Bula!

Our family has done the near impossible. We have successfully executed another holiday where we secured the never sought after, unseasonable, unlikely, downright annoying, rain storms! Yes, that's right. We just spent another week playing cards in a hotel room. The destination this time - Fiji. By all accounts early October is one of the best times of year to go to Fiji. Mild temperatures and virtually no rain make it a holiday makers paradise. If only I had a dollar for every holiday rain drop our family has felt. I would be rich!

But, alas, all that family time spent together in cramped quarters makes me rich in spirit! Despite the rain, we had a lovely time in Fiji. We flew into Nadi and took an hour boat ride out to none other than "Paradise Island." Paradise it was. The beaches were gorgeous and there was nothing for us to do but relax. Even with the rain, we were able to have a wonderful holiday together.


The resort itself was very basic but perfect for our family. I had a very hard time finding accommodations for a family of 6 during school holidays. Paradise Island is a 3 star resort which can be a little scary. But, it was perfect for us. Our first bure (that is a little fiji cottage) was not renovated and was awful. We complained (of course) and were moved to a nicely renovated bure which was great. Nothing special - no tvs even - but we knew that coming in. It was 3 rooms with beds for everyone and views of the ocean. What more do we need?

So, what did we do in the rain? Most days there was at least an hour or so where the rain slowed to a sprinkle. So, we swam. We snorkeled. We ate. We had a great time. The snorkeling off the beach was fantastic. There was a reef just a short swim off shore so we were all able to see some amazing sea life. In fact, our snorkeling here was much better than the Great Barrier Reef. It was nice and shallow as well so we were able to paddle the little girls out in kayaks so they could see the reef too. We all saw tons of butterfly fish, huge bright blue starfish, and J even spotted a sting ray! The resort also had a kid's club with an indoor bouncy castle and slides. They had activities like hat making, crab racing, limbo and more. All the activities they had planned helped pass some of those very rainy days. In the end, the sun even decided to join us and our last 2 days in Fiji were the gorgeous sunny days you expect!

My forty precious toes...

Coconut time! The kids collected coconuts all week and had plenty of fresh coconut milk.

The resort had several pools and two waterslides. One in the baby pool and one in the big pool. We loved them!

We had lots of fun kayaking through the week. The resort had kayaks scattered around the beach that we could take. With the water so calm and shallow, we were all able to enjoy paddling around.


No vacation would be complete without a little adrenaline. The big kids had fun on the banana boat. The only complaint - it did not go fast enough!

Ahhhhh.... milkshakes by the water. Life lived on Fiji time is well worth it!