Updates part 2

Before I start the updates I do want to say that thanks to a few wonderful gifts from some amazing people in our lives we were able to get the family a paddleboard for Christmas (thank you!)! So amazing and fun! Of course, I got the camera out at the beach to try to get pictures and it failed to work. I PROMISE I will get some soon! The kids are awesome at paddleboarding, but Adam and I using it is more like a circus clown routine in water........

Last I left you all in the updates I had made it through Thanksgiving. As I alluded to in that post, the annual USO/GNOSC Craft fair was coming up the following weekend. As most fundraisers go there were a few hiccups along the way and lessons learned for later, but overall it was a great event that raised a lot of money for both the USO and GNOSC's Charitable donations fund!

For the oldest girl's birthday I took the kids and one of her friends to Tarza Water Park. A few family friends joined us for the day and helped me watch all the kids as well. It was neat doing a winter birthday out in the sun at a water park, and everyone had a blast. It's a neat water park, not too large, and the best part is it's relatively quiet with short to no lines at everything! After a long day of Swimming and playing, we packed up, brought the friend home and went out for sushi for her birthday dinner. It was great, but next time I need to think carefully before timing out a water park trip the same day as a sushi dinner. After a full day at the park the kids were ravenous and as a result the dinner bill was rather pricey. :)!

A few days later I went to the GNOSC/AOSC annual Christmas party that was held at a wine bar downtown. It was a lovely evening with friends and a nice break for me from the kids.

Somewhere between all of that and the other various parties, get togethers and meetings the kids and I still managed to hit a few historic sights on the island (which I will do another post on, I promise), make and hang over 100 paper snowflakes, attend a few base Christmas events, make cookies, strufolli and over 8 dozen cannoli shells. It was busy, but a blast, made even better by the excitement of that Adam was finally coming home!

Oh, before I go, I bet you all want to know about Adam's homecoming. Until the last minute he didn't have tickets home, but back to HI. After some phone calls they bought him a plane ticket from HI to Guam. Based on the flight schedules this wasn't exactly the most direct route, but we were happy to finally have a date. A few days, and many phone calls later, just before he was set to leave Panama City, the Navy agreed to send him directly home to Guam. We chose to keep the kids out of the loop on the shift (the flight went from coming it at 7pm to coming in at midnight the previous day) and I got someone to come stay with the kids while I picked him up. It was a late night, made later by the baby deciding to wake up when we got home, that ended in me having my husband back. The kids got a huge surprise when Adam walked out the next morning with me. Made for an awesome and amazing day! :)!

Felis Nabidat!

(In case you haven't guessed, that's Chamorro for Merry Christmas :)!)

Our Christmas tree this year....a palm.

I know I've promised more updates, but, it's Christmas. So, I'm putting updates on hold for Christmas stories.

It's now about 9pm on Christmas day here, and many of my friends and family are starting to get up and move about on this blessed occasion while we wrap up our day watching movies and eating struffoli.

Christmas Eve morning was full of errands. I had to go to the post office and stand in line for a while (sidebar: I need to write a whole blog post on the post office sometime), deliver Christmas cookies  to the USO for their Christmas event, and go to the exchange and commissary.

Once we were finally done with all of that, we came home and did the Feast of the seven fishes, but with a Pacific Island twist (think lemongrass shrimp in coconut sauce, miso glazed scallops, grilled fish, etc). It was a delicious idea that I plan on repeating again next year! After that we went to the Christmas Eve Mass at the Naval base chapel, followed by homemade cannolis for desert. yummmmmm!

They're all yelling "Merry Christmas!"

This morning we had eggs benedict for breakfast (kids request) and went to St Michael's at the Air Force base for Christmas Morning Mass.  After that.....well.....we decided to take full advantage of our location. We changed into our swimsuits and spent the afternoon swimming and playing at Tarague Beach! It was so much fun. The kids have decided that it's a Christmas tradition that must be repeated, and I'm not arguing :)!

this beach bum made it through a whole trip without eating sand!

When we came home we finished our annual reading of the Christmas Carol, opened gifts, played games, and finished up with a duck dinner (again, kids choice).

It's been a wonderful few days, and we all feel very blessed to spend it with Adam home. I hope you all have wonderful and blessed days as well while you celebrate the birth of our Lord and savior.

PS......I don't miss the cold. ;)!


OK, breakfast MAY have started with mimosas on the balcony :)

Updates: Part 1

Time to get started on all this!

Last you heard from me was right before the boat pulled in. It was a hard time on all of us, knowing that Adam would not be coming in with the boat. 

I had tickets to the Marine Corps Ball in Okinawa, and had planned on heading up there to miss the return entirely. Unfortunately, the Space A chances over a 1 week period of trying were zero and we ended up not leaving. On the bright side (there always is one), I made a new friend in the process. I met a woman and a baby at the terminal that was trying to get back home to Okinawa. When the flight we were both cleared on was cancelled I invited her back to my house to take a shower and rest in a real bed instead of sleeping in terminal chairs. She ended up spending a full week at my house waiting on a flight (and cooking yummy food for all of us) and even went to a beach party for the wardroom with me :)!. Her baby is only a month younger than mine, and they had a blast playing together.  I now have a few more people to see the next time we make it up there!

The day after the ball there was finally a flight to Okinawa, but I chose not to try to get on it. While it would have still been great to see our friends even without the ball, I had already told the USO I was making food for their annual Thanksgiving day dinner, and I didn't want to get stuck on the other end trying to get back and have to go back on my word. It was also close to the time for the Annual GNOSC/USO craft fair, and there was a bunch of work that I still had to do for that.

On Thanksgiving Day I delivered food to the USO, and then went to a friend's house for a potluck - style dinner with the wardroom. It was a great day. 

That's all for now folks. Have to get back to tending to the kiddos. Will continue again later!

Good morning!

Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote. My computer broke (actually, it's still broken) and Adam had the laptop.
I now have the laptop again because ADAM MADE IT HOME LAST NIGHT! It's seriously the best Christmas present I could imagine.
I'll be writing quite a bit over the next few days to get you all caught up on our lives. But, right now, I'm off to  spend time with my family :)! Love you all!