Planning our Week

Most days we try to have something planned to keep the kids entertained but today we pretty much spent the day planning our week. We walked to a place to set up a time for outrigger canoe rides but no one was there.

I went to do a load of laundry with Nolan and Gretta. The kids were big hits with the Marshallese kids. They were intrigued with Nolan's orange hair and braces..not a look you see everyday here. He would make a weird face and they would all giggle like crazy. He told me it was like having a conversation where everyone listens and thinks you are great :) There was a real sweet girl who sat by Gretta who had the holiest shirt I had every seen. So I sent her home with one of Gretta's sundresses and she was so excited. The kids played tag with the group of Marshallese kids while I washed.

We are renting a van tomorrow to drive to Laura beach again. The were out of cars so we get a van, not a mini van but I was told "a big van". Not sure what to expect- but we invited the other family here since we will have a large van. So we are going to pile in- 4 adults and 6 kids and drive to the beach. We are bringing along garbage bags and cleaning up a bit there. Also picnicing and swimming.

Al went over to the tattoo place to set up time on Wed to get a new tattoo over his old one on his arm (yes it is sanitary moms).

Thur we are going on a boat trip to Eneko island again. It was paradise and we have nothing else going on so why not! Our friends will be joining us.

Friday we are going to Hazel's birth families home to visit and see where she lived for the 1st 3 months of her life. We are exicted to see this for her and we will have Maddy from our adopting agency with us to translate for us. We have lots of questions about the family that we want to ask to document for her. We also have a ton of gifts for the birth mom, Hazel's 6 siblings and grandparents.

Word on the street is our mini van keys are here! We are going to take our big ole van to pick them up tomorrow! Whoo hoo- these better not get flushed!

Info on our routine here- kids have chores that are amuzing to me. The toilet tanks do not refill about 75% of the time after flushing. So Nolan's job is to refill the toilet tanks with water from our shower by using the ice buckets several times a day. He really likes this job. Not sure why. Gretta is our dishes girl- she drys them for us and she also nannys for Hazel. Emmitt...well his job is to keep the toys cleaned up. He has been actuallly doing it too which is great. We have a rule anytime we leave the room it has to be clean incase the maid comes so then he runs around and puts away all toys.

And to my Johnsonville friends- I am not sure how these got here- I know we do not have any Marshallese customers but there was one lonely pack of Johnsonville Sweet Italian in the freezer section at the Island Market here. I had to take a pic. They were right next to the Filfoods Tocino what every that may be.

Hazel is doing really well. She fit into the family very easily and it seems like we have had her longer than we have. She has had a lot of changes this week. From the people caring for her, being in an air conditioned hotel, new bottles/formula, new smells and language. But she is doing well. She lovs to have people just sit and talk to her and she tries to talk back and smiles at you. We have her wet cry, hungry cry and all the other little cries all figured out. She went from drinking 1 oz every 2-3 hours to drinking 5 oz every 4 hours and going 7 hours of sleep at bedtime. We are getting her on a good routine..which I am sure will fall apart when we travel home and have the time changes!