Rarotonga

Where do I begin? I think I am finally home for awhile. Do you like how I am not sure? We always seem to be on the go, so you never know. We don't have any more plans to travel for the rest of our summer vacation, but never say never.

The beginning...
We left on May 24 and flew to LAX. There we met up with Marks brother Mike(wife Lisa), and his two sisters, DeAnn (husband Dan)and Melinda(husband Shawn), and 18 kids, all under the age of 15. We then boarded Air New Zealand for our first stop, Rarotonga on the Cook Islands. It was beautiful, to say the least. It is a small island; it takes about 45 minutes to drive around the whole island, driving slow in a car or the preferred method of transportation, a scooter. We rented two mini vans and 3 scooters. We also rented 4 houses to stay in, which were all right by (or on top of or below each other). It had a pool to share, which the kids were in, when we were not in the ocean.

We got our fill of fish and chips and the other meal choice was hamburgers, which were mighty tasty. We went to a dinner/show one evening to taste some authentic food, and it was a nice buffet with a fun show afterward. I think most of the kids feel asleep before it was over and one even feel asleep before the dinner and show and was accidentally left in the car. Not bad considering their were 18 kids(: Luckily he was missed only minutes after we arrived.

We snorkeled two days and hiked one. We loved to be at the beach. The roosters woke us up around 5 am, so we were at the beach by 7 or 8 am since our wake up call was so early. They just roam the island as do the dogs. It was such a nice place to be, with little modern conveniences, so you just relax and have no worries. Abby slipped on a mossy rock one day, while the women and children were at the beach, and the men were golfing. She cut open her chin. We were hoping to find some super glue , but didn't get that done. She has a good scar on her chin and maybe a little souvenir in there, since it wasn't cleaned out as well as it should have been. Lesson learned, always carry a butterfly in your first aid kit, and bring it with you.

Before I get ahead of myself, here are some pictures of beautiful Rarotonga.

Our home away from home. View of the pool

The beautiful beach

A yummy burger joint

Heavenly

The kids (and parents) were in paradise


We rented a two man kayak...or 8 kids?