Photo Friday [73]

SPOILER ALERT!  Ukarumpa friends, if you haven't seen the High School play yet, I have a few photos of it in this post.  You may want to wait and be surprised by the dragon... it was pretty impressive.

Ok... here is a bit about our week:

 This is Brian and Greg watching the Super Bowl.  Yeah... we're a little behind here. It usually takes a while for us to get major sporting events recorded and sent here, where they are then shared around.  The nice thing was is that we really didn't have a clue who won, as the Super Bowl was the weekend we had just gotten to Ukarumpa and didn't have our internet set up yet.  Greg was really into it, and at every commercial break he would ask, "Did the blue team win???"  (Yes, we're West Coast)

Caleb still wants to stick pretty close to mom all the time, even though we've been back in PNG for a month.  He flipped out when I suggested he go to Daycare one morning, but then I let Greg work on him.  Greg expounded on the all the delights of Daycare and convinced him to go (if Greg went with him).  As you can see, he was a little unsure when I left him.

 

 Turns out he did have a good time.  I hope he remembers that next time I need him to go!

Brian did a day trip to Lae for work.  Lae-in-a-day is always exhausting: six hours round trip of very alert driving, plus driving around running errands in the coastal heat in a vehicle without air conditioning.

Of course, I sent him with a shopping list!

He brought back applesauce - a special treat for the boys.

Among other things, he brought back ten kilos of cheese!  Buying cheese in bulk, as we can do in Lae, is significantly cheaper than buying smaller amounts here.  I divided it up into smaller portions and froze it.  It should last us months!

Kate discovered her toes this week.

All  week long Greg was looking forward to his "Mommy-Greg date."   We went to see the High School play - A Play About a Dragon.

 The dragon costume, paired with lights and great sound effects, was very impressive.  I think they toned it down a little for the matinee performance that we attended, so that it wouldn't scare all the little kids.

 The dragon was slain, of course.

Until next Friday.

Photo Friday [72]

This week Greg found a pretty cool prize in our flower bed - a US $1 coin.  No idea how it got there.

 Of course he had to take a photo to send to Grandpa Dale, who taught him all about treasure hunting.  They went metal detecting in the park and panned for gold while we were living with my parents.

 The kids are always happy when Teya comes to our house.  She usually comes with some sort of snack for them - a cucumber, strawberries, or a few bananas.

 Kate is often surprisingly tolerant of her brothers, even when Caleb decides that she is a "horsey."

 Greg is really enjoying being back in Ukarumpa with his friends.

Little Kate is three months old today!

Photo Friday [71]

Two weeks back in Ukarumpa now, and we are mostly back to our normal routine.

It's rainy season, so everywhere you look, things are very green (or muddy... that seems to be the other predominant color).  Well... not that PNG is ever very brown, even during "dry" season.

One day I promised the boys we could have lunch out on the porch, which they looked forward to all morning.  Of course, by the time lunchtime rolled around, it was pouring rain.

 

 We went ahead with our plans, but the rain pounding on the metal roof of our porch was so loud we could hardly talk to each other.  Greg was pretty disappointed.

 The boys are very eager for Kate to enjoy all the fun baby toys and books that we have.  They don't like the fact that she's too little for a lot of it.  Greg likes to "read" to her.

Kate lets us know that she is done with tummy time.

I am loving the familiar view from our front porch.

 

My wall is once again filling up with preschool artwork.

Pretty girl - twelve weeks old.

 Kisses from Ruby

 

The first bunch of bananas from our backyard is almost ripe.

Until next week, and Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Photo Friday [70]

One week back in Papua New Guinea already.  Here is a glimpse of what we've been up to:

 The boys are back to getting very dirty.  Wednesday morning I took all three kids and we walked Greg to preschool.  Everyone kept commenting on how bright and shiny Caleb's new Crocs were.  (Clean new shoes are one of the quickest ways to spot someone who has recently returned to PNG from overseas.)  On the way back home, Caleb was jumping over puddles.  He jumped over one puddle but landed in about six inches of mud on the other side, sinking up to his ankles and then sitting down in the mud in surprise.  So these new shoes are well on their way to being permanently dirty now!

 Caleb agreed to being photographed before I washed him off in the bathtub.

We arrived back to realize that our mobility was pretty restricted.  Our truck's safety inspection and registration had expired.  The truck needs repairs before it can go very far away from home, and both of our PNG drivers licenses had expired.

Brian and I took Kate one morning and drove into town to visit the PNG equivalent of the DMV to get new licenses.

Here is the office.  You do all of your business with someone behind that little window.

As happens quite often, the office was out of the film that they need to actually print the new license.  However, we were still able to pay our fee and get a receipt stapled to the old drivers license.  This is valid indefinitely until we can manage to make it back to the office at some point in the future when they do have film.  I know people who have driven with just a receipt for a year or more!

We have started to re-stock the pantry with essentials.  We were given a large quantity of strawberries this week, so I made a small batch of strawberry jam.

Kate has suddenly gained the ability to hold her head up quite well this week while doing "tummy time."

The boys can't resist joining her on the floor, which means I always need to be watchful close by.

She has even started to "wrestle" a bit with her brothers.  Poor girl... she's going to have to grow up pretty tough I think...

And one last shot for the grandparents.  You can't take too many photos of babies, because they change so quickly!