Memorial Day Weekend

Saturday, after trying unsuccessfully to get phone and cable set up for the new place, we decided to take the kids to Underwater World, an aquarium with a large tunnel through it. At one point it was the longest underwater tunnel in the world, but as these things tend to go it has since been beat and now ranks 4th. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

"Upside down" Jellyfish

Beyond the tunnel, there are separate tanks with more exhibits, a large touch tank, and a few restaurants (one even has a bar with fish swimming in it). We definitely would like to do a date night there at some point.

My one gripe was that they held off telling us that there were annual passes available until AFTER we were done going through, and they refused to apply the value of the passes we purchased towards an annual pass. I had searched for it before on the website, but they only have it for locals and military and don't advertise the pass publicly.

Sunday afternoon we headed out hoping to see the Asan Beach section of War in the Pacific National Park before the rain hit. Asan beach is the site of the initial landing of US troops in WWII in an effort to retake the island of Guam from the Japanese (full history of the site here). The impending  rainstorm and lack of hiking shoes kept us from fully exploring the site, but we were still able to see and learn quite a bit.

In honor of Memorial day there were flags set up representing the US military members who lost their lives due to the battle and the local Chamorro people who died during the Japanese occupation and battle. It was humbling looking up  at the surrounding mountains and hills imagining what it was like for the troops facing what they had to coming out of the mountain caves and fortifications, and knowing that had they not done it I literally would not be here on this island today.

This morning we got the kids up and took Adam to the airport to say goodbye. He is headed to meet his boat that is still homeported in Hawaii, and we have no idea when he'll be back. We dropped him off at 9 this morning and since he was booked on the island hopper flight and crossing the date line he will land in Hawaii at 330 am Memorial Day there (2330 local here-14.5 hours of flying).

Bye daddy!

It was very sad to see him go, but I try to remember that we've been blessed beyond belief with how much we've had him around the last few years. Going through 6 years of sea time before doesn't take away the pain of his leaving now, but it has taught me how to cope and deal with it better (as does remembering that my kids feed off of how I respond-the better I cope the better they do as well).