The Lighted Christmas Parade

One of the things that makes Silver City the attractive small town that it is is the annual Lighted Christmas parade. Being the coldest day of this season, naturally we dressed up and walked downtown to the big event with our thermos of hot cocoa. Nate, in about 6 layers was still shivering but he seemed to enjoy the show, with the exception of the Harley brigade, for which he buried his head in my jacket and said "scared". There were even fireworks this year, which Trey thoroughly enjoyed of course. These are some of the things I've missed the most around the Christmas season in Samoa. It's hard to get in the spirit in the tropics. That must be why they have to line up 300 plastic Santas and Christmas Poo Bears on the churches, to make sure that spirit gets spread to all.

Nothing like an over-sized down jacket to flatter the already voluminous features of a 9 month pregnant woman.

A few of the things I've come to appreciate

After living in Samoa for 3 years, I've come to appreciate a lot. Wal-mart for example, being able to get everything you need in one place. Sam Walton must have lived in Samoa or somewhere similar. I've spent a little too much time there, I'm trying to stay away (sorry Jay) but it's like Disneyland. In Silver City it's also the one and only place to catch up with old friends.

I've also come to appreciate the seemingly endless expanse of land. My Dad and I posed for some pictures outside of Silver because I forgot how beautiful NM was. We were on our way to a George Jones concert at a casino near Santa Fe. (For all of you rednecks who actually know who I'm talking about, yes he's still alive and singing)

We met my brother and his wife, who were celebrating their first anniversary there.

I know I've mentioned this before but we've also had a shortage of playgrounds in Samoa, so we've been making up for lost time. The weather is starting to change and my poor island boys have to contend with the frigid air but it doesn't slow them down too much. I'm more than happy to sit in the cold and watch. I just think about the heat and humidity I'm missing and I'm okay. Because I'm not getting any smaller, I assure you.

Note Nate not wearing shoes. Every chance he gets he's taking them off, it's quite a hassle. In fact the whole dressing multiple children in multiple layers takes too much of my precious time. So Samoa does have its pros after all.

Silver City, New Mexico

I'm back in my hometown after a 3 day journey across approximately 6000 miles, alone, with a 5 and 2 year old, oh yes, and 8 1/2 months pregnant. Sound pleasant? Actually, it wasn't too bad, all things considered. Bending over to reach everything that fell under the seat in the airplane was my biggest complaint, because I couldn't. Trey was an awesome help for a 5 year old. He pushed his brother in the stroller for me wherever we went and wouldn't let me have the job once, even when my hands were empty. Nate's biggest complaint was having to be strapped in on board the airplane. So most of the time I didn't and waited to be reprimanded, but I wasn't. I guess we did well at not drawing too much attention to ourselves.

Trey started Kindergarten today at the elementary school I attended. It was surreal being there as an adult with children. Everything looked so much smaller than I remember but the memories are vivid nonetheless. His classroom was the same one I was in for first grade. There was no apprehension when he walked in today. I was expecting at least one or two tears. It's been 5 days with nothing but Mom and little brother, I think he was ready for some peer interaction.

I'll be here for the next 2 months and hope to add a new Roth to the clan sometime in that period. I'll do my best to keep you posted. I miss you American Samoa but you can keep the weather. I'll take 68 degrees with 5 percent humidity any day!.....and all the Mexican food I can eat!

Pictures to follow....check back soon.

Halloween

Being an American island, we've tried adopting some of the traditional holidays. It's remains quite different from the Halloweens I knew in my youth, for one, trick or treating consists of fighting the hordes of kids who bombard the "palagi" neighborhoods. Most of those families who have spent one Halloween handing out candy are smart enough to run the other direction when trick or treaters start knocking. We did take the kids out for the experience anyway. We also went to some carnivals leading up the the big night, it was a week-long candy fest! Nate didn't care about anything but the candy of course, but he was the cutest ninja on island.

Trey went with the old superhero standby and faithfully wore his costume for an entire day of school and 2 carnivals. Did I mention it's hot here? Those polyester costumes are not made for the tropics. Jay was curious why I decided not to dress up this year. I laughed, he's hysterical. And the cute little witch in the photo is my friends daughter. (no that's not her true hair color)

We actually got a shipment of pumpkins that didn't cost 10 dollars a pound so we got to carve a pumpkin for the first time in 4 years. It was quite a treat. Trey designed Jack this year but Jay insisted on cutting it, he doesn't think it's safe to let a 5 year old have that job for some reason.