Yay for the Weekend!

This weekend, we decided it was time to do some exploring. We have been here almost a month and if it wasn't on Marine Corps Dr. or down by the hotels, we hadn't seen it. Every weekend since we've arrived we've either been jet lagged, prepping to move into a house or scared of the car we had at our disposal, and we also are trying not to do everything all at once so we don't run out of exploration spots any time soon. But this weekend, we had nothing but time and a full tank of gas.

Friday night, Don worked late (again), but made it home in time for us to go to Bamboo Willies, the base's beach bar and grill, for dinner. Food was ok, but cheap and the sangria was exactly what I needed! We had a really nice evening, and once again felt blessed to be here- eating dinner outside by the sea.

Saturday, we wanted to run some errands and I wanted to go to Jeff's Pirates Cove for lunch. I have wanted to go to Jeff's or The Cove, as the locals call it, since we found out we were moving here. So, I convinced Don that it wasn't that out of the way (hahahaha) based on our errands for the day (he wanted to go to Ritidian beach, but we'll save that for another weekend). Before we left base, Don wanted to show me the lookout point he had just found about the day before. It was a great view!

Looking down from the scenic overlook on base.

After the lookout, we went on a beer run, Don was hoping to find some Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat but we discovered a new beer, Black Butte Porter. Oh my goodness- it is chocolaty deliciousness!! Perfect after doing yard work and while eating black bean burritos. After the beer run, we headed down to Jeff's Pirate's Cove.

And I discovered, that once you get off the beaten path, Guam's interior is quite lovely. Guam is mountainous, not volcanic, but formed by plate movement. In fact, according to Wikipedia (if you can trust the source), the tallest mountain on Guam may actually be the tallest mountain on the planet because it goes so deep beneath the sea. The drive to Jeff's was, in places, spectacular. I firmly believe that even on really bad days, I will always find solace in knowing that I get to see the ocean every day that we live here. Jeff's was, as expected kind of touristy, but still great. It was so nice to eat outside and watch a rain storm blow in off the ocean. Cool breeze, good food, excellent view= great lunch!

View from our 2nd table at Jeff's (we had to move inside after a brief rain shower blew on shore)

Everyone who visits Jeff's (and especially those of us who blog about Guam) have at least 1 picture in the silly cut outs- it's the law

After Jeff's we wandered across the street to the Ifit wood sculpture showcase, they had some amazing pieces. The artist's wife, Veronica, gave us fresh limeade made with limes that grow on their lime tree. We will definitely be back to eat at Jeff's and buy some Ifit artwork. We left that part of the island and headed to Big Navy. Of course we got lost and had to turn around. But, had that not happened we wouldn't have seen a chicken fl;y across the road. It was the craziest thing, and I was glad Price was asleep because I yelled, "Holy Shit (sorry Mom)!!!" when I saw it. I grew up with chickens, but we kept their wings clipped so the furthest I had ever seen one fly was from the roost to the yard or up to a stump, but I swear this bird flew from high in a tree, down and across the road, then came to a stop and started pecking around like a "regular" chicken. Although I probably won't find solace in seeing chickens everyday, they crack me up and I have gotten in the habit of saying, "chicken" every time I see one just wandering around somewhere. I'm trying to break that habit, because I say it often.

Sunday, we went to church on base again. Price became a little ridiculous about half way through- he wouldn't sit still, he wouldn't drink from his cup, he spilled Cheerios everywhere. He was driving me CRAZY and I wasn't getting anything out of the service at this point because I was so distracted, so we left. We went back to try to meet up with some people to go to lunch, but missed them, so we decided to go down to one of the hotels for brunch. I told Don it would probably be a little expensive, but we wanted to get off base and eat, plus I somehow had it in my head that the USO was having an Oriental rug sale so we headed downtown to the Fiesta Hotel for brunch because it was close to the USO (which it turned out wasn't having a sale, which we found out after walking a mile to get there) and because we had heard nice things about the buffet. We were SORELY disappointed in the brunch. I let Don look before we committed, but I should have looked- it was kind of slim pickings, especially for how expensive it ended up being. We were both disappointed in the food and the cost, but the view out to the ocean was great, so we couldn't complain too much.

After brunch, we went to Kmart. It was our first time to experience Guam's Kmart, which is purportedly the largest Kmart in the world. It was VERY large. It was crowded, but I think that was due to the time of day we went. They had a good selection of things and prices were pretty reasonable. It might be worth the trip every now and then if I can't find what I want at either our BX or Big Navy. It made me really miss Target (which doesn't even ship to Guam by the way, the letter writing campaign will begin shortly).

We bought Price his birthday present (2 months late thanks to the move and our awesomeness as parents) yesterday and took him for a walk in it. It was a really nice way to end a wonderful weekend....

Chillaxin' in his new ride

The view from the golf course at the end of our street

What A Wonderful Weekend!

We had an action-pack, friend-filled weekend. It was a blast!

We kicked the weekend off on Friday afternoon by heading over to the USAF Freedom's Call Tattoo. We went with the Mays, and our new friends (and backdoor neighbors) Brandon and Shelly, and another neighbor Jennifer. We got there early enough to pick a great spot, spread out a big blanket for the babies and enjoyed a pleasant evening visiting with friends, watching planes flyover and listening to several bands.

After the Tattoo, we headed back to the Mays to hang out and watch fireworks. As we were walking home, we noticed a woman writhing in pain on the ground. An older man was standing over her watching her cry and talk on the phone. We stopped to ask what was wrong and the guy said she had a stomachache. Luckily, Nathan is a nurse so he and Don stayed to see if they could help, and Rachel and I headed on home. I flagged down some bike cops and they also went to help. About 20 minutes later, we heard ambulance sirens and the guys came in. Apparently the girl had been like that for at least an hour and was actually going into shock and becoming less responsive. The ambulance we heard was for her and took her to the hospital. Nathan thinks she got overheated (we are in the middle of a heat wave) and then dehydrated. I hope she is ok and I question the parenting skills of the man who just let her lie there for an hour not doing anything!! After that, we stayed up late watching fireworks and eating pizza. Price was such a trooper! He stayed up late with us and was in such a good mood the whole time. He enjoyed watching fireworks. We headed home a little after 11 and Price fell asleep before we even made it down the driveway.

Saturday was garage sale day! We were up early to set everything up. Shelly came over to help us get ready and Rachel brought over all of her things to sell. It was slow going at first, but once things picked up we had a steady stream of visitors. I wanted to sell everything, and while we did well we didn't get rid off as much as I had hoped. I was really surprised by what didn't sell- baby clothes, baby blankets, and winter clothes. I was also amazed at my willingness to get rid of things even if they didn't sell. Don and I decided anything that didn't see would go to Goodwill. Old Terrell would have gone through everything and pulled out items to keep because I might need them later. Not yesterday, with the exception of the baby items and a few things I think I can sell on Craigslist, everything went to Goodwill. It's so nice to have friends who live close by. It made the heat seem less hot and the time flew by since we just sat outside and visited until we closed up shop and went our separate ways. That night, all the big boys went to see Transformers and Shelly came over and we hung out.

Today was one of my favorite kinds of days. We got to sleep in a little thanks to Price's new ability to sleep past 7 a.m. We had no plans when we woke up, and decided we wanted to go to one of our favorite breakfast places, Clifton Mill. Clifton Mill is a working grist mill in Clifton, OH. The food is great, there are nice views, and it's a pretty drive to get there. We invited "the gang" to go with us and the Mays joined us. It was a nice morning.

After breakfast Don, Price and I headed to Babies R Us to look at carseats since Price is about to outgrow his infant carrier. After deciding on one we headed home, had lunch and I tried to get Price to go down for a nap. No such luck! So, we decided to head for the pool. The gang met us there, and after spending some time at the pool we decided to go to dinner then we three ladies went to see Transformers 2.

It was busy, but not exhausting. Don and I haven't talked about it, but I think we are, at least I am, trying to pack as many outings and as much friend time as I can into the time we have left before we head to Guam. I know doing this may make it even harder when it's time to go, but who knows when we'll have these opportunities again?

Guam Update:

We still haven't received orders, but we did get travel reservations. However, Don is submitting a request to get the travel amended so we can spend a few days on a stopover en route to give us a break from being on a plane with our little guy for 18 hours. Hopefully, it will be approved.