Then We Came Back from Guam

Our second full day in Guam was a little more slow to start (not because the kids slept in or anything!) because the weather was good, so the kids were pretty content to hang out at the pool as long as we would let them!

(I had to document how funny our room setup was...Both rooms had two beds that were bigger than twins but not as big as full. They were great for the kids, but Eric felt the need to push ours together. The crib that finally showed up for our last night was to the right, basically at the foot of our bed, and it wasn't a pack'n'play, but a full size crib. Bigger than the one we have here in Korea! I took pictures of Reece's previous makeshift bed, too, but I must not have edited them...)

After we all spent several hours in the pool, it was time to head back to the room for lunch and Reece's nap.

And, then the kids and I headed back to the pool. Because we were in Guam. It's what you do. It's what you should do.

After we came back, then Eric headed back out with the kids because Reece was still asleep. Probably not the smartest thing in terms of sun exposure, but what can you do? We were in Guam.

After Reece woke up, we got cleaned up, picked up some snacks, and then hit the road, heading north this time.

We first made a stop in Tumon to find the Guam Coffee Company that I had seen our first night when we were looking for somewhere to eat dinner. I had originally wanted another Starbucks mug to add to my collection, but when I tried looking up directions, I found there are no Starbucks on Guam. They're afraid that they would shut down the little coffee shops, so I was on the lookout for a little coffee shop. It turned out that it really was little, and there is only one location of Guam Coffee Company. After driving both directions down the road, I was ready to give up and move on, when Cade spotted it for me. I was so proud of him! My new mug doesn't exactly fit in with my existing collection, but it does have a story to tell!

We drove up to Two Lover's Point to see what could be seen. It's a big tourist spot with a kind of "Romeo and Juliet" love story, a legend of the Chamorro people, natives of Guam. It was very popular with the Koreans!

There were even walls of locks that reminded us of Seoul Tower; we felt right at home!

Eric really wanted everyone to stand and pose for the camera...

And it worked out so well! haha!

After Two Lover's Point, we headed for dinner at the restaurant that we looked for the first night but were unable to. We had driven right by it a couple of times. Whoops.

Meskla Dos is a Chamorro fusion restaurant that has big, unique burgers, as well as some of the more traditional Chamorro foods. So, Eric, of course had a burger. The french toast slammer. A hamburger patty between two giant slices of french toast and topped with a fried egg. Served with a side of maple syrup and garlic aioli. Of course.

I had the tasakos (Chamorro barbecued pork) served with red rice and finadene dinanche (a spicy sauce to eat with the pork) and cole slaw. 

After dinner, we were headed to the Chamorro Village market, which happens every Wednesday night, but only Wednesdays, so it was kind of a given that we would have to go.

On the way, we were able to catch the sunset over Agana Bay as we drove from Tumon to Hagatna. It was pretty incredible, and I'm so glad we stopped!

It would not have been the same from the road, though we did continue to enjoy the various colors in the sky for the remainder of the drive. We needed to get back on the road, if we wanted to be able to spend any time at the market before Reece hit his wall, though I think the kids would have been content to play in the ocean for as long as we let them.

The market (and parking lot) was already packed by the time we got there, and it was a little tricky to maneuver around with the stroller. I'd read that would be the case, but it was just too hot, and he was too heavy to put him in the Ergo, so we made the stroller work.

Most people were eating there, but we were stuffed (and while all of the food looked good, I was glad we'd done what we had--standing and eating is just not worth the battle with the kids!), so we settled for fresh fruit smoothies to keep us cool. They were delicious!

The kids got to pick up their souvenirs made by local artisans (a rubberband gun for Cade, of course, and little bags for Kennedy because that girl likes her bags!), and that was by far, our biggest interaction with local people as the market is full of locals and tourists alike. I did feel like the biggest downside to our renting a car was the lack of interaction with the locals. When you ride public transportation, you're surrounded by all kinds of people, you hear the local language, and you hear how everything is pronounced, but we left without having had much of that. (I will say we saw very few white people--maybe 2 or 3 families? There were a lot of locals at the Inarajan Pools and at the Chamorro village, but aside from that it seemed we only saw Japanese or Koreans at our resort and at Two Lover's Point.)

Our last day was spent packing up, swimming in the pool, taking some pictures, and getting to the airport. We accidentally got lost (not really, but we drove way out of our way and ended up with little extra time), and ended up having to eat at Jack in the Box before returning the rental car. Lucky for Eric, returning the car and getting the shuttle to the airport were quick because after we checked in for our flight, but before we checked our baggage (must be a Guam thing), he discovered that he didn't have his phone. After more than an hour of him running all over the airport and trying to make phone calls (while I sat with a very, very cranky baby!), he finally returned to us with phone in hand (it had slipped out of his pocket in the rental car and was underneath the seat!), and we were still able to get on our flight in time. It was pretty stressful there for awhile, but all is well that ends well!

By the way, the flight itself was okay. We ended up bribing the big kids to sit together in front of us with half a Snickers bar, so Eric and Reece and I had three seats. Reece was really sick and miserable by this point, which actually made things a little easier, I think, because he had no desire to get down and run up and down the plane aisles. He still wasn't really eating anything, so after an hour of just being tired and miserable, we gave him his milk, strapped him in the Ergo, and he slept for the duration. The only problem was how stinking heavy he's gotten, and the fact that the Immigration line was well over an hour long! The hardest part was definitely after our plane hit the ground, but all in all it was a really great trip, and I'm incredibly grateful that we got to go on one last trip!

We Went to Guam

Oh boy. So, so many pictures of Guam. Especially for the amount of time we spent there! I swear I didn't think I'd taken that many pictures (and compared to some trips, I know that I didn't!), but the editing has still been a little overwhelming. I think I took about 400 pictures that I narrowed down to about 90 in the first cull, and closer to 75 the second time through. Now, I have to figure out how many of those to actually post. And to be honest, no else thinks my trip photos are exciting as I do, right? I could post an album of 75 pictures and some of you might click on it, and look at the first 5-10 and then be done. Most of you wouldn't even click on it! And yet, I edit all of them. I guess it's just for me and that's okay.

Now, the thing about this trip was that it was very impromptu. And short. We flew out Monday morning and flew back Thursday evening, and because of that (or in spite of it--I'm not sure which), I spent an inordinate amount of time planning our short time on the island. Way, way more time than I spent doing any research for our trip to Cebu this time last year.

Of course, one of the biggest differences between these two trips was the fact that we didn't have a 4-month-old, but rather a 17-month-old. We let having such a young baby hold us back in Cebu, but we were fine with that. We were looking for a lot more relaxation than we were adventure on that trip.

I wouldn't say that we were particularly adventurous on Guam, either, but because we found that it was cheaper to rent a car than get a shuttle from the airport (and public transportation is not great there, either), we had a lot of freedom in terms of leaving the resort whenever Reece happened to wake up from his nap.

Since I'd spent time researching beforehand, I already had a pretty good idea of where I wanted to go (and I should add that a significant amount of this research time involved looking stuff up on Google Maps and then taking screenshots so that we would have driving directions), as well as the restaurants where I thought we should eat. But, of course, best laid plans...

The flight went pretty well considering the only food we were given on a five hour flight were some very Korean snacks that Kennedy wouldn't even touch. Picking up the rental car went smoothly, as well, and soon we were on the road. I thought we were going to be good to go, especially considering I was able to get wifi at the car rental place and was able to get directions from where we were to the restaurant, as well as the grocery store, on the way to the resort. We were all set in our cute little Rav4.

Unfortunately, we hit the road and very shortly discovered that what Guam has in blue skies and perfect temperatures, they are lacking in road signs. It was the strangest thing. As it turned out, nearly everything is signed in highway numbers but our directions were provided in strange street names that didn't seem to reflect anything we had seen. As a result, we were not able to find the restaurant we were trying to find. We did, however, quickly acquaint ourselves with the tourist district of Tumon, found a Subway, and headed out to picnic on the beach of Tumon Bay.

It was starting to get dark when we finished eating, and we figured since we had to find our resort in the mountains with no street signs, we'd better get on the road. Because we were staying in more of a condo than a hotel, we had a full kitchen, so we also had to stop at the grocery store to stock up on breakfast, lunch, and snack stuff. As it turned out, we were much more successful in finding the resort than we were the restaurant--what a relief that was!

The next morning, the kids were up early, excited to head to the pool. Unfortunately, it didn't open until 9am, so Kennedy and I had time to scope out the actual hotel (that we weren't staying in), pick up my wallet that the grounds crew found early in the morning (it had fallen off the luggage cart the night before when we were unloading in the dark!), and get a cup of coffee while checking out the pool and grounds in the beautiful sunshine. As luck would have it, by the time we were heading to the pool, the clouds had rolled in, and it was pouring down rain! ha!

It didn't bother the kids at all since the temperature was still pretty comfortable, but Eric and Reece and I weren't really up for a swim in the rain. So, after an hour or so at the pool, we headed back to the room, had some lunch, and loaded up the car to drive to the Inarajan Pools at the southern end of the island.

One nice thing about the location of our resort was that as soon as we started driving away from it, the weather cleared up and was warm and beautiful again! It turned out that I was actually grateful for that little rain shower, because it meant that we were more motivated to get out of the pool and on the road! (And there was no more rain for the remainder of our trip.)

The pools are naturally formed allowing fresh water to combine with salt water and providing nice calm pools to swim in, as well as lots of opportunities for exploring! Eric and the kids swam through the pools to the other side where coral blocks the crash of waves from the ocean. They made the unfortunate choice to sit on the coral and wait for a huge wave to come--which then knocked them off the coral and covered all three of them in a variety of cuts. They all came back bleeding and ready for some rest in the shade. Reece and I had just been hanging out in the shade, since he wasn't feeling great and had no desire to even get out of the stroller. Upon their return, I finally got a chance to go for a swim and was able to explore without coming back bleeding.

After our swims, we trekked up onto the bluff to get a glimpse of the view, which was pretty spectacular.

And then we were back in the car to find dinner at Jeff's Pirate's Cove, a unique little place on the eastern coast of the island, on our way back to the resort from the pools.

There was a basketball court for the kids to run around on while we waited for dinner. The kids' meals were unimpressive (hot dogs--yuck!), but Eric had one of many "Guam's best burgers" and I had the fish of the day--parrot fish. One I'd never heard of, but it was pretty good!

It turned out that we timed everything pretty well, as the restaurant was closing just as we were leaving, and Reece was able to stay awake until we returned to the room rather than having to attempt the dreaded "will he stay asleep?" routine. (Although, due to a lack of communication, our biggest snafu of the whole trip was that we didn't have a crib for Reece for the first two nights. Rather, he slept in the closet (of course!) with a toddler bed rail keeping him inside. He wasn't a fan.)

We had a great first full day in Guam, though yes, the kids did get pretty good sunburns on their cheeks after the lengthy trip around the Inarajan pools. Aside from that, and Reece's nasty cold, we were doing pretty well, though! And hey, look at me. I narrowed this down to just a portion of the day's photos!

366 Project: Week Twelve

We are back in Seoul, and we've hit the ground running hanging with friends, and trying to get ready for the busy week ahead. I still have photos from our trip to edit, so I will grace you with some lovely iPhone photos from the past week until I finally have time to get some work done.

78/366: It was 60 degrees on Friday, our first afternoon of spring break, and we all enjoyed the chance to get out in warmer temperatures!

79/366: Kennedy and I got new nail polish at the baby shower we attended last weekend, and she was excited to paint her toenails for our trip.

80/366: We were so excited to be packed for our somewhat spontaneous trip to Guam.

81/366: Ready to get on a plane!

82/366: The walk to the hotel pool wasn't too bad, I suppose!

83/366: The sunset at Chamorro Village was pretty amazing!

84/366: After a great few days in Guam, we were headed home to cold smoggy air. {Insert sad face here.}

This coming week is going to be especially busy as I'm watching the boys of a friend for the week, so don't be surprised if it stays quiet around here for a little while longer!

Summer Overview

We have been so excited to see a drop in temperatures this week from the upper 80s to the upper 70s...it might have taken a typhoon blowing through on the opposite coast to do it, but we'll take it! Yesterday I didn't have to turn on the air conditioning for the entire day, and I only had to take one shower at the end of the day, in spite of the fact that I left the house several times. Let's not take these things for granted, people!

You may recall that I never edited and posted a single picture from our trip back to the States at Christmas last year. Since I'm not too proud of that lack of accomplishment, I'm trying to get right into editing summer pictures sooner rather than later. (I can promise that I actually have gone back to that Christmas folder and tried editing on more than one occasion, but I always get so overwhelmed!)

In an effort to not be immediately overwhelmed, I started with just a couple from the major events of the summer. In hopes that I can actually remember what happened, I figured it's best to start with an overview.

I think I already mentioned that we were on the go from the moment we arrived in the States, as we had about 24 hours to find a vehicle that would fit us all before we had to be down at Eric's mom's house to spend a few days with his and brother and family in our short overlap.

When they returned to Hawaii, we returned to my dad's house for a few days before heading to the cabin on Whidbey to spend the week with my family.

After the cabin, we had a few more days at my dad's to reconnect with old friends and visit some of our favorite spots before heading to Sun Lakes with Eric's mom.

After our trip to Sun Lakes, we settled in at Eric's mom's house for the duration of our trip. From there, we headed out for short trips. 

We spent one night with friends from Seoul in Skamania and one night camping at Mt. Rainier. 

We also took a day trip up to the Ballard Locks with my brother before wrapping up our trip with a couple of nights at my aunt's house before our flight back to Korea.

Believe it or not, we actually feel like this was our best summer yet. We might be finally figuring out this whole summer in the States thing!