Awesome Weekend

Satruday we went to John's boss's house for a party they were having for some (all?) of the newcomers. It was a BBQ/pool party. We brought the kids' swim stuff and let them get in the pool. Unfortunately for the people who were there for the BBQ it started raining - hard. It did stop long enough for most of us to eat, but then started up again. I sat at the table that the Deputy Chief of Mission (currently the Charge d'Affairs because we can't get our Ambassador confirmed) and her husband sat at. It was fun to talk to her, it was all very easy, she's nice. It's so nice to be at a smaller post again where the mood is calmer and less formal. We left the party after Coen (the youngest) pulled a candle down and got wax all over his head. Well, we left after the Consul General's wife, Lucy, and I cleaned most of it out of his hair. But of course, it was raining. So Malachi started crying because he didn't want to get wet after he'd dried off from swimming in the pool. We were a tired bunch at that point. :)

Sunday we all got up and moving early. We had a plan to go to a beach at a resort called Frenchman's Cove. There was a large group on a bus, but we decided to drive. And I'm really glad we did. Our drive was about half the time of the bus. On the way Coen had to poop, so Johnathan stopped and took him to the grass on the side of the road to poop, but Coen just cried and wouldn't poop. So then we got back in the car and when we were about 30 minutes from our destination Simon vomited. We thought this might happen because he did it on the way down from Baguio (a small city in Northern Luzon (the island we lived on in the Philippines)). So we came prepared with bags and wipes. However, Lucy couldn't get the bag to Simon quick enough because she was holding Coen who was sleeping on her. Luckily for us (less so for Lucy), Lucy brought a blanket and it caught most of the vomit. Eventually she got him the bag, Johnathan stopped and he finished in that. We cleaned him, Lucy, and the car up a bit and then made it to our destination.

I couldn't help myself. 

And it was wonderful. The beach at the resort was small, but beautiful. The sand was white and fine. There were only tiny little shells that didn't hurt to walk on. It wasn't a rocky beach, only some seaweed toward the shore. Beyond that, it was glorious. Next to the beach was the mouth of a river. The river runs right to the ocean, and at the mouth of it, is another little cove with very shallow water (except a tiny spot that's deeper than I am tall), that was perfectly calm and perfect for the kids to play in. So that's what they did. They spent hours in the mouth of that river. They loved it.

The dark part under the tops of the trees is where
the mouth of the river was. 

Since we were at a resort, there were waiters and we had access to their restaurant and bar. The food wasn't half bad, and the rum punch was good! We were there with quite a few friends, and it was a really good time. The bus left and then we left, and we took a different route home. The kids all slept for a while, and then after waking up I was scared that Simon would get sick. He didn't though! He lasted the whole way home and the whole evening without vomiting (woohoo!). I felt especially good because I was the one who drove home.

Look at the beautiful colors!