Kalabera Cave

We had tried once before to go to Kalabera Cave but got nervous when the "map" seemed a little off. We tried again a week or so ago when we saw someone else going in the general direction and followed them! It actually helped tremendously in a) getting us there! and b) helping us figure out what was so special about the cave.

Kalabera Cave is SUPER old. The original local tribes used to use the cave way back when. During the war the Japanese soldiers used it as a hospital. It's a HUGE cave and pretty creepy. The local tribes carved and painted faces in the walls that are still there and extremely eerie. The cave itself makes a lot of noise (ie: water trickling, etc.) and is extremely dark. You can go further inside but you have to bring your own lights and supposedly it gets a little difficult to breathe. A few years ago they actually found a skeleton of a Japanese soldier in a pit there that was fully clothed. My camera oddly went out of whack and wouldn't take any pictures so Tim went back with the phone and tried to take a few. He said it was extremely creepy. He snapped a few shots and ran back out. ha! :-)

It's a really cool cave and I'd love to go back and explore it more without the risk of taking the kids down there but I am a little nervous as to what I may find.

The jungle growth will literally take over everything if you don't cut it back. Half the street signs are covered in vines. When you go hiking in the actual jungle it can turn extremely dark because of how trees are just draped in foliage.

it's not an X-terra but it's rugged AND luxurious!

Randoms.

Sandy, sleepy June.
I think she looks so chubby here I just couldn't help but post it!

Owen got his first bike! He still doesn't know how to ride it (regardless of our many attempts to show him) but he is perfectly content pushing himself around the yard in it. :-)

Tim and I went on a date where we went snorkeling, caught some HUGE waves and ate at a beachside grill. 

Owen found where the best seat in the house was.
(*yes, we are VERY sweaty here! The humidity is insane so we've just resigned to being wet all the time)

Owen HATES to wake up. Sometimes he has these huge fits when he gets up from him nap and I have to use my last resort bribe, a lollipop. I think it's so funny how scowly he still is even though I let him watch and movie AND have a treat.

Baby hand. I see this EVERYWHERE now.
June is on the move and I have to be very careful where I step because she is quick!

Bird Island Lookout

We stopped by Bird Island lookout while we were checking out some other sites. It was kind of neat to see where we had hiked a month before. We hiked down the cliff to the beach and then walked thru the water to this island with our neighbor and then all around the island before swimming back. It's still been the most fun thing we've done here to date.

My friend lent me this awesome sling. June is still pretty small but after awhile she gets heavy!

Isn't this the coolest tree? I love the vines coming from it.

The Last Command Post.

We all got sick a few weeks ago and were cooped up in the house forever. June and I were still pretty sick but we thought maybe fresh air would help. Unfortunately, it didn't and we had to leave after about an hour but we still got to see some really cool historical sites.

We headed up to what's known as the Last Command Post. Essentially it's a lookout point with a cave the the Japanese inhabited during the war and it's supposedly the last one to surrender. 

Entrance

In the cave. Tourist leave cigarettes and beer for the fallen soldiers as a sort of homage.

The guard rail was made for tourism but this is the lookout point.
They had several guns set up here and some of the pieces are still there.

WWII guns.

Owen and a torpedo.

They had lots of little peace monuments and memorials.

They use coral in everything here, even the roads!

The history is just so alive here. Everything from WWII was just left in it's place and is still here. The jungle takes over everything so when you're hiking it's almost impossible not to run into some artifact left from the war. There are several "undiscovered," caves (not known to the city), missiles, and even human remains. There is a spot up near the landfill that they have completely closed off due to land mines and when new bombs are found they try to extinguish them there. 

We are loving our time here, especially with all this history! It's like watching the History channel LIVE!

9 months.

Bugsy is 9 months! How did this happen? It definitely goes by faster with your second, I can't believe we'll be planning her 1st birthday soon!

 At 9 months June is:

-officially crawling---everywhere!
-climbing onto everything. Lately she has refused to take naps and spends her time trying to crawl out of the pack and play.
-added "dada," to her vocabulary. Tim was so excited!
-can stand by herself! (walking may be soon to come!)
-is a chewing champion. she can eat almost anything with those two little teeth.
-loves crackers, veggie straws, cookies and mangoes
-her hair is getting really long! and the tips are getting bleached by the sun.
-has developed quite an attitude. often times she yells, "mom!"
-puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. and then cries and yells when I take it out.
-love real keys (not toy keys), necklaces and owen's toy cars. (owen is not super fond of that)
-still VERY attached to mom. Follows me around everywhere and still requires me to hold her much of the time.
-no longer sits still. She climbs out of carts and thinks I'm a personal jungle gym.

Our little girl has grown so much this month! I feel like she is all over the place now.

Ladder Beach

We went to Ladder Beach on Labor day and it may just be my favorite beach so far. You walk through CAVES to get there, beautiful sea glass everywhere, and it's been our best snorkling experience to date.

Just as you're reaching the beach...

This is ALL coral that has died and come up on shore.

View from above.

We caved and bought a 4x4 so we could make it through the rough terrain to these beaches. Turns out the back makes a great changing table. :-)

Wing Beach Waves

Because of some stormy weather we had a few weeks ago there were some crazy waves at some of the beaches. We went to Wing Beach one night to watch the waves and it was so fun we ended up going for a date later the same week. It was such a rush to be carried back to shore on these huge waves!