V is for...

Vanuatu

Nana, Liam , and I took a much-needed relaxation holiday to the beautiful pacific island of Vanuatu. (Julia stayed home with Matt for some father-daughter bonding time). We stayed at the Iririki Resort, which was on its own island a 2-minute ferry ride from the main town of Port Vila (which is an easy 3-hour direct flight from Brisbane). Fabulous resort with nice restaurants, a sandy beach, pools, and luxurious rooms with a jacuzzi each balcony!

(The picture in the bottom right corner is random, I know, but Liam was fascinated by that pillow)

We'd get up each morning , stroll Liam around the island, eat a delicious tropical breakfast, and then lounge around looking out at the clear blue water, reading & studying (law books are a lot more appealing when you can sit on a couch in the Pacific Islands and read them!). Nana went kayaking while Liam and I played on the beach (he's got the beach bum lifestyle all figured out!). I got to have a massage at the spa while Nana & Liam had an afternoon together. Basically, we got to relax...toddler-free!! The colors were all amazing, and all the people were so friendly. The markets on the mainland were full of bright shirts and colorful masks, and the women all wore dresses from brightly colored fabrics all in the same pattern. At the markets, the women sat around in sewing circles with their sewing machines or needle and thread, working on items to sell at their stalls. A big park stretched from the markets to the docks where we caught the boat to Iririki, and all the local families were picnicking and lounging around in the park, a lot of them drinking coconut milk threw a straw stuck straight into a fresh coconut.
The waters were so clear that you could see down to the coral below (bright orange and blue)--and that was just what you could see looking down from a boat! We rented a little fishing boat one day and went sightseeing around the edges of some of the other small islands that form part of Vanuatu. Definitely an adventure when we got to the open waters and our beautiful blue sky suddenly turned grey and a storm hit; our tiny outboard motor didn't give me a lot of faith that we could get back to shore with any speed should the need arise. Images of Lost definitely flashed through my head (some of the smaller islands had that look of being recently abandoned by the Dharma Initiative), but we didn't shipwreck, the skies cleared and we got to see more of the islands.Liam loved being an only child for a few days. He just eats up all the attention, and the locals loved him! All the locals who worked at the resort would stop and talk to him, and he'd flash them his big grin and laugh and flirt. We thought it was hilarious though that they'd just pick him up out of the stroller (or straight out of my arms) and play with him--even the men!
It was great for Liam to get some one-on-one time (and a break from being hugged and patted--a.k.a. smothered and hit-- by his big sister). He has mastered rolling all over the place and spent a lot of time on the floor of the hotel room working on his scooting and crawling (he's almost there!). He's fascinated by faces (see the photos of him trying to eat our cheeks and noses), and he makes some great faces of his own!