A Visitor

We had a wee visitor this afternoon...a very friendly parrot. I think he may belong to the neighbours as he has some wire around his ankle. Thomas one of our security guards has decided he needs to catch one for the kids as a pet!!

Just the kids looking happy & healthy

Well this is just to prove the kids are doing fine. We have had our moments with school, Millie's skin, infected sores and just adjusting to a different life & place but as you can see today at the beach the kids were all looking and feeling great.

Tobias decided he wanted you to think he was asleep - goodness knows why. Who can understand the mind of a 2 year old

Smoko

The afternoon Carl and Max have been busy tidying up the section - Carl with his weedeater and Max the bush knife.
Was pretty hot work but nothing that climbing one the coconut trees to get us all a drink couldn't solve.........in case you're wondering Max did the climbing not Carl!!!!

The Book Worm

In the last week something has just clicked with Poppy's reading and as they say , she is away laughing. Today at the beach she was happy to sit under a tree and read her chapter book!!! She has never been the most self contained player so to see her happily entertaining herself with a book is AMAZING!!!

We have found a few Aussie Bites & Nibbles books at the 2nd hand book shop. They have fast become her favourite and she thinks she has to get the full collection now - all 128 books!!!!

Tile Mania

Most of our house is very tasteful but I thought you may like to see the ensuite bathroom. I think I counted 9 different tiles - shapes, sizes and colour. It is a symphony of colour and pattern. You wouldn't want to spend too much time in there if you had a crook tummy

Carl the Frogman

This photo is in response to Suzy's complaint that their weren't many photos of Carl on the blog!!!! YOU asked for it Suz!!!

There is fabulous snorkling 10 minutes out of town where a Japanese WW2 Transport ship was sunk 65 years ago this month. It sits barely 20 metres from shore. In total there are over 35 US and Japanese warships and submarines sunk in the bay out from Honiara so has been aptly named Iron Bottom Sound.

The fish and coral life that thrives in these wrecks is worldclass.

Tobias was just happy to play in the beach.

In house hair braiding

We thought paying $20 to get your hair braided was good. Now we discover Cathy can do it for free. It was all a bit much for Millie who fell fast asleep!!!!

Cathy's father is a hilarious guy who tells great stories. Amazingly he did his training as an electrician in NZ and spent time at Linton and even a few days in Taupo during winter!!!!! He loves to greet us with Kia ora!!!!

He has invited us to join his family for church on Sunday at their local SSEC Church. I doubt its one where any expats turn up at as its in Borderline suburb a poorer suburb so we are looking forward to that!!!!

Compound 75

We are well settled and unpacked in our new house. We have a great landlord who is a Solomon Island guy who has built most of the house himself. We have been very blessed with lots of lovely new furniture - most made with fabulous native timber.

We have 3 very earnest security guards who take their jobs extremely seriously. They have to record hrly their activities in a log book. It sure makes entertaining reading. Usually it says something along the line of "all safe and secure under my good command. Nothing lost from this compound in hour" Occasionally you may get an entry "mrs carl arrived suddenly. " or perhaps "all is good under my control except the rain makes it very bad"

When Stephen - one of the guards - arrived today he told Carl he was going to have a swim as his body was very hot. Carl envisaged all sorts of activities since we don't have a pool but it turned out he just meant a shower!!

New email address

Hi there everyone,
We have a new email address. While we will still be checking our NZ one and you can use my work one this is our new home and family address. Drop us a line
carlandshaz@solomon.com.sb

Introducing Cathy

We have a wonderful new addition to the Thurston Team. Cathy is a lovely 18 year old girl from Malaita.

Her Mum is the cleaner/tea lady where I work and she organised Cathy to work for us. Cathy is extremely hard working and keeps our house looking ship shape. She also loves playing with the kids so is going to be a great babysitter and is simply a delight to have around the place.

As unemployment is extremely high she is thrilled to have a job and we just hope we can help her and her family by sharing some of what we have been blessed with.

Carl is certainly pleased with the new arrangement.......but what does an at home parent do if he doesnt have to do the housework I ask!!!!!

Solomon Girls - 2

The Solomon Girls

Today was a special day at Woodford. It was the culmination of a week of cultural activities where each class participated in a cultural show. Both Poppy and Millie's class had practiced during the week, learnt about their specific province and made crafts and costumes for the day. I was so proud that the girls got involved wearing their costumes and learning their songs.

It was all a bit much for Millie on the day and I think a tired wee girl just thought it was all too much to get on stage with drums going and hundreds watching.

Poppy got up with her class and performed their item from Makira Province. A big achievement when at the beginning of the week she was reasonably distraught at the mere thought of it.

It was an awesome week and great to see kids from all over the world getting involved in celebrating Solomon Island culture including 2 little kiwi girls from Taupo

Our Gear arrives

For those of you who saw our crates in Taupo - this is them at the end of their journey.

Everything arrived safely and Carl managed to find a truck and some guys to help get them to our new place. With 3 security guards to carry everything up the stairs it sure seemed easier to unpack them than pack them.

I was totally amazed nothing was damaged or broken at all.

Now we ask ourselves why we brought this that and the other.

Millie turns 4 in Honiara

Millie turned 4 last Wednesday.

For the 1st time she can say she had a hot birthday and went swimming.

Thank you for everyone who sent birthday wishes. She had a lovely day - a pile of pressies that came with us, a birthday cake that Carl organised and we all went out for dinner. After school I knocked off work early and we all went for a swim at the Honiara Hotel.

It seemed as soon as she was 4 she felt she could cope with kindy so has been heaps better this week.

Millie is doing great here - she is not phased by bugs or creepy crawlees & enjoys interacting with the Solomon Islanders she meets. The market is often a dirty, smelly, hot and busy place but Millie doesn't mind. She enthusiastically comes to buy her peanuts and bush lime and answer the endless questions of what is your name and how old are you?

School Uniforms

The kids attend Woodford International Primary School. It is not as flash as it sounds but seems to be a nice community. This week they are having cultural week so learning all about different aspects of Solomons including crafts, language, dance, food. Both the girls get to perform a traditional dance in costume with their classes at assembly on Friday. Poppy has been learning about Makira Province and was excited to tell me.."Mum they people in Makira ate other people in the olden days!!!!!"

School uniforms aren't too flash and Millie's shorts have since been passed onto Poppy for PE .Bubu In Brisbane has made some that fit her a bit better and sent them up. Hats are total glam though aren't they. Poppy also gets to wear a dark green skort and checked top which looks quite smart.