conditioner as the last place but instead of it cooling the area of a king sized bed it was supposed to cool a cinder block oven the size of our house.  Pleaze.  We were hot and not amused.  Blech.  We had to move the bed across the room just to be closer to the air conditioner and fan.  We managed, but just barely.

We had lunch and then dinner at Lomani.  In my journal I wrote, "It took forever and was forgettable".  

That said: it had snorkeling and we planned to take advantage of that. For the first day we just settled for swimming in the water for about 2 hours.  It was that warm bathtub lagoon water.  Heavenly!!!  The sky was amazing.  That whole thing was just picturesque - just stay out of your room and the dining room.

Just like Koro Sun we had dinner and headed straight to bed for an albeit toasty 10 hour rest. 

Pearl Farm. Honeymoon: Day 7

Pearls!  I LOVE pearls!

To my surprise Fiji is in the south sea pearls business!  Justin Hunter, an American marine biologist, set up Fiji's only pearl farm just off of SuvaSuva in 2000.  We toured it on our last day at Koro Sun.  The farm looked pretty big to me.  We boated out and saw workers cleaning the oysters.  It takes months to clean the barnacles off of all the oysters.  Once the workers are done they start all over and by then the oysters need cleaning again.  

Twice a year Japanese technicians comes in and inseminate the oysters.  Two technicians can do about 1,000 a day! Workers collect the oysters and start to pry them open.  Then the techs open them a little more and check that they are healthy and then put in an "irritant".  They can also put in a little piece of a sacrificed oyster's skin to color the pearl. Afterwards I had mixed feeling about my love of pearls but not enough to skip the show room before we left.  We watched the technicians working but weren't allowed to take pictures.   

The whole process is pretty interesting. They have about a million oysters.  We snorkeled over the farm and got to see the oysters lined up.  Sorry, no pictures of that either!  About 18 months later they check the oyster and take the pearl.  If the oyster is still healthy it can grow another pearl and since the oyster is bigger the pearl gets bigger.  Turns out due to their process and the local environment these pearls grow bigger and thicker than in other South Sea countries, such as Tahiti or the Cooks.  They come in a wider range of colors too.  

Afterwards we got to go to the showroom (of course we do!).  In a side room Mrs Justin Hunter was sorting pearls.  We took a look and she had about 4,000 pearls out.  I wanted to buy a pendant or a loose pearl.  Turns out these folks have a pretty strong opinion of their pearls.  I suppose ultimately the market must supports their prices but they were a lot more expensive than I'm used to paying and the loose pearls were just plain gray.  BORING!  Not that all the pearls were boring.  Quite the contrary, but those pearls were already made into jewelry. They were in a rainbow of natural colors and they were huge!  Like Barbara Bush Pearls or Betty and Wilma Pearls, only black pearls not white.  Amazing they were!!

I asked to buy some that she was sorting and the answer at first the answer was no.  Then I explained I didn't want gray loose pearls and then she said that I could look through the "export reject" pile. These are pearls that are so deformed that they won't even export them. They put them in giant tubs and they are sold thousands at a time at auction in Japan.  People use them in art or art jewelry.  That's easy to understand because even though they are 'rejects' they are very cool!  We picked out 3 and she priced them.  I bought two really cool odd shaped pearls. I have a design for one and still thinking on the other.  My jeweler said he's on it as soon as he's done with a few other projects. Yeeehaw!  

SNORKELING!

After lunch we went on a group snorkel trip.  It was fun and there were some fish and a little bit of coral but this isn't the snorkeling part of Fiji so it was exactly spectacular.  It was certainly fun and it's always great to be in the water.

HAPPY HOUR!

By this time we had really made friends with the Koro Sun staff and the other guests.  We learned we were the oldest people there since it was all newly weds.  Aaron made some interesting observations.  First he said, "Hey, have you noticed how all the guys here are totally built?"  Well, I hadn't.  In fact I said, "No way they are little tiny twiggy men".  He told me to look at the pool and standing there was a sculpted Army Ranger type.  He was just huge!  I said, "What?  The guy with the giant guns over there?  He's nothing!"  So then I add, "Notice how all the women are little tiny waifs with perky breasts and heart-shapped tooshies?"  Aaron says, "No way!" He too was directed to the pool.  Observation confirmed thank you very much!!!  Leave it to us to be the standard deviation.  

That night Hiram hosted happy hour out by the ocean instead of in the resort.  Everyone came out for it.  It was  a little like Honeymooners Summer Camp about then.  We all knew each other because we did activities everyday together and there are only 18 people so of course you get to know folks.   The other guests were great fun.  We had a couple of drinks and the resort brought over complimentary goodies from the kitchen even though we weren't in the main part of the resort.  See what I mean?  They just look after you no matter what.

Now for how we found out how much older we were...  On the walk from happy hour to dinner one couple said something like, "We have a combined age of 43" or something like that.  I said, "Jeeze, we have a combined age of 74" and just like that the parade of couples practically stopped cold.  Suddenly 8 perky-sculpted-20-something couples were staring at us.  "What?"  Someone got brave and piped up, "Ah, well, um we're 60."  There.  Someone else in their 30's.  Whew.

Aaron and I had a great time and the kids just referred to as a unit.  I don't know why. Everyone else got names but we were known simply as "Seattle".  Could it be because that we were very outnumbered by Aussies?  (They loved our accent, by the way.)  Regardless we learned to look up when our hometown was mentioned.  We tried to represent the City as well as we know how.

That night we ask the staff if we could eat at one big table instead of 9 tables of 2.  Of course they said yes.  They made a big table in the middle of the room.  We had a great time having dinner and laughing.  It was a fabulous last night to our Koro Sun honeymoon.  In the morning we would leave before dawn to take the 2 hour drive back to Labasa to head to our next destination.  

The whole thing totally exceeded our every expectation.