And Back to the beach pictures....

So I heard it snowed in UT for Easter... yeah we did not have that problem here. Christopher's work gets all American AND Timorese holidays off-- it is AWESOME. On Good Friday while the majority of people (keep in mind Timor is 95% Catholic) was at Mass, the Crawford's and the Heimstra's headed to the beach. We had heard of a really good one south of Dili Rock and thought we would check it out. The only instructions we could get from ANYONE was "You just go on that road for 45 minutes and then your there." Seriously that is what several different people said. So we loaded up the cars and started driving. It was a gorgeous drive. I didn't want to make us stop on the way to the beach and hold up Jan and Meredith but I couldn't wait for the drive back when I could stop every ten feet and take a picture haa! After about an hour of driving we still hadn't seen anything that resembled an awesome beach.. I mean all the beaches are pretty nice but nothing had jumped out to make us stop. I mean I wanted to stop at this place:

but since we were plum out of repelling gear for the kids... Imagine the snorkeling around that rock:

I suggested putting the kids in the huge tupperware storage thing we haul everything to the beach in and just sending them flying down the hill. I loved Chris's response "Yeah but then how would we get back up?" Haaaa! As if that was the real problem not our children flying down the side of a mountain towards this tree:

(Don't let the zoom lens fool you, we were up HIGH and it was STEEP). We got back in the car and decided to head on. The thing about Timor is they REALLY need A president like Roosevelt because this country needs ROADS-- I mean BAD. They are awful. They go up and down and over and around and are all chunked up. We kept saying "well lets see whats around the next bend". Finally I was afraid we were going to reach the border so we decide to unload and hike down not quite as steep a hill to what we dubbed Cactus Beach. Abby and I LOVED it:

I bet everybody 20 bucks that Liam would get himself covered in prickers from these guys before the day ended:

(I owe everyone 20 bucks, he was great and stayed away-- thankfully). Since we had been sun burned so bad at Dollar Beach Chris wisely ordered a sun shade tent and it came just in time.

The water near us at Caz Bar and Dollar Beach is very warm, almost uncomfortably so. It was nice and cool here. The boys and Amanda went straight in and then spotted a butterfly (they are EVERY where down here) and decided to chase it

What is so funny about kids chasing things is that they never know what to do when they actually catch it. The other night there was a HUGE toad in our driveway and Liam and Sam were laughing hysterically while trying to get it. The laughing turned to crying and freaking out though when Liam actually stepped on it and caught it. Anyway, Chris taught the boys how to boogie board on their little inflatable rafts

Sam got pretty good and could ride the little waves all the way in. Which was surprising because he is WAY more cautious in the water then Liam.

Then again Liam spent the majority of his time sitting on Jan's back or eating sandwich's and dropping them in the water. It was hilarious because he would drop the sandwich and then try to grab all the soggy pieces to shove in his mouth. He couldn't care less that they were soggy he just didn't want them to get away.

We played around and ate and swam and it felt like only 20 minutes but 2 ours flew past when Jan commented that the tide was rising. It is such a good thing he noticed because by the time we had packed up and hiked back up the hill we were almost under water! On the drive back the kiddos zonked and Meredith and I were able to pick up some baskets from this little town that is apparently well known for their weaving.

The Heimstras then headed off while I made Chris stop at all of the cool places I wanted to grab pictures. Like this old, one would think but could not be certain, abandoned school:

which was right on a cliff over looking the ocean and next to this little old church

The nun was out front sweeping up after morning mass. They just gather together palm fronds and use them as brooms. I have no idea how they do it but it works pretty effectively. We went through a town that I guess was the head quarters or something for the Portuguese when they were ruling. They had this HUGE gorgeous mansions that I would have LOVED to have seen during their hay day:

The park at the center round about had this cool arch way with a boat on the other side... to bad I don't know what the inscription on the plaque says

This one in particular I REALLY wanted to hack through the bushes to get closer to but I was in a sundress with flimsy flip flops and afraid of what was IN the bushes so I just stood on our car instead.

Building here in Timor is hard due to the lack of trees that yield Lumber appropriate for building. Every now and then you will see these amazing loan trees

I guess we are coming to the end of the rainy season and soon everything will be dead and brown so we are enjoying the green while we can

It is my goal to take a picture of the kids at the Landmark that defines each place we visit (ie. the colosseum in Rome or the Pyramids in Egypt, both of which we are visiting this fall woo hoo!) In Timor I would have to say they are these hut type structures. I know they have a specific name I just don't know what. We got the kids out of the car, dragged them away from the hundreds of goats that were wandering, got them set up, took one picture and my battery died- DANG IT. The picture is okay and its not like we are going anywhere soon right?

I of course like the black and white better and Chris actually agreed with me on this one, so maybe it will be a black and white themed endeavor...

Oh I almost forgot, so the house around the street from us that is covered in Wallpaper is NOT in the minority. A TON of houses here are like that. There was a gorgeous little girl sitting in front of this one but when I hoped out to take a picture she RAN back to her own house. I was so bummed but didn't want to chase her down and drag her back haa! So it is just the house

Most of them are actually a little nicer then this one but I loved the orange windows. Chris is talking to the Embassy translator to see if he will come with us to talk to the family that lives near us and see if we can trade taking a picture of their family in front of their house for a printed copy of the picture (It is rare to have actual photos here). I am REALLY hoping that transpires, but we'll have to see!