Crazy Cousins

No, I am not implying that our kids' cousins are crazy (though if any of you know their father... :) ), but I AM saying that when you get the 6 cousins together for 2 weeks in a 2 bedroom house, it gets a little crazy from time to time. :)  We were SO thankful that they were able to come visit though and that the cousins got so much quality time together (and us with their parents, even the crazy one).

Picnics in the backyard

 Wakeboarding

 What my kids call "sitboarding" - it is their old toddler car seat affixed to a wakeboard.  They took their cousins on a couple rides around the lake this way.

 Like I said, just blame their genes...

 Their youngest really latched on to Zach.

 Little miss got lots of snuggles from everyone.  Such a fun age.

 The cable operators let Steve and the kids go "triples" for a couple rounds with all 3 of them hooked into the same carrier.  They had a lot of fun with that.

 We also took some time to visit our friends in the tribal villages.

 The hill you have to climb is pretty steep, but the views are spectacular once you get up there.

 These 2 little houses are where some of our tribal partners live.

 We are blessed to have some quality young men and women working alonside us.

 One of the teams has started to reach out in this new area, and the group there took it upon themselves to build this little hut so that they have a place big enough for everyone to gather to study together.  Notice the "attic" area - that is the bedroom for a young single guy.  So I guess that makes this a multi-purpose hall? :)

 Just hanging out with our friends

 We passed by this coprahan - a place where they make copra.  They husk coconuts, split them in half, then pile them up on top of the smoking pit.  Then they light the fire and push the coals into the tunnel underneath the coconut in order to smoke the pile.  The smoked/dried coconut is then used to make coconut oil, feeds for animals, and other products.

 While in the one village, my nephew (age 6) kept finding fallen coconuts and asking the guys to cut them open.  He became increasingly disappointed when all the fallen coconuts were old/rotten.  But then they took him down to their neighbor's house to buy a couple good coconuts for them to taste.  Well, the neighbor wouldn't let us buy any - instead he gave us a whole bunch so that the American visitors could taste them! 

 My nephew's response, "It's a coconut party!"

 We saw lots of critters on our excursions.  The kids especially liked to peek in at the pigs.

 Wilbur wasn't on the menu, but our friends did make us up some local food.  This dish is called laing. Pretty simple - just dried leaves and coconut milk.

 Stir and cook for a while, then add hot chili peppers.

 And here you have it!

Complete with a chili pepper garnish to enhance presentation.

 They put on quite the spread for us.  The laing, fried fish heads and tails, tomatoes in soy sauce, chicken and sayote (similar to a potato) in broth, and - of course - rice.

 The kids had a ball exploring in the villages.

 Lots of good places to climb when you don't have those pesky walls that block the supports.

So much more practical.

 They loved this cute little window.

 Some people were replacing their roof while we were up there.  Here they are braiding/weaving the coconut fronds to use as roofing "tiles".

 On our way back down the mountain to catch the boat across the lake towards home.  It had rained while we were up top, so the way down was a little slippier than the way up, but everyone did pretty well with it.  Maybe it was the threat Steve made that anyone with a muddy tush couldn't ride home in the car?  He's a big pushover though; he didn't enforce it.

 On the boat headed home.

 So thankful for such a special time with the cousins!