June 2012

It has been a while since our last post, so here is an update.  Life in Guam continues to be very pleasant.  We recently took the girls out kayaking again.  On the way out Paij spotted what she thought initially to be a sea lion.  I was confused because I have never heard of sea lions being in Guam's waters.  I looked down and was pleased to see a sea turtle swimming just below the surface beside my kayak.

 We paddled around an island.  On our way back we found a small, secluded beach and decided to pull in to explore.  We let the girls play in the sand and found some great shells.  

I believe Paij got this footprint idea from Pinterest.  We decided to try it out while exploring the beach.  

 The girls are certainly growing up.  Jaycee is becoming more and more independent.  She usually insists that she feed herself, and as you can see by the picture below the process usually goes flawlessly.  

 We finally took the girls to the bowling alley here on base.  Both Morgan and Jaycee had a great time.  Jaycee loved to clap every time the pins got knocked over, and Morgan was proud of the fact that she is a strong four year old that can carry the 6 pound bowling ball all by herself!  It was a lot of fun and we decided it will be a routine family outing.  

 Morgan has finally decided that having her picture taken is not a bad thing.  It is really fun to take pictures of your kids.  For the last year Morgan has been uncooperative with having her picture taken.  That changed recently, and I like to think that it is a sign of a positive self image.  It is really fun to see her pose and ask to have her picture taken. 

Two weeks ago was Boy Scout Camp.  I have been working with a local Boy Scout Troop essentially ever since we arrived on Guam.  We have a great troop.  We had 25 boys attend scout camp.  It was a LONG week!  It rained every day and most nights.  We had two tent casualties during a storm one night, which made for a memorable night of minimal sleep.  Unfortunately, there were several memorable nights of interrupted sleep.  Overall, it was a great experience in spite of the lack of sleep.  We were fortunate to have the Navy grant the scouts access to camping on  base property.  Additionally, the scouts got to go on a tour of a nuclear sub, a large Navy subtender ship, and have a helicopter land and provide a tour.  Additionally the Navy SEALS came and let the boys check out their guns and gadgets.  I was able to look through the night vision goggles at night.  I looked up at the stars and was completely caught off guard at how spectacular the stars looked.  It was not just the brightness of the stars, but the quantity of stars that I could see.  I have never seen anything like it.  If you ever get a chance to use night vision goggles on a clear night, you are in for the best stargazing of your life.

Paij and I recently became dive certified.  I have become fascinated with the things to explore underwater.  Paij has been a reluctant companion.  She is still not thrilled to have fish swimming around her, especially big fish.  I am really grateful that she is a willing dive buddy.  Here is a shot of her on one of our dives.

I received the new GoPro Hero 2 waterproof camera for Father's Day and my birthday.  I have enjoyed playing around with it.  My first dive using it was out to a reef where sharks are often seen.  We were fortunate to see five sharks on that dive.  I got up close to where they were feeding and was able to have two of them come within a few feet.  It was awesome.  I learned after the fact that I need a special housing to get clearer pictures with my camera, so the photos and video are not sharp, but you can still get the idea of what the dive was like.

We decided to buy our own dive gear rather than rent for the next three years.  We received it this past week, along with the new dive housing that allows me to get clear underwater pictures.  Paij and I went for a dive on Wednesday to try out the new gear.  The visibility wasn't very good, so I don't have any underwater pictures.  However, we surfaced as the sun was setting.  I snapped this picture just after popping up out of the water.  I don't think I will tire of the sunsets here on Guam.  

They are spectacular.