Off the Boat and back to Moorea

Tuesday morning we arrived back in Papeete and spent the morning packing up/eating/ and saying goodbye to everyone. Once we headed off the ship, we got our bags and then this is how my boys entertained themselves while Taylor went to go get money exchanged.
Yep, just like there's birds to chase wherever you are in the world, there are also trees to climb- and my boys are guaranteed to find them.
One of Taylor's cousins went to Tahiti on his honeymoon so when he heard we were going there for Christmas he convinced Taylor that we absolutely COULD NOT leave without staying in an overwater bungalow. Unfortunately I kept having visions of us asleep in the middle of the night and Miles getting up and falling in the water and even if we made him sleep in a life jacket, he'd simply drift out to sea and be gone. Nope, an overwater bungalow with a 2, 4, and 6 year old was never going to fly with me.
But I did consent that it might be nice to have a little "just our family" time after 10 crazy busy days with everyone. We checked out hotels to stay in but found that they wouldn't let more than 4 people stay in 1 room and I wasn't relishing having to split up again, nor the thought of being at a hotel with mostly newlyweds and having to try to keep my kids in line the whole time.
So we kept looking and eventually found a home away website with individual homes to rent in Tahiti. We found what looked to be an amazing 1 bedroom cottage right on the beach on Moorea, just a 30 minute ferry ride from Papeete, and for about 1/3 the price of staying in a hotel.
So after we got off the cruise ship, we walked 1/4 miles to the ferry dock and rode 30 minutes over. We rented a little car and miraculously found our house from just a google map (there are no house numbers on Moorea and just one road that goes around the entire island).
Once we got to our little house this is what our kids did- instantly in the sand! Finally!
Ocean. Beach. Rockwall. House. Can it get any more perfect than this?
The boys stayed out in the sand almost all afternoon- totally happy.
Taylor took them out snorkeling for a little while. Ethan was pretty good at snorkeling on his own and we found a raft online that you lay on and has a plexiglass window at the top for you to look through. Miles and Isaac took turns riding it and watching all the fish. Can you see the coral reefs just feet from the shoreline? Apparently the Tahitian islands are new enough that they're still sinking into the water and the outer edge of the volcanic cone creates a barrier reef around the entire island. There are opening in it where fresh water rivers and cut through the coral and rock, but for the most part the entire island has a mile of enclosed reef with just 8 or 10 open channels to get out to sea. This makes the water much more protected and there's coral and reef fish everywhere.
When we were reading about the house online, the owners advertised that you could practice your ray and shark feeding just outside in the bay. It made me question just a little bit if this was the right house for a 2, 4, and 6 year old but in the end it was perfect! And we actually never even saw a shark or ray!
The best part of our little house was that there was just one other house across the yard from us and everything was enclosed with a rock wall. We were able to relax and let the boys just play and be loud as much as they wanted. Luckily Santa had filled sand buckets with beach balls and shovels and other games and toys to entertain little boys.
Playing go fish while dinner gets cooked.
Now this is a view I could have any night while doing my dishes.