Grow Guam

Sparked by a few days of cloud cover, most of my time recently has been filled with the task of scrubbing the tile grout in the house. All 2500 square feet of my house is tiled in white tile with white grout. With 5 kids running in and out all day all that grout gets gross quick.

I have very harsh words for the person who thought that white grout was a good idea. Something to think about the next time I decide on a house to rent.

We did take a field trip, though, in the midst of my scrubbing the floor. I contacted Grow Guam's general manager, Jon, and arranged a tour for our local homeschool group of the only hydroponic garden on island, that also happens to be the ultimate source of all the lettuce I buy here (The stuff that gets shipped in from the mainland doesn't appeal to me for many reasons).

Jon was great, and taught us all quite a bit about how they manage to grow lettuce here.

You can see them barely poking through

Lettuce from just planed to a few weeks

plants then are moved to and mature here

Grow Guam is also starting to work on hydroponic tomatoes and cucumbers. This produce is not for sale yet because Grow Guam is still working on size consistancy issuseS, but eventually they hope to have it on the market as well.

Work obligations have kept Adam quite busy recently, but we did manage to squeeze in a short trip to Ipan beach with him in some down time he had :)!

getting ready for his favorite hobby

can't quite tell,  but I think he's a fan! :)

Haputo Beach and Onward waterpark.

It was quite the busy weekend, full of lots of sun and water!

Friday afternoon we went to Gab Gab beach for a boat party that they were having for the visiting Japanese sub. I brought out the paddleboard, but unfortunately the wind was making the water a bit too choppy for the kids too use it. Still had fun playing in the sand and water. The coolest part of the day was probably watching one of the Japanese sailors catch an octopus, then watching a bunch of the crew work together to clean, grill and eat it (some of it was consumed raw as well). CRAZY!

Saturday Adam was on duty, but the kids and I went on a short realtively easy downhill hike with friends to Haputo beach (some history of the site here). I forgot my camera, but as much as I wish i had pictures I'm impressed that I managed to get kids, hiking stuff, and snorkel gear out the door and down to the beach. It was an amazing and beautiful location and I will be sure to go back. Only downside is that the rip tides there can be brutal, and you actually have to sign a waiver with the Navy before you can go out. Not too big a deal, just means I have to watch the kids closely.

Sunday after church Adam and I fed the kids brunch and took them to Onward Resort waterpark with the tickets some friends gave us for Christmas. It was such a fun day, and the kids got a huge kick out of going on the slides with Adam (Annabelle said that going with him on a ride was the "bester one"). Luckily, dinner was in the crock pot when we got home because the kids were STARVING when we got home!

Overall, and amazing a fun weekend!

South Island tour

We got to enjoy a wonderful week with Adam on leave at the end of Dec/beginning of Jan just hanging around mostly, being lazy.

The best daywas a long, tiring and fun day on Guam. We decided to pack a cooler and go around the south side of the island, exploring some things we've seen before but wanted to show Adam, and other things that none of us had explored yet.

Our first stop was to look at Talofofo bay.

Next was Gef Pago and the Historic Inalajan village. This time, we learned how to make rope from leaves and were greeted by the same wonderful master weaver as we were last time! We also ran into friends from church which made it even more fun. :)!





After that we headed down to the Inarajan pools for a short swimming and snorkeling time.

We hopped into the car and ate while continuing around to the tip of the island. There we stopped in the southernmost village, called Merizo, to explore a bit. Merizo park was beautiful, offering excellent views of Cocos Island (a resort Island south of Guam).  I wish I knew before eating in the car that there were picnic tables there! We found an old bell tower that was apparently built in 1910, and climbed up the hill behind the village parish to the Cocos Island overlook and the Rosary.

From there we headed north to Fort Soledad.












And Magellan's landing point

Don't  worry mom, I can walk, straight into the water.....

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial park

The Cetti Bay overlook

and then went to the base pool to swim again for about an hour before finally heading home.

 This week has been back to reality with Adam back to the boat and the kids and I back to school (no field trip this week due to migraines). Can't say how thankful I am that work is here now and not in HI! Looking forward to an adventure filled weekend!

Happy New Year!

New Years here was great fun and yet quiet at the same time.

For New Years Eve we smoked ribs for dinner before heading to church at 5. After church we came home and made a few other things (like duck fat fries) and stayed up until midnight with the kids while eating, watching TV and playing. We even went outside for a bit and let the kids run around playing hide and go seek at about 11. Everyone but the baby made it until the New Year started.

She made it until midnight, then fell asleep on the floor.



After the kids went to bed we Skyped and toasted the New Year with friends in Okinawa, then went to bed ourselves.

The next day we watched and couted down the NYC ball drop online at 3 pm our time, and then Skyped with other friends in WA at midnight their time. :)!

In between ringing in the New Year around the world we quietly hung out with the kids doing things like playing Monopoly and the Wii.

After 5 hours, we called it a tie

Hope your New Year brings blessings and joy for you all!