Well, I am over a year behind, but the images are there and the stories remain so I will continue on as if it were still 2017……and, yes, there is a big announcement near the end….:)
So, how to follow the Summer of Dan? Two words: Brad Rowe.
Kiddo pick up with Uncle Brad and his UGGS (not just for the plane ride anymore).
Brad and I have been friends since 1st grade… not to give away ages, but that is 40+ years and counting….
So, back to one of our favorite spots (while I try to keep Will in the boat) and we were joined by a bunch of friends from Suva for a spectacular weekend at Leluevia.
Not only did we have Brad joining us, but a few of Lucy/Will’s besties joined us as well.
Parked at Leluevia this week was the Uto Ni Yalo a 72′ double masted traditional Polynesian sailing canoe which translates into “heart of spirit”. The Uto Ni Yalo is one of 7 canoes that set sail in 2011 listing 15 Pacific nations reviving voyaging culture and advocating ocean conservation. It was gifted to Fiji in 2014 and visiting Leluevia to get prepped for it’s next voyage (many of the crew members also live/work at Leluevia).
Here she is at low tide:
Aside from the Uto Ni Yalo, there was another new toy at Leluevia this weekend….a floating slip and slide…..oh yeah. Here is Charlie, Alice and Lucy gearing up for a race….
Lucy out to an early lead!
Never fails…
We decided to take Brad out to some real snorkeling at the reef around Honeymoon island…
…and it was all that and more. Here is me taking a pic of Charlie…
White tipped sharks are a pretty common sighting out here and harmless…
Sea Snakes! Yikes! Quite harmful and freaky….
Mommy taking a closer look..
Ghost Coral…
Brad’s turn…
Back at Leluevia, the kids were busy on the new water trampoline..
Good times….!
Lord of the Flies re-enactment.
….not entirely sure about this one.
And after a week of hanging out, it was time for Uncle Brad to head home……adios Bradley!
Diwali 3.0. As I have mentioned about this time last year, Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights and one of India’s biggest festivals which for kids generally means gobs and gobs of yummy fried finger food and fireworks deep into the night. Thankfully, the last two Diwali celebrations were marred by torrential rains that never ended bringing a good nights sleep for parents of small kids and dogs.
Additionally, Diwali is about dressing up and boy do our kids look cute on Diwali!
Lucy and Alice
Waldorf always has a lovely Rangoli….colorful rice art…to kick off the festivities.
William and Anwen…
Daddy was slightly underdressed as Ilco put him to shame…
Belated Bday with my July 1, 1970 brother Henry and Radhika. Henry and I both love Lady Di…who is and will always be a July 1’er…..
After our last consultation trip to the ENT in Brisbane (about Lucy’s tonsil’s), we decided the time was right and so Lucy and Abby headed back to Brisbane for surgery.
Here is Lucy at New Farm Park pre-surgery…for those of you Denverites, it is literally a clone of Wash Park, but with the most amazing playground you have every seen…or played on….
The plan was to go in and remove the tonsils and also to look at the adenoids to see if they were also part of the problem. Here we go….
Turns out the adenoids were indeed the problem and the surgery is a success! Abby brought every flavor of ice cream to the recovery room and all Lucy wanted was toast and hummus. 🙂
Since it seems that everyone in our parents generation had their tonsils removed and as times changed, getting your tonsils out was no longer the thing to do……so all we had to work with was our parents who talked about getting to eat ice cream for 14 days.
Turns out, the recovery sucks. During the first week, there is obviously a ton of pain, but as that goes down, there is the fear of the scab coming off and causing a bleed….in addition, Lucy was experiencing lots of referred pain in her ears so the second week was spent watching TV and taking short trips around Brisbane.
The homage to Lucy starts at the big wheel at Southbank.
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Every day we had a latte and muffin at our neighborhood coffee shop under the Storey Bridge..
A rainy day on Queens Street….
Lucy didn’t do much walking….yet we walked everywhere…
We rode the City Ferry….
We at french fries…
We watched Mommy on TV give out the first place medals to the Fiji Men’s squad at the Oceana 7’s in Suva……
….while the All Blacks took the gold medal on the women’s side.
Back in Suva, will dressed up as Superman, Batman and the All Blacks for the annual trick or treat on Marou Road….
Kati got a big carried away and scared everyone with her commitment…..
Meanwhile, Lucy and I went back to introduce her new friend to the Kangaroos….
We hit the Obliteration Room at the Kusama exhibit…
The Croc version of the Meg at the Steve Irwin Zoo…
Day 14 it all stopped, we went to the Dr. and not was everything healing, but her hearing was back from about 60% in one ear, her balance was improved and her voice changed…..amazing.
We decided to stay an extra week to be safe and so we continued our tour of parks / playgrounds. Here we are at our favorite spot in Brisbane. New Farm Park!
No more pain….and double swings that we could both ride on…
We took a ride down to Kingscliff to see where one of our dear friends grew up…..
It was mango season in Queensland and we had 3-5 of these bad boys every day. Big, sweet, juicy (but not so juicy that you are covered in mango juice) with a tiny pit……heaven. After two weeks of devouring them, we stopped peeling them….
All Lucy could talk about the last week was the Welcome Home party….and her invite list was all the teachers at Waldorf….and they didn’t disappoint. 🙂
Rio!
Abby and Aleta attended a conference in Rio and decided to take the absolute longest possible way to get there…..via Sydney….
……and then Dubai…….. yes Dubai, but business class on Emirates made it less painful…..then, again, if you just found out you are pregnant the last thing you want to do is going on a 45 hour travel day to Rio with all of your bad ass friends from around the world and pretend that you are drinking….:)
Priorities were work, friends, pretending to drink so as not to spill the beans and picking up Havaianas for everyone back in Fiji…
When in Rio…
One of the challenges of living abroad is having to say good bye……this time to Dominique, Lawkee and the girls…..back to Thailand!
Graduation !
Yes, life just flies by….it was time for Lucy to graduate from Waldorf…in a very typical Waldorf way…..
Here is Lucy getting her graduation flower from Miss Sai….
…followed by her graduation book!
….followed by a visit from Santa. Random? Yes. Watching our friend Ilco sweat more than any human has every sweated before. Fantastic!
Lucy was not going to be denied…
Up next? Xmas, a move to a new house, then Brisbane, then Noosa and then back to Suva!
Abby, Lucy, William, Clancey and Baby X.
Very interesting blog and great pictures. Feels like I was there. Thanks. But where is Theo
Hi Mom….I had to time travel back to 2017 in order to finish that post……so, therefore….no Theo….he is simply BabyX since we only just found out that Abby was preggers. 🙂