Bula!

So Dan and I took a little trip to Fiji. No biggie. Haha kidding. It was quite a big deal actually. We saved up for a long time, booked it over a year ago, and left the kids (and dogs) with my mom for 12 days and flew to another country. Btw bula means hello in Fiji. And they also say it when someone sneezes. We have SO many pics. But I'm not sure how exciting they are to other people that weren't there. So I'll just share a few of my faves and put the rest in a Facebook album.

In case you don't know where Fiji is, here's a map. I didn't know where it was until we planned our trip. And here's a fun fact. Back in the 1800's, Fijians used to be cannibals. Slowly, missionaries converted them to Christianity. Brave missionaries. Hindu is also a prominent religion out there. Dan is a constant question asker so we learned a ton. I also learned that Dan's phone camera is WAY better than mine. So I told him he's in charge of capturing moments from now on. Pretty much all the pics below are from his newish Samson Galaxy. I have an iPhone 6 I think...

We didn't tell very many people we were going. It's hard to bring up in conversation... Hey guess what! We're going to Fiji!! And I don't like to brag about stuff. I have a hard time telling people how great my husband is or how cute and funny my kids are. So many dear people around me are struggling with really hard stuff which makes it harder to share the many blessings in my life. BUT this blog is pretty much about my life, and by extension Dan's life. And Fiji was a MAJOR highlight.

Sooooo here goes.

Dan and I usually take a weekend in May every year and go somewhere, just us two. This year we went BIG since we recently celebrated 10 years. We figured we should go now while we're healthy and more importantly my mom is young and healthy at 70. It sounded totally doable last year. I was like, Yeah, it'll be fine. Mom's so great with the kids and we'll get babysitters to relieve her and rides to and from school etc. The kids are older now. Mya can pretty much handle things. They just need a little supervision. And they'll probably be better for my mom than they are for me. 

The closer it got, the more panicky I felt. There were SO VERY many things that could have gone wrong. Like seriously endless possibilities. Any of the four kids could have come down with the flu or a broken bone. My mom could have thrown her back out or twisted her ankle or got sick. Same for Dan and me. We prayed so many prayers for everything to go smoothly. And everything did. God protected us through plane trips, boat trips, and a helicopter ride. More on that later. Everyone was healthy and good when we left and throughout the trip. The flights were on time. The boat ride wasn't too choppy. Our luggage arrived with us. I could go on. That was actually the most amazing part. Everything went exactly the way we'd hoped. Actually better.

And everything went well for mom too, so she says. I think the kids were their usual exhausting selves but she would never tell me they were too much trouble. My next door neighbor Kim said she did an amazing job and the kids looked calm and things looked under control. She would know. She's just a few feet away. Thanks for the report Kim 😊

I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who made this trip possible. Obviously Donna Wolpert, Grandma extraordinaire. Toward the end of our trip, on wechat, Winter told us we could stay an extra day so she could hang out with Grandma a little longer. And Addie was bawling when my mom left on Sunday. I had to literally peel her off of mom's leg. Thanks to the amazing Darla for delivering them to and from school every day (and a bonus church delivery), and superstars Nikki and Blake for spending over 8 hours with them on a Saturday SHORTLY BEFORE THEIR WEDDING, and lovely Ashley who is a busy young miss who stayed overnight with my children. We wouldn't trust very many to love and survive the wag kids overnight so we're UBER thankful for you Ashley. And Melissa! Our lovely friend and neighbor, lucky for us, always to the rescue. We love you! Oh and April! I heard you fed everyone dinner one night. You're the sweetest. And thanks to Mike Wag for taking us to the airport and picking us up! And anyone else who helped that we don't know about.

Getting ready for this trip took an immense amount of planning. I typed up a 10 page instruction manual for my mom complete with a calendar, daily schedule, suggested meal plans, contact list, Angus's demands, etc. For instance, every morning Angus wakes up between 5:00 and 5:30AM and "needs" a TV show and warm milk. Things go south pretty quickly if that doesn't happen.

So we left mom and the kids, headed to the airport and we were VERY early cuz it's Dan. This was our gate when we arrived:

We eventually got on our red eye flight to Fiji. I didn't sleep. I think Dan slept a little bit. But they had a bunch of newly released movies to watch. I think I watched 5 total there and back. So that was cool.

When we got to the Fiji airport, it was so pretty, I was happy just hanging out there haha.

We took a car ride to the other side of the main land because the single engine plane pilot said the weather wasn't ideal and the visibility was not great. He recommended we drive. Dan wanted him to try taking us anyway because he really wanted to see the islands from the sky. I said H. E. double hockey stick NO. We have 4 children. So we drove. They drive on the left side of the road on the right side of the car so that was exciting. And then we took a 30 minute boat ride to a little island off the main land. It's called Royal Davui. Not sure what Davui means but possibly heaven? Because it was. 

Dan immediately took down the mosquito net because it was blocking the view of the ocean. 

This is outside on our balcony sitting at our little table where we usually ate breakfast in the mornings and played scrabble in the afternoon. The wooden slats make it perfect to lose your scrabble pieces down below. Dan went down to fetch some of his tiles more than once. 

This rainbow greeted us after a little afternoon drizzle.

Dan's super happy. He just has the sun in his eyes.

Rough day.

Toward the end of the trip Dan and I realized we hadn't yelled in like 10 days. A daily occurrence for us at home. Vacation Dan and Amie are the funniest, happiest people. And Dan was pretty social, which is not the norm for him.

Royal Davui has 16 villas, one restaurant and bar, a game room, a pool, a spa and a gym. That's it. It's tiny.

This was our sunset early on in the trip. Do you see how the sun was perfectly placed behind the clouds? It was pretty freaking amazing in person. And just as the sun went down, I saw a giant fish jump over one of the boats. It was like a scene from the little mermaid... or some grown up movie I haven't seen.

Coconut crab sighting. This is a baby. The adult ones get up to about 5 feet wide.

Beauty everywhere...

Oh this was the sand bar in the middle of the ocean. They dropped us off on a boat with some little comfy chairs and drinks and left. So we were out there by ourselves. Kinda freaky but pretty cool. As the sun went down and it began to get dark we hoped they hadn't forgot us...

The boat came back thankfully. 

This was our breakfast most days. They were often surprised at the amount of food we ordered for two smallish people.

Our kayak view of the island.

Working off breakfast.

We snorkeled several times too. Dan is the best person to snorkel with. He's a saltwater nerd. He had a giant salt water tank for a long time and was obsessed with it for a while. So he knows all the names of the fish, anemones (I've been saying it wrong for years) and choral and random things like sea cucumbers. He could have been making the names up for all I know. But it was pretty fun to get the guided tour. We saw two sharks but we didn't get them on the go pro unfortunately. I thought I saw another one but Dan said it was just a big fish. From our balcony we saw several baby sharks. I know. FREAKY. They are "harmless" say the islanders. "Just little reef sharks" they commented. Whatever, no thanks. 

Another guest that was staying there went snorkeling with us and got these pics on his go pro so I'm stealing them. We have to figure out how to convert our videos into pics and then we'll add them to our FB album.

The pool.

They laughed at me every time I asked for a floatie... not sure why, maybe that means poop? 

But it was lovely. 

Dan's giant seafood platter. I helped with the non-shellfishy things.

There were so many amazing sunsets.

And amazing food.

When we would eat at the restaurant and look up, this is what we would see. Beauty.

And drinks.

We took a trip to a near-by village. The Fijian people live very simple happy lives. They are very conservative. The women cover their shoulders and wear skirts below the knee. Same with the guys. I had to cover up my provocative tank top and running shorts while in the village. 

We went on a little slippery hike.

We saw a couple get married at the resort too! None of their family or friends were there so we felt honored to witness such a momentous day for them, even though we technically weren't invited.

More beauty...

Kava night! It's a typical Fijian ceremony where everyone drinks Kava root infused water. It's supposed to make you feel calm and sleepy. When in Fiji!...

Dan and I were already calm and sleepy because of the time change and had trouble getting through dinner most nights. Until like the last night of course.

All the guests were so nice and friendly. (Who wouldn't be in that kind of environment?) We kind of expected rich snobby people to be honest but everyone was super sweet and friendly and pretty much normal like us. There was even another firefighter there from Dalas, TX. There were a lot of American guests, lots of Australian guests and even some from China. 

These are some of our favorite people who work there. We grew quite attached during our stay and pretty bummed to say good-bye knowing we probably would never see them again. 

I think we are supposed to say Bula which doesn't make for great smiles so I just smiled. But it explains the others' expressions.

This pic didn't turn out too great but this couple was the coolest. They are in charge of the island basically. They live there. And they're Australian which makes them even cooler. 

This guy basically owns the Island resort and he was SUPER cool and hilarious. He used to be a chef so Dan loved picking his brain for cooking tips.

I never look at the right spot on the phone.

This is the Fijian staff singing the traditional good-bye song. They can't look at us because it is an emotional sad song.

The day before we were supposed to leave, we were asked if we'd like a free upgrade to a helicopter back to the airport instead of the boat ride and sketchy single engine plane. We said, ummm YES. So awesome. My first time in a "heli." Dan's been there done that so I sat up front. It was scary and fun. I'm sure my heart rate was double the whole time I was in it, but worth it.

I used to be fearless. In college I bungee jumped off of a bridge at midnight... twice, possibly illegally. But since I've had my kids, I'm a giant scaredy cat. But you can't exactly turn down a free heli.

And just like that, we were home again... LA is a bit of a shock after being around such a warm and friendly laid back culture. I think we got flipped off on our drive home.

While we were gone, Mom took a few pics...

And Addie's teacher got this one. She's a little too close to this boy. Maybe it's her betrothed? A little boy named Oliver has promised to marry her, she says.

And she had a little Spring performance at school. 

And we missed Mya's giant music concert, boo. But I'm so happy she had the support of these two sweethearts. They are two of the most encouraging ladies I've ever known, with words of love and flattery oozing from their lips so I'm sure Mya was okay.

Fun with the babysitters =)

Wechatting...

Mom bought Angus a new comfy ball to sleep on.

He hasn't stopped hugging me since we got home. I missed you too dude.

I promised the kids SkyZone and Yogurtland if they were super good for Grandma and the babysitters. But I think we all knew I was taking them either way. 

Time for my TJ's recommendation! This stuff is very good. It has a little kick. I'm a medium salsa girl. Not too hot for me. This is perfect. It's a teensy bit sweet but if you water it down with tequila, it's perfect! 

If we are not FB friends and somehow you wondered onto my blog through some alternative route... Instagram? Add me on FB so you can see the most adorable Fijian children singing the best songs ever. We'll post some vids soonish.

Happy Wednesday night!