Day 3 of trip to Tonga - Flight to Vava'u

We woke up to catch a 6:00 AM flight to an

island called Vava'u. It is really a bunch of islands

near each other that form the Vava'u group. The

flight was on a small plane and it was raining and so

it was really bumpy. David and I both got really sick

and threw up a bunch. When we got there our first

stop was to see one of Dave's old mission companions

family's that live in a village in Vava'u. Below is

David with his grandmother.

Kids playing in the dirt

When we drove up these women were all just in

here together weaving mats. During the day the kids

play and go to school while the women meet in these

"huts" and weave mats or beat and work on Tapa cloth.

Outside of the hut they were all in. This is just in

the yard next to the house.

The local market

Most people in Tonga eat different types of roots

that have a taste most similar to potatoes.

I bought a bunch of vanilla pods here that a man

grows on his farm. He said it takes at least four

years from the time it is planted to harvest.

Where we ate lunch

After lunch we drove to the resort where we spent

the rest of the day and the night

The view from the beach

This place was amazing. Dave slept most of the

day. We all just lounged around.

Dave and I decided to go kayaking just before

dinner.

Trip to Tonga day 2

On our first day we started out by going on a

bike ride by my parents house. Below are

some pictures we took along the ride.

Kid picking some coconuts

Kids from the Liahona high school heading home

Then we headed to a part of town called

Old Tonga. This is very typical where you see

a few stray dogs and some pigs in a yard.

This is a chair that was carved out of whale bone

A resort in Old Tonga

We loved this hand carved sink stand with a large

sea shell as the sink.

The fale for the guests to sleep in

Old Tonga has flooding like this all over because

it gets the high tide everyday

Please notice the 2 pac towel hanging from the tree

Day 1 of trip to Tonga, Stopover in New Zealand

Our trip to Tonga was over 9 days long. We went

on 8 different airplanes, 7 different airports, 3 boat

rides, 4 different islands and countless rides in the back

of the car on windy bumpy roads, lots of throwing up from

all the motion. It was definitely a trip unlike any other. We

took over 1000 pictures so I will post one day at a time on here.

We had a 10 hour layover in Auckland, so one

of Dave's companions from his mission came

and picked us up from the airport. First we went

to the sky tower that overlooked the harbor and

downtown Auckland.

Then we went to the New Zealand museum, which

was really amazing.

We went to a show where they did singing and

dancing and of course, the maori war dance.

A hand woven sail.

This old house inside was amazing. It was all

hand carved and painted.

Check out our family photos

The talented Rachel Thurston came to our
home a couple of weeks ago and took some
pictures of all of us. She posted them up on
her blog today. We fly home from Tonga
tonight(leave 2:00 am SLC time) and will arrive
home on Tuesday night at 7:00. We have had a
great time and cannot wait to post some pictures.


http://rachelthurston.blogspot.com/

A handy phone number to have

As I was driving in the car this morning I heard an ad
for 1-877-jail-fon. They advertised that you can practice
your 1 phone call from jail so that when you need it, you
know what to say better. I thought it had to be a joke, but
then I googled it when I got home and it seems like it is
real.
I put the info below, as I know most people reading my
blog would need it.


1-877-JAIL-FON - Your Free DUI Practice Call
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/08/28/2009082...
If you never had a DUI, then you have never experienced that one phone call to an angry wife or girlfriend, disapproving father, temperamental boss, or a lawyer. Now the Utah Highway Patrol and local bars are letting people practice their single DUI call with this service. In this case practice doesn't make perfect!

New Blog to check out

http://chasenoface.blogspot.com/
Please notice the name of the blog. Chase
is a cat. A cat that they think was hit
by a car and has "no face" It has no
eyelids and no fur on it's face. I did not
want to post pics because they are slightly
freaky. If you dare please check out the blog.
I am a major dog lover, but I have to say
that it has never crossed my mind to take
tons of photos of my dogs and start a blog.

Growing up

So on Charlotte's first day of school I offered to

take her because she is now gone all day long. She

is at school an extra 25 minutes in the morning

if she rides the bus. When she was in Kindergarten

they have a separate drop off spot and the teachers

are out there waiting. They then play on the

Kindergarten only playground right in front. This year

she rides to school with the big kids and I was

worried. I put her on the bus and drove over to school

to wait for her. She ran off the bus and said

"why are you here?" and continues to run past

me. I follow her in to make sure she knows to

go to the playground and not her classroom and

she runs down the stairs while I yell "bye Charlotte, I love you"

no response. I then spent the rest of the day feeling

so sad knowing that my days of her being around home are

forever gone and basking in my sadness. A few days ago

I asked her about school and she said some of the kids

have been crying and the girl "Emma" next to her cries

with her head on her desk bellowing "mommy". I asked her

if she missed me and she says "You?, then chuckles, no"