Day 9- Bora Bora (cause 1 day just isn't enough when it's Bora Bora)

Taylor and Clint didn't get close enough to death on Raiatea so they decided to go scuba diving again in Bora Bora.
Coral reefs are good.
Fish are good.
Manta rays??? Well I guess that's better than sharks. Again I'm reminded to remind you there's no zoom on these pictures. These are not sting rays. They have the 2 horn things on the front and they quite literally have 20 foot wing spans.
Thankfully they didn't like the bubbles from the air tanks so they mostly stayed away from the divers.


Mostly.
Taylor said these guys were actually a little more freaky than the sharks just because they were so huge.


While Taylor and Clint went scuba diving, the rest of the group (all teenagers and adults) went on a "helmet" dive. Apparently they put on one of those old (like old from the 50's) concrete helmets where you're attached to an air hose and you just sink and then walk along the ocean floor without getting your hair even wet. But sadly they don't have 2 year old sized helmets so the boys and I got left out. Instead we all went on a glass bottom boat tour.
Of course who knew that 9 days into the trip we would STILL not have spent more than 5 minutes on a beach digging or making sand castles and that THAT would be the ONE thing 3 little boys were DIEING to do? If I had known it was that easy to entertain them (if I had hind sight) I'd have just gotten off the boat, found a bit of sand and stayed all morning.
Instead we boarded a little boat with 15 or so OLD people and me and my 3 squirmy boys.
Who are more impressed with the fish in an aquarium because let's face it, they STAY where you can see them or you move on. Here, it was like a tease. The fish would swim past the glass and then you'd just have to wait for the next one.
They were entertained for about the first, oh 3 minutes, and then it was all downhill from there. Miles kept trying to climb out of the boat to get in the water and then he spent the rest of the time taking his shoes off and throwing them at random fish (luckily the glass kept us from losing his shoes) and/or people. Let me tell you, OLD people LOVED us on this tour!
Isaac decided that he had to pee RIGHT NOW!!! But of course he wouldn't just stand on the side of the boat and pee with all those people watching. And he wouldn't even pee in the diaper I tried to put on him (he's been potty trained for 2 years and apparently just can't go back). So he sat/squirmed/fussed/kicked the whole way there and back.
Ethan was mostly good although he spent most of the time complaining he couldn't see any fish and trying to give the boat driver instructions like "back up" or "go over there". And then one fabulous time while I was wrestling with Miles and his shoes and trying to coax Isaac to stop freaking out, Ethan got really bored and decided to spit on the glass floor- just because.

So not our finest moments and truthfully once we were off and had met up with Taylor I was ready to say it was a "daddy afternoon" and get rid of them all for a few hours.

I share these details not to complain about the one day that was hard on this trip, but to add a little perspective. Sometimes I'm afraid these blogs come across as all roses and sunshine, and while we feel more blessed than we can believe to get to see these amazing places and to get to be with our wonderful family, it's not always easy. I have adopted a motto: It's not a vacation- it's a reunion. And that is THE TRUTH. Vacations are relaxing and easy and these trips are often not. Yes it's nice not to cook or clean and visit amazing places, but we're still dragging 3 small boys around who are often tired, hungry, cranky, sick, bored... and quite frankly so are we :) So don't take us too seriously when we say how fabulous everything is. We're usually leaving out the more annoying parts.