Guam-erica the Beautiful

Oh, to see the day dawn on your own country, even if it's a tiny spot in the Pacific Ocean! Just a 3 hour flight from Taipei, Guam gave us a great taste of Americana (24-hour Kmart, Macy's, Lone Star Steakhouse, Wendy's Old Fashioned Burgers) and for the divers in our group, some fantastic underwater scenery. In fact, the divers saw so much underwater scenery on so many of our vacation days, that at least one of the non-divers decided she felt left out and has since started her own certification. I'll let you figure out who she is in future entries, assuming I...er, she goes ahead with the plan discussed with her scuba instructor. Hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I'm still hoping to get some of John Heinemann's underwater shots posted but until then, here are some pictures of our other Guam pursuits.

A Birthday with Backup Dancers

Barret turned 6 while we were in Guam, so for his birthday dinner our family invited three other families to join us at Hard Rock Cafe. Since coming to Asia, we've always had one or more other families traveling the samevacation itinerary, so it makes for an instant party where ever we go. The birthday dinner was no exception. Kids and grown-ups alike jumped up on stage to dance and sing to "YMCA," and we even convinced McLeod to do his famous breakdance move, The Worm. When it was time for the cake and candles, Barret was the center of attention with the fair Alexandra, Sydney, Grace and Caroline as go-go dancers to the Beatles "Birthday." ("You say it's your birthday. It's my birthday, too.")

All I can say is, someday Barret's gonna look back at pictures and think, "I used to be so cool!" Honey, you'll always be cool to us!

Here I have to rag on our buddy Tom--he was the most enthusiastic dancer of anyone out there. See how hesitant everyone else is with which letter of YMCA they are on? Not Tom. Nope, he's larger than life with that, ummmm, J?

Breathtaking

Guam has some of the most gorgeous volcanic cliffs and blue lagoons I've seen. We were able to snorkle with ease in the sheltered waters next to our hotel. Caroline was content to float along in a small plastic sea kayak tied to McLeod's wrist so that he and I could snorkle with Barret and show him the coral reef and tropical fish. Mc and his diving buddies also did several days of boat dives including Guam's famous Blue Hole, a limestone vertical shaft that descends over 300 feet. I rode along on the boat that day and got a chance to snap photo's of the beautiful (above water) scenery, watch several pods of spinner dolphins playing around the boat, and talk with the boat captain and dive master. These guys cracked me up. They will never, ever go anywhere else but Guam--and why should they? I especially enjoyed talking to the captain who, when he's not hauling tourists around, spends time free diving to spear-fish monster grouper and playing drums for both an alternative rock band and "a badly out-of tune" country-western band (his words). McLeod's dive highlight for the week would have to be swimming with sea turtles. Trumps my dolphin encounter from last summer=)

The divers were McLeod, Kevin, Kathleen, John and Tom. And doesn't McLeod look cute in his wetsuit!!

Typhoon damage is frequent in Guam and evidently hard to clean up. We saw several boats like this one.

Santa and Seafood

A few more pictures to share from our tropical Christmas. The kids were delighted to pose with Santa--who had to have been sweating in the near-90 degree weather! Though the setting was very different than any past Christmas, we still managed to incorporate some traditions. We had a great stocking surprise--the kids each hung one of their sandy little socks on the TV cabinet and woke to find them mysteriously replaced with the real things. The kids also acted out the Christmas story in the hotel room while I read the account from the book of Luke. Abby the baby doll got to be the Baby Jesus, Caroline was Mary, and Barret was everyone else. We even had a Wise Man showed up bearing a gift...for his wife. A lovely diamond bracelet with 17 stones, which he explained was one center stone for our love, 12 stones for each year we've been married, and 4 stones for each of us in the family. Cue the "Awwwww, isn't that sweet...." I really was blown away. For Christmas luncheon and dinner, we enjoyed some great seafood buffets and being the pyromaniacs that we are, we got a thrill out of the Polynesian fire show. Barret was so captivated by the ladies in the grass skirts and coconut bras that he followed them off stage, clicking away with his camera. McLeod had to go reel him back in!