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 :)

Has it really been that long.....

...since I last posted?  The record doesn't lie so I guess so.

Sorry. I know I keep saying it's busy here, but it really is. I recently took on the treasurer position for the Guam Naval Officers Spouse Connection (GNOSC). It's an amazing group that loves to have fun and also does a bunch of fundraising in support of both military and local non profits. Also, now that the boat is on its way here, the spouses are starting to move here and boat events and homecoming preps are underway.

I've been told a few times in the last few weeks "dust doesn't settle on you". I'll take it.

Of course, there's never too much going on to explore! Last Friday it FINALLY cleared up a bit and we started to get a break from the rain. We took the chance to head out to the Gef Pago, a cultural park in Inarajan that is run by the Historic Inalajan Foundation. In the park we learned how to clean coconuts,  make sea salt, weave baskets, cook rice in woven leaves, and artistic weaving (where we met the SWEETEST old lady!).

watching them clean coconuts
(and make candy-they gave the kids a shell full!)

local sea salt

the little packet she's holding is how they cook rice

master weaver, and a sweet lady :)!

After touring the village they took us across the street to see an old house that predates WWII (a rare event here between typhoons and the intense bombing that occurred prior to the US storming of the island). The house was a one bedroom with a large common area in which 16 children all slept on the floor under mosquito nets!

one room........16 kids

From there, we were invited to the soft opening of a new small museum down the street. In true Guam fashion, we were invited to not just tour the museum but eat lunch with the group as well (trust me, saying no was not an option). What an amazing experience!

love the pools

We took the time to go see some church ruins, drive down to the Inarajan pools and swim for a bit, and came home.

old Baptist church

Yesterday we went and explored the historic Sumay village location. The village at one point was called "the pearl of the island" as the most wealthy village on the island pre-WWII. The village hosted whaling ships, the transoceanic cable station, was a stopping point for the Pan Am China Clipper, and supported various US military activities. That all changed when the Japanese took the Island in WWII. The strategic position of the village made it a prime target for takeover and the villagers were moved out (the Japanese used the village parish as a horse stable). The village was destroyed by US bombing efforts, and the ruins now remain on the Naval base (which makes resettlement impossible). Through a working relationship with the villagers and descendants the Navy now maintains the old church grounds and the cemetery and allows for the people to come on base to pay their respects. The people can always arrange a visit, but the prime days are Sumay day in April, Liberation Day in July and All Souls Day in November.

Sumay Cemetary

Cross of the Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Church

Afterwards we drove another spouse over to get her car, and then drove up to the Air Force Base to spend a beautiful afternoon with friends at Tarague beach. This morning it was back to Gab Gab beach with a bunch of spouses from the boat. Hopefully tomorrow another south island tour with a friend (have I mentioned that I am ultra excited to get a break from rain?! :) ). Have fun everyone!

Tarague beach

Apartment hunting: take 2

After today, I feel a little better about the month to month possibilities than yesterday. The first place we saw only has 2 bedroom units, but has amazing views, sweet staff and was recently renovated. Since Adam heads back to Hawaii in a bit over a week, I can just sleep on the couch and let the kids split the rooms until we move into Navy housing. The next place we found on our own by just driving around. It's a bit of a hike from the Navy base so I'm not sure it would work long term, but they had very reasonable 3 and 4 bedroom units with wonderful views of the Pacific and more than enough room for us. If they were a bit closer, I'd probably consider signing a 3 year lease.

Beyond house hunting, we explored a bit (of course). On today's list was the Air Force Base at the northern end of the island. The first place we tried to find was Tarague beach, so we could have a picnic lunch with the kids. I had no idea how high the elevation was where we were at until we rounded a corner on the way to the beach and saw this:

It was breathtaking. After lunch we explored the beach a little bit. The kids loved searching the tide pools for sea life and climbing around on the rocks. They wanted to get in the water, but water entry is restricted to certain areas there because of current concerns....and I didn't bring their swimsuits (note to self: buy an extra set of swimsuits and keep them in the car).

Where the waves are breaking in the background
is where the reef is.

My one gripe about the base there is that unlike all the other AF bases I've been on, there's no clear signs showing how to get to the commissary and exchange (though the beach was clearly defined). We spent a lot of time trying to figure out where anything was. We did eventually find everything though, and realized that the commissary there is way bigger than the Navy one, but their housing isn't quite as nice as the Navy side (except for the O-4 and above housing. Holy cow the views there are AMAZING).

Tomorrow we start to look at houses. We'll see how it goes!