Painting and Fun at the Beach

Siriana loves to paint.
Siriana and Helen in our hammock


"Dad, where Hermie go?"

Back in American Samoa

We spent a day at the beach in Selele and had a blast as always.


Here is Erick and Helen at the Yacht Club
Siriana and Grandma Julie doing "foot care."  Siri looks like she has something very important she's telling Grandma Julie.

Lovely Dinner at Seabreeze

The last night that we were in Samoa we went to Seabreeze and had an amazing meal.  It was truly on par with an upscale restaurant back home.  You couldn't beat the atmosphere and scenery.  The restaurant is on a dock out on the ocean so that you have a beautiful mountain cliff on one side and the ocean on the other.  
Siriana and Grandpa Jeff at one of the fale's that we stayed at.  
Helen and Grandpa Jeff at the beach in Vavau.  

Showers! aka waterfalls

Grandma Julie carried Helen in the sling.  If it looks like we were walking through a jungle then you are spot on.  We spent one afternoon visiting a lot of different waterfalls.  This one was quite a hike.  It was very pretty though.  At one point we had to cross a little river.  The village kids were having a blast playing in the little waterfall created by the river.  When Siri got close to the river she was very apprehensive.  One of the village girls (naked of course) walked over to Siri very matter of factly, picked her up, carried her to the other side, then went about her playing in the water.  It was great.  Siri was completely shocked by the moment but we loved it.
Here is the waterfall that we hiked to.  There are huge fern trees here.  This is a branch that Erick found.  
Here we are on our hike.
At one of the waterfalls the owners of the property had a lovely garden full of Samoan plants that were identified with their common and scientific names.  They also had a Samoan drum.
 This is the beautiful garden.  

Our first full day in Samoa

We took the "Cross Island Road" and traveled from Apia through the middle of the island to the other shore.  We had a blast seeing the countryside.  Before we left Apia we spend a couple of hours at the market.  It was so amazing to see all of the handicrafts.  Helen slept the whole time in the handy sling that my friend Jenny sent us.  Grandpa Jeff pushed Siri around in the stroller.  Siri was as always the recipient of many smiles.  Her blond hair and blue eyes are a rarity in this part of the world.  People seem to just like looking at her.  And, they give her stuff a lot.  One woman was so happy to see her eating fried bananas that she kept giving her more for free despite the fact that I tried to pay her multiple times.  After the market we had lunch at a great restaurant on the harbor.  The pig is pictured below.  On our drive we stopped at this waterfall.  Try saying that name three times fast.  I can't even say it one time slowly.  Siri called it a 'shower.'  I guess you could call it a shower.  
She loves to climb.  She actually calls her self a climber: "Siri Climber, Siri Climber."

Jeff and Julie are sitting across from us, but conspicuously missing from the meal was Helen.  In Samoa and American Samoa the extended families often live together so that you have many many generations in the same home, or at least as neighbors.  Villages are often comprised of one big family, or maybe two or three families.  What this means for us is that were every we go, here or there, the waitresses are flattered if we let them take our baby.  They love to hold them.  So we were able to enjoy the whole relaxing meal while Helen was whisked to the back of the restaurant to hang out and play with the waitresses.  

The Independent State of Samoa

Not to be confused with American Samoa, the Independent State of Samoa is as you may have guessed, Independent.  We flew there for a long weekend and had a blast.  The kids did great on the little plane.  The ride is only about 30 minutes.  The first night we stayed at the "Outrigger" in the large city of Apia.  It has amazing restaurants and is much more developed then any city on our island.  By nightfall the kids were tuckered out so Julie and I went back to the hotel with the babes and Erick and Jeff got some amazing pizza that we shared on the deck.  It was a great day and so nice to get off our island and check out a new place.
This is the plane ride.  As you can see the plane is very small.  They actually weigh you before you get on the plane and they seat you according to your weight so that they can make sure that the plane is balanced.  Jessica- if your out there do you recognize Siri's bear?  Besides her Elmo doll from Grandma Julie- this is her favorite.  
Looks like Grandma Julie is a little nervous to be responsible for the little one.  
Erick and I counted the number of plane rides that Siriana has taken in her little life- the final tally came to Eleven! Not bad for only being two.

Going to Anu'u

Helen loves car rides almost as much as Siri.  We traveled down the island to catch the ferry to a little island called Anu'u.  Erick and I had never been there so it was pretty exciting.  The population is pretty small- I'm just guessing that it can't be more than 100 people.  It was a fun day trip.  It was a hot day but fun to see somewhere new and be in the water.  The kids had a great time too.  
Helen was pretty pooped by the afternoon.
This is the 'ferry' that you take to the island.  You can see what the boat looks like if you look at the other boat in this picture.  Apparently there was some big study to see what the most gas efficient boat could be designed for this particular purpose and this was it.  Its actually pretty amazing what they came up with because they are very sturdy, fit lots of people or stuff, and use just a regular little outboard motor.  

More fun with the Grandparents

Baby Helen loves her Grandma Julie.
Siriana still loves to help with Helen's diaper.
Siriana loves her hermit crabs too.
Grandma Julie doing double duty.  
Siriana in our front yard showing the grandparents all of the fun things in the ocean.

The beginning of the grandparents visit

This is our nanny Faiuga.  She cares for the babes while we are at work.  She is amazing in so many ways.  Some of which are the fact that she does such an amazing job with the kiddos.  They are always happy to have her come and are so well behaved with her.  She has many kids of her own.  Her oldest daughter just had a baby girl on Feburary 20th.  This is her first grandchild.  Her youngest boy is 12 I think.  She has helped us since Helen arrived and has been such a blessing in our lives.   
Here are Erick, me, Julie, and Jeff.  We went to Tisa's Barefoot Bar and had an amazing Umu.  Our nanny stayed late and watched the kids so that we could really enjoy ourselves.
Here's Helen hanging out with Grandpa Jeff.
Siri's having fun in the ocean out front.  She loves the water.  Her favorite thing now is to float with her hands in the sand and her legs floating.
This is the first night that the grandparents were there.  They brought Line's with them.  It was such a treat to have some classic beer from home.