Life Is a Beach...

One of the best things about my brother being here (and Don having a week off from work) was we really took some time to explore the island and do some touristy things, but the very best was we FINALLY hit the beach!  I can't believe it took us so long to go to the beach. (I think Don and I have been spoiled by Dauphin Island and also a little intimidated about getting everything needed to take a toddler to the beach and actually enjoying the beach with a toddler, lucky for us P Man takes after his parents and is a total beach bum- he LOVES it).


Trey got here a little later than expected thanks to the major snowstorm that hit the east coast the day he flew out of Houston.  He gave jet lag the middle finger and was up and eager to go his first day here.  We drove him down to see the beach on base and then we went and had lunch at our favorite restaurant, The Mermaid Tavern .   After that, Trey wanted to do something fun with Price, so we went to Underwater World, Guam's aquarium attraction.  It was actually really nice, got a military discount, no crowds and the fish and sharks swimming all around were pretty incredible.  We all had a nice time. (I apologize for the crappy pictures- the good camera had a mishap during Rota Walk, so I had to use my little point and shoot for all of these pictures).

On Wednesday, we acknowledged my birthday.  I turned 35.  Other than the fact that I now have to check a different age bracket box when filling out questionnaires, I feel the same as I did when I was 34...  Anyway, for my birthday adventure, I got to sleep in!  It was awesome sleeping past 9:00, I slept so much I almost felt hungover.  Once I finally crawled out of bed and had a piece of my super chocolaty birthday cake for breakfast, we headed south.  We decided to drive around the island and have lunch at a place called Jan Z's. It's in the village of Agat and has a view of the marina and ocean.  I head read good things about it, so off we went.  The Mermaid is still my favorite place to eat...  After lunch we continued on our trek around the island. The drive highlighted the breathtaking beauty of our little island.  Unfortunately, the twists and turns and being in the back seat highlighted Don's ability to get car sick and after going for 3 days like a champ Trey's jet lag caught up with him.  Thus, my birthday festivities came to a halt with a husband puking on the road and a brother crashed out asleep for the rest of the day/night.  The highlight of my birthday- we FINALLY got Isabelle back.  She made it to us after spending 4 months in Texas (thanks to both sets of my parents for all of your help with her), 2 days traveling here and 2 days in quarantine- we were reunited at last.  We sure missed her!

Santa brought more than presents to Guam, he also brought some serious rain.  It rained all day Christmas Eve and most of Christmas Day.  But, we still had a great holiday.  It was so nice having Trey here.  We had fun playing with Price's toys from Santa (I will always remember the Great Tunnel "Race" of 2009).  We played Wii Sport Resort and wished it had been around when we were kids- a lot of arguments may have been settled a little more amicably.  We had a delicious Christmas Feast, made even more great by Don cleaning up the kitchen after it was over!  We also got to Skype with two sets of grandparents while Price opened presents, even though it wasn't the same as being together in person, it was still nice to share the experience with them (once again, thankful for technology).  We are so blessed to have such generous family members.  Price received so many nice gifts (Don, Trey and I did too), we are having to make room for everything.

Hmm... What are all of these?  I wonder if they are for meeeeeee!!! (Takes after his Daddy and Uncle Trey)

BUSTED!!  We walked in on him opening a present (the Mr. Potato Head by the couch) on Christmas Eve, of course on Christmas day, couldn't get him to open a present.

The day after Christmas, the weather cleared out and while all of our friends and family back home were celebrating Christmas in rather chilly weather, we headed for the beach....

It Takes A Village

It definitely takes a village to throw a good party! We celebrated Price's first birthday a few days early. My mom, step dad, dad, step-momish, brother, step-sister, aunt and cousin all came to Dayton to join in the festivities. Thanks to them and several friends, we pulled off a great shindig!

It was a beautiful day outside. Several of my friends from my days at Reynolds came and lots of Don's flight came too. Of course, our great friends the Mays and the Walkers were there as well.

As usual, I made too much food but it sure was good. It was a lovely way to celebrate our baby boy's birthday. I still can't believe that Price will be 1 in just a few days, the year has flown by!

The birthday boy with his daddy, uncle and Papa Roger.

Price with his buddy Gabe

The Fam!

Cake is GOOD!!!!

Picture Perfect

We just returned home from a wonderful trip to Pennsylvania. We left Wednesday evening and headed to Pittsbugh spent the night there and then headed to Hershey to join up with Don's folks and visit with Nana. Friday, we headed to the Mountains for the Price family reunion. It was great getting to meet so many of Don's cousins and spend time in such a lovely part of the country.

It was a little Special Dark (that is Hershey for "bittersweet") since this was probably our last opportunity to visit Pennsylvania and to spend time Don's family before we move. In fact, I cried when Don's parents left because I don't know how long it will be until we see them in person again. Hopefully, they will visit us in Guam in the next year and I know we will become quite the Skypers once we get settled in Guam.

One of the great things about our trip was that it encouraged us to take lots of pictures! Several months ago, we bought Don a fancy new SLR camera. We got a Nikon D60. We LOVE this camera! It takes awesome pictures and is great for both novice and intermediate photographers. There are automatic settings that allow you to pretty much point and shoot (I mostly use these settings) or the manual settings that allow you to change shutter speed and aperture to take advantage of lighting and movement (Don uses these more than I do).

Don got bitten by the photography bug and wanted the camera, now I've been bitten too. He likes to take pictures of scenery and architecture, I like to photgraph people and flowers. We both have lots to learn on getting good shots, but here are some of our best ones from our trip to Pennsylvania:

Price helping Bea Bea do dishes

View from the Price family home in the PA mountains
Don and Price on the porch

I am a fan of flowers

Best shot of the weekend! One of our beautiful nieces, captured being silly and lovely.

Texas

November 3- November 14, 2008

Price, Bea and I FINALLY arrived in Mansfield.  Price got to meet his Granddad for the first time and they hit it off immediately!  We spent two great weeks with Bea and Don.  Bea and I played tennis several times (it was great playing for the first time in over a year).  Two of my oldest and dearest friends, Kristen and Jennifer, came to meet Price.  It was wonderful spending time with them and catching up.  Jennifer and I stayed up late into the night talking.  Price also met his uncle Danny for the first time too.  The only sad part was Don wasn't there to be part of the introductions and get togethers.  Price also started cooing while we were in Mansfield.  It was a bittersweet time because it was new for him and it was hysterical listening to him discover his voice, and I wanted to pick up the phone and share it with Don, but I couldn't- so I did the next best thing and called my mom.

November 14 - December 25, 2008

My mom flew up to Dallas and drove to Houston with Price and me.  We stayed in Houston for about 6 weeks, excluding our Thanksgiving trip to Louisiana (I think I'll put that in it's own post). We had a good drive down, Price slept the entire way except for the last 20 minutes of the drive. He screamed for that whole portion of the trip.  We would have made it without the meltdown if we had enough toll money to get home, but we didn't so we stopped to see my brother, Trey (who met Price for the first time through the car window).  He met us outside his office and gave us money, which we didn't even end up using!

We got home and the next night Mom had Trey, Arianne, Will, and Delores over for dinner.  It was nice to see everyone, but I was so exhausted, I got sent to bed.  I think they just wanted to play with Price, but I was so tired, I was on the verge of tears- so I did as I was told and went to bed and slept for a few hours.  The next night, we went to Mr. Paul's birthday party.  It was nice to see all of the Finnegans.

Our time in Houston was weird, we struggled to find a balance of space/time/sanity.  Price and I went and visited with my dad which was nice (and I have rarely thanked God more than I id driving home from seeing him- a drive which usually takes a little over 2 hours took about 4, but Price was wonderful and slept the whole time).  I got to meet up with an old friend from high school, we went to church, we attended Mom's Christmas program and threw 3 parties in one CRAZY, hectic day.  Christmas and my birthday were difficult because Don wasn't there and he wasn't able to communicate (after months of open communication, all lines were cut of, at the worst time).  And Roger's brother-in-law passed away on Christmas eve.  So, all of our Christmas/traveling plans were changed up at the last minute- but it worked out in the end.

December 25-29

Mom drove back up to Dallas with Price and me on Christmas Day.  Roger picked her up and they continued on to Tulsa for the funeral.  Price and I walked into culture shock at the in-laws.  The normally calm, quiet house which is usually a nice respite from the craziness of my family's home did not exist!  My brother and sister in law and their 3little girls were there- all were sick, Bea was sick. It was a loud, sick house and I had the Christmas blues.  We had to cut our visit short so that I could meet Mom in Tulsa and she could drive back to Ohio with us.

December 29 - 30

Other than going the wrong way on the Indian Nation Turnpike in the middle of nowhere (Oklahoma), I ended up making an illegal u-turn rather than driving 60 miles out of my way to get back on track, Price and I made it to Tulsa safe and sound.  The next day we left Tulsa and headed for home.  I was excited to be heading home because I was ready to be back in my own space and REALLY ready for Don to be home.  We got to stop and visit with another great friend who lives outside of Tulsa.  It was so wonderful to meet her newest addition and catch up in person. 

We made it back to Dayton on December 30.  Mom was to fly out early on the morning of the 31st. Of course, she missed her flight and ended up staying a few extra days. I can't say I minded :)

I have told Don's family and mine how much we appreciated all of their support while he was gone.  I really don't know what I would have done without them.