Happy Birthday Vai! (on August 1st)

This post is late because we are still recovering from Vai's big birthday blow out bash. 65 people were on hand to help Vai celebrate his 6th birthday ! (We threw celebration for Tata's citizenship as a side note!) I couldn't believe how many people were there but when we started doing guest list we couldn't leave anyone out. This is when I acknowledged one of my son's gifts; he is a great friend. He will make friends with anyone and everyone. I hardly ever see him exclude anyone when playing with friends. Vai loves people, he is extremely social and likes to be with his friends. This also includes his siblings. He is a great older brother. Especially to his younger brother. I often see Vai trying to console him when he is upset. I remember one day when the baby had gotten hurt and Vai beat me to him was sitting there giving him a hug and telling him that it was going to be o.k. We have given Vai several nicknames, the "BIG TALKER" is one because he loves to tell stories. He would fill your head with stories all day and night if he could. We laugh at the fact that he is usually the first one up and as he walks into our room early in the morning, ribbing the sleep out of his eyes, the mouth is already going. He likes to reason and debate with people. For this reason Tata calls him the "Bush Lawyer"! I am sure it has something to do with the fact that I tease Tata about being from the bush, so he said that his son is now a bush lawyer. It is rare that Vai won't try to reason with you when you ask him to do something that he doesn't want to do. Often he will try to make deals so that he can do as little as possible then either we will do the rest or he will come up with something that he thinks is easier. He is mastering the art of negotiation. He has a great laugh and a great smile. Sometime a sneaky devilish smile but we love it. Vai is getting to be a very tall boy. He is only 6 and comes up to my armpit two more years and he will be taller than me! Then I am in trouble. I am excited to see him start school this year and all the new thing he will experience. He is a great leader and was so helpful in his preschool class last year. I know he will be the same way when he starts school in a couple of weeks. I am excited to see all the new changes and things he will experience. Thank you for being in our family Vai!

Still partying it up the morning after!

Thank you for being a friend

I am not ashamed to admit that I love the Golden Girls! It is and will always be one of my favorite TV shows. So with the recent passing of Estelle Getty, I've been thinking a lot about that show and how the humor got me through many challenges in life. I watch the re-runs daily now. Sophia was the incredible spitfire old lady I hope to be! I've haven't met to many people who have my passion for this show. Only Lyllah an old roommate from college, she was my "golden girls buddy." We would always make sure we were home in time to catch the daily episode and no matter what our mood, after watching the show we were smiling. I know it hasn't been on for decades but I still feel sad that one of my "golden girls" is gone!

Here are some of my favorite Sophiaims:

Sophia: Jealousy is a very ugly thing, Dorothy! – And so are you, in anything backless.

Sophia: When I turn my hearing-aid up to ten, I can hear a canary break wind in Lauderdale!

Another Family Wedding

This weekend we made a very quick trip down to southern California for my cousin Lani's wedding! I am so glad we went, just Girly and I (along with Grandpa and Uncle E). The boys stayed home with Tata. Here are some photos of the special day...

Girly and mommy waiting outside the Redlands Temple for the bride and groom!

Here's the new couple: Lani and Ryan. Isn't she beautiful?

Sweet kisses

Girly and the beautiful bride!

Lani with her older sister Carly and Carly's daughter Emma. Carly has been such a wonderful sister especially filling in the role of mother of the bride. Their mom recently passed away. Carly is an amazing example of strength to me. I just loved capturing this picture of the three of them. I know they have a special bond.

A Different Kind of Tag

I saw this on a few blogs. It's always fun to reminisce.


1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!


2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Plus I am dying to know who is reading this blog... it makes me bummed when I don't have any comments and then I go to friends blogs they have 37 comments! So boost my self esteem and leave a comment Please, please. See what you have reduced me to? I am now begging!

It finally came out

I have been bugging Vai for a couple of weeks to let me pull his loose tooth out. It was just hanging there. Everyone told me to leave it alone and it would fall out on its own. I knew it was true. But you know me, I obsess about things that are "unresolved" so to speak. Vai would freak out anytime someone would get close to that stinking tooth. I even was a little nervous because the permanent tooth seemed to be growing quickly and that little loose guy hung in there for forever it seemed. Well tonight after dinner Vai was playing around and all the sudden shouted..."My tooth fell out!," with this big bleeding smile on his face. Yes, I knew it would come out eventually so was this a lesson in patience for me? I mean after all that little tooth hung in there for the last two weeks!

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Well, it happened so fast that on the day of the swearing in ceremony I was still questioning myself if this was the right thing to do. But during this past weekend, I finally was comforted with the thought that no matter where we're from, and where we live in this world, "all men and women are created equal and have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". At least that is how I feel. Does it always happen? Unfortunately, not for everyone in this world.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness: As I look back to my native land of Fiji and the years I spent there, there was definitely life. But liberty and the pursuit of happiness were at times hard to come by. Like many other global societies, Fiji has a traditional hierarchical system that is respected and in some cases,in my estimation, feared by its natives and citizens. "REREVAKA NA KALOU KA DOKA NA TUI" is a slogan that normally accompanies the Fijian shield on the Fiji flag. It's interpreted to "FEAR GOD, BUT/AND RESPECT THE KING". Sadly, with political circumstances the kings are being respected more, rather than having a god fearing people. Liberty, pursuit of happiness, are they attainable in Fiji? Anything is possible anywhere.

I have lived and experienced a great life here in this land, and the beauty about America is that I now have the liberty to pursue anything and everything that will bring about happiness to me and those that I love. It is all up to me now. If I work, study, play, worship and serve hard enough, I'll get the liberty, happiness and life that I seek. And if I don't, then the hard reality that accompany that choice will have to be carried on my shoulders by me.

This land is indeed a promised land, as I know it to be true. There is no coincidence in the fact that everyone outside America looks at her citizens with envy and a longing desire to just taste the sweetness of liberty, the glee of pure happiness and the beauty of life. At the same time, I am convinced that the demise and down fall of this great land rests largely upon the shoulders of us its citizens with the choices we make, be they social, political, economical, religious or whatever. I am thankful to be alive and to have all the liberty I can imagine made available to me, and that if I make the correct turns, if you will, it will result in nothing but happiness.

Life is good and America is great. God Bless the US of A.

Happy Birthday America!

Check out your newest American citizen! Sworn in on July 2nd, the day Congress voted for independence from Great Britian. What a way to celebrate Independence Day! Congratulations Tata!