Tahiti 2013!!!

Ready to pack!!!

October first finally came, Marc and I were pretty excited and anxious about the whole travelling with two kids thing. At 2 o'clock in the morning, we started packing the van, and dressing up the kids so we can make it to Edmonton at a decent time. We dropped the van off at the jet set parking lot in E-town and took the bus to the airport. Yann was pretty excited about ridding in the bus and had a big smile on his face. Once in the airport, we went directly to the west jet counter and waited for about half an hour in line to get our boarding pass. So far, the kids were doing fine but they started asking for food. After getting the boarding pass, we had to get into another long line in order to get all of our bags through security, and the U.S customs. By then the kids were hungry and started crying a little bit. Thank goodness it only lasted a couple minutes (well, maybe 5). Once we got to the boarding area, we were able to seat and relax a little bit. Then 9 o'clock came around and we started boarding. We liked the fact that they let us in first because we were travelling with young children. In the plane, Yann sat with me and Marc with his dad. Our first flight lasted about three hours from Edmonton to L.A.X. The children were pretty AWESOME, and Marc and I were pretty relieved and happy but we still had an eight hours flight left to do. We made sure the boys were sucking on their soothers or drinking their milk so their ears wouldn't bother them too much. And it worked. From terminal two, we had to walk a little bit in order to get to the Air Tahiti Nui terminal which was located in the Tom Bradley Airport (still in L.A.X).

After spending way too much time in the line again in order to go through security and all, we finally got to the boarding area, and we were hoping to get some lunch before taking off. Well, guess what? All the restaurants in the airport (Tom Bradley Airport) were closed for renovations. Just our luck. Thankfully, we have packed a bunch of snacks and knew that Air Tahiti Nui will be providing one meal just after take off, and one before landing. So, I tried not to be too mad (was though), and my wonderful husband found a little shop that was selling some cold sandwiches and got me one. The airport "people" did provide free water/coffee and apples for the passengers, so we took advantage of that. We didn't have any problems taking big bottles of water and formula through security so that was neat. In order to entertain Yann, we brought the Ipad so he wouldn't get bored. That worked too. We had a lay over of 5 hours in L.A.X. Yann and I did a little bit of walking around and Marc took him to go look at the different airplanes. He sure liked that. My little M just sat with either one of us, and played occasionally with his brother. The time to board in came, and once again we were among the first ones to do so.

I love travelling with Air Tahiti Nui. Not only it is a Tahitian company, but it is beautiful, the food is good, and the crew is 100% Tahitian and they had a bassinet for children like my little Marc, so we didn't have to hold him on our laps for the entire flight. And the children had their own seat belts not like in west jet where they didn't have any. Anyway, once in, we fed the boys and they started falling asleep. So glad the boys can sleep anywhere. We were able to relax a little bit, and watch movies (movies and food are free even the headphones). 

We arrived in Tahiti a bit earlier. As soon as we landed, and started getting down the stairs onto the tarmac, I just couldn't stop smiling and the excitement was even bigger now. I was so happy to soon be able to see my family. Excited to know that they would finally meet my boys.

The local musicians welcomed all the passengers with beautiful songs from my childhood, and a beautiful dancer was performing a traditional dance for us as we walked in the airport building. Because Marc and the boys had Canadian (or foreign) passports, we didn't have to wait in the big line, and we were able to get through custom really fast. We grabbed our suitcases, then got out and were welcomed with beautiful leis by my parents, and the rest of the family. Pure HAPPINESS!!! Of course, they couldn't help wanting to hold the boys. My older brother got to hold Yann and my dad had little Marc.

Yann with his uncle Isidore and Marc with his papi (grandpa).

My mom, my sister, my nephew and uncle joined in for the picture.

Marc and his auntie.

After visiting at the Airport for a little bit, we went to the Hotel Radisson. My sister and brother drove us there. They put us in a hotel room so we could get some rest before going to my brother's place which is located on the other side of the island. It's a short commute but they wanted us to rest from our long trip. We stayed at my brother's house on our holiday. My siblings spent a few minutes at the hotel with us. They got to enjoy the boys a bit more. My sister even had treats for us to eat (which I did, of course). We must have been really tired because the boys never made it in the beds the hotel had for them.
The sound of the waves crashing on the beach in the morning woke me up. What a beautiful sound it is to wake up too. I was so glad to be home. I couldn't help but run outside on the balcony, and admire the ocean, the palm trees, and the beautiful black sand beach we were surrounded by. I couldn't feel prouder and happier to call this beautiful island of mine home. I have missed it so much. I took Yann out for a walk on the beach. He grabbed some sticks on the beach, and played with a small coconut. I took one of the stick he had found and wrote our names in the sand. He was really excited to be playing in the sand and couldn't stop staring at the ocean. I forgot my camera so I didn't have any pictures of our little morning escapade. We stopped by the hotel's pool too, and got to play a little bit before going back to the room. My sister came, and brought some more treats for breakfast. Once again, I had to eat them. An hour later after my sister came, my sister in law arrived with my niece (whose a month older than Marc). They couldn't come to the airport, so I was pretty happy when I saw them. I couldn't wait to hold my princess, my niece. She is so beautiful, and always smells so good. I fell even more in love with her now that I was holding and playing with her. From the hotel, we drove by the house I grew up in. It was sad to see it, and know that I would never go back there. We then went to my brother's house where my mom and my brother Yann were waiting for us.

Bed time!

Getting ready for the day!

With Ohana!

Meeting my princess!

From that day on, we did something different everyday. We went to the beach. We had a pig roast. We even had a French pastries tasting day. Ate all of our favorite foods. Visited families. Played in the pool daily. Visited places. Toured the island, and so on. Too many things to write about. We went to show Yann the fire trucks his uncle drives (my older brother is a fire fighter). IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!

Yann enjoyed the beach and the ocean, and water in general. I am convinced he loved it over there. He spent most of the time wearing just a diaper and a t-shirt. No socks, no shoes. He was free to go anywhere, running in the yard, following his uncle Yann. Going in and out of the pool any time of the day. Just having a blast. Meal times were always outside. No walls, just the beautiful trees, and plants around us. He ate all the food they had for us there. He loved the fresh fruits off the trees like coconuts, bananas, papayas, Tahitian apples, yellow watermelons, etc... He enjoyed eating the lamb, pig roast, mussels, different Tahitian and french sausages/meats, french pastries, local fresh juices and yogurts. Everything really. He warmed up to my brother Yann easily, and my dad too. A couple days in and he got used to my mom and my other siblings, and loved his cousins. He was so gentle, and careful with his cousin Ohana (my niece), and loved giving her kisses. His favorite was probably uncle Yann. Every morning he would wait for uncle Yann to wake up, and just followed him everywhere. Yann's French vocabulary expanded while we were down there. He learned to recognize a few colors too like blue, orange, green, yellow and if you ask him (in French) what color mama is he would tell you that I am maron (brown). My whole family just loved/loves him. Daily they would say to each other how cute my Yann was.

Little Marc was good with everyone. My mom was crazy about him maybe because he is more sociable than Yann, lol. He had smiles for every body. He ate a lot when we were there. He spent most time in just a diaper and a t-shirt too. Drank a lot of liquids and ate anything we gave him. He enjoyed the ocean, and the pool too if the water was warm enough. He would fall asleep easily with my mom. My siblings, and parents were crazy about his eyes, and smile and hair. Every day they would comment about how cute they were and how cute he was. My parents kept saying that he looked just liked me when I was his age :). Marc's eyes were crazy beautiful in Tahiti. They kept changing colors depending on the weather. Sometimes they would turn grey or just looked like beautiful pearls. I'm NOT kidding. They really were amazing. He learned how to crawl in Tahiti, and holding to furnitures so he could stand. As with Yann, everyday my family would comment about how cute my Marc was. They loved/love him a lot too.

Marc and I didn't really get to go on a one on one date together but we were able to rest and have a lot of relaxing time among my family. The boys were at times demanding (especially at night) but it was nice to have family members that were always so willing to take them off our hands :). We had a lot of great time together. Long nights of just talking, holding hands, cuddling and more... feeling grateful for my family's kindness, and love for us and our sons.

The weather back home was mostly beautiful with a couple days of rain but it was so hot and humid that I sometimes wondered how I ever survived the humidity growing up. I don't mind hot but humid? Bath time for the boys was outside in a baby tub every day. All we did is filling some water bottles with water and leave them out on the sun and you had your hot water for bath. Sometimes you had to add cold water to it because it was too hot. The boys sure loved that. They could just splashed water everywhere. Yann would run around the yard naked at times, and make you run after him. Lots of fun! We did enjoy the beautiful weather we had because we knew what we were coming back to.

IT WAS A LOT OF FUN!!!! We have a lot of beautiful memories of our holiday, and created some new ones with our sons. We brought a few souvenirs but forgot to take a lot of pictures. I kept forgetting my camera and was having way too much fun to even think about taking photos. My bad!

Our last day in Tahiti, we packed our suitcases, did some shopping, went to the beach and wrote our names in the sand again, went to say good bye to some of my family members (uncles, cousin, etc...), drove to the airport where my dad treated us to some tasty food then we did some more shopping and had to say good bye to my parents, siblings, nephew and niece. My least favorite thing because it always hurts so much.

My family was once again WONDERFUL!!! Their kindness and generosity was out of this world. They always do so much without ever expecting anything back. I love them. So looking forward to our next trip to Tahiti.

I'll post some pics on facebook but here's a few for now.

Breakfast time!

My brother and his daughter.

Uncle Yann and his favorite niece.

The cousins!

Pig roast.

yum, fresh shredded coconut.

With their great grandpa :).

Prayers.

My son Yann started saying prayers to bless our meals. Even though he is just repeating the words we tell him, we can truly feel the power these simple prayers have, and the purity they are delivered by. So far, he seems to enjoy saying them., and has been praying at least once daily (or like today, twice).

As parents, there is nothing more we want for our sons than to be men of God. We want them to know and use the power of prayer in their daily lives. We want them to recognize at an early age what prayer is and what a blessing it is to be able to converse with their Father in Heaven.

I feel so grateful that my children were born in the covenants. There is so much joy and happiness that comes with this blessing, and I hope they realize that one day. I know they will have to face temptations, and face a world and live in a society that seems to get worse and worse day after day. I hope that they will recognize the power that prayers have, and use it to help/guide them in the trials they will undoubtedly have.

I am grateful for the many blessings I have received. I am grateful for the wonderful husband I have who respects his priesthood, and I am grateful to have my boys and hope that they will see in their dad's an example to follow.

Updates!

Well, where should I start?

My sons are growing like crazy. Yann is a year and a half now, and Marc will be 6 months old in a couple weeks. I am definitely a really busy (sometimes a tad bit crazy) mother of two. However, now that we have a well established routine, it doesn't seem so crazy any more. My boys and I do pretty much everything together. Banking, grocery shopping, appointments and so on. They are usually super awesome when we have to do those things, so I never have to stress about having to deal with tantrums and screaming and all... yet!. We go for walks or to the park/playgrounds pretty much daily. If it's not Bud Miller, we go to the nearby playgrounds in our neighborhood. I really enjoy it, and so do they.

Marc is getting better at seating, and has been eating solid food for the past couple months now. We are waiting for their passports to show up so we can get our tickets for our trip to Tahiti this year. We tell Yann almost daily that we are going to visit his grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins soon. And that we will be flying in an airplane (or 2). He recognizes them now thanks to pictures, and skype. The other day we were skyping with my mom and my siblings. After a couple hours of talking, we had to say goodbye, so Yann came and called my mom then waved good bye to her and sent her kisses. It was the cutest thing ever. I think I saw tears running down my mom's cheeks. I cannot wait to go back home.

Yann is officially in nursery now. I just leave him there and off I go. He gets excited about going there, and usually ignores me as soon as he is in the room. I love my boys and couldn't ask for better sons.

Marc and I are still working on our house. We like working together, and making our house feel and look like we want it too. We still LOVE each other like crazy ;). Most of the time, we both have one child to tend to, so it can be really challenging to have an "US" time but we make sure we do. One thing we do pretty much daily is sending each other love notes via email. Sounds lame but we LOVE it!

Last Sunday, I was set apart as one of the new Relief Society's teacher. Looking forward to serve in this calling, and to get to know the 'new' sisters in the branch.

Lately, I've been feeling pretty GREAT!. I've never felt so active, so healthy and so happy with myself and the decisions I have made a few months ago (3 to be exact). More about that in my next post. It's 1:16 am, I better go to bed.

My baby.

Getting excited!

Friday morning, I am taking my boys to the photographer to have their passports' pictures done. I am so excited about it. This means that soon we will be doing their passports, and once that's done, we will be getting our tickets for our trip to Tahiti. I think about our trip daily. I want to be home with my family so badly.

I cannot wait to get our tickets and know when we leave so I can write it down in my calendar. I miss my homeland tremendously. I hope one day, Marc, the boys and I will be able to go back and live there. Unless my sons decide that they would rather stay in Canada. There's NO WAY I am leaving them behind, lol!

TAHITI, HERE WE COME!!!

My children!

My boys are growing... every night, when they are finally both sleeping, I take a time to reflect on the day we had together and the things they did. I get amazed at how they seem to be growing so fast, even my little M is growing and is at the fun stage where he is just full of giggles, smiles and is grabbing onto things.

My big boy is going to be 17 months in a few days, that is just crazy. Not long ago he was just a baby.

I think my sons are crazily HANDSOME (ha ha, biased I know). Marc is becoming cuter and cuter every day and so is his older brother. I love how you can tell they are brothers but they have their own kind of facial features. They look alike but not quite alike if that makes any sense. Now that I have two children, I get asked a lot if there are any differences between the two of them. Fortunately, yes there are! I don't want them to be identical. That would be way too boring!!!

Yann: He is quite a little character! He acts so differently in public than he does at home. People think that he is so serious all the time but that isn't really the case. He is a pretty smart boy (biased again)! His vocabulary is growing every day in both French and English, and his understanding of both languages is amazing too. He is a really independent little boy. When he wants something on the table or counter, he goes and gets it without my help. When he is thirsty or hungry, he usually asks for it. I downloaded a couple apps in French and English on the Ipad for him to play and learn. He knows how to start them on his own, and how to get out of them and pick something else when he is bored playing one of the games. He knows how to play the music on the Ipad too. There's one album he likes, and always looks for it, and play the song over and over. Impressive? I would say so. BUT he doesn't get to be on the Ipad all the time. He spends 10 minutes on in the morning and sometimes 10 minutes before bedtime. GOING OUTSIDE is still his favorite thing to do. Wherever there's dirt, you will find him. Saying "go walk" and "go outside" are now like official hymns at our house. We hear them daily. I could probably go on and on talking about him but I won't. He is just a wonderful and smart little boy who can be a really cranky pants and can fuss like nobody's business, ha ha.

Marc: My little Marc is a SWEET baby, unless he is hungry (he can hold a screaming note longer than Pavarotti). He has the cutest little giggles ever. He doesn't like being in the swing and prefers the exersaucer. Before he turned 2, he started sleeping through the night and is still a great sleeper (knock on wood). He still eats a lot and is really good at burping now. Just like his brother was/is, Marc sleeps pretty much anywhere and is better at self soothing himself than Yann was. I love my little boy as much as I love my big boy. I enjoy the little one on one time we get together where I can just enjoy the baby he is.

My boys are so precious to me. I LOVE them so deeply and so unconditionally. It is NOT all rainbow and sunshine every day. We have our really GOOD days and our really not so good days but I wouldn't have it any other way. I think we need the bad days as much as the good days.

I'm back!

I'm back on the blogging world!!! I am happy to have my laptop back and be able to check on  my friends blogs, and the other ones I follow. Shortest post of the day!

Welcome to the minivan mom's club!

Yes, it's official! We just bought a minivan yesterday. I am now part of the minvan mom club, lol. At first, I didn't really want it but when we went, and test drove it a week ago, I kind of fell in love with it. I'm excited about the amount of space we have in our vehicle. It will be so much fun to go to IKEA now, haha. No need to worry about trying to fit a dresser in a small car. We are just waiting for the AB safety to be done tomorrow before getting our new ride (new to us) back home.

Our Toyota Sienna.

Hereiti!

My little Marc will be 7 weeks tomorrow.

Today, his dad took him to see our family doctor for his monthly check up. He now weighs 10 Lbs 11.5 oz and mesures 21.97 inches. We are both amazed at how much he has grown since the day he was born. He has a minor ear infection, so the doctor prescribed some antibiotics.

He doesn't sleep as good as he did when he first came home. He wakes up every 3 hours or so to eat. He smiles more now. All in all, he is doing good. He is so stinking cute too.

Yann's first Easter egg hunt!

Well, we had a GREAT time watching our little boy hunting for eggs with his cousin Alyson. He got the hang of it really fast. His dad helped him carry his basket while they went around the house looking for some chocolatey treats. It was a bit crazy with all the people that were there, but we all had smiles on our faces just watching those two children having fun, and getting excited about small little chocolate eggs. Grandma brought and hid some eggs. And Marc did the same with the ones we bought. We hid some of Yann's favorite snacks in those big plastic eggs they sell at the store. We didn't want him to just eat a bunch of chocolates. Marc and I are pretty flexible when it comes to letting our son try different things. However, when it comes to junk or sugary things, we make sure it never gets out of hand.

Next year should be even more FUN watching our boys hunting for some delicious treats. We'll make it even more fun by hiding eggs in the yard (unless we have mountains of snow every where or maybe we'll hide it in the snow).

He found 2 eggs in the car seat

(Notice daddy clapping his hands?

He did that every time Yann found some treats).

 Clapping again. More eggs were found

in the elephant's ears.

 Yann and Alyson with their loot.

Marc's baby blessing!

My little Marc had his baby blessing today. We had family members come all the way from Lethbridge, Taber and Edmonton to celebrate with us, this special event. Even Marc's good friend Dyson came. After sacrament meeting, we left so that the ones that travelled from southern Alberta could leave at a decent time. It's always so moving to witness the blessing of a child, even when it is not your own.

Today, I was especially moved when he was 'officially' named. I always wonder why people seem so appalled every time we tell them what our son's name is, as if there was something wrong about naming him after his father. We didn't run out of name to choose from.

Marc was the first name both Marc and I felt strongly about when we found out we were having another boy. A few weeks before our son was born, a couple other names came to my husband's mind BUT when he thought about it again, he strongly felt that it wasn't right. And when our baby was finally born, we knew his name had to be Marc Hereiti.

About Hereiti. I always wanted to give one of my children this name. I loved it ever since I was younger. When the doctor said that he only weighted 6 LBS, I knew that it was meant for him to be called Hereiti (little love in English). I truly felt that when his dad said his names during the blessing, it was what our Heavenly Father wanted us to call our baby. To us, it is really special even though for some, it seems like it is laughable. At the end of the day, we really don't care, lol. We love our son, and are proud to call him Marc Hereiti Bennett.

Marc and his sons. He just LOVES being with them.

In this photo, he is playing with Yann while trying to cuddle with little M.