Tonga 2011

Too much to say, too many pictures.

We had a fab time.  Tui loved being in his zone with his peeps, I loved not having to cook or clean, the boys loved all the dogs and kids and food and treats and hugs and riding in the car without a seatbelt.

Everytime I go to Tonga I leave feeling very different about the "Western world".  The first time we went I felt really guilty for being so greedy and selfish and having so much.  This time I came away really, really grateful for the conveniences we have - constant running water, a fridge, supermarkets, a fully automatic washing machine, a government system that functions and cares.  All the simple things I take for granted.

All that aside, it was such a great trip, so sad to leave.  Tui's family, and Tongans in general, are so overly generous and hospitable.  We're hoping to be back May 2013 to welcome Tui's brother home from his mission, and hopefully go out and visit the other island where Tui grew up - a REAL island experience.

Now, brace yourself for a very small (yet still really large) taste of the 1000's of pictures I took.

Having a jam session with Grandpa.

At LHS (Malachi was busting to go toilet)

Outside the Tongan Temple.

Vili spent most of his time eating. This kid could not get enough of anything.

Malachi was really excited to make a fire (he keeps asking to do one at home, but we have a fire ban during summer). He even brought marshmellows from NZ to use over there. Every day he helped collect the leaves and burn them. Daddy showed him out to make a fire with coconut shells, which I was really impresssed with.

Malachi loved all the little Tongan kids. He would speak his pretend tongan to them and they thought he was hilarious.

And of course we spent a ton of time at the beach. It amazed me how beautiful the beach is there, crystal clear water like from a postcard. And since Tongans only swim when it's dark or raining, we had full run of the beaches during the day when it was sunny.

The boys, who were both previously terrified of dogs, over came that fear pretty quickly, thanks to Grandma's dozen. In the end they adopted "No" as their own. They would take her for walks every morning, Vili was always stealing food to give to her. And since we've come home, Malachi pretends he's No all the time.

It was the first time Tui's parents had met Vili, and they hadn't seen Malachi since he was one.

Tui got a chance to prove that he still had the island skills. He even taught us how to scrape the coconut.

I was one happy pregnant person with all the fruits etc we got to eat. And with watermelons being $1 a pop, we ate them alllllll the time.

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