Our Travels

My dear friend has completed her chemo therapy treatment for breast cancer and has been cleared to our joyful relief. Her hair is slowly growing back but sparse at the moment. She has a monthly injection called herceptin she has to take to be rid of a cancerous gene she has for the 11 more months otherwise life goes on and we're thankful that she survived this. Our other loved one has just completed her first round of chemo and radiotherapy and now having a break. They will conduct tests to see what effect it had on the tumor and we're all praying and hoping for the best results. 

If you want some entertainment read this brilliant version of Fifty Shades of  Savai'i by my talented sister. Just brilliant.

Enjoying a beautiful summer day on Mondsee Lake with son driving the boat Lake Mondsee Soga'imiti enjoying the ride Hubby went for a hike and took this lovely shot from the mountain of the lake This view always makes my heart miss a beat. Sheer beauty and the boys cooking up Pork ribs add to the mystique lol Bike riding again tandem with my son..hard work Having fun at the moonlight party Tau having a ball at the Lake Festival Tau with Nadia enjoying all the sugary treats Daddy having a good time at the beer fest Us 3 after the concert...it was packed.

Dramatics I meant 'with a dog'. Yes literally, we brought home a three month old Labrador cross last week. Two sleepless nights and days later I was absolutely mortified. I could not believe we had done that. I, since I was a child had never owned a dog. Same goes with the hubby. We were both debating how to pass it along. However the Apple of my son's eye is so cute that we're SLOWLY warming to it. Oh yes everyday hubby and I deliberate how to get rid of it but my son's growing affection for it has stopped us from doing so. I think it'll be one of those things that traumatises a child. "I'll never forget the day my mum and dad gave away my dog" choo hooo and so the dog stays.  But having said all that, not-so-little Apple is a fast learner and a smart dog to our relief. Some dog lover friends had said Labs were stupid, personally I cannot tell the differences in intelligence from one dog to another but I do appreciate it when they learn what we...

Father and son walking through the fields Cathedral in Heilbronn centre Vineyards on the hillside in Heinsheim Hubby and son setting off for another ride. Castle on the hill

The next day we headed into Heilbronn to have a look around. It was a lovely little city.  Heilbronn is where hubby's forebearers came from and why they have that last name. One of the great grandpas dropped a couple of letters from the name to their current name.  It was a beautiful sunny day so everyone was out and about, the cafes were busy. We walked around the town centre and went to the Experimenta Museum, a science museum for all ages in which our son had a ball. We were there all morning before we grabbed lunch and headed back to our hotel. Our bikes were ready except Tau's one which was too big. The helpful receptionist called the bike guy who showed up with another bike which was still too big and then had us follow him to his workshop. He was mighty helpful and very lovely. 15 minutes later we were armed with the right sized bike and helmet for our little one and two good ones for us. Off we went bike riding down along the river. It was just so beautiful. I dream...

On 5th August Ele Opeloge competed and ranked 6th in the Women's +75kgs Group with a mark of 267kgs! She did awesomely and this fan is so so proud of this Samoan Competitor and what she has achieved. Zhou Lulu of China went on to win gold with and Olympic record lift of 333kgs.  Ele Opeloge flag bearer for Samoa at London 2012 Olympics Parade Ele Competing on 5 August 2012. Photos from www.zimbio.com

We landed at Munich Airport at 7.30am after a 7 hour flight from Muscat. We had a good rest on the flight and went straight to Thrifty to pick up our car. I love how small Munich arrival is, each terminal allow for a few flights so from my experience we've never had to queue up to customs which is convenient. We programmed the GPS for Heilbronn and off we went. Hubby driving and me being a live GPS just incase. Of course 1 hour into the drive I was knocked out! See being Samoan we can sleep anywhere, whether we've just woken up or not! Travel and sleeping go hand in hand.  I woke up about 30 minutes to destination. Driving on the outskirts of Heilbronn town itself was just beautiful. It's wine country and there were vineyards everywhere and corn fields for miles. Hubby found us an idyllic hotel in Heinsheim near Bad Rappenau 15 mins from Heilbronn city but country enough for us to enjoy the weather and fresh air. We passed Bad Rappenau and after a windy road we drove alo...