Ethan looking dapper in his new sulu as we head off to the school church service last Sunday.

Some snaps of the Great Wall of Suva! Tony bet me that Dad would last 3 days here before he started an outdoor project and it had been exactly 3 days when he announced that he would be building a wall for Ethan to hit a tennis ball against! 72 trips to the hardware (not really) and a few sleepless nights later, HERE IT IS and Ethan is on his way to Wimbledon!

Groundwork

Ethan never too far away from the action

Finished just before the rain came -how good is that?!!

Happy 39th birthday- Fiji style!

Birthday celebrations at local Teppanyaki restaurant

The highlight of Ethan's night.

We just had a wonderful 2 weeks with my parents -here from Sydney! It went way too fast, but was very refreshing and we loved it all. We spent a few days away over the middle weekend, but other than that they just got to see the kids school, visit our church, see where we shop and how we live. Oh and...build a wall of course, so that Ethan can practice his new found love of tennis. It's a beauty! Here are some photos of their time here. The tennis wall will get it's own post.

150 redskins and a pilates dvd...I can already tell you which will be get better use!

Dad and Ethan playing tennis at uni campus

Dad on a bus loving the Fijian music

Girls at dusk

Being serenaded for our 15th anniversary at the same place we had our honeymoon...few more kids this trip!

Kids taking a ride on the banana boat

Hannah's photography -worthy of a postcard don't you think?

Taking off -parasailing

Mum and Dad enjoying Happy Hour

We had a lovely and very unexpected surprise -which was a visit from friends we hadn't seen in about 15 years -the Dobbies! Craig was the youth minister at the church we grew up in and was a major influence in Tony growing as a Christian and deciding to go into full time Christian ministry. He also preached at our wedding. It was fantastic seeing him and Louise again -and their teenage daughters who we used to babysit(!)

Holidays

We've just come to the end of our 2 week school holidays. It's been very strange without our Hansie girl, but we love knowing she's having fun with her friends and grandparnets and cousins etc.(ok, Tony and I love it...can't exactly say the same for the other two " stuck in Suva", but hey!) She's ticked off all the things she wanted to do and will head off to CMS Camp MMM tomorrow for her final week.

Meanwhile we have been having a quieter time of it here.Tennis and dog walking on dry days and playstation and milkshakes on the wet days. Holidays make us very aware of the fact that we can't just pop in on grandparents or meet friends at our favourite Sydney parks and cafes. But we have loved walking the dog at sunset with the mountains in the background. We have found the best lime thickshakes at the Mango Cafe. We have also found a great Adventure Park with flying fox, high ropes etc.. Oh and Ethan has become obsessed with tennis, which my Dad will enjoy with him when they come back on Saturday with Hannah...6 sleeps to go. Oh and we just got home from another dinner with the Year 13 youthworks team from Sydney. There are 94 teenagers here from Australia who are thinking about mission work in the future. It has been fun meeting them and answering their questions....even the 19 year old that I quickly realised I used to babysit when she was 2.....I'd felt so young and hip up until then...disappointing.

Heading into town for the movies

Adventure Park-raring to go!!

Soph on left, Eth on right and mum on solid ground sweating..

Viewing area to watch them come through on the flying fox

Tennis lessons down the road at the university

Dinner with Year 13 team

Exciting times around here with Hannah heading over to Sydney for a couple of weeks to see family and friends and go to CMS Camp MMM!! Thanks to our very generous parents! Its only been a day and we are all finding it very strange without Hannah here, but happy for her that she gets to do 2 weeks worth of fun stuff.We're keeping pretty busy though -kids doing tennis and art classes in the hols. In between playstation and episodes of Horrible Histories of course. The photos of Soph in her dance costume are for Hannahs sake as Soph said " I cant believe Hannah isnt here to see me go to my dress rehearsal" ha,ha!

Waiting at the airport before Hannah headed off.

A bushwalk and sand walk at the Sigatoka Sand Dunes on the way home from Nadi

Managed to squeeze in a quick swim before the rain came

Racing down the hill

Hanging out with some missionary friends from California who also help with the prison ministry

Seriously the Worlds Cutest Baby!!

Soph heading off to dress rehearsal

Farewell dinner with some Aussies who are going home after 6 months of helping with prison ministry.

Dolls and shopping games for the little ones...

.....and darts outside for the older kids!

A beautiful moment between Tony and Buddy..

The beginnings of Hannah's artwork

and the finished product!! SO good.

The other day when I was hanging out the washing a nervous looking probably 6 year old kid poked his face through our face asking for one of the guavas off our tree. I grabbed a few and passed them through the fence and the kid immediately started to eat them like an apple. Word got around and the next day he came back...with the other 10 kids he lives with! Ethan thought it was the best thing ever! Any shyness or lack of confidence was gone and Eth suddenly found himself taking orders and climbing pretty high up to get the ones they wanted. He realised that it was every man for himself and the littlest girl was actually missing out. Ethan would have none of this. His new approach is to pick the guavas on his own, cut them in half, get the kids in pairs and hand them their share in an orderly and civilised manner. If anyone has a problem with this, he/she will miss out. Simple. He's a thinker!

Ethan with his gang of hungry customers

Taking charge of the guava situation.