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...