Home Away

 Hello!

As always, I am catching up on blog posts. Last time I left off when we were boarding the long flight to the Cook Islands. We treasure our memories and relaxation time in the Cook Islands where life takes on a different speed and the 'weight' of the world seems to slip away for awhile.

We think of Pacific Resort's Villa 100 (aka The Crab Shack) as our little home away from home. 

Here's the view from our beach chairs steps from the patio.

This year the kids had fun doing stand up paddle (SUP). We also had fun kayaking together to the little deserted islands nearby and hunting for crabs. We saw some really big coconut crabs too! And any trip to the islands would not be complete without Olivia having her favorite drink... You guessed it! This was one of many she had. She sweet-talked a guy with a house nearby and trees chock full of nu coconuts to cut her down a few of them. :)

We did the day tour to Aitutaki with the full lagoon tour and One Foot Island. Olivia made a bunch of friends on the pontoon boat, and there was really good music and food to enjoy. It was a blast.

We enjoy going to "market night" for dinner where they have various food vendors and you BYOB. Sometimes they have live music. It's fun, casual and great interaction with the locals. Jason snapped a picture of Quinn that was the SAME picture essentially that we got in 2016. This shows what 3 years looks like!

We love ringing in the new year in Cook! This is a picture from that night before Quinn fell asleep on Jason (Olivia with her 'snaggle tooth!'). There was a raging dance party going, and of course, Olivia was out there dancing with Grandpa and making new friends while Quinn slept most of the evening on two chairs pushed together ;)

We met this really nice family from Sydney, Australia and they have family ties to Aitutaki and Cook Islands. Olivia made fast friends (and now pen pals) with Kalani who is in the same grade as her. We hope to visit our new Mates in Australia sometime!

I'll leave you with a picture of the beautiful Cook Islands sunset.

Til next time 

xoxo Claire & Family