Sunday, February 10, 2013

Diving...with sharks

Amazing underwater experience- that is me in the upper right corner
Life just keeps getting better and better.  Don't get me wrong, we still have car issues- our van is missing a door handle and we have already replaced five of them, our dishwasher hasn't worked for two months and snakes occasionally show up in our toilet, but we are loving the opportunities we have here.  I wrote about how Suzy and I got scuba certified; Abe and Isaac were certified before we came out.  Abe has been content to snorkel and hasn't had a  desire to dive.  I talked him into joining a group from the ward for a dive yesterday.  To say it was amazing does not do this dive justice.  The visibility was the best I have experienced yet, probably 60-80 feet.  We went to an area where there is a submarine for tourists.  In order to put on a good show, the sub lowers buckets of food to attract marine life.  We had a front row seat for all the fish and SHARKS that came.  It was so awesome!!! The sharks are nurse sharks, not dangerous and they are well-fed and a shark that isn't hungry is much more pleasant to swim around.  We got to see both eels and sharks up close and there were so many fish, many of them were huge.  Abe had such a good time, he was ready to book our flights to Palau before we got home.
Our friend, the eel


Up close
Abe shaking the shark's hand or fin rather.


There are some great video clips on my Facebook that I can't seem to download, if you want more. Thanks to our friend Brent Collins for the snazzy under water camera and impressive photography.

That was definitely the highlight of the week, but also big news was Isaac became a celebrity.  Well, ok maybe not but he did have his picture in the paper and a glowing write-up of his tennis match. Not bad for a kid that just picked up tennis when the season started. 
  
Back page of the paper showcases Isaac!
Sadly, our island life still often runs at a hectic pace.  There are no enough hours in the day for all we want to do.  We wish there was more time to watch the waves, gaze at the stars, cuddle with my kids or just sit on the shore with a good book.  Last night we went for a nice stroll on the beach with the younger kids while Isaac and Savannah baby-sat so a few couples could enjoy a night out.  While we were sitting there taking it all in- the beautiful scenery, a warm breeze and the sunset we talked about ho much we are going to miss this place when we have to leave.  I wish I could push pause or make the time slow down.  As we walked, we talked about how in three short years Isaac will be done with school and moving on to the next stage in life, and Suzy one year later.  I am not ready for that, I want to enjoy this life we have together for longer.  Bugs is growing up way too fast.  What happened to my baby?  Here's to hoping these next few months and years go by slowly. 
Great evening for a walk
Boy, I love this little guy!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Surf's Up

The highlight of the week was definitely surfing lessons.  Sierra, Addie and David all decided to sign up (still working on Suzy) and they all love it.  For now they are developing their skills in a wave pool.  Guam, sadly, does not have a lot of good surfing due to the reefs that surround our island.  The reefs protect the island from a lot of storms and provide great snorkeling opportunities, but are not so great for surfing.  The storms in the surrounding waters have made for high surf lately which gave us a chance to head out for a little ocean surfing one day, but I forgot the camera.  For now, you can enjoy these clips of the kids in their class.  Not bad for the first day.  Hopefully Addie will improve her steering. 










The other thing I wanted to let you see one of my favorite places to run.  Asan beach saw a lot of activity during WWII.  It was one of the main battle sights between the Japanese and Americans during the war.   Now a National Historic Park, the area tells of its history and is well taken care of.  There is a path which parallels the coast and offers amazing views.  Watching the bigger than usual waves this week has been an added treat. 
You can see the running path at the bottom of this photo.


Not a bad way to see the sun come up.

This is one thing I will miss next February.





Happy Days!  Home made bread is back at the Smiths.  Yahoo!!  Thank you Kelsey!