A Sunday Beach Front Stroll

It has been crazy days 'round here, which is good because it is all about to come to a screeching HAULT in two weeks when the mass exodus off the island occurs. But I am trying not to think about that :) This past weekend was a fun one. On saturday we took it nice and easy, found a yummy burger place (miracles do happen) and got the boys hair "cut", I think butchered is a better word but Chris keeps reminding me that it is only hair and that they don't notice (Pictures of said unnoticeable hair soon to come) after a lazy day we met everyone at the pool as usual around 5 pm. A lot of the Expat community was attending a gala that night to benefit an organization that works with those who are deaf or blind in Timor Leste. An amazing organization and Chris and I would love to support it, if the tickets didn't cost more than it would to put extra ceiling fans in the new house (see told yah it would be all I thought about). We really do want to become more philanthropic but for the next few years until we are no longer a charity case it will have to be donating time and services ha! ANYWAY, after swimming for an hour or so my friend MEredith gets a call that her friend is sick and they won't be using their two tickets would she want them? She then turned around and asked me if I wanted to go with her. We already had a babysitter lined up to go out to dinner so it turned out that Chris hung out with Meredith's husband Jan and us girls headed to the gala. I was apprehensive because yet again I was attending something that I SHOULD be much more dressed up for but brought NO gala type dresses with me (My little sister has been charged with finding me a modest one and mailing it ASAP). Thankfully black is so boring and nondescript I just sort of blended in. It was a lovely evening and the Prime Minister gave a stirring speech about how he donates half his pay check every month to charity's. He then informed us what that exact amount was and I almost choked on my water. Lets just say I didn't know we earned more then double the president of the country. Lots of money was raised and people got progressively drunker so we headed home. It was really great because most of ladies had attended that night sans husbands also so it was a pretty posh girls night out.

The next morning it was gorgeous so we decided to head out with the boys and take a walk down the beach road on the opposite side of the pier from our house. There is a restaurant at the end of the road called Ocean view that we have eaten at right around sunset and just about died at how gorgeous it was and thought we would check how it looks during the day time.
I put Abby in the new sundress I made her (once again no pattern and disgustingly easy) immediately the button popped off (why I don't sell things on Etsy) so the poor girl was safety pinned together :)

Liam and Sam have been really excited about riding in the wagon so we made sure to bring that.

But as soon as Amanda showed up with her bike...

Liam was begging her to trade spots. (I tricked Amanda into wearing the dress I made her by telling her it was a princess dress)

(Liam will now only wear 2 shirts, Superman and Batman. I have actually started LOCKING his closet to keep him from changing MULTIPLE times a day- where does he get that from? ahhhemmME). I really have taken on a whole new attitude toward clothing. The boys dress themselves 100% these days except for Sunday and special occasions... which mean it is like 95% of the time. It makes them happy, gives me less stress and well just works out better for everyone involved. True Liam's shorts are ALWAYS on backwards and usually Sam's shirt it (he likes to be able to see the cool pictures) but who cares seriously, who should I be trying to impress in Timor. I am telling you the fact that they are wearing clothes is good enough :) Anyhoo, the bike has a great handle so you can push but still lets them stear- not so great. Jan actually let amanda go right into the bush's to try and teach her how to stear. Chris's solution was to have a permenant pop oh wheelie

The kids got to see lots of cool things. LIke this mountain of beer bottles:

I wonder if they can recycle those here? I also said hilarious things I never thought I would like "Sam don't ride your bike into the goat" and "Liam look at that HUGE pig next to that baby"

How cute is that tiny baby! I just wanted to take her home and feed her. When we passed by on the way back she was sleeping in here:

Oh my goodness!! And you know those round pieces of wood and a stick that they have at colonial Williamsburg to represent toys from times gone by? Well they are still TOTALLY the rage here... only they use tires

Once we got to the restaurant we saw the owner giving all the locals children juice and ice creams. How sweet is that. It made me want to support him all the more

Amanda wanted a coconut which is ALWAYS hilarious to watch a child try and drink

Then we headed back this time walking on the beach for a little bit. But bikes

and wagons

are tall orders to pull and push through the sand. I think Adrienne had the best idea being all nice and snuggly in her carrier.

I love that even super simple things like taking a walk are such an adventure here. I don't know how many times a week I look at Chris and say "Can you believe how crazy our life is?" 99% of the time it is crazy AWESOME but every now and then those "Dili Days" sneak in and I suffer from massive island fever. Thankfully we only have just over 100 days until Italy and Egypt... Maybe on my next Dili Day I will make a paper chain to count down. That would eat up a good chunk of time and cover the majority of our living room HA!