Huahine- Day 3

I survived the first night pretty fine thanks to dramamine but we were happy to arrive bright and early in Huahine (who-ah-hee-knee). But if we thought Papeete wasn't that big, we were in for a surprise. Literally we tendered off the boat (meaning the water wasn't deep enough to anchor close to shore so we got on a little 100 person life boat to go in) and there were 3 buildings and 1 road. That was it!
We were early for our tour so we stopped at 1 of the 3 building to enjoy fresh squeezed pinapple juice. Yummy!





Very simple and cute. Then we all noticed the floor.

That's not rocks- that's coral. Which of course makes sense that you'd use the materials that are most readily available to you but it just seemed wrong somehow to be walking on it. I snagged a few pieces that were just amazing.

Beautiful even if there's only 3 buildings.

And once the whole family of 23 was there we headed off for what I think was the mostly interesting tour of the whole trip. We went with an archeologist from the US who now lives in Huahine and is studying their ancient cultures. He was fascinating to listen to especially since he was very opinionated about past and current culture in the islands.

Our first stop was to see the foundations of some of their oldest native temples- which of course were torn down because that's what you did if you moved in as a new religion (Catholic/Protestant/even Mormon). You converted the people and then tore down the old structures and built right on top. Actually that's world history too! Ethan and Isaac- not so interested, but to me, fascinating to hear. His whole message was that what we consider paradise to live in, never really was- there were always food shortages because of over population and then wars and bloody times to fight for land and so when the missionaries came to the islands, they may have changed things for the future but it wasn't all bad. Often the wars stopped and the people became more industrious, and really it was their choice to embrace the culture of the Europeans and wasn't really forced upon them.

So how do my kids survive VERY long lectures out in the afternoon Tahitian sun? They find rocks to climb on.

And not ripe mangoes to use as soccer balls.

One of the fascinating things to hear was the why behind some of the local culture. Tahitians really are very poor even though it's a first world country. Our archaeologist explained that really it's because they don't see a need for more. The land and sea literally provide everything they need and it doesn't require much effort from them. You need shelter, the trees and their leaves provide that. You're hungry, just pick fruit from any of the 1000's around you. You need protein, go catch a fish in the ocean which apparently is VERY easy. They really don't need much more than food and shelter and only that occasionally. There are no poisonous animals or predators at all on the islands. Really nothing to harm them and really not even any tropical diseases. So when you easily get most everything you need, why do you need to work more. Interesting to compare that to our European ancestors who needed so much and had to work so hard to get the land to provide for all their needs so they could survive.

It was a little surprising to stop under this mango tree and see just hundreds of the fruits rotting on the ground just because no one needed them so they didn't bother to come pick them. Oh well, they work great as soccer balls for little boys.

Then we headed up the mountain to see more of their temple and some of their fortifications against other tribes invading. Really, not too much to see and sadly our guide pointed out that the local people know almost nothing about their heritage. When he arrived and started exploring, he found these foundations and asked the locals what they were for. They told them they were pig pens, which of course they're not, but once the wars stopped, they were no longer needed. The people moved down closer to the water to live and their old temples crumbled and the foundations were later used to house pigs. Still amazing to see.

After the temples we headed off to see how they catch fish. Hundreds of years ago they built these fish traps. They're actually is disrepair now since only part of the rocks is above water but if they were working they'd look like this but all the rocks would be about a foot above the water. They work by the fish swimming into them and not realizing they're in a trap. Then fishermen with nets with start at one end and just walk to the other end of the zigzag kind of herding the fish the whole way, and at the end there's a ramp so the fish literally have no where to go and they just scoop them into the nets. They only had to do this every few days so there'd be plenty of fish. Ingenius!

When we were there, there really were hundreds of fish just swimming around and in it and if the walls were built back up I'm sure it would function well.

After the fish traps we went to see the native blue eyed eels. Very creepy.

They came out when our guide offered them bits of fish but were pretty fast to go back and hard to get on film. Blue eyes though.

There's our ship anchored out in the bay.

Papeete- Day 1 and 2

Warning: The posts for this trip may be excessively long! Maybe just skip to see the amazing pictures if you want. Unfortunately I have 1 or 2 family members who will want every detail and in truth these blogs are for our family history later so someday I'll be glad I wrote more instead of less.

You saw most of Saturday in the previous post. Once we boarded the ship and settled in we took naps (again), explored the ship, and then had our first dinner together. Our seating time was 8:15PM. Yep, you read that right. We got to eat dinner every night at 8:15PM! Apparently my 3 little boys were outnumbered by the rest of the teenagers, young couples, and adults in our 23 person family reunion party. I was skeptical but it actually worked out fine since most days we were off the ship on adventures during the day, boarded around 5pm, took naps and showered and then were fine for dinner that late. And the ipods helped. The wait staff brought the kids their dinners within the first 5 minutes of sitting down so they were able to eat and then do whatever they wanted on their ipods. The kid center also helped. Ethan spent every night we let him, skipping dinner with the family to go there and hang out with kids his age and do whatever games or activities they did. Isaac was old enough to go and he went along about half the time and came with us the other half. There weren't really other little kids his age so he wasn't as excited to go. It was honestly one of the small miracles of the 10 day cruise that not once did Taylor or I have a frustrating dinner trying to control our kids. They really were excellent the whole time. Apparently eat then ipod is a good combo for them.

Every Christmas Taylor's parents hold their own family reunion trip. This started the year after Taylor went off to college because apparently he came home that Christmas and spent almost all of his time at friends' homes. So his dad vowed they'd never again spend Christmas at home and they haven't. Some years the trips are stateside (which we love- much easier with kids/traveling/logistics) and other years they're more extravagant (Costa Rica, Bermuda, Portugal). Last year Taylor's aunt told his parents that her family would be going to Tahiti on this cruise and said how fun it would be if we could turn the trip into a Servoss family reunion (Taylor's mom's side- she has 2 sisters and there are 6 cousins). No one thought they'd actually pull it off. Getting 23 people's schedules to line up is rare, but the allure of Tahiti and a year to plan and schedule vacation time was apparently enough. So what was normally a Woodbury Christmas family reunion became the Servoss Christmas family reunion.
The Woodburys arrived Saturday morning and the Keithley's and Austins got in Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Sunday morning, bright and early, we all headed off to a tour with all 23 of us. Actually really nice to have us all together because then my kids had their favorite cousins to play with and everyone kind of watched out for them.
Our first stop was a museum inside the home of Charles Norman Hall who wrote Mutiny on the Bounty, which truthfully I knew and know nothing about but it was neat to see the memorabilia and the book is now on my to read list.
The kids were so excited to have their favorite cousin Sofia there!

And Miles entertained himself by downing at least 3 cans of mango juice. Just look at that doped out look on his face.

Can't wait for the diapers from that!

Then we headed off to Venus Point where Captain Cook landed in French Polynesia and observed the transit of the planet Venus. I'm not sure exactly what that is but it happens every few hundred years and is something about the sun and Venus passing and apparently this is THE place to watch it. Who knew? My kids were more excited to go out on the beach UNTIL they discovered that it is black sand and that black sand is HOT. I mean REALLY HOT! Apparently black sand beaches are only found on "newer" islands where the lava formed rocks are still being broken down and white sand beaches are from the coral being broken down. Again, who knew?

Small things kept amazing me- like we're standing in the ocean and there are beautiful tropical flowers just floating around randomly. I'm sure it's because they're just growing everywhere, but it was beautiful.

Then we headed off to see one of the few waterfalls in all of French Polynesia. Huge!

As with any less developed country, the safety standards are not always in place, and since our kids are slightly reckless and definitely cannot resist climbing rocks and trees, we spent much of our time pulling them back from dropoffs or off of boulders. Of course I'm the negligent parent taking pictures while Taylor saves Isaac's life.

There! That's a better spot to stand. I was severely tempted to go jump in that water though.

More rocks! Must be climbed! Must have our picture taken too!

We snagged some of the local bananas as we left. Miles calls them "tiny nanas" and they really are small, actually very Milo sized. Isaac miraculously ate one and then couldn't get enough of them. They taste slightly different than American bananas and are about 1/3-1/2 the size. Isaac spent the rest of the time scarfing them down and begging for more. This from a child who has NEVER in his life eaten an American banana.

Then we were off to see a blowhole where the ocean has eroded away the rock and there's a cave underneath.

This is what we spent 20 minutes staring at, just waiting.

And then finally were rewarded with this. I lucked out on the picture. I took at least 40 others thinking it was going to explode but it ended up being just wave after wave until it filled up enough.

Then off to one last spot to get a good lookout on the main bay of the island. Gorgeous!

And then it was back to the ship in time for lunch, naps, and a little rain and rainbows to enjoy while we sailed off for our 1st stop on the cruise.

Not a bad view. Taylor's aunt is a VP for Princess Cruises so she got the entire family some MAJOR discounts for the trip. They don't allow you to put more than 4 people in 1 room and since our little family already has 5, it meant we had to take 2 rooms. Actually not a bad deal since it costs the same- just more space for us. Taylor took Ethan and Isaac in his room and they all had twin beds (poor Taylor). I took Miles in with me and since he slept in a pack and play I got a king size bed all to myself (I think Taylor was trying to pamper me a little knowing I was pregnant and also about to be seasick A LOT). Still a good husband.

The port at Papeete. We were their during their summer season and the temperature was generally in the high 80's with LOTS of humidity. We actually appreciate the torrential downpours that came through most days.

Milo and me in our room.

Here We Go! To Tahiti!

And after a whirlwind 3 weeks of Christmas events, traditions, baking, and last-minute buying, planning and packing... we were off.
We left Friday afternoon when Ethan got off school and took a short flight to L.A. accompanied by Taylor's parents and his sister Barb and her fiance Clint.

Waiting to take off. The kids were very zoned into their new ipods.

Miles manages to make himself comfortable just about anywhere. It helps that he's still tiny- and that we bring him blankies and "goggy" along.

In L.A. we sat around for 4 hours, ate dinner, and met up with the rest of the Woodbury clan- Mack and his fiance Sam (who flew all the way from New York) and Arty and his wife Esther (who flew all the way direct from London). Then we all boarded an 8 hour flight to Papeete, Tahiti. Yep, 8 hours! Overnight. We left at 10pm LA time and landed at 4:30am in Tahiti. Amazingly the whole city seemed away when we got there. (Apparently they all are! They all wake up at the crack of dawn and get their work done since it's cool, then they chill out/relax/nap most of the middle of the day and then are up when it's cooler in the evening). Who knew?

The kids did pretty well on the flight. Miles slept almost 6 hours before they woke us up for breakfast. Please tell me what the point of that is? We board the plane at 10 pm. They feed everyone a full dinner at 11pm, cleanup and finally turn off the cabin lights at 12pm. Then you sleep for maybe 4 hours then they wake you up 2 full hours before you land to feed you AGAIN and then have time to clean up and sell you duty free products. ANNOYING! Luckily Miles passed out as soon as we took off, slept through dinner, and then was content to eat breakfast at 3am and then play his ipod. Taylor was in another row with Ethan and Isaac who didn't sleep as well (they're not as compact and don't lay out as well in the tiny seats) nor as long as Miles. So we were all in rare form when we landed and were greeted by traditional Tahitian singers and dancers. Yep, you guessed it, I didn't bother to take a picture on 4 hours sleep. Plus it was a bit of a shock to go from 25 degrees to 85 literally overnight. I can't even remember how many layers I removed before I could finally breathe. Humidity!

Thankfully Tahitians are very family friendly and every time we stopped in a line, they pulled Taylor, me, and the boys out and scooted us to the front. How fabulous is that? Taylor's siblings and parents gave us dirty looks every time but at 4:30 in the morning on 4 hours of sleep, I'll put up with a few dirty looks and just smile back.

All our bags arrived- a small miracle with 13 people. We loaded up into 2 monster vans and were delivered to the Intercontinental hotel. The original plan was that we'd arrive at 4:30am and since we couldn't board the cruise ship until 1pm, we'd just go find an IHOP (who really thinks they have IHOPs in Tahiti?!? ) or just hang out on the beach/tour around a little until we could board. Thankfully I put my foot down and insisted that if we were taking overnight flights with 3 little boys, we needed somewhere to sleep during that 8 hours of empty time. Gratefully, Taylor's dad obliged me and we got to our hotel rooms, took these lovely pictures...

That's Moorea in the distance.

Yep, still in our pajamas straight off the plane.

Admiring the sunrise and views of Moorea at 5am! And then we passed out for 6 hours! Our room only had 1 queen sized bed and hard wood floors so we made do. Taylor, Miles, me, and Isaac all slept on the bed and Ethan slept on the floor rug. It didn't matter- we were that tired!

Once we woke up feeling much better and changed into shorts and t-shirts, we ventured out the explore the hotel. It is amazing! I don't think I even need to say more, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. Isaac out on the bridge with Grams.

Sam, Miles and Grams.

We explored some more and hammocks hanging all over the place. Miles and Isaac tested out a few.

Then we found the tropical fish. There is a little lake in the middle of the property that's actually fully open to the ocean- so not really a lake. Tropical fish swim in and out at will and Miles was enthralled watching them. The clear water was amazing.

Could you just stay here forever?

I mean seriously?

Miles and Isaac with more hammocks.

And then we happened upon the fish/turtle pond which ended up being the boys favorite place. The turtles actually went after the food the way ducks normally do. Honestly!

We saw a few other kids feeding them bread earlier and after lunch we brought some with us. See they were on the rocks but as soon as the kids started throwing bread, they jumped in and it became a turtle vs. fish free for all.

Mack, Barb, Sam, Esther, Arty, Ethan, Isaac, and Miles feeding the turtles.

And of course, Clint who fears no creature (and who will actually prove that in 4 days when he "pets" a shark) had to pick one of the turtles up!

Sad to leave our amazingly beautiful hotel after just 8 hours, but excited for the next 13 days!!!

Invasion of the Elves

I mentioned in our Christmas morning post that mom and dad only bought the boys one joint Christmas present this year but Santa more than made up for that. And amazingly he knew we'd need his presents BEFORE our trip so he sent his elves to deliver our stocking the night before we left. What a thoughtful Santa!
Of course he couldn't come himself, what with last minute fattening up and toying making and such, so he sent a few elves to deliver them.
Unfortunately (and much to the surprise and joy of Isaac and Ethan), elves are messy and leave little footprints everywhere. And if you forgot to leave out cookies for them (we did since we weren't expecting them) they will steal and eat yours and leave the crumbs for you to clean up.

So Friday morning we woke to find little white (amazingly they smelled and tasted a lot like powdered sugar) footprints from the chimney to the kitchen and back.
They'd left a note from Santa explaining it all and leaving everyone a nice surprise in their stocking. Okay so Taylor's got left on the ground since he doesn't even have a stocking. We really need to stay home one of these years so I bother to get the Christmas basics.

Those sneaky elves came right down the chimney. How convenient that they left footprint proof!

And tracked it all the way to the kitchen!

Santa was very generous this year- apparently he knows how much we travel. Each of the boys got an ipod touch full of (very familiar, okay so we listen to it in the car daily) music, movies (what a surprise, they're the same ones we know and love), and games (yes, even angry birds and plants vs. zombies much to moms dismay). (Okay so Miles MAY have gotten an old iphone that now doesn't have service and functions as an ipod touch).

Santa may have gone a little overboard but after the last few trips of having to drag an ENTIRE carry on bag full of gameboys, portable DVD players, leapsters, books, music, and toys to entertain 3 boys on long flights back and forth across the country and even across the world, mom may have put in a small request.

We're liking the idea of 1 devide per child for all their entertainment needs- movies, music, games, even books. 1 device to charge. 1 device to keep track of. Simple. That's what we're going for. And then when we're home, they'll mostly be put away and all the fun (so sad) games will be removed (bye, bye angry birds) and the educational ones left for when they earn some electronic time (which takes a LOT in this house, thank you strict mom).

What I was most happy about this morning was that although the boys were very happy about getting ipods (they're constantly asking to use our iphones to play the games) they were even more excited that actual ELVES had come to their home. They literally told EVERY person at school and the airport the whole story and just could NOT believe that those "sneaky" (as they called them) had stolen our cookies and made such a mess. It was truly fun to see them so excited about the elves. Here's to hoping the elves become a tradition they love and remember for years.