We seem to have had some uniquely American experiences over the last couple of weeks, so I thought I'd better prepare you for the Kiwi/American blend that is Taine.
Halloween was the first event, and what an event it was. Taine, Matt and I all had dress ups at work and school. There were heaps of kids costumes in the shops, but very few adult costumes, so there was going to be a fair bit of DIY involved. I'd bought Taine an Optimus Prime outfit which he was very excited about, but his teacher (quite rightly) emphasised that the kids needed to be able to go to the bathroom in their costume. So his one-piece bodysuit would need to be altered. No worries, take it down to the nearest sewing shop. And they butchered it. His costume came back with a 4 inch waist and a non-stretchy extension to go round his tummy. The sewer was going to charge me $10 if I slipped her the cash, but because I didn't have change, I had to pay $20 at the front desk - more than the costume was worth! Matt did some running repairs that night and all was fine in the morning, thank goodness!
They had lots of fun at school, with photos, games, and lots and lots of candy - Tootsie Rolls and Reese's Peanut Butter cups!
Taine and Noah wanted to go trick or treating too, but unfortunately everyone in the compound was out that evening. They still had fun knocking on the doors. All the neighbours had given the security guards some candy, so they handled the busloads of children who came to the "rich" neighbourhood from around the island.
My and Matt's costumes were more problematic. Matt had brought over a Speight's coverall (I got hassled for bringing towels and photos, and he brought that!) which we altered to make Mario Bros, and I borrowed a sewing machine, cut a piece of leopard print fabric in half, sewed up the sides and cut a hole for the neck - one Cavegirl, roaring to go!
The day after Halloween, the Christmas decorations came out, but Thanksgiving is the next big event. Taine came home yesterday singing about the Pilgrims and the Mayflower. I asked him who the Pilgrims were, and he said they discovered Thanksgiving, which I guess is close enough. I'm sure he'll win a pub quiz one night for knowing "they anchored there in 1620". I just asked him the line from the song, and he informed me that they left in September and got to America sometime in November. Good to know! It is funny that the Pilgrim song is sung to the same tune as the Halloween song, so I'm guessing there'll be a Christmas "Skip to my Loo" version too.
Last night we went over to the Tradewinds to listen to the Hawaii Air Force band, who are here performing for Veterans' Day (11/11 - today). 3 guitars and a ukelele doing modern covers, and they were pretty good for the crowd of 20. Our Kiwi table didn't get into the cheering everytime "our forces" and "our country" were mentioned - I think there was a bit more eye-rolling instead. Veterans' Day is normally a big celebration, but it's all very quiet this year, post-tsunami and all.
Seeing we're not going to be here for Thanksgiving, Matt cooked a turkey last weekend. I went over to the neighbours' and drank wine while he basted, roasted and served. Was delicious, and only took 3 1/2 hours on the BBQ. As any of you who have ever cooked a turkey before are probably thinking, yes we did have turkey pizza on Monday and turkey sandwiches on Tuesday, before we decided enough was enough. I even had good intentions of making turkey stock, but that disappeared fairly quickly. There was no cranberry sauce on island, so I had a go at making it from dried cranberries, which was a bit hit and miss. Must add it to the shopping list for Auckland in two weeks!
After vowing that I would get on no committees while I was here, I'm now on the swimming committee and the school soccer committee. The swimming's fine, but the soccer's been hard work. The local association was going to help out, but all their gear got lost in the tsunami, so I've had to buy balls, find grounds ... There's over 40 kids that want to play - not bad for a roll of 100. Matt's going to help with the coaching, and there's some other dads who will coach too. I'll let you know how it goes.
So we're away in two weeks, back for a week before Matt goes to Guam for ten days, he's back for a week and then we all go to Samoa and back to NZ! Oh, and the Christmas concert, the swimming carnival, my birthday (that's very important!) and some work events are all in there somewhere! Luckily the online shopping is going well to cover all the outfits and presents! Our neighbours have their Christmas tree up already, but I thnk we'll wait until we come back. Cost U Less has a great selection, and the Lions are starting to sell real trees this weekend (shipped in a refrigerated container from the mainland). I've got my eye on the tree shaped like a palm tree - well, where else would you have one?
No comments:
Post a Comment