Toddlers in Paradise

While my mom was visiting we took her to a tiny island off the coast of Wewak to enjoy some amazing snorkeling and give her just a taste of tribal life. We went with some friends who also had their mom visiting, and we all had to pile into this tiny boat for the hour and a half boat ride out to the island. I was pretty scared about getting into this boat at first, but it was actually a nice and we could see land the whole time, so if we sank there was a least a small chance that we could swim to shore and survive.

I know many of you will look at these pictures and think that it is a tropical paradise and that we are very lucky to get to live where we do. Well, it is a tropical paradise and we are lucky to get to live where we do, but please remember I said we went there to share a little bit of tribal life with my mom, so it's not like we stayed at a five star resort. No we stayed in a tribal house, granted it was a very very clean tribal house, but it was a tribal house none the less. What does that mean exactly?

It means that it was HOT. There is of course no air conditioning and no fans, and there was sand...everywhere. Also we had to sleep under mosquito nets. Mosquito nets are the hottest things in the world. I am pretty sure that people in hell will have to sleep under mosquito nets. So you better repent and turn to Jesus now, people!

But the most annoying special part of the trip was that we had to bring this little demon angel along. As any mom anywhere knows, toddlers and the beach only mix well for about 1 hour. Then there is sand in their eyes, mouths and diapers, and they ARE.NOT.HAPPY. Add in the fact that there is no possible way for her to take a nap, and you have one of those movies where the family goes on a dream vacation, but is kidnapped by terrorists. Only the terrorist is a 1 year old with sunscreen in her eyes and a sand rash on her booty. There aren't enough crackers in the world to pacify this angry toddler.

Of course I did have some help. My mom was there, and my good buddy, Candace. If not for them I probably would have swam back to Wewak myself, but they definitely offered some much needed relief.

But there were some really great things about this trip. The best thing by far was the food. We brought all our food in with us, and the hosts of this wonderful island excursion (the "king" of the island and his family) cooked it all and brought it to us. Then cleared all the plates and washed them for us. It was amazing. Three meals that I didn't have to cook or wash one single thing.

They even caught lobster for us at 2 am and we had it the next day for lunch. Score!

All we caught was this little guy...

Oh, and only the most poisonous snake in the ocean...

But we did see some amazing things under the water...

And I would totally recommend this place to any of my Wewak friends. Only, if you have a toddler I would wait a year...or six and then go. It would be way more fun.