OOG & only a month

OOG.....  only on guam.  it's a phrase we guammies use when there are no other words/ explanations for some unique guam-ism we've encountered.
and i can't believe we have less than a month here on this island!  goes by so fast.....
& here is a typical OOG story....
so this weekend we went to the island cultural fair with some friends.  it was fun.  it was hot.  lena was crazy.  we had fun.  we saw some coconut crabs, lena played with some coconuts by a latte stone & then she rode a carabao.  only on guam right?  we ate some shaved ice, lena swung herself from a proa & the senator called her a chammorita & wrote down the secret meat marinade recipe for me.  we must be locals now!
we will miss this place!

checking out some coconut crabs

you don't wanna put your finger anywhere near those guys

senator frank blas 

his sign

"ok, you bend back like this...."

"like this?"

video of lena swinging from a proa

staycation

ok, so here's a little recap of all the fun stuff we've been up to here in guam the past few months.....

we've been to onward water park.....  super fun! lena loved the slides & she is such a little fish... she loves the water!

our gang (jeff's office people - way cool, lucky he works with such great friends)

 her fav

 mommy & daddy on the scary slide....  the manta - literally a straight drop into a half pipe sort of thing (i got whip lash....  but went again. that's how cool it was.)

we went out on a boat with jeff's soccer team to celebrate the end of the season.  lena loved it!

lena checking out a starfish

 moms & their babies

 the end to a nice day

we've been to gab gab & snorkeled & not sure what to call this....  jeff calls it his front flip, but i think we can easily call fail on that one.....

little cousteau

we decided to open up a daycare service in our home & then immediately reconsidered such a crazy thought when we were out numbered by 3 toddlers.  (we were watching jeff's coworkers' kids during an award ceremony)

we celebrated easter & mommy forgot, not once, but twice that the poor girl actually needs a basket to collect easter eggs with, duh!  still getting the hang of this mom stuff.....  

at the easter egg hunt on base (sans basket)

traditional easter carabao ???

at max's house for easter brunch (again, without basket)

now this would be a lot easier if i had somewhere to put these eggs....

that about wraps us the local stuff, next post will be about australia!  

underwater world

underwater world is an aquarium here on guam. we took lena there on saturday & we all had a great time! admission is only $11.50 for military. fun thing to do on a (rainy) saturday afternoon. we saw sharks, sting rays, sea turtles, sea horses, eels, a snake, nemo, tiger fish, jelly fish, reef fish & got to pet a blue star fish!

there is a huge tank with a long walk through tunnel, so cool

nemo

this is lena's gesture for "i want"

lena & the fishies

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