Necessities

I found coffee syrup today! I even found sugar free chocolate! No peanutbutter syrup, but I need to remember I am on an island in the middle of the Pacific. It was even a decent price. While I was at the store buying syrup, I was looking for the yogurt that I bought in Alabama. I didn't see it in stock at the commissary. I did find it, for $1.49. Let me explain that this is the small size, the kind that I pay $.55 for. I left the yogurt. I'll find a substitute on base :)

Professor Aha!

Dave enjoys acting and is very gifted at it. He has been a huge hit at VBS with the kiddos. They don't know who it is because he is new to the base.
Here is Dave and his supervisor. Aren't the chaplains such great sports?

Mini Crocodile

Miranda told me that this guy looks like a mini crocodile. I agree. His home is in our mailbox. I have spoiled his fun by leaving it open. I don't enjoy geckos popping out and scaring me!

We are up to our ears in boxes!

Our HHG shipment arrived and we have been trying to get things somewhat unpacked and organized......it is a lot more work than I remembered! It has been crazy here. Dave purchased a second car. The guys at work call him El Presidente now. It is a dark blue Lincoln Towncar. It isn't what he was looking for. He was looking for a Jeep Wrangler, but there wasn't one available in our price range. I feel bad. I sure wanted him to get something that he really wanted. I am hoping he will be able to soon. Anyway, Our goods arrived LATE on Wednesday (we also purchased the car) and then on Thursday evening we went to the airport in his new car to pick up another chaplain flying in for a deployment. Our car wouldn't start! We ended up having a tow truck tow it to the shop here on base and then have it looked at. I was imagining thousands of dollars in work. At this point we HAVE to fix it. We can't sell it the way it is and we need a car to drive. It ended up needing 3 fuses. Thank God it wasn't more. The shop did say that it needed some more work, so we will go get the part today and have that fixed while we are at it. In the process of all of this, I found out that our Chaplain was at the Navy port and ready to be picked up.....couldn't be better timing, other than it is an ordeal to pick it up. We had to go to the DMV and get a Guam permit (HUGE LONG LINE!) then go get it, get a safety inspection and then back to DMV. Luckily DMV doesn't close until 6 p.m. here. Then back to the base. As I was stopping to get my permit for Andersen, Dave stopped too and the security guard checked his registration and insurance of our loaner car....it's expired. Why hadn't I checked this before? Anyway, no more driving our loaner car and hopefully Dave's new car will be back in working condition today! It has been an adventure!

We are making new friends slowly and have great neighbors. Dave will be putting the shed together in the back yard today. Wish him luck. It is a big pile o parts.

Handyman Dave

Dave put on the handyman hat this weekend and with the help of our neighbor I have a new storage shed!

Painting

We have keys! I got a call at 3:00 on Friday that our house was ready. The office closes at 3:30 and I was half an hour away. I told the guy at housing that I was on my way. He was doing me a favor because if we take possession on Monday, I can have the key 24 hrs in advance, but because it is a weekend, I was able to get it on Friday! He was really thoughtful to remember that I wanted to paint and needed extra time. I rushed in to get the key and have spent all of Saturday painting.

Underwater World

We went to Underwater World in our hotel to see the shark feeding. I hadn't taken the girls yet because I thought it was more expensive than it was. They had a good military discount! I still need to do a little more reading on my camera. The pictures were blurry of the fish being fed. It was still fun to watch.

Grr!

I love Guam, no regrets here yet....But, I do have a frustration I am going to share. I'm hoping that typing about it will help me not wake the rest of the sleepers!!!! I can't get a map with streets! (Even online) I can't use mapmyrun.com either! Everything is located by landmarks. There are no street signs. I say none, but very few! Directions go something like this...... Turn left at McDonalds and follow McDonalds road until you pass the laundromat and go right.....what? I am direction confused. We haven't found an update on Garmin either. Hopefully when I am out and about and trying to find the places that I need to find, I will be able to. I need a visual! I want to see the streets on the map and follow my pen along them to know that I am going the right way. I haven't had too many problems finding my way around yet (It isn't that big) but I still want a good map and be able to look up and see a street sign to know that I am where I think I am! OK, I'm better.

Coconuts in the front, Bananas in the back!

Coconuts! I can't wait to get the spouses briefing of how to get into the coconuts
Bananas in the back. They are smaller, like Vietnamese bananas. I'm not sure what they taste like yet. They may be like plantains and good for cooking.

We were approved for a 4 bedroom house yesterday and decided on the house....it was a hard decision, but I knew that I had prayed for a coconut tree and a banana tree, and that is what sealed it for me. It came down to location vs nicer house. I chose the location and better back yard. It isn't that the inside isn't nice on the one that we chose, just not as up to date. I think it is where we are supposed to live. E-mail me if you need our mailing address valgal820@yahoo.com All of the houses look like this on the outside. They are typhoon proof! We are projected to move in on August 6. It has been vacant for a while and needs cleaned. We were also upgraded free of charge to a suite at our hotel. Things are looking up. We now both have phones. I held out a little longer, hoping to get Dave's stateside one unlocked...Grrrr (no luck). Anyway, we are getting set up.

Adjustments

Here are some pictures of the view as we were driving down to the beach on base. It is pretty impressive. I can't wait to spend lots of time there!

We are adjusting fairly well. There are a few differences to the states that I have noticed

Prices are higher! Have you been to the dollar spot at Target and picked up the foam swords? We did and broke them the same night! Still fun. Well, we were at K-Mart (biggest in the world) tonight and they were $7.49! I am thinking that I will be shopping on base for most everything.

There is a lot of graffiti, stray dogs, abandoned cars, chickens in the front yard....you get the picture. It is a change....oh, and the strip clubs on the strip. It is a change. However, I feel safer than I did in Montgomery at night. It isn't like this everywhere on the island, just pockets.

We are having a great adventure of exploring. We went to Taco Bell and they had Chomorro Punch (instead of Hawaiian) It is a lot of fun to see the differences. We went to Vietnamese food the other night and Dave asked for black coffee. Not the Vietnamese kind and they served him hot water and instant coffee. I was so shocked that I had to take a picture!

Guam

Sorry this one is blurry. I still need to read up on the use of my camera. This is the first night we were in Guam. It is the view from our hotel balcony.
More from the balcony. It hasn't been too sunny here, lots of clouds, but still warm and beautiful.
This is where the girls want to spend most of their time. The pool is so nicely landscaped with a slide. I am hoping to get out to the ocean today and try some snorkeling with the girls. Dave was able to go out on a boat yesterday and got some good snorkeling in.

Dole Pineapple Plantation

We went to the Dole Plantation. It was so fun to see how the pineapple was grown. Who knew that it wasn't on a tree? I always thought it was a tree. I will be planting a pineapple bush asap when I get a house!

What a Small World!

Dave was boogie boarding in the surf and I noticed that he was chatting with another "friendly" guy. It was Joel from Oregon! What are the odds that Joel would be in Hawaii at the same time as us and end up at the same beach? He dropped his bag at the beach right out our back door. It was such a treat to see him.

Helicopter Tour

For my anniversary Dave purchased a helicopter tour of Oahu for me. Because it was a little pricey, he sent me on my own and he stayed with the girls. It was so much fun. I have wanted to fly in a helicopter for years and now have finally had the chance.
You can see the wreckage of the USS Arizona.
Waikiki Beach

Hawaii

I purchased a new camera thanks to my mom and Dave before we left for Hawaii. You can see the progression of Dave's body surfing.

He broke the girls' board. He was highly dissapointed to realize that there was no body surfing in Guam because the surf breaks at the reef. Nothing like being beaten against the razor sharp coral. I have heard that many have lost their lives by going out too far. It is roped off so we know how far we can go.
Miranda
McKenzie
Arizona Memorial
Sunrise out our back door!
I shared my shower with this tiny gecko. I hear there are lots in Guam too!
McKenzie found a centipede in her bed the first night. This is hwo they slept in our cabin. We didn't know that they stung. Thank goodness he was dead. She would not go anywhere near that bed. I had to check it nightly!