Ba Humbug...

Today I was talking on the phone to my sister, in the background I could hear my little 3 year old niece singing Christmas Carols loudly. It was making us both laugh to listen to Olivia and her little versions of Jingle Bells so Olivia got on the phone to sing a private concert for me. "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride on a one fa na la bay." That little girl can bring a smile to anyone in a matter of seconds with her Innocent and genuine actions. It got me thinking how totally Ba Humbug I am around the Holiday Season.

For example we have a Christmas tree... that has been set up once in the last four years. I even tried to sell it at the yard sale last year because it was taking up too much precious space. In the beginning Inoke used to ask me all excited like if I was going to "decorate;" sadly over the years he has come to know me better... now he doesn't even bother to ask. I have the decorations all packed nicely in a box collecting dust in the back of the spare closet.

It goes further than just not decorating... I don't even bother to cook special meals at Thanksgiving or Christmas any more. It doesn't help that Inoke refuses to eat turkey... but still I have become so lax in this area. Last Thanksgiving we BBQ'd ribs and hamburgers. Yep, forget about the stuffing, cranberries, and pecan pie; A hamburger and some Doritos will hit the spot.

That is if we even spend the day together. The last two Christmas' Inoke pulled double shifts at work and I spent the day catching up on laundry. This morning someone asked me if I had plans for this Thursday... my response. Yep, Inoke is working and I am going to organize the kitchen. There is one good thing about my lack of holiday cheer, I don't have to worry about gaining ten pounds from eating all the leftovers for a week after the dinner.

I've never been huge into holidays... but lately I have realized that since I got married I have totally been slacking in this area. So in an effort to start new "family traditions" with Inoke I am making a new resolution to do better at trying to bring some sort of holiday cheer into the house without grumbling too much.

Fiji Nine

So overall we had a great trip. I miss waking up at 6am to Yaca and Juju asking for me to fix their hair or put on make up. I even got to see Inoke's Elementary School and his old house in Waila. It was fun to imagine him as a little kid running around barefoot in the school uniform. As usual trips to Fiji are few and far between. The last time I was over there was 2002. So we never seem to have enough time to see everything that I want to see or do everything that I planned to do. I do have lots of fond memories though, like sleeping outside on the porch under a mosquito net because it was sweltering hot in the house. I guess we will just have to take another trip back to see all the things on my list... the Hot Bread Kitchen is calling my name.

Random Pics

Fiji Eight

The night before we headed to Nadi to fly back to Hawaii everyone got together for a family dinner at the Raintree Lodge. I love that place, it is like being in the middle of the Rain Forest, but then you are still close to Suva. It was a beautiful evening, and it was really something to have the whole family together (except Finau). We took a Biutanaseva Family picture and having six of the seven kids there with their spouses was something to see.

Raintree Lodge

Fiji Seven

What is a trip to Fiji without taking all the nieces and nephews to Mc Donalds? Everyone but Nolani got up early one morning and we squeezed in the car to go eat Happy Meals. Yum. Juju was a little hesitant about eating the hash brown and egg mc muffin... but her brother Peni didn't hesitate to eat her share too. It was fun listening to them tell stories and play with the toys. That afternoon Inoke and I went to pick up Nolani from school and she so kindly reminded us that she too needed to eat Mc Donalds since she missed the breakfast run. Personally I would much rather have a $2 roti/curry parcel than a $6 happy meal... but then again I can eat Mc Donalds whenever I want to.

Mc Donalds

Fiji Six

We spent another day cruising down to Pacific Harbor. It is always fun to check out the Handycraft shops and walk around somewhere where the foreigners outnumber the locals. Just watch out for the tourist prices. Ouch. It was sweltering hot and I was looking for a cheap little fan to cool off. Uh the lady offered me $20. So I replied in Fijian and walked out the door. Hello that same fan is $3 in Suva; she must have been smoking some good crack to think I would spend $20 on a woven fan. We had a good time though. After shopping around and finding some great deals on necklaces and bracelets we cruised across the street to the beach and relaxed a while. It was a good day and all the kids were knocked out on the drive back to Suva.

Pacific Harbor

Fiji Five

We decided to get away from all the wedding hustle and bustle one day. So up to the Le Suva we went. I had to have a laugh at the receipt that the Forestry Office gave us to enter the park. "2 overseas & 3 locals" Danielle and I cost $5/each. Inoke, Wes, and Esala were only $1/each. Only in Fiji. Wes wanted to hike down the trail from the first pool while Inoke wanted to drive down to the biggest pool at the bottom. So I got out and hiked while Inoke took the car down. Uh, someone should have said it was a full hour of a hike down steep muddy steps and massive spiderweb rain forest. There were eight different pools that all led to the big one at the bottom. It was a beautiful hike and by the time we reached the end Inoke was already swimming in the pool. I was totally bummed that I still couldn't swim so I watched as everyone else took turns on the rope swing. Ahh next trip I will swing too.

Hiking

Fiji Four

Saturday was the "western style" reception. It was at Central Cuisine in Suva. Danielle, Balavu, and I went down and spent the afternoon decorating the tables and preparing the last minute details. All the nieces were thrilled to go to the salon in the morning and get their hair done for the occasion. They looked so beautiful in the red dresses that Finau sent down. It was a fun night with lots of food and dancing.

The Reception

Fiji Three

The temple ceremony was Thursday, but the Tevutevu wasn't until Friday afternoon. So after the temple Talei came back to us and stayed with her family until Friday night. The Tevutevu is the traditional fijian wedding ceremony. The bride's side brings mats, blankets, masi, pillows, bedding, mosquito nets, and other various things to the groom's home and they present the bride to the boy's family sealing the match with the traditional presentation of the tabua (whale's tooth). For days prior to the Tevutevu family from all sides brought piles and piles of gifts to the home. It was an amazing process to watch. My favorite gift was the waiwai (homemade coconut oil) Inoke's mom was kind enough to hook me up with a bottle of the sweet smelling oil to take home to Hawaii.

Tevutevu

Fiji Two

Next on our trip was the temple. I will never forget Talei's wedding. We rushed and rushed around to be there for the ceremony at noon. I was yelling at Inoke all the way up the steps that we were going to be late. He just kept telling me to relax, it was Fiji Time. When we got there the Temple Matron told us to relax Talei and Jona went to town to get the marriage licence. Uhh small detail. So we sat and waited and waited talking story with the temple matron. Finally Inoke, Wes, and Sami got tired of waiting and decided to leave to go get some food. Only in Fiji. Talei returned licence in hand and we got started at 3pm. It was a beautiful ceremony and Inoke's dad was able to officiate. The rain even held out for a few pictures afterwards.

The Temple

Fiji One

First major stop on our trip was to our niece Halani's School for her birthday. She turned 7! I remember holding her in my arms as a little baby, and now she is such a beautiful little girl. Finau sent down lots of little goody bags for all the kids and every kid in her class got a Happy Meal from Mc Donalds. We will just say that she was the Queen of the Class... it was so fun to see all her class smiling from ear to ear and all the other little kids from other classes peeking into the classroom trying to score some Mc Donalds. We had a great time. I especially liked watching giant Inoke maneuver around the classroom serving cake to all the class. It was quite comical to watch the small little boys get up the courage to approach Inoke for a second piece of cake.

Halani's Birthday

I'm Back.

For the few who read this, it has been a while since my last post. The last two months have been crazy. Hopefully I am now on the upswing of things and life is getting better again. In a nutshell I had surgery in Sept. It was supposed to be an easy in and out thing but with complications... it became 9 days in the hospital and a cut from sternum to just below my navel. Not so cool. Inoke was a super nurse/housekeeper/chef/husband. Seriously when they say if this doesn't kill you it will only make you stronger.... that was us. I couldn't lift more than ten pounds, and for the first 5 weeks I couldn't even sit up without help ( funny how much you use those stomach muscles to do everything) I spent six weeks trying to recover enough to go on our trip to Fiji. The doctors weren't going to let me go all the way until three days before we left. So when I finally got the green light for travel I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to figure all the things we needed to pack. Dressing an open wound in Fiji requires serious supplies. We did it and I survived our trip very well. (More on the trip to come). So that is my lame excuse for not blogging in a while...