Mother and Son Make The World Their Classroom for a School Year: October 13, 2014

After a rough night’s sleep between freezing and sweaty, since the fan was either full blast or off, I was a bit tired. Decided we were renting a car and going to explore the island and see what it was all about and maybe check out a few other hotels. We walked across the street and rented a Moke- looks like one of those funky VW cars and a dune buggy. It was hilarious driving around in this convertible stick shift can, it was great to have the breeze and fun to drive a stick shift- looser than the farms old jeep. Sam and I were laughing half the time since the car was a riot and my foot was so cocked as I was driving it since the accelerator sticks way up and you have to lean way over to shift. Sam was also very impressed with my skills as I managed this funky car all over the island on narrow windy roads that go up steep hills and down and around sharp corners. We had a great time exploring with Sam as my navigator. We stopped at a beautiful hotel on the other side of the island where we asked to see the pool and beach. We enjoyed lunch by the pool and enjoyed swimming and hanging out. After lunch we came across just spectacular beaches on the other side of the island, virtually without anyone on them and all public. We pulled into a little shop and found some snorkel gear to purchase and some beach toys and dipped into a couple of spots along the way around the island. The ocean must be 85 degrees. So beautiful and the softest white sand beaches.

We checked out a couple other hotels and there were some beauties. We decided we would stay at Raffles, but since the price was so much more than where we were staying we would stay a couple more days at our little spot, since it really isn’t so bad, especially since we switched to a smaller room but that was more cheerful and had it’s own private porch, and then move and spend the last 3 days at Raffles. We decided we would drive back over that evening too and have dinner and reserve our room.

We drove the whole island except one beach north of Raffles, which is supposed to have a beautiful beach too. We will go there later in the week when we are staying on that side of the island.

We played at the beach outside our hotel and sat in the water and watched a man fishing with just a fishing line and lure, no pole or net. We could cool off in the pool by the beach and then go back and warm up in the ocean- that’s different isn’t it? A man came to the hotel and I booked a ferry over to La Digue Island for tomorrow and a couple bicycles. We had moved into our new little room, but brighter and less rowdy neighbors. We hopped in our Moke- with no doors and a flappy roof top and air dryed my hair on the 25 minute ride through the middle of the island and over the mountain to the other side for dinner. It was pitch dark and we only saw about 8 other cars on the road the whole night. I kept thinking we better not run out of gas or run into a ditch since our phones don’t work and a long walk in the dark for help. But we rallied around the hills and windy roads and had no problem making our way there and back.

Dinner was delicious and it was nice to feel the ocean breezes as we ate outside. The only eventful thing was that Sam saw a huge spider like a dock spider but thicker down by my feet. He shot up and told me, “mom you need to get up, with as much composure as he could muster.” I got up and then the spider must have gone away. Luckily that was near the end of dinner, which as you can guess with our fear of spiders. We are getting better though and finished eating and then went up to reception and booked our rooms for Wed-Sat, which the gentleman at the hotel was so nice and helped us book online on a website I hadn’t heard of where we saved almost 40% on the room!! Yay!

After making it back safely we were tired and I fell asleep writing the blog. But, Sam woke me up and read me a little of the scriptures and we said our prayers before falling back asleep. We feel it is important to keep that routine going no matter where we are. We want to keep that feeling of the spirit with us wherever we are so that we can be showing gratitude and also keeping that spirit of our Father in Heaven with us. It is so amazing to recognize that we have a loving Father and His Son that created these incredible surroundings and animals and such a variety of creations and people. The unifier with them all is that we were all created by The Father and His Son. That although he put us in a world where there would be challenges, he also surrounded us with such beauty that can lift our spirits wherever we live. I think a place like Africa, it is a hard country to live in, but there I feel that God has given them the world’s most beautiful sunsets and sunrises. These are enjoyed by everyone and can remind people that we are greater than just men and women, but we are His children, we have a divine birthright and that no matter where we are, we can communicate with Him and Him with us. We see his greatness in the beauty that surrounds us as we just look up.

Grateful to have my little partner out here with me. He has really blossomed and has developed an even greater sense of humor and adventurous spirit. I am again so grateful for this experience and I don’t know why I am able to have this experience, but I know there are many lessons to be learned and I am trying to learn them and share them with Sam and soon with my girls and Nate as they join us in Egypt and with those that are reading my blog. I apologize for all the writing and maybe no one is reading these, but I am writing this so that I will remember. I always want to remember this time in my life, this gift,these lessons, those I have met and what I have seen, experiences, felt and what they mean to me.