Fiji: We have arrived

"Chip, chip, CHIP, CHIP, chip!" A gecko calls from the corner of the room. His voice is quiet enough to be missed if there were any ambient background noise, but in the still of the night, it's as if a bird was chirping right outside the window. My eyes are still closed and I am still mostly asleep but I am aware of the sounds around me and that the morning is close at hand. From the other room, I hear bare feet slapping the tile floor, then the handle of the door unlatches, and the bare feet enter the room.

 "Dada," Apollo nudges my shoulder, and in a hushed but excited voice, he says, "you should see the sky right now! It's really pretty!"

I force my eyes open to find the room illuminated with a soft pastel pink. After a long plane ride and only a few hours of sleep, I'm very tired but I drag my butt out of bed to treat myself to an amazing sunrise. It's not yet 6:00 AM. After watching the sky with Apollo for several minutes, another set of smaller feet come hurriedly down the hall, rhythmically slapping the tile floors in their wake.

"Dada!" Orion's excited but not so quiet voice calls out, "Can I go swimming!"

Fiji...We have arrived.

It's a lot to ask of anyone to be a guest in their home...you, plus your entourage of five that is, but that is exactly what we did, which brought the homes occupancy to ten for the week...Or did I even ask?...hmmmm, not really sure about that one, but that's just what we did; invaded my brother Greg and his wife Kim's home for a week. Fiji was our destination this year solely based on them living there. Not that I needed a reason to go to Fiji, it just made it the easy choice for us. Staying with family is how we grew up; big family and always extended family as house guests.
Granted, had my brother and his family lived in Siberia or some place like that, then I would probably be writing about our trip to Kauai or Cancun right now, hoping that my brother and his family would come to see us soon.

In the weeks leading up to our trip, Orion wanted to know (daily) how many days until we left. Days are a unit of measure that he understands. Weeks...months...these mean nothing to him, but days... he can relate to days. It not only fueled his excitement for our trip, but it fueled ours as well. As the days drew down into single digits, his face would light up with realization and he would proclaim, "I can't believe that we are going to Fiji in 4 more days!" One of my favorite things about Orion is how excited he gets. His enthusiasm was reminiscent of waiting for Christmas all over, but in the spring time. I really appreciate that level of excitement.
 On the plane ride over, on Fiji Air, Orion was watching all the promotional videos for Fiji with the on-board entertainment system. He became increasingly excited the more he watched. He often tapped on my leg to get my attention, his eyes wide with delight, to tell me things such as "Dada! Did you know that Fiji has the nicest people in the world!?" his voice loud enough for the two rows in front and behind us to hear, unaware that his headphones are causing him to nearly shout. I smile and nod. "I didn't know that! That's so cool that we are going there!"

Apollo is more reserved and contemplative about things. His excitement comes in the form of questions about what we may see and experience. He wanted to know about the types of animals and plants we might see, places we might go, and things that he hopes to do and see. "Can we bring a Fijian Parrot home with us?" he asked.

With all the excitement and all the hype, we had finally made it to Fiji. Apollo and Orion swam as the sun came up on our first morning, anxiously waiting for their cousins to get up. "When is Spyros getting up? Can we go wake him up?" they asked continually, unable to contain their excitement.

One-by-one, everyone made it out of bed. The boys were reunited with their 'cousins' and picked up right where they left off the last time they were together. Our hosts gathered up some kayaks and paddle boards and our first day, we explored the mangrove estuary right outside the front door.

I was fortunate enough to chose a partner that likes to explore and adventure as much as I do. Apollo and Orion get to come along for the ride with us now, and they too relish in it. As long as we keep them in food and water, they are totally content go non-stop from dawn until several hours after they should have been asleep.

Our first two days we spent exploring close to my brothers home, taking in the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells of Fiji. This was just the beginning of our short trip but it was off to a great start.

If a vacation can be defined by its quality of sunrises and sunsets, as cliche' as it might be, this vacation was off to an epic start..