In Samoa: Mom's 17th grandchild, Lani's 4th baby

Haven't had time to update the blog in the past three weeks. I will update it all with pictures when I get back to Oman. But briefly: Alex and I were in Hong Kong for a week where we stayed with our hospitable friends Brad and Rhonda and their lovely kids. We had the greatest time in Hong Kong, we managed to cross the border to China to shop! Hong Kong was amazing and better yet the Hong Kong Sevens was just something else. The best of all was supporting Samoa from day One and then we went on to WIN the final. It was an honour and a privilege for us to witness such a victorious game. We were going hoarse from calling out "Samoa, Samoa, Samoa" but it was all worth it. We went giddy with sheer joy and pride from the boys' win. We went straight to town Wan Chai dressed in our lavalavas, blues and flag to revel in our team's win and boy did we enjoy it. We had a great time and the atmosphere was just festive and party-like! It was amazing. Hong Kong Sevens being the biggest leg of the tournament Samoa was catapulted to being second in the IRB ratings and Fiji's still at the top. Its great that both are Pacific teams. Power to the Pacific indeed. Samoa also won US100,000.00 which is great and I just found out from a source that about half of it goes to the boys, the coach and manager which is well-deserved. Everyone is so proud of the boys and of course they are the Superstars at the moment.
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Now I'm in Samoa to visit my family and Alex had to head back for work. We spent a week in Wellington with his family and had a lovely time there catching up with everyone including some of my family and friends.
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My older sister's baby was born four weeks early and he is the cutest thing. He's so perfect. He's strong and quite big for a pre-mature baby but then again it's a Samoan baby. Both my sister and baby are well.
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Today one year ago is the day our beloved grandma passed away. I miss her very much and its very strange to come home and she's not here. However I watch the little baby and am reminded of grandma so much. I think it's God's way of filling the gap left by others. I better go now it's typical sunny beautiful day in Samoa and I should make the most of it. I should work on the tan cos its obvious that I haven't lived here with the lack of pigmentation..hahaha! Cheers to all. Love you babe in Oman and miss you.




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