A Little Shout-out

To my family in American Samoa (even I had to google that place), a great big, "HELLO, I MISS YOU!!!".

They spent 2 weeks with me and my family and it was a surprisingly good time. I'm only surprised since I hadn't seen them in 4 years, or even been under the same roof since I went off to college (over 10 years ago). So, having half of my brothers and sisters here with only one instance where I felt like strangling one was good, I mean, God!

They spent the first week doing the tourist thing here, then the next week playing video games, eating Taco Bell and getting giant slushies from 7-11. I guesss in A.S. there are 3 fast food restaurants, and 2 "sit-down" places. So the first time "off the island" they ate no McD's (except for the great salads for mom), no Pizza Hut (fine by me) and no fried foods. I really expected the teenage boys to eat more, but I guess it was just a bit overwhelming for them. I'm sure after a few weeks their appetites would be back to teenage speed.

Speaking of overwhelmed, the first time they walked into Big W (aka Wal-mart) it was almost too much for them. Not knowing exactly how to get them used to the quanity of things for sale, I walked from one side of the store, up and down all the aisles with them following me like ducks in a row. Needless to say, we bought nothing. Hooray for my bank account, Big W takes a minimum of $50 each visit (amazing all the stuff we need and totally forgot about).

Now my family is headed back to their island, with a stop in Missouri to visit family, California to get my mom's Disney fix then to Hawaii to visit two of my other brothers (who'll get their own post later, when I have the energy to speak of "Learning the Hard Way").

The cultural experience the kids are getting is one that they'll take with them forever. My little sister has a certain innocence about her that we'd be hard pressed to find in the "average" 12-year-old. The two teenagers (16 and 14) are more considerate and generous than I remember being at their age and my little brother who's 9. . . hard to say, he's still just a child, but what an adventure he'll most likely take for granted. I'll have to remind him when he grows up a little more how lucky and blessed he is!

Mmm, well that's all for now. It's been nice to introduce you to part of my family. There are 9 siblings all together. I'm the oldest, so will most likely talk about them again! I'm just so proud of them.