The Island Lost It's Mind!!!!

So, if you read my previous post you'll see that we spent our New Year's Eve safe inside our cement wall community. But, we still had some fun!

Once again, we went swimming! The pool was cleaned 2 days before, insuring the lack of dead slug and live frog slime. So we took advantage of it.

Side note, can you imagine being a slug or a frog? Just going about your life, hopping or sliming your way along and all of the sudden you find yourself falling into a giant pool?! How much do you want to bet you would have peed your little frog/slug undies?! I know I would have. The slug was dead, and his slimy little body stayed in the pool for a few days. The frog on the other hand, was so not dead! Even though when Michelle checked on it it appeared to be. When we went to show the kids it was very much alive! It was trying it's hardest to evade the boys poking it with sticks! Apparently chlorine isn't as deadly to frogs. Well, I felt bad for the poor little guy, he just kept swimming laps, trying to get out. And so I rescued him...Filipino frogs are much more slimey than bumpy, in case you ever asked yourself that question. But stupid, stupid me, I didn't kiss him. Now I'll never know what could have been.

Back to our celebration. After we swam and ate we decided to implement a few of the Filipino traditions. But by 8:00 the kids were lagging. So, we had our celebration around 9:00. We turned on all of the lights, and drank pineapple soda out of goblets. We put coins in our pockets and banged on pans, to insure wealth in the coming year. The kids jumped up and down to insure they'd grow taller in the next year, we ate round fruits (mentos) also to increase wealth. It was super fun! And, so as not to forget American traditions, we kissed Brycen. (Todd was asleep).

We were all exhausted and decided to just go to bed around 10:00. But, the fireworks and guns made it hard to want to go to sleep, who wants to sleep when the whole island's freaking out?! So, I was just sitting on my bed, watching Star Trek and eating nerds...slighlty sad that I couldn't see past the cement wall behind my room. Then Michelle came in and told me to come to their room. We went out on the balcony at 11:59 and watched the whole island lose it's mind, literally lose it's mind. I've never seen so many fireworks in my life! It was like the 4th of July on crack! The sky was a huge cloud of haze and smoke and you could see fireworks everywhere! On the ground, on the hills, in the jungle covered mountains! Just when you thought it was over they'd set more off. We were out there for quite some time and they were still going strong! It was amazing! The machine gun going off outside my bedroom was a bit unsettling, but awesome! If the year comes in with such a bang, how can it not be amazing! This will forever be one of the most memorable New Year's in my life!