Making Moments Last

Well the two week count down has begun. Matt and the boys are due to fly home to Wisconsin on April 5. We are feeling the pressure to make every second on the island count. We even let the boys play hooky from school today and went to PIC. Matt attended a conference on Tilapia propagation and the hotel and the kids and I played all day long. Kierik worked on teaching Sylviah how to swim. She will totally submerge her hear now on her own and likes to swim best with me holding onto just one of her arms. She is completely fearless in the water now. What a difference a few months make! The photos at the beach are from yesterday. We were there all morning, went home for lunch and then stayed until dark. This beach is called Ladder Beach and I think it is my favorite. It has huge cliffs and turbulent waters on one end and calm peaceful tidepools on caves to explore on the other. The boys discvered these really cool little fish that are about three inches long and look like Blenny but the actually launch themselves out of the water and perch on the rocks above for an extended period of time. Matt likes it because frequently there are photo shoots here featureing beautiful bikini clad models. I like it because the beach glitters with blue and green polished sea glass. I have been creating mosaics out fo the sea glass for our walls. Sylviah has become quite good and helping me collect it! She is holding her cup of shells in the photo.

GOTCHA DAY - 5 month anniversary

Exactly 5 months ago today my little family of four was disembarking an overnight train from Guilin, China to Guangzhou to meet our new little daughter for the first time. She has come so far in just a few short months and we have come a tremendous way as a family. Click on the collage to see snippets of our first 5 months of adventure as a family of 5. We celebrated Sylvie's 5-month gotcha day with ice-cream and pigtails!

Yesterday was also an important first milestone as Poppy got her first haircut. Just the bangs of course! We're going to let everything else grow out.

Happpy Birthday to me...I live by the Sea...

in a tropical paradise...with my family. Run into the sea...run into the sea...we won't shut-up until you run into the sea. This is the new birthday song the boys and I made up at dinner last night as we celebrated my 35th birthday (thanks mom for reminding me of just how old I really am). It was a great day full of many Saipan events.

I started out my day by having a cup of coffee with my friend Eugene. Great way to start the day! Then I chaperoned Kaden's fieldtrip to the Saipan Botanical Gardens, along with Sylvie and Matt. The class was supposed to tour the gardens in the "Happy Wagon" which had unfortunately broke down that morning. So that left the children to tour on foot and without a tour guide (as he was also the mechanic trying to fix the "not-so-happy wagon"). But never fear! My valiant husband stepped up to the plate with a miniature map and tiny descriptions. He led the group of children through the gardens and even managed to engage them in some lively banter about fruit trees, flowers and other interesting plants. Many of which we recognized as enormous versions of the small tropical plants we attempt to grow as annuals or houseplants. Kaden was paired up with Daniel, Eugene's youngest son, and they were inseparable all day. So Cute!










Kaden also found a litter of baby kittens only a few days old, tied up in a plastic bag in a trash can at the park where Kierik was practicing soccer. Stray animals are a HUGE problem on this island. However, we could not leave the kittens there to die. So we took them home and nursed them with a medicine dropper through the night. The next day we called an organization called PAWS that helps to pay for the vet bills and helps place stray animals with adoptive families. We are so thankful to this wonderful organization. We dropped the kittens off at the Paradise Vet Clinic to receive proper medical attention and nutrition. I am sure we will visit the little kittens often over the next four weeks.


Later that evening we went to the Grotto Restaurant for dinner and it was delicious! The kids all were so well behaved for my birthday. We were treated with purple sweet potato ice cream for my B-day dessert. With birthday money from my parents, I treated myself to a new island swim suit prior to going to Managaha. These photos are of my new swim suit in the waters around Managaha. It occurred to me that you may never think I get in the water as I am always behind the lens. Rest assured I am in it as much as possible. Thanks Mom for the new swim suit and I look forward to our shopping trips when I returnback home!!! Now, I'd better not eat too much of that good ice cream.


After dinner we went home to help the boys with their homework. Meanwhile Sylvie occupied herself by dressing up in all of the boys clothing that was strewn around their bedroom. She is getting quite good at dressing herself and she is so funny. I think she will be a girl who needs a large cosume box. Good thing her mom already has that covered! Here are some photos of her pretending she is playing soccer like her brothers! I thought it was especially cute that she has her little sister t-shirt on since she is so looking up to her big brothers.






















Finally, at the end of the evening, I was surprised by a visit from Eugene who popped over with a Birthday present! She bought me a beautiful necklace and two pairs of earrings! It was just so sweet and unexpected that I could have cried. I am wearing them both very proudly today to work and I have the necklace on in this photo Matt took last night while I was helping the boys with their homework. I think I will consider it my 35th birthday portrait. Although I do not think I look very good, I am sure I will look back at it on my 50th birthday and feel differently. So, although it was not the wild and crazy birthdays I am used to, it was one I will not forget. It was a wonderful day with my family in tropical paradise.