So my in-laws live right on a black-sand beach in
Tahiti. That, among other things, makes
going home to visit them rather inviting.
This October we spent 2-weeks enjoying every moment with our family and
the beautiful islands of Tahiti and Moorea.
For a quick taste of Tahiti, hold on to your pareaus and take a deep breath as you continue...
We were greeted at the airport by most of Ram’s 11.5 siblings
and their families with leis galore late Saturday night 9/29/12, got went
straight to Ram’s native home to see my FIL doing very well following a
triple-heart valve surgery which the doctors gave him a 30% chance of
surviving, chased baby sharks around the shallows in the bay, Ram and I both
learned how to stand-up-paddle (SUP is still a relatively new sport) in the
smooth pre-dawn ocean right in the front yard, paddled out to where the whales
were playing in the ocean and got to admire them up close, was pictured on the
front page of the newspaper watching the whales, went to Moorea and explored
their amazing lagoons, drove to the belvadaire at the top of Moorea, snorkeled
with Zana at the Moorea Sofitel bungalow hotel & fell in love with
amazingly colorful clams & schools of Tahitian fish, visited botanical
gardens, rode a ferry boat between the islands of Tahiti & Moorea, shorted
out the parent’s electricity at home just before FHE by plugging in an American
hair clipper appliance w/o a power adapter and had FHE by candlelight as my BIL
Rudy fixed the circuitry, shopped a little, bought a Tahitian ukulele &
some pearls, ate a boatload of French breads, crepes, pickled mango, steak
& fries, became frequent diners at my SIL Marau’s lunch truck, heard Zeth
say “I’m hungry” about every 20 minutes throughout the day – even with food
sitting in front of him, hiked & ran the steep road up the belvadaire in
Pirae, watched Tahiti triumph at 2 of 3 beach soccer scrimmages between the
Tahitian national team (led by team captain Ram’s cousin Naea Bennett) and the
reigning world champ Swiss teams, visited the government offices in Papeete
where my SIL, Helo, works for the President of Tahiti, nearly tried the new
Lamb Burger at McD’s but then snapped out of my delirium, learned how to weave
baskets from coconut leaves used for underground oven baking, swam in a cold
fresh water source, fed cows in a mountain pasture, had dinner parties with
siblings & friends almost nightly, the kids got to know all their cousins
(24 & counting) all over again and play countless hours of iPad & Wii
games, bouncing on trampolines and jumping in the surf with them, learned some
new French vocab, oh and my sister got to come down and enjoy a full week of it
with us. (Was that the longest sentence
I’ve ever written? Possibly)
We were so grateful that Ram's dad was able to travel home from his heart valve surgery in New Zealand and was doing very well proving the doctor's wrong about his 30% chance of surviving the surgery. He has lost a lot of weight and is moving a bit slower so it was good for us all to have this opportunity to see him again...just in case there aren't many more opportunities like this with his whole family intact. My MIL is busy at the Family History Center every day thoroughly engrossed in doing her own research and helping others who are stuck or are just getting started. She came home one day totally bummed that she only found 2 names all day. I'd call that a successful day, she's a pro.
This week and next are filled with Halloween fun. This year for Halloween our family will be
comprised of Thor, a skull pirate, an ultra-marathon runner, and a tourist/Bishop.Here are the kids and their friend, Sky, before trunk-or-treat ready to go pound down some booty.
My office was all decked out this year with the following cast of characters: Static Cling, Flower, Ultra Runner, Tongan Fob-io, Tina Turner (or Beyonce depending on your generation), Nerdy Soccer Coach, and Capt Jack Sparrow (all cleaned up).
