Tuesday, March 27, 2007

New Bed

One of our neighbors has moved out of her house, and she left everything she didn't want for us other neighbors to scavenge through. We picked the bed! Picture this: a twin-size box spring and mattress that ALSO feels like a box spring, both from the 70's. That was our OLD mattress. Now, our new mattress is a QUEEN!!! (I can't believe I'm getting excited about a queen-size mattress; I mean, our mattress at home is a king!) We liked it so much we just shoved it into the twin size frame until it fit. Now we can't get it out, the head and foot of the frame are arched outward because of the larger mattress, and the mattress hangs over the sides. We don't care! We have a queen! Yippee!!

You think this looks funny, you should see the twin-size mattress we left on the queen size boxspring in our neighbor's house!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

A Ray at Airport Beach

On Saturday we went back to Airport Beach (one of our favorites). It had to have been the most beautiful beach day we had seen in a long time. The tide was high, and the water was really clear.

The highlight of the trip was my personal swim out around the weather tower and into "Blue Hole" territory. Except I wasn't actually in the Blue Hole because it was past the rocks which set the boundary line for the Blue Hole. It was closer to the open ocean. I will affectionately call it "Blue Hole 2."

In Blue Hole 2, I saw some of the most beautiful coral colors I had ever seen. Blue, yellow, orange, white--it was just beautiful. Then I ran into a sea turtle. I think I'd seen him before; I'll call him "fidget." Even though I was completely calm, once he got the hint that I was there he darted off through the water.

As I kept swimming, I ran into a sea of beautiful blue fish. There were probably 500 of them! As I was admiring this school of fish, taking pictures, out of the corner of my eye I saw an even BIGGER school of large, yellow fish. I mean, this group had to have been at least 3000 strong. I started singing in my head, "anything you can do, I can do better." It was absolutely amazing.

I kept swimming until I ran into another group of really large fish. I mean, if I had my fishing pole.... These fish just nonchalantly swam right past my face; I could have reached out and grabbed one of them.

After that I turned around to make my way back to Airport Beach. I thought that Jessi and Jaydn had probably thought I had drowned or something. As I swam back, I looked down on the sandy floor and couldn't believe what I saw--a manta-ray! (or a sting-ray; I'm not an expert so I don't know which kind it was). I had never seen one in the ocean here in AS; I had only seen them in aquariums in NZ and the US. I took some pictures before it noticed me and swam away. This was definitely the highlight of my swim.

As I made my way back, I ran into another sea turtle who was less frisky. I got some pictures of him and made my way back in.

The rest of the day was spent with Jaydn and his friend Oliver. Jaydn has recently learned how to dive down 10-15 feet in the ocean without it hurting his ears. He is a great swimmer.

I'm going to miss this when we move back to potato country.

30

On Monday I turned 30 years old. I'm not sure what that means, because I still feel the same. At least I got some gifts and a party.

When I came home on Monday from work, Jessi and Jaydn had decorated the house with balloons.

Jaydn had written down a list of games that we could play for my birthday. The list included "paper airplane toss," "toy car race," "frowny," (whoever keeps a frown for the longest time wins), "guess what's inside the blanket," "musical chairs," and "dance to the music" (when the music stops, stop dancing). So we played Jaydn's games and then got some Chinese food.

We got our food at "Hong Kong House," which claims to be "an Oriental feast." We got "Dinner for 2" on the menu, on the recommendation of my co-clerk, Mike. This was probably the biggest "dinner for 2" you could get anywhere for $29:

On Tuesday, Jessi called me at work and lured me to get off early and go to the beach. "After all, it's your birthday," she said. Well, technically, it's not, but since I've been married birthdays are really "birth months." I met her at the beach near the IBM Laundromat, right under the gaze of Rainmaker Mountain. The water wasn't very clear, but we made our way out past the reef so we were in the deep, ocean water of Pago Pago harbor (but not actually IN the harbor; that would be disgusting water!). This was the deepest water I had ever snorkeled in, and it was really clear and beautiful. This spot is highly recommended for future trips.
My birth-week culminated with a not-so-"surprise" birthday party at the Corry's on Friday night. Jason Corry is rich from his muti-million dollar Frito Lay chip business, so they have a Western-style house with ACTUAL WALLS and air conditioning! We go there often for games and food.
Jessi made me a wonderful carrot cake (my second favorite kind of cake) and we played games all night.


Jaydn gave me some last-second help with blowing out the candles.
The Corry's had a chocolate fondue fountain, of which Jaydn took full advantage (see, e.g., the chocolate mustache and beard):
Jessi was also a fan:

And a fun time was had by all.

Friday, March 23, 2007

CJ Knows "The Secret"!

Last night Jessi and I watched the much-heralded online movie, "The Secret." Basically, "The Secret" is as I expected--a compilation of truths about successful people, just wrapped up in different packaging. As I watched, I kept thinking, "oh, yeah; I read that in 7-Habits" or "that's in the BOM" or "that's completely obvious!" But, like Jessi said, if it gets people thinking and making positive changes, then that's great.

The basic idea of "The Secret" is basically what Jessi has said on our answering machine for several years, "What You Think About, You Bring About." Or, in other words, if you think you're going to be successful, you will be someday because you will "attract" success. I think it's better to say that your thoughts resonate in your everyday expressions and actions, so if you think "success" you will look successful and act successfully. That will, basically, bring success.

Enough of the philosophy. So why does Chief Justice Kruse ("CJ") know The Secret"?

Today all of the judges (and I) ate lunch together in the jury room. The staff insisted I go sit at the main table, although I didn't really know what the fuss was at first. There was a lot of food. Each judge (and I) was given a platter full of Samoan food. You know, the plastic platters you get at the grocery store; either it's a vegetable platter or a meat and cheese platter, they're about 12-15 inches in diameter. Full of Samoan food. That was MY dish.

So at this point I realized a family had brought the food in for us. Then I realized it was the family of a judge that was recently deceased. The head of the family came into the room and gave a speech, entirely in Samoan, which I assume was about the deceased judge. While he was talking, another lady and some of the court staff brought in 2 Samoan fine mats, large cans of corned beef, $100 bills and other gifts and gave them to the CJ, who sat astutely at the head of the table. The gifts were presented to CJ in almost a bowing position, like he was royalty. Finally, one of the judges gave what I believe was another eulogy (in Samoan), and we blessed the food and ate.

During this whole time, I noticed the rest of the court staff (non-judges-lawyers) sitting patiently outside of the room, waiting for us to finish eating. CJ finished eating early, which startled me because I expected him, as a Samoan, to eat quite a lot. He explained, "they (the staff) can't eat until I am finished." I just sat in amazement.

I asked CJ what this was all about, even though I felt like I understood some of what was going on. Apparently, CJ had taken a collection from the judges, which must have been quite a bit of money. Then, the money was given to the family of the deceased judge shortly after he died. This is a tradition in American Samoa (e.g., the Attorney General recently died, and every Assistant AG - get a load of this - was REQUIRED to give $200 to the AG's family) , although it used to be that you would give truckloads of gifts instead of money. Once you gave the massive gift, it was tradition for the family to turn around and give YOU a huge gift. CJ decided that he could avoid a big, unnecessary gift to the court by just giving cash. He was wrong.

The family gave the court all of the above, because it was tradition. You see? CJ understood "The Secret"! He knew that if he gave the family a gift, he'd get a gift in return. If he wanted a free lunch (no such thing, right?) he could give the family a gift. Of course, the whole "Samoan tradition" thing obliterates my theory, but it could work in the states too, right?

By the way, don't be offended by my reference to the Chief Justice as "CJ." I don't think you could get away with going to the U.S. Supreme Court and calling out, "Hey C.J. Roberts!" But in American Samoa, EVERYONE calls him CJ. Even attorneys.

Anyone want my leftover pork ribs?

Bids for 2014 Winter Olympics Presented in AS?

Yep, today is the day that American Samoa hosts the bid presentation for the 2014 Winter Olympics! American Samoa?! To tell you the truth, it's all been pretty hush-hush around here. I have no idea where they are having this meeting today, and it's not like we're having wild parades and the like. Oh well.

Roundup: 3 cities to present bids for '14 Games
The Associated Press
Published: March 23, 2007

OLYMPICS

"Delegations from the three cities hoping to be host of the 2014 Winter Olympics were set to present bid proposals Friday to the Oceania National Olympic Committee, holding its annual meeting in American Samoa.

Representatives from Sochi, Russia; Salzburg, Austria; and Pyeongchang, South Korea, started arriving in Pago Pago this week, along with a seven-member delegation from China, host of the 2008 Summer Games. Officials representing each city have declined to discuss their bids in advance. The International Olympic Committee is to select the host city on July 4 during its session in Guatemala City.

The head of American Samoa's Olympic committee, Ben Solaita, said, 'It may seem odd to some people, but not to us' that the bids are being heard in the island territory."

Sunday, March 18, 2007

So, What Did the Tourists on Queen Mary Think of AS?

I enjoyed this article in The Australian about one woman's experience upon landing in Pago Pago harbor last month on the Queen Mary II. It makes me happy to hear that American Samoa can still give its visitors that island charm.

Show of flower power bowls a maiden over
DEPARTURE LOUNGE Susan Kurosawa
March 17, 2007


THE term maiden world voyage sounds deliciously antiquated, as if one would expect said ship to be full of tea-sipping Miss Marple look-alikes in cardigans and brogues. This definitely has not been the case as Queen Mary 2 makes its inaugural loop from Fort Lauderdale via the Pacific and Asia to Southampton, causing a stir of Hollywood star proportions wherever it arrives.
San Francisco and Sydney hold the honours thus far for harbour spectacles: spectator craft galore (looking as small as bathtub toys) bobbing around the QM2, media fanfare and fireworks, fireboats with their water-spray welcomes, traffic snarls and public transport stoppages.
These maiden voyage performances have been well chronicled but less heralded was QM2's arrival at Pago Pago on the island of Tutuila, American Samoa, on February 13. Our arrival into port was slow and purposeful, along a deep dredged channel, rimmed with reefs and sandbars.
Dressed-to-the-nines dignitaries, including a resplendent Miss American Samoa, were on the docks as the ship pulled in. QM2 cast a 62m shadow over an assortment of container sheds and port offices, looming so large that the low-rise tuna-cannery town seemed of Legoland proportions.

In a neat avenue between the gangway and the port entrance, stalls had been set up, selling the expected South Seas inventories of baskets, shells, sarongs and vivid shirts.

But also on display were fantastic arrangements of flowers -- heliconia and strelitzia, spiral ginger and branches of sweet frangipani -- decked with red ribbons, hearts and Valentine's Day greetings. The enterprise of the local women was well rewarded: the American passengers, in particular, bought so many of the big bouquets that the stallholders' young children were sent racing off to find more flowers. I had a vision that night of all the gardens in Pago Pago denuded of their bright bounty as a thousand cabins across the QM2 gleamed with flourishes of red and gold.

I can't imagine too many passengers feeling thrilled at the prospect of Pago Pago on the itinerary. It isn't one of the big-hitters -- everyone on QM2's maiden world voyage was poised to get to Sydney -- but sometimes it is the small, contained ports that offer the unexpected, and therefore the more valuable, pleasures.

Our arrival approximately doubled the town's population. Of course, not all the ship's 2500-plus passengers and 1250-plus crew went ashore, but it appeared as if a small city had landed on Pago Pago's tropical doorstep. The locals loved it: modified American school buses -- with open sides, hard wooden seats and decorated with palm fronds -- lined up for tours and transfers. There weren't enough guides to go around so high school students with good English were let off studies for the day and served as novice escorts, several launching into impromptu renditions of the national anthem.

The little shops around the waterfront put up sale signs, which seemed unbelievable; they were offering "Queen discounts", not doubling the prices, as is often the case when cashed-up tourists hit a backwater.

I caught one of the rattling public buses, with the driver in a low-slung cabin like a Formula One driver's cockpit, and sat next to Amelia, a primary schoolteacher who told me she wasn't a local. Amelia had come from the western side of Samoa and she waved her hand as if gesturing towards an unimaginably distant horizon.

The bus, with a mural of the sinking Titanic on its rear, didn't seem to be going anywhere in particular so I just rode along, enjoying the lushness of the scenery and the reverberations of the driver's sound system.

Many of the houses in American Samoa have graves in their front yards, scrupulously maintained with polished headstones and jars of flowers. I asked Amelia what happens when families move house but she looked shocked, unable to grasp the concept of such abandonment. Later I imagined the real-estate listings: sea views, ensuite ancestors.

When Amelia got off, she told me to make the driver drop me near the ship and that I was to pay him $1 "and not a penny more".

The day was full of such small kindnesses. I bought metres of cotton fabric printed with hibiscus and the cashier gave me 20 per cent discount as my "special Mary price".

Pago Pago used to have a cable car across the harbour to the summit of Mt Alava. Travel&Indulgence's cruise correspondent Helen Hutcheon has often told me that the port's "flower shower" ceremony is one of her favourite South Pacific experiences. Apparently the locals used to throw flowers on to the decks of cruise ships from the cable car gondolas as a gesture of farewell. But in 1980 a US Navy plane struck the cable and it hasn't been replaced.

As QM2 sailed late that afternoon, we were promised a 21st-century flower "power" version of the shower. A helicopter was to scatter blooms on us as we gathered on the aft of deck eight sipping cocktails in colours Mother Nature never dreamed of. It was cloudy, the chopper could be heard but not seen. Eventually it made a quick pass and a few stems could be seen hurtling away from the ship. They looked the size of twigs.

Children waved from the shore, some climbed trees and were waving US flags. "Nothing happens here," said the woman next to me as we leaned on the railings. She had completely missed the point.

Susan Kurosawa was a guest of Cunard.

Chicken Pox

We skipped the beach this weekend because our little guy got the chicken pox. It had been going around at his school and he had several friends who had come down with it, so we were bracing for our turn.

It started on Thursday, so hopefully by next Thursday he should be better (I guess it usually lasts 1 week). Jaydn is taking it well, as you can see. But he hates the itchy feeling. Who wouldn't? And I think the climate makes the chicken pox worse. What a trooper!

Volunteering For the Humane Society

Last week I (Jessi) volunteered for the Humane Society. I know that may surprise many of you because I am not an animal/pet person. I do love animals- but not in my lap. I guess you could say I was a lover of animals from a distance. I decided to volunteer because: 1. I believe in the cause; 2. My good friend Kim was in charge of finding volunteers; and 3. It makes me sad to see so many injured and diseased stray dogs here. The main problem is that we don't have a veterinarian on the island. So for 3 weeks, we had 30 veterinarians come here to help the animals. The amazing thing is that these vets are not only not getting paid for all their work, but they all paid their own way to come here because they love animals, love to serve others, and they want to make a difference around the world. They worked on about 1000 animals (mostly doing spay and neuter surgeries to cut down on our stray dog problem) free of charge for the local islanders. It was awesome to hang out with them and get to know them. The organization is called "Vet Ventures," and the vets came from all over the U.S., but mostly the west coast.

I worked at the front desk doing paperwork, checking people in, and explaining procedures to them. One of my quirks is that I love to organize things, so it was fun for me to keep the files in order and have a system. The first picture is of me and Stephanie (sister to one of the vets) at our front desk. Stephanie showed me how to do the paperwork before she left the island, and she was great to work with.

We mostly worked on cats and dogs, but one lady brought in a set of land turtles. Fortunately, one of the vets was a turtle specialist.

(From Sean): For a little perspective on our dog problem; here's some pretty funny quotes from High Court case Savage v. Gov't of Am. Samoa, 1 A.S.R.2d 102 (1983):

"There are few places on this earth which suffer more than American Samoa from an oversupply of man's so-called friend, the dog. Untold thousands of dogs roam the territory. Some are strays, some have a vague claim to ownership by a human being, a tiny fraction are actually licensed and registered. Almost without exception they are mongrels--scrawny, emaciated, mangy, in-bred, flea-bitten, diseased. Sophisticated world travelers usually refer to the dogs of Mexico and China as the worst looking dogs in the world. Compared to the dogs of American Samoa, the dogs of Mexico and China could qualify as best of their class at Madison Square Garden.

The territory has no leash law. It has a singularly ineffective and widely ignored license law (sections 25.1607 & 27.0243 ASCA) and a peculiar stray dog control law (section 25.0301, et seq. American Samoa Administrative Code) of which more later. As a result, large numbers of dogs, usually in groups or packs, roam the territory at will, fighting, frolicking, fornicating, barking, snarling, and during a full moon, howling either in unison or singly. All of this, standing by itself, is a nuisance. However, a more ominous result of this bulging canine population is an awesome number of attacks by dogs on human beings, usually small children. For example, during the fiscal year 1982, 215 dog bites were recorded at the LBJ Tropical Medical Center. Such a number of bites is shocking considering that the territory only has a population of 32,000. That is almost one dog bite for every 150 people. Obviously this statistic is but a tip of the iceberg as only severe bites would ordinarily require medical attention.

In other words, the dog situation in American Samoa is a disgrace."

So what is the dog situation like in Tafuna where we live? Savage talks about that as well:

"Whatever the effectiveness of the commission may be as to individual villages it affords no protection to the inhabitants of the public housing enclave at Tafuna which is not a part of any village. Insofar as the inhabitants of Tafuna are concerned, dog bite reports simply become useless pieces of paper reposing in the respective offices of the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Samoan Affairs. Nothing is done.

As a direct result of this complete lack of animal control, Tafuna is simply saturated with stray dogs. Tafuna's dog count must be mind boggling although no effective canine census exists. They travel singly or in packs as large as eight to ten."

Savage was written in 1983. Would you be shocked if I told you that in 2007, not much has changed? I didn't think so.

Hence the volunteers from the Humane Society. God bless them!

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Aunu'u

Our usual trip to the beach on Saturdays takes a few hours. This one was an all day event, which was planned for at least a week.

We visited Aunu'u with our friends Mark and Ian. Aunu'u is a really small island right off of our larger (but still small) island of Tutuila. Aunu'u is the small island off to the bottom right of Tutuila:


Aunu'u is only about 3 square kilometers (1.9 square miles) in area. We covered every inch of the hiking trails shown on Aunu'u on the map above. And it wasn't as easy as the map key would have you believe.

Here's Aunu'u from the road near Nu'uuli, which is sort of close to where we live:

So to get there, we had to drive to the other end of Tutuila and take a boat. Here's Aunu'u from the boat dock. No, Jessi's not trying to sell you a cell phone.


And here's the boat. Really? Yeah, really. They called it "Herbie."

The first thing we noticed upon arriving in Aunu'u village was the lack of roads (or cars for that matter). This was (for the most part) an island of foot-transportation. Except for the occasional very out-of-place golf cart.

So off we went on our walking trek. We followed a path around the north side of the island that started off fairly well-defined.

There was the occasional beach view along the way.

Our first official stop was at Pala Lake, a sea of fiery red quicksand. According to our guidebook, if you wanted to swim without "being sucked down into sandy doom," you have to remain horizontal at all times and propel yourself only using your arms. We just decided to stay vertical on land, rather than any position in a quicksand lake (which was full of eels, by the way). You can bet that the trip was filled with all kinds of quotes from the "Princess Bride" movie, mostly coming from my wife ("the shrieking eels!!!", the "fire swamp!!!!", yadda yadda yadda...).

Our next stop was at the natural arch beach. It gets its name (which we gave it) from a natural rock arch that jets out over the water. We stopped and had lunch and a dip in the water.

Jaydn was dying to do some fishing, and our friend Ian brought along a fishing pole. So Ian helped Jaydn catch a fish. He was so excited! You can also see the natural arch (a little) in the picture.
At this point I almost thought about just turning around and going back. We'd gone to the beach. Had our fun, right? But no, we decided to hike through the center of the island.
About half way into our hike (the trail of which, by the way, appeared to be much less-traveled), it started to rain. And rain. And boy, did it ever rain! We took banana leaves to try to shield ourselves from all of the rain. No use. This is what you call a walk through the rainforest.

At the middle of our journey, after the rain had stopped, we were lucky enough to find a couch to sit on and relax. Huh? OK, that was completely random!
After the ugly couch, we made our way around Red Lake. Red Lake is in the middle of Fa'imulivai Marsh, which, in turn, lies in the middle of Aunu'u's volcanic crater. It is filled with eels and tilapia fish. We followed a muddy, wet path around the lake, which Jaydn did not enjoy.
We passed by Pisaga, an area where, supposedly, people are forbidden to call out or make loud noises lest they disturb the aitu (spirits) that inhabit the place. Samoans believe those who make noise may be answered by an irritable spirit. What's funny is that the Pisaga area is where we found a large assortment of three-legged chairs (one leg chopped off), buckets, tables, a rice cooker, a coffee maker, and a fridge that was locked. We assumed this was all set up to appease the spirits. I mean, they could just go right through the locked door of the fridge, so the lock would have to be to keep out humans. But there wasn't a nearby electricity outlet, so whatever food was left in the fridge for the aitu was probably not very good. Perhaps that's why the spirits were angry.
This was also the place where Jaydn decided he'd had enough of walking through muddy water in his Crocs. But despite the noise, we did not receive an answer from the spirits. I think they had probably had enough of this rediculous place and had just left. What do you think?

Our next stop was Ma'ama'a Cove. This was probably the wildest "cove" I'd ever seen. The wave action was so completely random that it could have, at any moment, splashed up and taken us out to sea. The water would enter into a cave and then jettison steam back out. It was amazing.

There was also a stream coming from Red Lake that was making huge ponds of red water near the cove. Jaydn saw that the fish in the ponds were laying their eggs in large circles of sand under the water; the fish had created these perfect circles and then laid their eggs in the center. It was pretty interesting.

The path was even more concealed on the other side of Red Lake. We passed through a virtual fruit bat feeding ground; there were bats flying all around us, eating the fruit in the trees. On the ground were small chestnut-like nuts that had been gnawed at and chewed and then spit out by the bats flying above.

At the end of our circle around Red Lake, I took a nice picture of the deadly lake that we stayed so far away from.

On our way along the south side of the island (back to the village) we passed by some wonderful beaches. We were so stinkin' dirty from our trek around Red Lake that we stopped for a dip. Then we were back on our way (you can see Tutuila in the background on this next picture):

As we passed back into semi-civilization, we passed by--of all things--an LDS church. On this teeny island of about 500 people, we only saw two churches-this nice LDS churchhouse and a huge Samoan church.

Finally, we were back to the harbor!!

By now you probably think I'm some sort of straggler; I mean, you see everyone in these pictures BUT me. I was thinking that myself, so I turned the camera around and took a picture. I didn't realize I'd look so weird. I took my lava lava and wrapped it around my head to keep from getting a sunburn through my hair--a problem I have had in Samoa. I don't always look this weird (I'm sure that some would disagree).

I was going for the pirate/Survivor look, of course. Swimming in the harbor was the best part of the trip. It was probably 20 feet deep, and the bottom was all sand, no rocks or coral. But there was a lot of huge fish, and the visibility from the top was perfect. It was an amazing place to snorkel and dive off the dock.

At the end of the day, we were pooped. Our faces tell it all as we crossed back over to Tutuila.


We were all pretty tired!!

Jaydn was content to look at the water.

Samoa's Support for the US Military

I just read a good article on the influence of the military in American Samoa. The link to the article is here:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703011samoa-story,1,1893925.story?coll=chi-newsspecials-hed

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Centipede

Tonight we had some friends over for dinner. Somehow, our discussion turned to keeping bugs and other creatures out of our house. Jessi noted that since I had caulked up all of the holes in the house, we hadn't seen one centipede.

At the end of the night, as we saw our friends out the door, I hollered out to our neighbor to be careful as he crossed the grass. Sometimes centipedes come to the surface in the night when it has been raining, so I thought I'd warn him again.

A few minutes later as Jessi was doing something at the sink, lo and behold a pretty big centipede ran out right next to her feet. Thank goodness she had her crocs on! I grabbed a shoe and, luckily, the centipede came back out into view. So, after some nine nervous rapid-fire smashes with the tennis shoe, I stopped 90% of its body from moving. We saved some pictures for posterity. Against all my objections, Jessi insisted on putting her bare foot up next to Mr. "C".

Back to Airport Beach

Yesterday we made a late trip to Airport Beach. It was a nice, cool day, and there were tons of fishermen out on the lava rock.

In this picture, Jessi and Jaydn are standing in front of the bay where we swim.

We had a first while at the beach. We were sitting on the sand when all of the sudden we noticed a fin moving around in the bay. We realized that a black-tip reef shark was swimming in the shallow water right in front of us. We put on our snorkeling gear and jumped into the water to try to get a look, but we never saw him. After we got back out of the water, we noticed that he had returned. We looked all over in the water for him, but he was just too quick for us.

It was already getting dark by the time we left the beach.

Elegant Day

Last week was "E" Week at Jaydn's school. The teacher decided to have an "Elegant" Day as part of "E" Week. All of the kids dressed up in Sunday clothes. Jaydn's teacher had the boys escort the girls to their tables, and she taught them how to have good manners at the dinner table.

Jaydn wore his brand new lava lava, white shirt and tie. He was pretty excited to wear the lava lava.