guest post

kristina over at my traveling troop (click for the link) is putting together some posts about military life at overseas locations. & i happen to be one of the guest posts about guam! she has a super cute blog that is a great resource for military families! check it out! & my friend pam from living in so-called paradise also has a post about guam there too!

priest pools

so we went with our friend cindy to priest pools this past week. it's all the way on the south part of the island... you turn right at a church, take a left at the store that looks like a house but has sale signs in the windows, walk down a driveway, follow the grass path & arrive at the start of the pools. (gotta love guam directions). but the pools are lovely. they start out as a small creek & the water flows into these pools formed by what looks to be like lava rocks.... & they continue down the mountain...... pool, waterfall, pool, waterfall.... it's awesome! of course it was kinda rainy, kinda sunny.... so guam. & we got rained out a little, but we had a fun time & my little one is turning into quite the brave (independent) adventurer.

humid hike :)

looking down the mountain

"i do" (her favorite words) in action,

with mommy trying to keep up....

& yes she got all the way up there on her own

curious kid

& the rain

at least lena's not phased by the rain....

marbo (marvo?) caves

ok guam people you have to go here! it is amazing & so easy to get to! i can't believe we haven't been before now. well my friend cindy took lena & i to the caves this week & we had so much fun hanging out in the cave & swimming in the water. you drive down this road until it dead ends, hike a little down the road & find the cave entrance to your left. then it's just a short climb down into the cave & then you're standing on a man made concrete platform in front of the fresh water pools. i'm so glad cindy was there to help.... A. because she knew where it was & B. you can't really do this experience by yourself with a baby. it wasn't hard, but you can't climb down into the water while you're holding a baby & i'm not brave, um crazy, enough to jump in holding lena. no thanks.

the water feels amazing & there are really deep parts (deep enough to jump off parts of the cave into the water) & places that are shallow where you can sit on the rocks. cindy showed us a way to swim through the cave to get to the back pools. it was really cool, but in the moment i felt a little scared because you're basically swimming through this narrow path, cave rocks on either side of your head, & cindy's holding lena because i'm too afraid i'll dunk her, but we made it to the other side. & it is deep & dark over there. but the water is still crystal clear so you can see all the way to the bottom. so no fear of critters. i think. ;)

so we hung out a little while, met some japanese tourists & then headed home. it is a must do again for sure!

lena & i sitting on a rock in the water

say "cave"

the entrance to the cave (looking up from the pools)

little explorer

blurry, but check out the water! crystal clear!

some of the japanese tourists (aka. bunch of young guys wearing floaties & snorkel masks)

we HAD to get a picture with them

time ???

yep, i'm a total slacker when it comes to this blog. sorry. i honestly have kinda been thinking about giving it up. & really only 2 of you read this, but it still is such a great way to keep a record of our lives. & as my sister says "you of all people should be blogging!" being so distant is pretty tough.

so an update. lena is a crazy, wonderful, strong-willed, independent, cuddly, curious, sweet, funny, sleeping in her crib all through the night, walking, almost running toddler. yep. i can't believe it. at almost 14 months now & she's getting her molars (so fun), she's waving, giving high fives, giving kisses, playing with the trash & the toilet (yuck), eating pretty well & dribbling jeff's soccer ball all through the house. we go on play dates, we go to the pool, we go to the library, all kinds of fun stuff. it's pretty great.

& yes, we had a major break through! she is sleeping all night in her crib! we finally found a system that worked (that didn't require major amounts of crying!) so she's been going strong now for 2 weeks! (hopefully i'm not jinxing it by talking about it)

other than that nothing else really... jeff's training & playing soccer a lot, i'm addicted to pintrest.... i've been cooking like a mad woman (so many yummy recipes) & being totally crafty (ha! in my mind.... haven't really gotten to as many as i'd like, but i've "pinned" a ton & feel really productive after seeing all the crafty things i'll get to do.... if i ever get off pintrest). um, what else... we're planning a trip to australia soon. & basically just being blown away at how fast things are going! i mean we have less than a year on guam!! & i'm really really liking guam again. loved it when we got here. hated it when i was pregnant & lena was first here & now all i think about are the things i'll miss when we're gone. the palm trees, the weather, the coconuts, the beach, the friends, jeff's co-workers.... i mean guam is lena's birthplace & it really is this special out of the way, way across the world, escape from the usual kinda place. i wonder if lena will ever get a chance to come back & visit when she's older? who knows. but looking forward to the next assignment.... will it be europe? will it be west coast? please don't let it be alaska. don't even say it.

ok. rant is over. here are a couple videos of the sweet girl....

listen to her high pitched silly laugh & then i apologize for the tilted view, jeff corrects the camera half way through, oh & yes lena steps on spilt cheerios on the floor. that's how she has her snack. yes i let my kid eat of the floor.... doesn't everyone? please don't tell anyone. really.