Embracing Suburbia

If you would have told me 7 years ago I would be driving an Odyssey and carting the kids to soccer and swimming and gymnastics, I would have had a good laugh. That was never going to be me. Well, it seems that is the path more traveled with the modern American family. I so miss the island life. I do appreciate the conveniences so much more these days but I miss our life of leisure and our friends.
I hesitate to post because our daily life seems so unremarkable. We've set our standards way to high for life adventure. For you "Lost" followers out there, Jay inadvertently quoted Jack when he said " we have to get back to the island". It is so hard to look at life the same way again once you've been there. Lost takes on a whole new meaning.
So enough of the philosophizing. The boys are doing well. Scott is finally trying to talk he says ball and book and cat and car all of which sound pretty much the same. He has redecorated the house with markers. Everytime his brothers let one go he has is it on the wall. Taupe is boring. Scribble is the latest thing, haven't you heard?
Nate has decided he likes swimming. He is still the cautious one but is finally going under. We just got him some shiny new goggles that he is very proud of and they seem to make him much more brave. He's still the life of the house with the comedy and dancing.
Trey, being the fish that he, is competed in his first swim meet of the season last week and swam away with a couple blue ribbons. He just had his 7th b-day and is losing teeth left and right. When you're 7, missing teeth is the coolest thing in the world. Not so much when you're 37.
And that's what's happening here for the moment. Pictures next time!

Back online...for the moment anyway

Don't think we've gone and forgot about you Samoa. I just got out of the blogging habit and time got away from me and that's the only excuse I have so it'll have to do. So, to all of the friends we left behind, we miss you and hope everyone is doing well.

As for us, where to start? We moved in to our house in the Nashville suburbs December 2 and have been and are still unpacking boxes. Just in case your curious what 3 months on the dock in Samoa does to your stuff...there's not enough Lysol and Febreeze in Tennessee to get the smell out. So, we have Samoa with us still, not only in our memories.

Home sweet home

a view from the back door

Here are the first graders at Trey's school who were recognized this week for reading accomplishments (Trey is in the far right corner). He is loving his new school and teacher. It was a big change that he handled quite well. He has started gymnastics which he loves and will start soccer this week with Jay as one of his coaches. We'll see if we can get him to kick the ball this year.
Trey's big news is he gets to learn hockey from the Nashville Predators, our own NHL team. It's a free month long clinic for aspiring hockey stars. He and his dad are beside themselves with excitement.
Last week we took the kids to Playhouse Disney Live. They unfortunately didn't get to hang out and get pictures with Mickey and the gang but it was a good time. The most priceless moment was seeing Nate's face when Tigger came out. He's a fellow bouncer.



If you've followed my blog at all you probably know one of my biggest complaints about Samoa was it's lack of decent parks for kids, well, we are in park heaven now. They almost make up for our lack of beaches. Can't have it all can you? Unless you live in Hawaii.

Scott's big brothers love helping him.
......but sometimes, he just wants to do it himself! That's almost always the case these days. His most recent feat was climbing the back rungs of a dining room chair and balancing there patiently until I rescued him. He is very quiet and entertains himself and is into everything. He hasn't said anything intelligible but is working on it. He picking up sign language rather quickly. I don't know why I didn't try it with the other kids. Third time's a charm right? And is he ever.......



Nate is in preschool 3 days a week and is starting gymnastics. He's definitely the Roth family clown. He loves making everyone laugh and constantly asks the question.."are you happy?" followed up with.."I'll give you a kiss" He's the Have-a-good-day policeman.
Jay's been running a lot. He just did a half-marathon and is planning to run the Country Music marathon next month. In true Nashville style, there's a country music concert every other mile or something crazy.So that's us in a nutshell. I'm just managing the madness and that keeps me busy enough. I do find a little time to myself at the YMCA where I've discovered Zumba. It's not Veronica's Polynesian dance class but it's a good hip-shakin substitute.

Hey Y'all!!

It's been a very long month. We moved into a hotel October 25 and are currently still in a hotel. The next facility I check into may be a mental one. We did make it to Nashville 2 weeks ago and managed to buy a car, a house, 5 new wardrobes, and enroll the boys in schools. We are starting the Relocate the Roths collection fund to afford this move if you're interested in donating. We are hoping all goes well with closing and we'll be in our new house on Graceland Ct. the first week in December. This was taken in one of the 3 atriums of the Opryland Resort where we stayed the first week we were here. It was like an indoor Samoa (papaya and banana trees included), where not a single person was wearing flip flops or shorts and t-shirts. It was something else. Stay in touch for more on the move.

Fagatele Bay by boat

Some of you readers out there may think we have it rough here in the tropics; the mosquitoes, the hazardous marine life, the cockroaches, the rats, the heat and humidity. Well, I'm here today to let you know weren't not doing so bad. We also have whales, dolphins, and great friends to go diving with. A couple weeks ago, we chartered a boat to take us to Fagatele Bay, a national marine sanctuary on the island. It was phenomenal, mainly because in between our two dives, we were entertained by a young humpback whale and a pod of spinner dolphins. Unfortunately, I was enjoying the show between severe sea sickness episodes and didn't have the strength or desire to get the camera out. The whale breached a number of times relatively close to the boat. He was definitely showing off. Marine mammals are truly a wonder of nature. It was absolutely beyond words, an experience to treasure forever. There are some great pictures of humpback whales Paul took on one of his whale expeditions posted on his site.

The seas were particularly unkind to me this day though, I spent most of my time over the side of the boat and the entire ride back nearly dead on the floor. The diving was awesome despite the trouble with my equilibrium. Here are just a few of the pictures from our day at sea.

Carol and Deepa

Parrot fish

Anenome and skunk clown fish

Pyramid butterfly fish

Brushtail tangs (and some others)

Giant clam

Infested waters: Scott's battle with the Portuguese Man of War

Some people think I'm crazy letting my babies crawl around at the beach. I used to laugh and say, "how much damage can eating sand really do?"We've been going to the beach pretty much every weekend for 4 years and haven't had a problem. Well, apparently there are other dangers at the beach that I learned about the hard way last weekend. 'Tis the season of the Portuguese Man of War. They are washing up on beaches everywhere here. Scott discovered one in his sand exploration at Coconut Point. Now, before you call CPS, hear me out. He was at my feet when the waling began. It was the mom's-worst-nightmare scream. I saw what it was almost instantly. A little blue blob stuck to his leg. I was just talking to someone who had spotted one up the beach a bit.
Thanks to everyone knowing everyone on the island and our frequent get-togethers, we had 2 ER docs, a marine biologist and all my wonderful friends on hand to help. Thank you all very much. It was a terrifying experience that I would not have managed well alone. We got him to loaded him up with Benadryl, soaked him in warm water, alcohol and vinegar, even shaved him and got him to the ER, where he was his happy playful self again of course. So if you chance to come upon one of these little guys, steer clear. The pain is excruciating. For the proper course of action in case of contact visit Hazardous Marine Life and webMD . Wear your shoes out there and don't let your babies loose on the beach!

West of here: part LUA

Unfortunately, due to it's size and lack of usable land, American Samoa doesn't have the produce you would imagine a tropical island would. Western Samoa does however, and much of it can be purchased at bargain prices at Maketi Fou.

Trey didn't appreciate the market as much as we did.

the Flea Market

We stopped at a couple waterfalls on our journey around the island. The grandeur isn't quite captured in the photos of course.

Trey practices a little Samoa rhythm

Nate poses with random stranger walking down the road carrying coconuts

Hibiscus

Bird of Paradise

Dinner

West of Here

For those of you readers out there who don't know, there are 2 Samoas. American Samoa, where we call home, is a territory of the U.S., hence the name. Western or Independent Samoa, is west of here and is an independent island nation (crazy how that name says it all). While there's a lot of similarity between the 2 cultures, anyone whose visited both countries will tell you there are striking differences. I won't go into all those, you'll have to come and see for yourself.

When my Dad came to visit over a month ago now, we took a 3 day trip to Western. We had a great time and here are just some of the photos to prove it. It's almost as beautiful at Tutuila. Although, the beaches here pale in comparison.

Here's the puddle jumper we took. It sat maybe 11 on a full flight, no beverage service, no flight attendants for that matter. The terrifying turbulent experience took about 45 minutes. See no evil! This one is for you Mema!

We stayed in Le Manumea near the Robert Louis Stevenson Plantation (Vailima) and across the street from the best Indian food in the Pacific...okay the only Indian food I've had in the Pacific.

The Outhouse

Vailima (the Robert Louis Stevenson Plantation)

We think Scott was having a good time, either that or he's got a great fake smile!




Lalomanu is the beach we visited and is a popular tourist spot in Samoa, understandably so. It was nothing short of phenomenal. The snorkeling was awesome, there was sand (which is precious if you know where I'm coming from), the list goes on, let's just say it was a good beach day!