Island Girl

When I agreed to take the job in Saipan, I had several concerns. My biggest was leaving Matt and the boys behind. My second biggest was bringing Sylvie with me. I had no idea how the boys would get along without me and how Sylvie would adjust to yet another disruption in her short life with our family.

However, I am pleased to report that the boys seem to be getting along famously and Sylvie is absolutely settled in the ways of island life (with the exception of her irrational fear of hermit crabs). I have added photos to this post as proof that Sylvie is adjusting well. I am sorry to the boys as I am quite certain that these photos will fill them with jealousy.

The photo of Sylvie on the melon truck was taken this past Saturday. It was by far the coolest day on the island since we arrived, about 79 degrees. It rained all day. However, our day was made sweeter when Sylvie spotted this truck on the side of the road and declared that she wanted to eat a melon. We pulled off and the man persuaded us to buy a 16 pound melon! We took it over to our friend Jackie's house and ate it for lunch. It was the sweetest watermelon I have ever eaten. However, even with 5 of us eating on it, we had too much. So Sylvie and I brought it to the nanny's house today to share with the other kids in the neighborhood.

The two photos of Sylvie at the swimming pool were taken the first Saturday on the island. It was also kind of rainy and overcast, but extremely warm. It turned out to be a perfect day for swimming as even with the clouds and 70 spf sunscreen applied at regular intervals, I got fried. Luckily, Sylvie has nice dark skin and had the extra protection of her swimshirt, she didn't get burnt with the exception of a little red nose.

The last photo was taken at Lau Lau beach right near our house last year and our apartment this year. It is a spot that is near and dear to my heart. However, we went they day after the tsunami and the beach was covered in seafare weckage from the incredible oceanic currents caused by the incident in Japan. There were four rows of seaweed, rocks, shells, critters and other things that made the beach more unpleaseant than usual. We just went for an hour after work so Sylvie was in her underpants and t-shirt. We had a good time but she is definately more fond of the pool than the beach. I think this is apparent by her expression in the bottom photo. I was trying to encourage her and engage her in building a Sea turtle in the sand. Each time we scooped the sand she insited on washing her hands in a bucket of water. She liked decorating the turtle with shells and sea glass but the actual collecting of the decorations was not her favorite. Well, I haven't lost my determination to make a beach bum out of her. We will try again this week!