The Boys: Things I want to Remember

Moses and Des have been so fun/funny lately.  I love everything about them but I want to write a few of my favorite things so I don't forget.





MOSES:
Moses is the best adventure buddy you could ever ask for.  Whenever I take the boys running at the track with me he'll ask to get out of the stroller so he can run.  Last week he ran almost a mile (running on and off.)  We hiked around the blow holes in Foga'agogo and we got soaked when some of them exploded on us.  I thought he would cry but we looked at each other and he yelled "Woah!" with a huge grin on his face.  He stood in the "splash zone" with me for a good half hour getting soaked as the tide came in.  Every time we got sprayed he would bust up laughing.
We've done a lot of hiking since we moved here and he NEVER complains.  Whenever we get to a part of a hike that I want him to hold my hand so he doesn't fall I'll say "Moses I'm afraid I might fall.  Will you hold my hand to make sure I stay safe?"  He always says "Yeah mom.  I will keep you safe."  or "Yeah, I'm not scared.  I'll make sure you don't fall."  It's pretty cute.  Whenever we make Moses feel like he's being helpful he jumps on the opportunity.  But if you try to tell him what to do with no incentive he can be VERY resistant.  Sometimes it can be a challenge to navigate his strong willed personality but we love him for it!  It will be a beneficial trait as he goes through life.

Picking up live Cowry shells from the tide pools near Vaitogi.

Moses' teacher Ms. Waga told me she was amazed by him last week.  He cried every day I dropped him off for a week.  I knew he was having a good time because He was as happy as ever every time I came to pick him up.  So I tried everything to get him not to have a melt down when I dropped him off.  Ms. Waga told me that friday she asked Moses to promise her he wouldn't cry when he came on Monday morning.  She said that he promised her he wouldn't.  The next Monday when I woke him up and told him it was time for school he opened his eyes and said "I'm not going to cry."  I was surprised because I hadn't done anything differently from friday.  Turns out my three year old knows how to keep a promise!  He didn't cry that Monday and he hasn't cried since.  Ms. Waga says that he's a great listener and is nice to all of the kids.  I'm so glad!  Now when I pick him up from school all of the kids run over to say by to Moses.  Today his friend Kaleb (who has a good eight inches on him) grabbed his neck and said "You're the man Moses!  See you later."  Haha it was awesome.

DESMOND:
This guy is just a ham.  He's been saying a lot of words lately (most of which only Nathan and I can understand! Haha)  One of my favorite things is asking him what animals say.  His favorite is a sea lion-  he sticks his chin out and says "Ar ar ar!"  in the deepest voice he can.  It's hilarious.

Sneaking into the fridge at one in the morning.

The other night he woke up around 1:30 am crying and screaming and would not go back to sleep (The sleeping situation has been rough in the temporary hospital housing.  It's one bedroom and the boys sleep on two twin beds shoved together in the corner of the living room.  Most nights Des ends up in our bed at some point.)  So I put a movie on for him to calm down and fall asleep to.  Instead he watched the entire movie!  When it was over he crawled into our bed and fell asleep.  Needless to say the next day was a bit rough and his nap was a few hours earlier than usual!
Some of our favorite words he's says our "Pweeeaaase!" (please), "Aint shuu!" (thank you with a lisp!), and "Toa" (rooster in Samoan.  It's also the name of his "cousin" and Des thinks it's the funniest word.  He busts up laughing every time he says it.)  I seriously think Des says just as many Samoan words as he does English! 

From the time Des could stand he's been dancing.  To everything!  This weekend he was dancing to all of the hymns while we were listening to general conference!  He does it at church every tin we sing too.  If there is music, he is dancing... And sometimes when there's no music he dances anyway:)
I also love that he will still fall asleep in my arms.  It's becoming more and more rare, but the fact that my 20 month old still does it every so often still is the best!


Both of them are WILD.  Absolutley wild.  They are always running, jumping off the sofa back onto their beds, dancing, throwing (food, toys, rocks, frogs, you name it they've probably chucked it), chasing each other, wrestling, being the ultimate boys.  I'm glad they have each other out here!  I'm really glad they're starting to get along and play together too.  There's plenty of fighting and crying, but when they play together I'm the happiest person in the world.

Our container had to be inspected before putting our household goods in to crates for storage.  We took the toys out while they were transferring our things.  The boys hadn't seen there toys since we left LA four months ago so it was like Christmas!  Counting down the days until November When we can move into our place and unpack the rest of our things!

Starting school, getting stung by jellyfish, the usual...

Hanging out at Lions Park

Moses started school at Tai'ala Academy a couple of weeks ago.  I think it's good for all of us.  As much as I love being with both boys all day, he has definitely been needing a little more structure.  There are 30 kids that go to Tai'ala (most of which are from our ward.)  Moses' class has nine kids, ages 3-5.  Mrs. Waga and Mrs. Terry, his teachers are both in our ward too.  Moses and I both really like them.

We've been driving almost 30 minutes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning to get Mose to school at 7:30.  Luckily it's about two minutes away from the house we're moving into in November. The school (and our new place) are in Mapusaga Fou, just up the hill from our church in Pava'ia'i.  We have to take a tiny turn out and drive down a little dirt road to get to the school.  When I drop him off in the classroom they take his backpack and his shoes!  Haha, no shoes at school!  It's awesome.  The other day one of the other moms came at the same time to pick up her boy in the afternoon.  She asked Mrs. Waga where her sons shoes were and Mrs. Waga said he didn't bring any.  The boys mom just said "Oh, okay.  See you tomorrow"  like it happens all the time.  Haha
Mose has cried the last few times I've dropped him off though.  He's never cried before when I leave him!  It's been making me feel really bad.  Since the time he was 18 months old getting dropped off at nursery he's had no problems with me leaving him.  I know he's having a blast at school because when I come to pick him up he's the happiest boy ever.  He talks about how nice his teachers and friends are at school whenever I ask him questions about what he did.  Maybe a little bit of separation anxiety because we moved to a tiny island away from everything and everyone he's used to?  Hopefully it's a short phase.  Having a few hours of school three times a week has been really good for Des, Mose, and me but I'm not sure I can keep dropping him off when he's crying.  I think it has something to do with how early we wake up to get him there.  We've been pushing his bed time up so hopefully that will reduce the tears in the mornings too.

Speaking of Moses and tears, he got STUNG by a JELLYFISH last week!!!  My poor baby boy.  It was the saddest thing.  There have been little blue bottle's washing up on shore lately because it's been super windy.  People bury them in the sand so people don't step on them because they can live and sting several weeks after they get washed up.  Moses was digging in the sand when I went to paddle at Sadie's beach last wednesday and he dug one up.  When he grabbed it he started screaming and grabbed it with his other hand to pull it off.  So BOTH of his little hands got stung.  He was in pain for a good six hours.  It took lots of Tylenol and snuggles to make it through the evening.  Luckily, he was okay when he woke up the next morning.
We also took a boat out to Aunu'u, the tiny island on the east side of Tutuila twice last week.  It costs $2 a person to boat over and it's something fun to do so, why not?  The boat's that go back and forth are a little sketchy but they get the job done!  The first time we went out Nathan went surfing with the Goddwins from the ward while the boys and I swam at the dock.  The water at the dock is crystal clear and perfect for swimming.  A bunch of the local kids came and swam with us.  They asked me about my freckles (they'd never seen anyone with freckles before) and played with the boys.  The second time we went over we hiked around the entire island- it only took two and a half hours (and would have taken about and hour without the kids.)  The coastline was amazing!

The boat over to Aunu'u

Hiking around the island

The coolest coastline EVER.

This week we hiked up to blunts point.  It's and old military lookout point with cannons from world war two.  It has a pretty awesome view... and lot's of frogs in the evening.  The boys had a good time chasing the frogs around.  

One of the Cannon's at the top of Blunt's point.

Nathan and I spoke in sacrament meeting last Sunday.  It's definitely not my favorite thing to speak in sacrament meeting but I was glad we were asked.  I felt like a lot of people we hadn't met yet approached us afterwards so we were able to get to know alot more ward members because of it.  I was called to be a primary teacher too, but this week I was asked to be the Primary Presidency 2nd counselor instead.  I'm excited to work with the little kids!  It's kind of crazy- our records haven't been transferred from the UCLA ward yet.

After church we ate at the Afualos house.    They are the nicest, most down to earth people.  Sia, the youngest girl is super happy and outgoing.  She had fun taking care of the boys while Nathan and I ate Food from the Umu and talked with Howard about family history.  

Moses racing two tiny hermit crabs across the table.  

A few cute pictures of the boys playing at the park in Faga'alu the other day.  I LOVE when they get along with each other!

Adventures

My view on our walk home from the library.

The past two weeks have been really fun for all of us.  Some of the women in our ward paddle in the harbor every other wednesday evening.  I decided to check it out because it sounded cool... and it was!  Tina, Sivoki (a teenager in our ward), and I were all there for the first time so we got a quick lesson and then they sent us out.  It was harder than I thought it would be and dang... they take their paddling seriously!  To switch sides the person in the back yells "Hup!"  Everyone takes one last paddle on the side they're on and yells "Hoe!" as everyone switches.  They were yelling at us from the back of the boat critiquing- "paddles in together!"  "Keep your top arm up!" "Use your core!". Haha it was actually really helpful to have people making sure we were doing things the right way.  I'm planning on going again tonight- as long as we can actually get our car out of the port today (the process of actually getting our car has been ridiculous.)
A few weekends ago we went to secret beach near Vaitogi with the Reids and Jaenette (one of the dental assistants at LBJ.)  It's a pretty good hike to reach the beach.  Moses was such a champ!  He hiked the whole way down and back up afterwards without anyone carrying him.  Des on the other hand gave me a nice workout hiking back up.  The kid is getting heavy!  The beach was amazing though.  It's hidden away in a cove and we were the only ones there.  The only bummer was there were a ton of little blue jellyfish.  We all had to get out of the water because there were to many and we didn't want anyone to get stung- especially the little kiddos.  I think there must be a crazy migration of jellyfish right now or something.  Everyone keeps saying they've never seen so many jellyfish in American Samoa before.  Hopefully they'll be gone soon so we can swim/snorkel/walk on the beach in peace:)  

After secret beach we went to the cliffs in Vaitogi to see if we could see the turtle and shark.  Jeanette had her cousins come sing the song and throw the leaves in the water.  We saw two turtle after they sang but no shark- totally fine with that!  
Last week Nathan went surfing with Ben (he's a counselor in our bishopric and Dr. Gurr's bro-in-law) and his sons.  He was SO EXCITED.  They let him borrow a board since our stuff isn't here yet and they took him out near Nu'uuli.  There's only a four hour window each day to surf during high tide.  When the water gets to low it's super dangerous because of the reef.  Nathan said you can see the reef as your surfing and it's beautiful- and really scary!
This weekend we hiked out to sliding rock with Jeanette and Leute (another dentist).  It is crazy beautiful out there.  Leute brought some cold Niu (young coconuts), green mango, and papaya for lunch.  We sat out on the rocks and ate it while we looked out at the waves and a ton of turtles swam by.  We swam in some of the deep tide pools after.
For the last week or so we've just been trying to figure out our car situation.  It was supposed to come last monday but the boat got delayed.  We were then told it would be here Wednesday but the boat didn't end up coming until friday.  After about a million calls and fifty trips around the island in borrowed cars I think we've got it figured out.  We're supposed to be able to pick it up this afternoon but who knows if it's actually going to happen.  Luckily we've been able to use the dental van in the evenings and on weekends.  It's kept us sane (and by us I mean me.). We've driven over to the market in Pago every Friday.  We pick up some fresh fruit and try some new local foods every time.  We've discovered some pretty yummy stuff like Oka (fresh raw fish, usually tuna I think in lemon and coconut juice with diced cucumbers), poivai (frozen blended banana- the boys LOVE it).  

The American Samoa post office has a fun puzzle to solve!  Can you figure out the post office hours based off of the signs they have posted on the doors?  Can't do it?  Don't worry- no one can!

I wonder if Des likes watermelon...

Saw the worlds biggest cucumber at the market on Friday.

The Cap Avatele cargo ship behind me.  My car is on there.  Now to get it out of the port...

This poor boy has bashed his head at least five times this week.  He's a wild man!  Jumping off of ramps, leaping from the sofa to his bed, swinging on railings...he gives me a heart attack at least once a day.  He obviously knows how to relax too.  

Moses fell off the bed this week and bit THROUGH his lip.  I was freaking out!  He cried for a few minutes pretty hard while Nathan and I tried to clean the cut but he fell right back asleep and it healed surprisingly fast! 

Playing at sliding rock on Saturday.

Nathan bought a fish on the side of the road.  Moses thought it was the coolest thing ever.  

Hanging out on the front porch.

Yesterday we found some little chicks chirping next to their dead momma (I think she got hit by a car) right next to the hospital. We scooped them into a box and walked up the hill to where a bunch of chickens live.  We let the chicks go and one of the hens took them with her into the trees- adopted by their auntie, just like that!  Yep, definitely Samoan chickens...

When You're Here, You're Family Sunday August 16

(Pineapple growing behind Foga and Rudy's house.  Pineapple season is in 2 months.  Can't wait!)

Last Sunday was our first day of church on Island.  We realized we didn’t have a way to get to the international ward (in Pava’iai’, it’s the only English speaking ward as far as we know.)  The buses don’t run on Sunday, our car’s on a ship somewhere in the Pacific, we didn’t have a phone at the time, and we had no one to call to ask for a ride anyway.  As we were walking home from the beach Nathan said “We really need a taxi… but we don’t have a phone or a number to call one.”  About two minutes later as we were walking through the back parking lot of the hospital to our apartment a taxi randomly drove slowly past us with the windows rolled down.  We looked at each other and laughed as we chased him down.  The driver agreed to pick us up at 7:30 am and take us to church.  Amazingly, he showed up on time and we made it to Church on the other end of the island.  I have no idea why he was driving in an empty hospital parking lot, on Saturday evening no less! Heavenly Father was making sure we got our muli’s to church!  Haha

We met a lot of really great people there.  The Wade and LeSa families, who were both in the Poly Provo 10^th ward with Nathan and I when we were newlyweds, were there.  The Lesa’s were just visiting and the Wades live on Island now.  We also met Tina and Adney Reid (they are family somehowJ) who Nathan and I had been emailing with a bajillion questions before we came out.  They may be the nicest people ever.  They gave us a ride home from church, then picked us up two hours later and had us for lunch.  The boys had a blast playing with their four kids.  Adney built a play set in their yard (I seriously think it’s on of two on the entire island) so the boys were in heaven in their yard.

Nathan had his first official day as a dentist on Monday.  His first two patients ever were pregnant woman.  The rest of the staff were teasing him asking if he came to Samoa to be an OB or a dentist. 

The weekdays were pretty low key with the boys since we don’t have a car.  Taking the boys places by bus is fun but it’s hard too.  They fight over who gets to stick there head out the window and it freaks me out because the windows are plastic and they rock back and forth… I feel like they’re going to fall right out!  On one of our bus rides home, there weren’t enough seats for both boys and I to sit together so this really cute older Samoan woman just picked Moses up and sat him on her lap. She scooped him up without a thought and she didn’t even look at me after- she just kept looking straight forward like she had never picked him up.  It was totally natural for her to just grab a kid when a mama needs some help.  I loved it.  Everyone here helps each other out as if they're all family... I guess because they probably are family!

We walked to the library on Wednesday to check out the children’s section.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The library is small but there’s a good selection for the kids.  Moses and I spent a good hour and a half reading while Des napped in the stroller.  They had a schedule that said there’s music time for younger kids every Tuesday and Thursday.  I asked the woman at the front desk about it and she said they aren’t doing it because they have summer programs going on right now.  She said “Summer programs will be done in two weeks.  Once those are over they will probably have a meeting or something and talk about maybe starting music time again in a while.  I think the people who run the kids programs need to take a break for awhile or something.”  Hahaha everything is on island time.  On the way home it started raining and Matt Wade drove by and picked us up.  It's kind of nice that there's only one road.  The chances of someone you know driving by to give you a ride is is pretty high.

On Thursday Tina picked the boys and I up and took us grocery shopping.  We went to DDW’s for lunch after.  It took them an hour to bring our food out to us- island time at it's best.  I didn’t mind though since Mose, Des, and Toa just played next to the outriggers by the patio outside.  It was nice to talk to Tina about living in Samoa too.  She has been here for a year so she answered a lot of questions and eased my mind about some things.   She said she had a hard time adjusting to Samoa even though she grew up in Hawaii.  Samoa is NOT Hawaii.  It made me feel a lot less whimpy and a lot less alone. 

I walked to the post office in Utulei on Friday and got a PO Box.  Yay for having an “address”!  It’s still crazy to me that we are living in a place with no street names… since there is only one street and a few dirt roads I guess it makes sense.  When people ask where we’re living we say behind the hospital in the grey apartments and every single person knows exactly where it is. 

We went swimming in Aua on Saturday with Foga and Rudy's grandkids.  It was kind of overcast which was actually nice.  No sunburns for us Palagi's.  The kids found sea stars.  Des wouldn't let go of his the entire time we were there.  I hope the poor little star didn't die!  

Odaesha and Seca in the background:)

Mose playing with Povi and Mark

This weekend we checked out some rental houses.  One up the hill fro Pava’iai’ and one in Leone.  We are going to look at a few more we’ve heard about before choosing.   The Reids gave us a ride to and from church again today.  Relief Society was hilarious.  The women in our RS are so great!  A lot of laughing… and spiritual discussion tooJ  I met one of the teachers from the “mormon” school in Pava’iai.  I asked her about signing Moses up once we have a car and she said it would be totally fine to sign him up a couple weeks late.  I’m going to check out the school and probably have him go half day a few days a week.  I think he’ll love it and he needs to make some friends!

Day 1 in American Samoa

Day 1:  Saturday, August 8, 2015

            We got in last night around 10 pm.  It was 2 am California time though so we were super tired and the boys were spent.  Mose and Vili did pretty dang good considering they woke up at 5 am, took a 5 hour flight, had a five hour layover, and took another 5 hour flight.  But it was pretty bad trying to round up our double stroller parts, two car seats, 8 check in bags, 8 carry on bags, and two SCREAMING kids who only wanted their dad and freaked out every time mom held them.  Haha.  Hey, we’re alive today, so that’s good. 

            Auntie Foga and Uncle Rudy along with Valentina and Kristina (the two dentists from LBJ) picked us and our luggage up from the air port and helped us get to our apartment.  On the drive from the airport to the hospital apartments Rudy talked about how when we left Samoa a few months prior Nathan and I had no Idea if we’d be coming back.  He said “it was Faith that got  you the Job at the hospital.  Nothing else could have opened a position that wasn’t there before just for you to come.”  Rudy was right! 

            This morning, I was so so greasy from traveling all day yesterday.  I HAD to take a shower.  When I turned on the shower faucet the water started to drip.  And that was it.  Just a drip.  Haha!  No water.  The sink had water (not hot, but atleast some water!)  So I filled up a pot and a pitcher from the kitchen and had a nice refreshing ‘shower’.  The process took a good 30 min of getting in the shower, dumping cold water on my head, getting out and filling the pot and pitcher at the sink, getting back in the shower scrubbing my hair, and repeating.  So I guess I had a nice workout and a refreshing shower! 

            Lucky for us I saw a maintenance man walking out of another apartment as we were leaving this morning.  So him and a plumber are here fixing the water heater and the shower.

            We had to make about five stops at different cell phone businesses to get my phone up and running and by the time we got all our questions answered the blue sky office was closed.  Better luck Monday!  The first stop was by the market in Fagatogo so we got some koko rice.  Yuuum.  My favorite thing!

          Found two cockroaches in our apartment while we were unpacking.  One in the storage closet and one in a kitchen drawer!  Ewww!   I have a feeling there’s a lot more where they came from.  Better get used to the bugs- the trade off for living on a tropical island!

Taking the bus for the next few weeks until our cars arrive.  The boys love it!  It's a dance party every time we get on the bus because they BUMP the jams.  Haha

Caught a frog in front of our apartment.  We have frogs, two dogs (we named them red and spotty), and geckos as front yard pets.  Every time we walk to the bus stop or to the store at the corner of the hospital Red and Spotty walk with us.  It's pretty funny- they've adopted us I guess!  Mose and Des think they're pretty cool.  Moses will say "maile" (dog in Samoan) when we see them and Des points and says "woo woo woo!" (Des language for woof woof.)