Birthday's that go on and on and on!!

Perhaps because I am trying to compensate for being a working Mum, and with Dad away in another country on Millie's birthday..... the celebrations seem to have gone on and on.
We started with family dinner out before Carl left for PNG, Millie then had a cake to school to share with friends, movie and dinner at friends on the night of the birthday, a special breakfast this morning at home and then a fabulous swim and lunch at the Mendana today. Somewhere in the middle there were a pile of pressies....and we still have a party with her school friends when Carl gets back to supervise!!!!! You can't tell me middle kids always miss out.!!!!!

Amelia Sage Thurston ...........on turning 5

Millie Turns 5 (well nearly!!!)

Well our pint sized Millie is nearly turning 5. As Carl heads off to PNG today for a month we had the family celebrations last night going out for dinner to the Mendana.

Was a night of mixed cultural encounters with Millie being nabbed by a visiting party of Japanese and the Japanese Hotel manager who thought she would make a cute addition to their dinner party and photos... and an unexpected concert of Micronesian and Melanesian dance groups.

Yes...Millie is still pint sized, but is a very gusty and courageous young lady........never shy to give something a go or bowl up to strangers. She very much like's to control proceedings. We have a family tradition that on your birthday other family members must take the opportunity to tell you what they love about you. Millie instructed us that we were to all tell her exactly FOUR things...no more no less. When you had done your 4 your turn was over and it was "next person please!!

Turning 5 doesn't trigger any big changes on the school front like NZ. She is already doing 5 full days at school in the Preschool class doing all the stuff you do when you start school in NZ.

Now when you are 5 in the Solomon Islands you are allowed to drive home (with Dad's assistance of course!!) - well this is Carl's story. So Millie's favourite part of the night was taking the wheel of the car down our dirt road and driving us safely (???) home.

As Millie was nodding off to sleep she whispered to me "Mum don't tell anyone but Dad was really helping me to drive"

Dolphin Tricks

In Iron Bottom Sound, right near the middle of town a local business man is keeping dolphins he has captured ready for sale on the international market. Today Tobias and Carl kayaked by to check them out. It is literally right in front of my work and my office is immediately to the left of the photo of Tobias next to the visible building.

They currently have 25 dolphins in a netted off area (and 2 crocodiles in a cage on shore)........ and if you don't think about the fact that these are wild dolphins now in captivity they provide a great show of jumping and prancing around. Both boys were delighted with the show.

30th Anniversary Independence Day

Bouncy castles in the Tropics are hot work

Our favourite stall - a tree hut

Checking out the chickens and ducks

Millie finds a friend

You better enjoy it after a 45 minute wait in a queue of 100 people!!

Today is probably the most important day in the Solomon Island calendar - Independence Day!!! Most vehicles have the National Flag flying on them, the roads are decorated with flags, there are royal visitors (the Kent's I think???) and everyone flocks to the trade show!!!!

The trade show is a weird phenomena - a couple of hundred leaf houses spring up over a period of 2 weeks and every group, business, organisaion has a stall of sorts. Most are tediously boring with little to show but some are great. There are talent quests everywhere, lots of singing groups and bands, lots of dust and lots of hot and sweaty people!!!! The trade show seems to inevitably get extended ...this year going for 2 weeks!!!
We have a huge Ministry of Finance Stall - probably the flashest leaf house in the entire show .....and I'm not sure what for!!! Staff love it though....they get to hang out there chatting to friends (if not interested public). Really its dead time for us at work but every government department seems to have representation...so must we.

Our favourite stall was a fabulous tree hut built by the King Solomon Hotel...all decked out as a hotel room. Was fabulous and probably the coolest spot in the show with a breeze flowing through it. Bouncy castles never seem to lose their appeal either.

So this show was for us was balloons that burst before you got home, candy floss that we lined up for 3/4 hr behind 100 people (no exaggeration at all!!!) , slushy drinks, and a great bouncy castle. A crowd favourite was a horse - a very rare sight in the Solomons. Just the sight of it had the crowd in stitches of laughter.

Well we have another day off tomorrow - yes not only does the trade show get extended but so do the stat holidays. Imagine the uproar in NZ or Aus from employers if that happened. .......but we'll enjoy a day at the beach I think.

Vanuatu le Vista

We have just returned from a 10 day holiday in Vanuatu with good friends the Keir's from Taupo. After a few hiccups to start with ( ie: we ended up overnightin in Fiji because of weather and then got bumped off our flight to Santo due to an airline stuff up!!!!) we arrived at our resort in Espiriti Santo.

The weather was considerably cooler than the Solomons but a lot hotter than Taupo so we were all happy with more mild weather than we were use to!!!

The resort was a lovely spot with bungalows right on the beach and a fabulous restaurant.
All went too fast but we managed to fit in a pile of activities including Carl going for 2 dives one on the Coolidge - the largest in tact wreck. We snorkled, ate, horse trekked, ate, explored, ate, swam, ate, kayaked and boated. The kids even got a chance to feed sharks and turtles.

One day we hired a van but when we turned up it was a double cab ute so in Melanesian style we climbed on the back and had a great trip up the coast. Millie's favourite part of the holiday!!!!!!!

Poppy loved the horseriding as it was her first chance to ride a full size horse alone...she was smitten and Carl is hoping it is a vet in the making!!!!!

The kids loved catching up with their wonderful friends and within seconds had forgotten their fear of "what will we talk about Mum????"

Back to the real world again although an extra long weekend of 4 days has been declared for the 30th Independene celebration so I dont have to go to work until Wednesday.

Thanks to Chad and Christina for a great holiday. Was lovely to catch up again and enjoy some fun times together

Heading back to Vila


Hanging out at the Vila markets

Exploring Espiriti Santo

The Blue Hole

We Hired a Van...but got a double cab ute ...for 10 of us!!!!!

Horse Treking in Santo

Poppy rode alone and loved it

Aore Resort - Santo

Hanging out at Santo

Vanuatu le Vista

The Resort in Port Vila


At last catching up with the Keirs in Santo