Vacation - The Final Chapter

For all of you blog readers that aren't sick of my recent posts, I have one more.

I think it would be remiss of me to talk about my vacation without mentioning the local people and culture. I have to say that the Fijian people are some of the most friendly people I have ever met. Relaxed and laid back but don't be deceived...they are some of the most phsyically fit and healthy people out there. Must be all that coconut tree climbing and rugby, me thinks.



Max took this picture as well as the one of the guy with the torch below. I think we have another budding photographer in the family. He and his cousin Daniel managed to befriend all the Fijian guys who worked at the resort. By the end of our trip they were all on first name terms. Talk about socialites.

We were treated to some fire walking and firedancing.  So glad they didn't call for volunteers for this one.  I could just see myself launching one of their fire ball things into the crowd or catching their grass skirts on fire.



Max and his cousin Daniel were taught how to climb coconut trees and harvest coconuts.  You never know when that skill may prove handy.




We watched the locals beat the Lali drum every night to call people to dinner.



And let me leave you with this image...another of Max's photos. Looking at these guys NEVER gets old :-)

Vacation - Part 3

Or - could this vacation recap get any longer.

Can you tell that I am still sadly trying to hold on to the last shreds of my holiday???

So if you are sick of my Fiji posts please feel free to skip this one....but seeing as all of our other Australian friends and family trawl this blog to catch up on what we have been doing I feel obliged to give them the full run down.

So what to do in Fiji for 2 weeks...well....

A lot of snorkelling and swimming. I could not believe how many tropical fish there were.




Lots of eating. I think we spent about $300 at the icecream shop during our visit.



Hanging out in the sun and playing in the sand...



(Oh yeah baby check out the sand sculptures.....The Great Pyramid in the center and then Elaine is working on the Sphinx.....no pathetic little sandcastles for this family!).
You can see our kids are quite "creative" with their sand sculptures too!



We did some kayaking



Drank our share of cocktails



(don't worry those are "virgin" daiquaris the kids are drinking....isn't a swim up bar an awesome idea!!)

Hot tubbing



Hair braiding



Family time



And yes I even fit in some running. (Oh, come on....you can tell that the little dot there is me!)



It was ALL good!

The great thing about a vacation is the going...the coming back is a whole other thing. Now,  coming back to lovely 75' weather would ease the post holiday blues but NOT 45' windy, rainy weather. Ahhh....Spokane in the spring. Back to reality.

Vacation - Part 2

So after a 10 hour flight we arrived in Fiji. My first impressions....beautiful, hot and tropical. We had a car pick us up at the airport because we had NO idea where our hotel was and I am SO glad we did. The roads there were awful...one giant pothole...and it appears that only the locals are privy to the road rules. From what I could glean from the passenger seat you either go fast or stop. That is apparently all a driver need know how to do.

Anyway after a 2 hour drive and growing a whole new patch of gray hairs we arrived at our hotel. When we pulled into the drive we all sighed. Oh I really felt like I was on vacation now. The resort was absolutely fantastic...right on the beach...great pool...nice big, cool rooms....you could do everything or nothing.

After exploring the resort a little we saw a guest wedding there...very cool. What a great place to get married.

We went and explored the beaches while we waited for the rest of our extended family to arrive from Europe and Australia.



Finally...after concerns that some of our family would be stuck in Rome thanks to the cloud of volcanic ash from the Icelandic volcano...FINALLY...everyone arrived.

Now, time to get busy doing a serious amount of nothing.

Vacation - Part 1

"No man needs a vacation so much as the person who has just had one."
 ~Elbert Hubbard


Amen to that....no man or WOMAN.

I love vacationing...I wonder if I could make a career out it. 




This one started in the wee hours of the morning.  Our flight from Spokane left at 5:00am so we were all up and leaving home at 3:30am.  The kids were great.  They are so used to the travel thing they have just learned to roll with it. Once we got to LA at 9:00am we had a whole day to kill before our flight left for Fiji at 11:30pm.  So we decided to get some sightseeing in and we headed off to see the Queen Mary at Long Beach. 



If you are in California and you have never done this I highly recommend it.  It really is living history.  You can walk all the way around it ( above is a picture of the engine...completely massive, and we also visited the Russian submarine that is moored right next to the Queen Mary.  The kids thought it was all very cool.



Torpedoes and all!




On the way back the kids got a glimpse of the REAL Goodyear blimp.  A six year old's vacation highlight right there!



Then after a bit of R & R at the Airport Sheraton we headed back to the airport for our late night flight.  A late night flight that turned into a VERY, VERY late night flight.  FYI we flew Air Pacific and decided that Air Pathetic was a much more appropriate title forthis airline.  Having 3 kids in LAX at midnight and having the flight continually delayed hour after hour stinks.  Will not be intentionally flying this airline again...Nuff said.

Part 2 Tomorrow - Bula Fiji!!!