Fiji

Note: the posts from Aug 11 to this post about Fiji recount the beginning of our trip (January to February 2013 before we started blogging).  

The first post explaining the purpose of the blog (and our trip) can be found here:

http://tsfga.blogspot.com/2013/02/connections.html

Fiji  February 11 - February 14

A quick travel tip here...when making connecting flights, check to see if staying in a 'connecting' city for a few days changes the ticket price.  Our 'connection' city to this part of the world was Fiji.  So, as I was booking the tickets I checked to see if there was a cost difference if we stopped for a few days in Fiji....and the answer was No Price Difference!   So, for the cost of the hotel and a rental car, we spent a couple of fun days in Fiji.

We arrived very late in the evening after a long passport control line (which we thankfully were able to skip after waiting 30 minutes because a security guard liked AJ).  The drive took about 2 hours in the dark, tiny roads with a 'not so great' iPhone google maps program (at least on Fiji it wasn't so great).  But we got there and thankfully the resort fixed us some dinner as we were ravenous...

The most significant thing that happened in Fiji was finding out we were pregnant with Baby #5.  Rachel took the pregnancy test at about 3am in the morning and woke me up with the results.  We didn't sleep much the rest of the night!  We told the girls the next evening and you can watch the video at this blog post where we announced the pregnancy to friends and family on this list:

http://tsfga.blogspot.com/2013/03/easter-and-new-life.html  (link opens in separate window)

Once we got back to the States, we announced the pregnancy on Rachel's Facebook page with this photo with the caption "In case you haven't heard SURPRISE!!!!....32 weeks and counting....":

Our time in Fiji was very relaxing and fun.  We watched firewalkers...

Relaxed on the beach....

told the girls about their new baby brother or sister (picture taken just after we told them)...

and enjoyed beautiful sunsets...

The kids with Rachel after learning about the pregnancy...

My amazing, beautiful, lovely pregnant wife....

More sunsets...

The happy mommy and daddy to be...

Egg toss....V and I won!

Look at that technique....the famous 'forearm catch'

The pool was wonderful...

The restaurants were pretty good (some better than others)...

The animal life was friendly...

And the resort was spectacular...notice the waves breaking far out in the ocean.  That is because the part near the shore was a coral reef that you are allowed to walk out on (and we did!):

We flew back to Dallas on February 14 where we spent 1 week before heading down to Central America...