Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Hawaii
Hawaii is lovely and has been a nice re-introduction to the US. We've enjoyed doing some cooking -- Thai cooking day is Tuesday!
When we arrived, we put on two of Rae's African house dresses and put ALL of our clothes into the laundry! We are SO looking forward to having more choices when we get back to Seattle. It might be a while before I wear any of these clothes again!
We've shared some stories and pictures with Mari's parents and are hoping to go through our pictures and make a short i-movie to share with everyone. For those of you who want more than the short video version, we're happy to share all the pictures as well :)
When we arrived, we put on two of Rae's African house dresses and put ALL of our clothes into the laundry! We are SO looking forward to having more choices when we get back to Seattle. It might be a while before I wear any of these clothes again!
We've shared some stories and pictures with Mari's parents and are hoping to go through our pictures and make a short i-movie to share with everyone. For those of you who want more than the short video version, we're happy to share all the pictures as well :)
Fiji Part 2 - Making it Official and partying with the Aussies
Making it Official -
Although Mari and I have been together for long enough that most people consider us an old married couple, we decided that we needed a moment together to say our vows, and what better place than on a small island surrounded by palm trees at sunset? So, on August 3rd, after relaxing by the pool for the day, Mari and I dressed in the nicest clothes we had (not exactly typical wedding outfits) and walked out to one of the "islands" near our resort. The stars had aligned and we had the BEST sunset of our trip that night. We set up the camera on a little tripod and took quite a few pictures, said our vows, and exchanged stand-in shell rings (until we find some that we really like). We really enjoyed the moment and then walked to one of the nicer restaurants at the resort for a fancy chinese dinner which finished with delicious coconut fried ice cream. We hope to share the moment with everyone at some sort of reception, but nothing is planned yet.
Partying with the Aussies--
The next day, Aug 4 was spent lounging at the pool again, and then we had reservations at the 2nd resort restaurant where we had a nice dinner (I had Mahi Mahi and Mari had steak) and then as we were waiting to order dessert, we struck up a conversation with three Aussie couples at the table next to ours. They invited us to join them, so we sat and drank wine, talked about rugby and why we had chosen NOT to go to Australia on our trip around the world (they didn't think it was a good decision!). I guess we got a little loud because the staff had to ask us to be quiet and then I guess they asked us to head to the bar when we didn't quiet down enough. At the bar, the couples reunited with some of their children (who had been at kid's club during dinner) and we continued drinking and danced with the kids for a while. I guess I didn't realize how much I had been drinking, thanks to the free-flowing all inclusive wine, and I didn't remember the walk back to our room the next day. I also felt a little rough the next day and although I managed to go MOST of the day without any more drinking, by 2, the Aussie's would have no more of my protests and started handing me diet coke WITH rum instead of my requested diet coke. Aug 5 was our last day at the resort and was rainy all day. We chatted with our new Aussie friends (thanks to their hospitality, we were able to eat lunch even though the hotel had taken our bracelets at 10am during checkout).
At 5:30, the bus picked us up to take us back to Nadi, where we again stayed at the Novotel. Because they remembered us from our 1st night in Fiji, they put us in a nicer room :)
The next day, we golfed (Mari already blogged about the hilarity of THAT) and then we shopped in town before heading to the airport to fly to Hawaii. We had a time traveling experience as we left Fiji at 9 pm on August 6th and landed in Samoa at 11:30 pm on Aug 5th. We continued our flight to Honolulu and landed there at 7 am on Aug 6. :)
Although Mari and I have been together for long enough that most people consider us an old married couple, we decided that we needed a moment together to say our vows, and what better place than on a small island surrounded by palm trees at sunset? So, on August 3rd, after relaxing by the pool for the day, Mari and I dressed in the nicest clothes we had (not exactly typical wedding outfits) and walked out to one of the "islands" near our resort. The stars had aligned and we had the BEST sunset of our trip that night. We set up the camera on a little tripod and took quite a few pictures, said our vows, and exchanged stand-in shell rings (until we find some that we really like). We really enjoyed the moment and then walked to one of the nicer restaurants at the resort for a fancy chinese dinner which finished with delicious coconut fried ice cream. We hope to share the moment with everyone at some sort of reception, but nothing is planned yet.
Partying with the Aussies--
The next day, Aug 4 was spent lounging at the pool again, and then we had reservations at the 2nd resort restaurant where we had a nice dinner (I had Mahi Mahi and Mari had steak) and then as we were waiting to order dessert, we struck up a conversation with three Aussie couples at the table next to ours. They invited us to join them, so we sat and drank wine, talked about rugby and why we had chosen NOT to go to Australia on our trip around the world (they didn't think it was a good decision!). I guess we got a little loud because the staff had to ask us to be quiet and then I guess they asked us to head to the bar when we didn't quiet down enough. At the bar, the couples reunited with some of their children (who had been at kid's club during dinner) and we continued drinking and danced with the kids for a while. I guess I didn't realize how much I had been drinking, thanks to the free-flowing all inclusive wine, and I didn't remember the walk back to our room the next day. I also felt a little rough the next day and although I managed to go MOST of the day without any more drinking, by 2, the Aussie's would have no more of my protests and started handing me diet coke WITH rum instead of my requested diet coke. Aug 5 was our last day at the resort and was rainy all day. We chatted with our new Aussie friends (thanks to their hospitality, we were able to eat lunch even though the hotel had taken our bracelets at 10am during checkout).
At 5:30, the bus picked us up to take us back to Nadi, where we again stayed at the Novotel. Because they remembered us from our 1st night in Fiji, they put us in a nicer room :)
The next day, we golfed (Mari already blogged about the hilarity of THAT) and then we shopped in town before heading to the airport to fly to Hawaii. We had a time traveling experience as we left Fiji at 9 pm on August 6th and landed in Samoa at 11:30 pm on Aug 5th. We continued our flight to Honolulu and landed there at 7 am on Aug 6. :)
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Lazy Bums in Fiji
Well we arrived back in the US yesterday morning and my parents gave us a great greeting but before we talk about that we're try to catch you up on our time in Fiji.
We did get the itinerary to print and everything worked out at the Naviti Resort. In New Zealand we had decided to book at this resort because the reviews were pretty good and it was cheaper than going to another island. We were able to use our credit card reward points to pay for the all-inclusive package at this resort so it was really nice to have that all taken care of and not have to think about how much anything cost! The resort itself wasn't particularly fancy but it was still quite nice and we spent most of our time lounging by the pool anyway. The only trouble with that was that we read so much that we ran out of books and had to buy one and then found a place to trade a couple more!
We did try to do some active things during our time at the Naviti but decided on the first day that we weren't going to do any tours or anything like that and that we'd just be happy to stay put and relax. But since we had the all inclusive package at the resort we could use the sea kayaks for free which we did one afternoon for an hour or so. Of course we weren't content to paddle around the little walled off part of the resort and wanted to go explore the reef area a bit so we headed off down the coast. It wasn't until we were almost back to the resort area that we were met by one of the rec guys telling us we weren't supposed to go there and that the village people could call the police on us! (oops!)
We also went on a few runs on the beach which was a bit of an adventure because of the changing tides and varying stability of the sand, but we did it. We even did a couple of sprint workouts on one particular stretch of beach. We saw that stretch of the beach from the kayak and Michelle goes "oh, there's sprinting beach" as though that was it's official name. =) Oh and we also paid $5 to use tennis rackets and played around for a bit. We were both pretty awful and gave up after a few games and decided to play cooperative tennis and see how many volleys we could get going--it was pretty sad that we could barely get to 10 and our record was 14! I also convinced Michelle to golf with me one day (not til we got back to our first hotel in Nadi) which was pretty hiarious. The course was completely empty and our rented clubs ($5 & no green fees) were half lefty and didn't include a putter, but we had fun anyway. We were both pretty terrible but since I promised Marty I would golf with her for her birthday next week I figured I needed to at least golf once before that since I haven't golfed in over 10 years!
The food at the buffets was pretty decent and we were happy that our first night the buffet was Indian--the dahl soup was the highlight. And after dinner that night they had a kava ceremony show. Michelle and I were staying towards the back when they were giving people kava to drink. Then when it seemed like that part was done we decided it was "safe" to sit on the grass mats they had on the floor to watch the rest of the ceremony. Then next thing we know they say "another round!" and we both had to try it. First you have to clap your hands and then they hand you this little bowl with kava and you have to drink it fast like a shot. It basically tastes like muddy water and then it makes your tongue and mouth feel a little numb.
This post is getting a little long so I'll write more about our time in Fiji in another post or two...
We did get the itinerary to print and everything worked out at the Naviti Resort. In New Zealand we had decided to book at this resort because the reviews were pretty good and it was cheaper than going to another island. We were able to use our credit card reward points to pay for the all-inclusive package at this resort so it was really nice to have that all taken care of and not have to think about how much anything cost! The resort itself wasn't particularly fancy but it was still quite nice and we spent most of our time lounging by the pool anyway. The only trouble with that was that we read so much that we ran out of books and had to buy one and then found a place to trade a couple more!
We did try to do some active things during our time at the Naviti but decided on the first day that we weren't going to do any tours or anything like that and that we'd just be happy to stay put and relax. But since we had the all inclusive package at the resort we could use the sea kayaks for free which we did one afternoon for an hour or so. Of course we weren't content to paddle around the little walled off part of the resort and wanted to go explore the reef area a bit so we headed off down the coast. It wasn't until we were almost back to the resort area that we were met by one of the rec guys telling us we weren't supposed to go there and that the village people could call the police on us! (oops!)
We also went on a few runs on the beach which was a bit of an adventure because of the changing tides and varying stability of the sand, but we did it. We even did a couple of sprint workouts on one particular stretch of beach. We saw that stretch of the beach from the kayak and Michelle goes "oh, there's sprinting beach" as though that was it's official name. =) Oh and we also paid $5 to use tennis rackets and played around for a bit. We were both pretty awful and gave up after a few games and decided to play cooperative tennis and see how many volleys we could get going--it was pretty sad that we could barely get to 10 and our record was 14! I also convinced Michelle to golf with me one day (not til we got back to our first hotel in Nadi) which was pretty hiarious. The course was completely empty and our rented clubs ($5 & no green fees) were half lefty and didn't include a putter, but we had fun anyway. We were both pretty terrible but since I promised Marty I would golf with her for her birthday next week I figured I needed to at least golf once before that since I haven't golfed in over 10 years!
The food at the buffets was pretty decent and we were happy that our first night the buffet was Indian--the dahl soup was the highlight. And after dinner that night they had a kava ceremony show. Michelle and I were staying towards the back when they were giving people kava to drink. Then when it seemed like that part was done we decided it was "safe" to sit on the grass mats they had on the floor to watch the rest of the ceremony. Then next thing we know they say "another round!" and we both had to try it. First you have to clap your hands and then they hand you this little bowl with kava and you have to drink it fast like a shot. It basically tastes like muddy water and then it makes your tongue and mouth feel a little numb.
This post is getting a little long so I'll write more about our time in Fiji in another post or two...
Enjoying the Fijian Tropical paradise
(Well, I guess this post only saved as a draft and didn't actually post from Fiji so here it is)
Just a quick note to let everyone know we arrived in Fiji. We might not have a ton of internet since it looks like the hotel computers are the only option and they are NOT cheap! Plus we're trying to just relax while we're here so not probably not much to write about anyway.
We arrived yesterday at 5 pm and stayed at a hotel near the airport. It was nice, but definitely not a place to stay the whole time. We enjoyed a nice dinner under the palm trees, watched a movie and went to bed. This morning we were up early for a quick breakfast before catching the bus to the Naviti resort. We are in the process of checking in now and for some reason they need us to print our confirmation even though they already have records in their computer, so we're not really sure what's going on. ugh. At least they let us on the computer, right?
Hopefully we'll be lounging by the pool soon!
-M & M
Just a quick note to let everyone know we arrived in Fiji. We might not have a ton of internet since it looks like the hotel computers are the only option and they are NOT cheap! Plus we're trying to just relax while we're here so not probably not much to write about anyway.
We arrived yesterday at 5 pm and stayed at a hotel near the airport. It was nice, but definitely not a place to stay the whole time. We enjoyed a nice dinner under the palm trees, watched a movie and went to bed. This morning we were up early for a quick breakfast before catching the bus to the Naviti resort. We are in the process of checking in now and for some reason they need us to print our confirmation even though they already have records in their computer, so we're not really sure what's going on. ugh. At least they let us on the computer, right?
Hopefully we'll be lounging by the pool soon!
-M & M
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