Coconuts, Dancing, and Coral

It's been an eventful week on the island! Hello from tropical Saipan!

This week, we have seen some real Birdonnell family-style excitement. First of all, it turns out Landy is one of the finest tree-climbing bipeds in the entire world. His clawlike feet give him an unanticipated advantage, and the whole family has been enjoying the fruits of his labor. We had coconut meat soup last night as we drank pina coladas from halved coconuts. I finally figured out how to open the shell. First, Landy has to husk the fool things; he's got the sharpest teeth. Then I take the family machete and crack the thing open. Turns out you can't just tie it to the porch railing and whack it, though. I thought it would be that simple. Works with pineapples.

Apparently you have to use the dull end of the machete, and just give it some cracks as you rotate it in your hand. Who knew? Landy has stopped drinking regular milk and will only drink coconut milk. He says regular milk comes from "dirty cow". That's our boy. He still eats hamburgers, though, and probably will continue to do so until we tell him where they come from. Funny how life works. Crazy old life.

Lori swam the length of the island last week, which was a first for her. Landy and I followed in our double-kayak with emergency water reserves, but she never even stopped once for a break. It was quite a feat, twelve miles, and we're all very proud of her. When she reached the Southern tip of the island, right around Ladder Beach, she thought about turning around and swimming back, but Landy talked her out of it by yelling "shark!" over and over again. There weren't any sharks, of course, but it was still very convincing, so Lori got out of the water. We hitched a ride back to Garapan in the back of a truck with twelve other people. There was an elderly man amongst our rowdy party who whittled Landy a duck out of a betel nut. Landy loved it very much, but after another five minutes in the truck, the old man asked Landy if he could have the betel nut back. Then the old man took it from him, cracked it open with his teeth, rolled the betel nut into a pepper leave with some lime, and popped it in his mouth. Landy didn't cry or anything, because he never cries, but he told the man to "watch his back." That was a bit startling, but everyone in the truck just laughed and laughed.

Landy meant it, though. That old man better watch his back.

We made it home eventually, anyway, and we had coconut milkshakes with dinner. All in all, a successful day for the Birdonnells. Hope you're having great weather in the states!