InterCon Weekend

So after our first delightful resort weekend, I had decided I wanted to get away again for Mother's Day weekend. I had dove my first dive in way to many years the prior week (in my defense the diving in Charleston isn't all that great and we had been landlocked for the last two years) and my ears were still popping, so I wasn't concerned with great snorkeling for this adventure....I wanted nice sandy beaches and no cooking or unpacking to do. We have been told the nicest beach on Viti Levu (the island we call home) is Natadola Beach. A couple weeks prior to Mother's Day, we got an email for a local special at the Intercontiental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa at Natadola Beach. I forwarded the email to Richard and said book it for Mother's day weekend (hey...I wanted to do no work for "my" weekend!), we picked the kids up from school a little early on Friday (must maximize our beachtime!!) and away we went!

Parts of the drive are lovely like this stretch right along the coast. Other parts are super curvy mountain roads and while other parts are slow with giant speed bumps going through villages. There is one village we see some Momma and baby pigs crossing the road every time we drive through it! Given it was Friday afternoon, we hit a good bit of traffic as a lot of people head to visit family in other villages. The drive ended up taking close to 3 hours (we made it home in about 2.5), but being a left hand drive car in a right hand drive country makes passing tricky especially when you become the 4th or 5th car back....

The welcome at the InterCon was great. The greet all guests with the Lali drum and shell leis. We were able to watch the sunset from a porch overlooking the Pacific while checking in among the beautiful flower bowls. They then shuttled us to our room. We dropped our stuff and went to find something to eat. We choose to eat at a cafe by the infinity pool and enjoy what was left of the sunset.

Afterwards, we decided to go check out the beach. Clarissa was smart and put on her swimsuit. Mason was too cool for that and wasn't going to go swimming....

Well you see how well that turned out...lol. We didn't get any pictures of the room, but it had a true garden tub with the bathtub outside on the back porch which was somewhat buffered by a garden. I did pull the curtains across to provide the kids with a little privacy. I had headed back with Clarissa before the boys came back....she was being difficult cooperating with washing her hair....which Richard said he could hear from a good distance away....ooops....

The next morning was beautiful. Richard and Clarissa went for a walk before breakfast to pick up dropped flowers and check out the beach.

They found a beach access closer to our room....it was along an inlet and across the water were some cave looking structures. After we dragged Mason out of bed, we headed to breakfast. Our room rate included the breakfast buffet....we were super impressed with breakfast. Yum! Everyone found lots of options that they liked. We told everyone to eat up since we were planning a late lunch.

Next we headed down to the beach to play....since that was the goal of the trip!

Lots of sand visible (and still hours away from low tide) and so many shades of blue.

Clarissa and I worked on a sand castle and the boys went walking/exploring a bit into the water.

I quickly got summoned to identify what kind of marine organism that was everywhere......

So quiz time.....remember what it was? I posted photos of the kids with the mystery animal a few weeks back...brittle stars!

Clarissa got over her initial 'eeh, its prickly' and started picking them up. I told her to only get ones where you see the main body portion as a lot where hiding in tiny holes and crevices getting ready to really hunker down for low tide.

I seriously could of sat here all day and not gone anywhere....

The pool was beckoning the kids with all of its fountains, water jets, and ledge/seats....so much to explore.

Which was fine, since I had an appointment for a cabana beach massage. I debated between the warm shell and the beach massage. I really enjoy the sound of the water....so beachside won.

While I was getting my massage, Richard got the kids and himself showered and dressed. I then did the same. We then headed out for the afternoon in Nadi. Other than landing and chilling in the airport for about an hour, we haven't spent any time in the other major city on Viti Levu. On the way to the car, the kids picked up some handicrafts they had seen before breakfast for sale by some local ladies. Clarissa got a bracelet and Mason got a mini Lali drum. While waiting for the valet to bring up our car, Mason had some Lali drum lessons on the big full size drum....apparently the beat is not as important as the big Bula at the end....

So we went through Nadi and out to Port Denarau. At the port, they have a shopping center that includes a Hard Rock Cafe, in addition to boats that will take you out to the Yasawa & Mamanuca Islands....which we will venture out to at some point. We had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. Richard was a little disappointed they were not serving any American beers, but otherwise we were all hungry and cleaned our plates....it was good and tasty. We then walked around and did a little window shopping at the souvenir shops...much to the kids' displeasure...we have 2 more years we do not need to buy it all now. We then headed back to the InterCon and made it back just in time for a spectacular sunset!

I attempted to get a nice picture of the two of them....seriously how hard is it to "smile nicely"....apparently insanely hard!

These are just a fraction of my failed attempts....I finally gave up!

And so we went down and "played" chess. Mason knows how to play chess, but Clarissa does not and was not following his directions.....eventually we found our way back to the pool for the rest of the evening.

The next morning after another delicious breakfast and requesting a late check out (benefit of being an IHG member...woohoo), we took the kids to the Planet Trekkers, the kids club. They have set drop of and pick up times, serve lunch (or dinner depending on what time slot you choose), and it does cost per session. The kids were a little hesitant after the last experience....but with a little bribery we convinced them to go. They both said they had a blast....so I guess lesson learned is you get what you pay for....

So while the kids were being entertained and since it was Mother's day, I played the let's do what I want card....lol. So we walked along the beach and I picked up a bunch of pretty shells (Richard found a few of them also).

We then headed over to the adults only infinity pool.

We noticed as the tide went out it was looking more and more doable to walk over and explore the caves. While relaxing in the infinity pool we even saw a few people doing just that. So we walked on over, on the way we found this pretty polka-dotted little fellow.

There were some strong currents towards the middle of the passage of the inlet, but since we hit it close to low tide the water never got much higher than knee deep. It was doable for us, but it would have been tricky to also help the kids navigate across since you couldn't really see where you are stepping and we didn't think to bring water shoes so stepping on shells and broken coral bits hurts a bit.

We could hear crickets chirping as we walked around.

I just couldn't pick one favorite picture.....

Richard was disappointed we didn't find anything super interesting in the tide pools...he was hoping for an octopus or something cool. We did find an anemone which I finally convinced him to touch...still not impressed.

Afterwards, we made it back across the inlet, had some lunch (including fresh tropical smoothies), got cleaned up, packed up, grabbed the kids, checked out, and drove back home. It was a very fun relaxing weekend. With this view and the tasty food, we have already another trip back in the works...

Elephant Princess Party

So back during our post TC Winston days, after our outdoor dinner but before we would bathe the kids and hunker down in the lone ACed room, we would sit outside and watch the bats and chat. It was about two months before Clarissa's birthday but with shipping times I need to order decorations about a month before her birthday and we had nothing better to do....so we started planning her birthday party. I asked the question of what theme. She said elephant...then her and Mason ran with it....and do I mean ran it with it! Elaborate drawings of an obstacle course with a water trap, life-like costumes (not sure who was making those), I think I recall jungle zipline being thrown around.

See...I kid not! I don't know if they were thinking we could rent an elephant like you can rent ponies in the US or what! Given we had nothing else to do and they were getting along....we let them go to town.....so when it was time to place the order for cups and what not, elephant (Clarissa's favorite animal since forever) was still in play....so we picked out a cute girlie pattern. Of course, by the time her birthday came around and she had attended a couple all girl birthday parties (we've hit that age now)....princess was now the theme she wanted....given we had gone girlie elephant and not full on jungle elephant it was workable.

Luckily, you don't need to give much notice locally for parties. Stateside about 2 weeks is somewhat standard notice for birthday parties, here 2-3 days while suffice....which actually worked to my advantage. Once the main living area and Clarissa's room were box free and things stowed away, I went into party planning mode. Wednesday I printed out invites, Thursday she gave them to all the girls in both classes, Friday I got RSVPs, and Saturday we partied! I actually had a bit of fun with the invites. I used the printer to print each girl's name on the envelope in a royal looking font and of course their title.....Princess. For invites, I googled princess invite wording, took wording from several of the search results, put together an invite in powerpoint, and then printed it out on some photo paper I'd gotten free when we'd bought the ink refills.....viola!

For snacks....Clarissa wanted popcorn and sno-cones.....of course. We also had some cut up pineapple and grapes. She wanted doritos, but both grocery stores were completely sold out....so she got potato chips.....oh Fiji! Oddly enough, she choose regular lemonade over pink lemonade.

Elephants not really screaming jungle party here......

Bonus of moving every few years....you don't have to reinvent the wheel...you can recycle games! So while guests arrived we had out the make a necklace or bracelet with beads (complete with elephant shaped beads this year).

I attempted a game where they had to race to one laundry basket and grab a shoe, then run to another basket and like Cinderella's prince find the matching shoe, get them on, then strut their stuff on a red carpet relay type game. I think they were a little young to fully understand the concept. I did have a basket of mixed shoes of my heels and Clarissa's dress up shoes (and another mom's heels....I had to borrow some, I don't have many heels....in the land of flip flops everyday). The girls all went for Clarissa's sparkly dress up shoes....and had fun wobbling in her heels (Clarissa wears them so often she can run...to funny). So I think they had fun....but by the photos it appears they all were just staring at their feet most of the time while waiting on the red carpet for their turn....

Back to another recycled game.....we used the knock out the evil villains game we made for Clarissa's 4th birthday party. She had really enjoyed it, so we kept it and play it occasionally....so when you start planning a party on Wednesday.....you play it again!

I asked which girls wanted to kiss a frog like Princess Tiana and got a lot of 'ewwws'. When I said it was not a real frog they agreed.....Mason drew a giant frog on some poster board and I cut out some kissy lips. It was fun alternative to pin the tail on the donkey....what princess has a donkey? Unfortunately, I didn't get a great photo of the frog...

I think my favorite game was walk balancing a book on your head to practice your proper princess posture! It was cutest thing to see and their facial expressions are just the best!

So what kind of cake do you make for an elephant princess birthday party?!?!?!? You don't!!! I made cupcakes and Clarissa picked out icing colors and we let the girls decorate their own cupcakes!

Note to self: remember to set the buttercream icing out at the beginning of the party...had to microwave it a few seconds to soften it up at cupcake time and another mom helped run it out to the girls while Richard was handing out the cupcakes...oops.

We also had sprinkles (or hundreds & thousands as they are called here), M&Ms, other types of sugar to fully complete the decoration process. Clarissa had been anticipating the decorate your own cupcake so much that as soon as she finished she inhaled her cupcake....I looked over and see this

Lol....all the other girls were still icing....so I quickly grabbed the wrapper and told her to decorate another one but wait for us to light a candle/everyone to sing Happy Birthday. I was talking to a couple of the moms a few weeks later....they hadn't noticed....my secret is safe.....oh wait....

We had a nice sunny day with a lovely breeze which was great during the party.....except when trying to light the candle.....so she blew up out the lighter....it worked.....So in order to hopefully have a mom friend or two after the party, we did a scavenger hunt after sugar time cupcakes. 

It was really hard to find outdoor princess related scavenger hunt clues online....so I had Mason help me come up with some (I've included them at the bottom of the post if you are interested in them). We did try to use things from movies/songs so the girls could guess them. We placed the clues around the yard so they were running back and forth {insert evil laugh}. Mason played scavenger hunt emcee and read the clues out to the girls.

Following the scavenger hunt, Clarissa handed out the goody bags and then the girls played until it was time to go. Some had to leave early and few stayed and played a little longer. She had a blast and I hope all her little princess friends did too. 

As usual....I apologize for some of the odd cropping or face blurring. I don't have all the parent emails to ask permission to post their darling's photos online....the kiddies you do see, I asked first. :)

Now for the really good news. Later the following week, we were able to take all the donations to the Fiji SPCA. They were super grateful! Clarissa donated 8 kg of dog food, 2 cans of soft food, 2.5 kg of cat food, 7L kitty litter, 4 towels, 2 bags of puppy pads, 2 water dishes, 1 bottle of disinfectant spray, 3 dog toys, 1 cat treat, dog waste bags, puppy collar, 3 bottles flea powder, 5 bottles pet shampoo and 3 packages of flea/worm meds! 

Monday's Moment: Polynesian Flying Fox

Suva Municipal Market Tour (also called Fresh Market)

Soon after arriving in Suva, I went to my first American Woman's Association luncheon (AWA) and have since joined. It is a pretty casual group (and you don't have to be American to be a member either). Every month the AWA meets for a lunch. Sometimes it is a potluck, but most months it is at a different restaurant. It allows you to try out different places you might not otherwise encounter or stop at (such as the Cajun restaurant 45 minutes away...probably would not have gone there on a whim...but it was cute and tasty...now I might go back with the hubby).

The AWA does organize some other events, one of which was a tour of the market downtown. So I jumped at the opportunity to go and learn some new things. Richard and I had gone several times, but it is a place we have been warned to be cautious of pickpocketing as it can be very crowded on the weekends. There is an indoor vegetable market that is open Mon-Sat and an outdoor vegetable market that is open Fri & Sat. The outdoor market has farmers from all the small villages from outside Suva come in for the weekend....so you have the best selection of the most fruits and vegetables on Fri & Sat.....as well as the biggest crowds. We met first thing Friday morning, before it got too crowded....it was also a lovely rainy day.

One of the nice things with the tour is we learned the Fijian or Hindi names for the different foods. The first one being bhindi...aka the southern staple okra. We are really enjoying the availability of bhindi after being deprived for two years in Georgia....

Looks like a lime but it is orange inside! (Tastes like an orange too!)

Discovered there was an upstairs! What?!?!?!

Downstairs has more fruits and veggies....

while upstairs has kava, spices, potatoes, onions, garlic, and dried beans. Kava root is prepared as a drink with water and used to "relax without disrupting mental clarity" (or so wikipedia says.....you can learn more about kava there). It is very important to Fijian culture and if you visit a village it is recommend you bring kava root as a gift. I would say about 1/2 the vendors upstairs are selling kava root.

Bags and bags of different types of dhal (lentils).

Back downstairs, we headed to the outdoor section. We learned about a lot of the local greens and their nutritional value (who knew ota...a fern, was so nutritionally dense....not sure if I will buy some to cook with on my own at home though...I can only imagine the kids' faces when they say 'what's that?' as they point to curly greens on their plate and I say 'steamed ferns, eat up').

Uto (breadfruit) grows on trees. It is starchy like potatoes. You can peel it and then cook it just like you cook a potato. I need to try that (but I won't tell anyone and see if they notice a difference)!!

Three lovely sisters we stopped and chatted with for a bit.

Coconuts....yum yum!

We then walked all the way to the back of the market to the fresh seafood area. There was a whole array of fresh seafood here, many of it made into lunch size servings to go.

Dairo....tasty sea cucumber anyone?

While you can't see their eyes watching your every move, the crabs were still alive....another vendor had a large selection of multiple species of crab.

Namakeibelo.....sea grapes. The little white pouch is a coconut milk sauce to serve with them to counter balance the saltiness of the sea grapes.

Back in the vegetable portion, heading towards the flower market we passed a pineapple vendor. I learned a bit about picking the perfect pineapple. Unlike a lot of fruits that continue to ripen after picked, once cut from the plant the pineapple will not ripen any more nor get any sweeter. The ole sniff test is necessary to pick the perfect pineapple. If it smells like a pineapple should taste then it is good one. If it has no scent then it was picked too soon and will not be that sweet. If it smells of fermentation (alcohol), then it has begun to rot and will be bad.

As I mentioned here, I also picked up some flowers for Clarissa's birthday at the market that morning. It was a fun morning and I went home with a bag full of fresh and tasty fruits and veggies.

Edited: I forgot to add how long the string beans are here! Very tasty though!